DD#39; Tuesday Trigger ~ Cross My Heart and Cakes in Jars by Nota Baker

Ah, the blessing of a new week.  Hello, Monday!

 

Did  you miss me yesterday?  I was pretending to be something I'm not, which is a world-rewound baker and Food Network cooking show hostess.  We'll get to all that, if you have time to sit back with a tall Bev.  This is a VERY long post, photo-heavy.

 

But first, after the frivolity in the kitchen, I made a card.  Since you are prolly here for the card and not the baking since this is a card blog and not a baking blog, then I'll start with how my day ended.

 

I happened to see the current Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World when I was over there reading the wonderful interview featuring my friend, Geri (Manitoba Stamper), who is the current Moxie Fabber!  Oh, yes she dii-idd!  And so fabulously well she did ~ high five, Geri!

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The Tuesday Trigger is thus: 

It's so cute.  I used the dipity fitting colors from this week's Dynamic Duos challenge of pool party and pink pirouette.

And made this:
 

It ended looking more like a billboard than a chair, but that's okay.  It's an advertisement for love and it's what my trigger trigged, so thaz whah happened.

 

~~~

 

Next, in case you want to click out, please let me introduce you to our two new friends standing over by the background papers.  We are so, so fortunate to have Barb Murphy from Barbles (Kinsale Creations) and Jill (JD) from Ribbon Inspired.  It is a delight for me to bring you two more wonderful blogs!  You will see lots of incredible inspiration when you visit them!  Thank you, Barb and Jill, and welcome on board the cray-cray crafting train!

 

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So, okay.  Last Christmas I made yummy Cranberry Hootycreek cookies and put them in Mason jars as gifts.  It was really fun and in that link is a link to an awesome food site.  Well then, my friend, Kim of Cupcakes, Cards, and Kim told me about this fun cupcake you make in Mason jars.  Even though the original recipe idea is for making peppermint cupcakes as Christmas gifts, Kim made them last year as little Valentine gifts.  Well, I was all over that.

 

Kim sent me the link, which I patiently waited until yesterday to try, just in time for Valentine's Day.  The recipe is from the sensational Our Best Bites website.  Here is a picture of them from their website: 

Aren't they lip-smackin' adorable?

Mine, not so much.

Here we have the ingredients all lined up because after several years of cooking, I decided 14 times was one time too many to get half-way through making something and find out I didn't have all the greedy ants.

You can also see my little jars greased and floured, although the recipe says you don't have to do that.  I'm old school and I got an A+ in "Don't Take Chances."  Next to the jars is the chocolate sauce.  Bottom left is the batter.  Bottom right is the batter poured into the jars.

Happily, I put the pan in the oven.  Immediately, I realized I hadn't added the melted chocolate to the batter and I whirled around and whipped open the oven door to pull out the cookie sheet only to realize, additionally, that a cookie sheet gets boiling hot after only TWO SECONDS in the oven and who needs fingertips on their right hand anyway?

(Too bad I forgot how grateful I was for pot holders just last Thursday!)

BTW, here I am just before all that came down, with photographic evidence of how happy I was that my little jars were all ready for the oven.  See, behind the green colander full of lids, that bowl of chocolate and beside my right elbow that tray of jars all battered up and ready for the oven?  What a dope. 

And, yes, I'm a dope without a stitch of makeup on, which should tell you right there that I'm no TV food show hostess.  So what?  Who cares?  LITS!  Oh, but, girl, you better believe I was holding that right hand in a towel for a whole different reason two minutes after that picture was taken! 

Moving on.  Mister jumped in to help, adding the chocolate to the jars,

coz he's a chemist and a pro at measuring and pouring and doesn't have shakey hands like some of us.  I stirred it in with the end of a wooden spoon and it was all good. 

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After you bake them and cool them, you add a layer of chocolate ganache, so these are really choco choco latte cupcakes!

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On to the frosting.  This type of frosting was completely new to me.  Following directions, I started the process by cooking flour and milk on the stove, just like a roue for a white sauce.  It ends up like this:

Then, if you're lucky like me, you have your Mister reach up to that top shelf you rarely use and you bring down the electric mixer you own.  The mixer you got for a wedding present 42 years ago.  The mixer someone left the price tag on and you can see it cost a whopping $12.97 and it still runs like it's brand new!

Then what I did was, I took the bottle of food coloring that is colored red and I poured it into my fluffy sugar and butter mixture.  I also dropped the top in the bowl.  Little Miss Perfect in the back of my head whispered, "Why is the top of the red food coloring bottle yellow?"  I completely ignored the little pest and charged up the beaters. 

YELLOW?!  Shizazz!  Well never mind, back into the cupboard I went, grabbing the bottle of RED food coloring and in the end the frosting was a beautiful bright rose color, even though it looks like a disgusting orangey coral in the pictures.  You have to trust me on that.  Doing the cooking thing first and then mixing that in with the butter/sugar?  YU-UM.  It ends up like whipped cream, not that cloying sweet you sometimes get with frosting.

Of course we had to try it, just to make sure it wasn't poison!

~~~

Then I went and made a card, but first I noticed something cool.  I know a lot of people are suffering with Mother Nature's antics and I'm sorry about that.  I know we are blessed to live here, but we have had lots of freezing temps, which is unusual for us. 

So in the morning the birdbath is frozen solid, as evidenced by the dinosaur egg placed on top.  (Just kidding, I wanted to see if you were still reading.)

and, yet, look at the joy the afternoon brings!

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And so it goes.

Here is the link again for the recipe from the Our Best Bites website. I would love it so much if my friend Kim, whose website banner includes the word "cupcakes" for heaven's sake, will make them again this year and post pictures of how they are supposed  to look!!  Or you!  Give them a try and let me know how it went for you, please.

As for me, I'm pretty sure that our local bakery needs my business!

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy your day. LITS!

Thank you so much for stopping by the Playhouse. Special thanks to you if you take the time to leave a comment or join as a follower!

 Paper:  PTI white, SU! pool
  party and pink pirouette
Stamp: Azad Earles B029
Netting and flowers from
  snippets drawer