Long time, no blog...

Dear Blog,

Notice the heavenly light shining
 from above onto my new mixer

Believe it or not, it has been approximately two years since I last wrote in you! But don't be upset, it's not you...it's me. The thing is, life has gotten kind of cray lately, so the number of baking experiences have been lacking. However, I am determined to change that, especially now that the school year has started, and we could all use a little pick-me-up. By pick-me-up, I mean delicious cakes, pastries, and other treats. Before we get to my most recent kitchen creation, I would first like to take a moment to thank my new electric mixer, without whom, none of these baked goods would have been possible. I would also like to thank my Grandpa Steve, without whom, the existence of this mixer in my kitchen would not have been possible.

We've all felt that familiar chill in the air, and can't help but take notice of the green leaves transforming into golden, red, and yellow colors. So why don't we all just stop lying to ourselves and admit it. Fall is coming! In fact, I would go as far as to say that it is at least already halfway here. To me, this means one thing, and one thing only. Pumpkin cookies. Can I get an amen? These delicious treats are something you can only get away with baking during the fall season, which makes them kind of annoying, but also makes them kind of special. Not being able to resist them any longer (and frankly, not wanting to resist them any longer), I took it upon myself to make some ASAP. They were wonderfully simple, but gave my kitchen a smell of exotic spices that made it seem like i'd slaved away for hours. Now that's my kind of cookie. After about forty-five minutes, some magically soft and perfectly glazed cookies were sitting on my counter. A nice light treat and seemingly not that bad for you, I intend to enjoy these cookies as long as there's a chill in the air and colored leaves on the ground.

Hannah B. and the Blueberry

During our fifteen minutes of rest out of what would end up being a five hour day at marching band bootcamp, Hannah and I decide that we were really hungry for cupcakes and ice cream. Instantly thinking of my new cupcake book, we made plans for that afternoon to bake some, right as Mrs. Manning, our band director, called us back to the football field. About an hour after our practice ended, I got a ride over to her house (thank you mom) with a bag of ingredients. (Hannah had just been on vacation for a very long time and didn't have many supplies at home.) Of course as soon as I got there I realized that I had forgotten to bring the fire extinguisher. "What!?" exclaimed Hannah after hearing this news. "You use that often?!" A bit of reassurence was required before she let me into her kitchen. As we begin to mix together ingredients she asks me about what sort of things I write about in my blog. "You know," I say "baking cupcakes." Unsatisfied with my answer, she continues to beat in the eggs and flour. "What about baking cupcakes?" she questions moments later. "Like, funny things that happen and stuff, I guess" I respond. "WHAT?!" Hannah shrieks in a panic, "Now I have to be funny? I have to top everyone else that you've baked with!?" I'm too busy laughing to even respond. But she continues, "Is this some kind of competition? I can't take this kind of pressure!" We're both laughing now as I assure her that there is no competition. Soon we are filling up both mini and full size cupcake pans to put into the oven. Ten minutes later, as we're directed by Martha S, we rotate them in order to give our desserts an even cooking. Ok, so maybe I waited a little longer than that. But I did remember when Hannah exclaimed, "You smell that burning sensatioin? Yeah, that's our cupcakes!" Giggling, I get on the oven mitts and flip around the pans. (Hannah has some issues with ovens...let's just say that she had to leave the room). Maybe lightly toasted, but not over cooked, our blueberry cupcakes are finally finished and very good. Soon we top them with whipped cream and add some garnish of blueberries and blue sprinkles.

There is no I in Cupcakes

It must be some sort of disease or something, that whenever you're just chilling with some friends, you automatically think to bake cupcakes. At first it's only a cough or a sniffle, but quickly it grows contagious and itchy until you can't leave it untreated any longer. Some people (actually, just my brother), have questioned why I make cupcakes other than to make them? Well, first of all, does there even need to be another reaason? That would be a NO. Secondly, there is a much more deep and inspirational reason that I will now skip telling you about so that I can move on to tell the tale of some very lovely cupcakes that my friend Rachel and I perfected. (If I do say so myself!) Rachel is one of the most fun people to cook with. If you do not know Rachel, I'm afraid that there is just no way to explain it, it just is. Although some of our other friends may say that we argue like an old married couple, Rachel always manages to keep me on top of things (amazing, right?) and continues to make sure that everything is under control. Maybe that is why these Snickerdoodle cupcakes turned out so perfectly. I guess we'll never know. But now that I think of it, it may have had something to do with the fact that her parents are also amazing bakers and makers of food! (I wish that they did catering.) Let's just say that these Snickerdoodle cupcakes are delicious enough for anyone and everyone to enjoy!

If you give a dad a cupcake... he's going to ask if you know where the fire extinguisher is

The look of shock ran down my dad's face like the bowl of batter that I'd spilled earlier. Dripping farther and farther, staining the white cupboards. No matter how may times I tried to get the cats to lick it off, the batter just wouldn't disappear. "So me and David are making cupcakes, okay dad?" Although I couldn't see how he would stop us since we were already half way through the recipe, asking seemed like the right thing to do. "Well try not to burn the house down" he quipped as he left the room. "Um... we probably won't" David responded wryly. Maybe it was the screams from the kitchen that brought my dad bursting back in, or possibly the smell of burning cream and sugar that we had on the stove. The creak of our broken garage door announced his re-arrival. "Do you guys know that we have a fire extinguisher?" he questioned as he proceeded to dig through our pantry and uncover the red container that we had apparently had for awhile. In the next rather long ten minutes I learned exactly how to un-attach the red plastic around the extinguisher, pull down the handle, and move it from side to side across the area on fire. By the time my dad felt that we were safe enough to be left alone (under the watchful eyes of Sutter) it was time to mix together the rest of the batter. After hand mixing it for a couple of minutes David moves across the counter to read the next set of directions before saying, " uh Camryn, I think that you're going to have to stir a little fater than that." "Why?" I ask, since I was under the impression that I was doing it quite well. "It says to beat on medium speed!" he jokes. Many laughs later our cupcakes are done and ready to be iced with the chocolate and cream layers to complete the Boston Cream Cupcakes. And yes, they are as good as they look! But this is only the first of many cupcake adventures to come. And who knows....some other iced activites may be involved too.