Happy Place

So Sunday was a rough day.  I had to get out of the house, needed some time alone.  I didn't know where I was going to go when I left.  I drove by a small independent movie theater near my house, parked and went inside.  It was 4:13 and one of the two movies they were showing had started at 4:00, but since I really didn't care, I bought a ticket and settled in for some distraction.  The movie was good, but I wasn't long into it before I started daydreaming.  About baked goods.  Specifically about how good a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing would be.  That would be good.  What if you put a Reese's peanut butter cup inside the cupcake?  That would be better.  Must do that now.

Baking relaxes me, brings me to my happy place, making 1000 desserts is on my Life List.  But all of that is irrelevant, because it is just a fact that when you start thinking about peanut butter cup stuffed chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing, you must make them.  That's just truth.

After the movie was over, I went to the grocery store and purchased everything I thought I might need that I didn't already have.  I didn't have a recipe in mind, just figured I would do some research when I got home and then wing it.  I got all the way home and realized I wanted buttermilk.  I had forgotten buttermilk.  I made Joe go get buttermilk.  When he came home, he had the buttermilk and also had flowers and double stuff Oreos because I think he felt sorry for me and was also a little scared of me that day.

I saw the Oreos.  How good would a chocolate cupcake be with a double stuff Oreo baked inside?  That would be good.  How good would it be with homemade whipped cream on top?  That would be better. 

I showed a shocking amount of restraint and waited until Monday to start baking, since all the cold ingredients really need to come to room temperature before you mix or it just doesn't come out right.  Baking can be kind of a finicky asshole that way.

It's like Christmas!

Hello, friend.

A little batter on the bottom, then an Oreo or PB cup on top, then more batter.  It's very complicated.

Ingredients for peanut butter icing and whipped cream.

Finished products.  The whipped cream was a good idea in theory, but not very pretty and also has to stay refrigerated.  I will go for straight buttercream if I do this again.  Mmmm, buttercream.

These were delicious but need some tweaking.  They're not quite recipe sharing ready.  I think the cupcake batter could be better.  The peanut butter icing is a winner.  Just needs a better partner.

I also made a bolognese sauce that night.  Not working could be very bad.