One of my dear friends scored a pretty excellent new job this past week. Round here, when something magnificent occurs, celebratory comestibles are usually created and consumed. I also understand that I probably utilized an entire post quota worth of c's in that last sentence. It has been noted.
Anyhoo, my pal likes Oreos, a fact that I actually remember. These days I can't remember what I walked to the bathroom for as I am trying to mentally juggle the plot of a serialized small story, basketball practice times, 4-H curriculum strategies, and a plethora of mom and wife things, but I can seem to remember people's favorite sweets on demand, so at least the most important part of my brain is still functioning. Heh.
During a mad dash to our local small city on Saturday, I picked up a couple packages of Oreos. The night before I had baked a couple of dozen of white buttermilk cupcakes. I am sure that I have discussed my reasoning behind always cooking my cakes the day before they are eaten, but since I can't remember if I have or not, I will do so here. Cakes taste SO much better the second day. I bake mine, cover them with plastic wrap after they cool, and store the cake or cakes in a secure place. You do not want your pregnant hound dog or snack hungry offspring to eat the cake.
After returning from town yesterday, I got out a stick of butter, a half a cup of shortening, four cups of powdered sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and my ever-present-in-the-fridge whipping cream. I creamed the butter and shortening together, added the vanilla, powdered sugar, and some cream, and whipped up a nice fluffy frosting. To be honest, I always eyeball the amount of liquid that I add to a frosting. I imagine that I used somewhere between 3-4 Tablespoons of whipping cream.
Next came the fun part. Or at least the cathartic part. There is something sort of fulfilling about grinding up a half a package of Oreo cookies in the food processor. I mean, the cookies are a complete foodstuff, and pulverizing them into crumbs feels a bit naughty. It's okay, I know I am bit of a loon, but you can remind me of that fact in the comments for a bit of post drama if any of you wish to do so.
That half a package of Oreos yielded around a cup of cookie crumbs, and I plopped those glorious flavor bits into my buttercream frosting and whipped the Nabisco right out of it! I then got out one of my super fancy piping bags. By fancy, of course, I mean that I snipped the end off of a quart Ziplock bag and stuffed it full of the cookies and cream frosting. Faster than a toddler can say Double Stuff I had the cupcakes piped with frosting and garnished with additional Oreos.
There is no shame emanating from me as I type this cupcake confession, for I ate two of glorious confections. One of my friends ate at least half a dozen. The cupcakes really were rather tasty. It was, however, another activity that I engaged in with the cupcakes that made my whole day. Yesterday, I spent most of the morning and afternoon with my daughter. We had to do fun things like buy pants and deliver our family's contribution to our 4-H club's fundraising auction basket. In a moment of creative genius I asked my daughter to snap a picture of me demonstrating the fine art of cupcake voguing. I'm not much of a dancer, but I sure can pose with a baked good like it's nobodies bidness!
And as uncommonly and by that I mean as not usual, all of this pictures, with the exception of the one of myself, were taken on my has an unrepentant sweet tooth iPhone. The Kat-cake photo was snapped on my daughter's Moto phone.
