Tablespoons, teaspoons... same thing!

Well, I believe Wednesday's may officially be the best baking day. Mainly because the expert baker Lauren from NeedleWork+Seedlings agreed to bake with me today! Oh, and what a fabulous day it was. Lauren not only turned up with delicious Italian beer (what is up with my beer+frosting lunches?) but with the most heavenly cupcake recipe. The malibu and coconut Cupcake Recipe #30 which turned out PERFECTLY. Lauren and I decided we needed to give the cookie monster cupcakes another shot... so we trotted off to the grocery store down the road. Lauren forgot we needed to bake cookies as well so she suggested "we just pick up some from here". I swear, the world around me turned dark, and the words rolled off her tongue in slow motion. So to my ears, it came out as "PPPIIIIIICCCKKK UPPPP SOOMMMEE FROMMMM HERRRE"... to which I replied with an EPIC bolly-wood-style"NOOOOOOooOoOOOOoOOOO" . True story. The whole aisle went silent, the world stopped moving and Lauren just blinked at me. Alright, my epic NOOOOO might have been an over-reaction but no. This blog is about baking from scratch. So, after clearing up that little misunderstanding, we ran home and got started. And I've realized the secret to Lauren's awesome baking skills - she sticks to the book. She wouldn't let me experiment (except with deco, which I aced... obviously.) but the funniest point was when I was left in charge of the cookie batter and I said "good! there was exactly 1.5 tablespoons of vanilla essence left!" and she just dropped her jaw and stared at me with an exasperated "but we only needed 1.5 teaspoons!". Alright, so tbsps, tsps... same concave substance-holding things. But fortunately, it was just a slip of the tongue, although Lauren's reaction was priceless. All in all, she had the brilliant idea of dyeing coconut shreds blue and miraculously found white chocolate buttons. That girl is brilliant.

Anyway, the cookie monster cupcakes speak for themselves!


PS: It also helps that I now have a friend, who upon trying them, has sworn to do anything for me just for more cupcakes. Muahahaha, my evil plan to take over the world. One person at a time.

Yours truly,
The Baker's Apprentice.