Cupcakes

In keeping with random things that I love, let's hear it for cupcakes! I have a sweet tooth. I also crave salt. I live by my cravings. I feel that if my body is craving something, I must need something in that food. So I don't go crazy and eat just anything anytime, but I try to listen to what my body is asking for. That's me rationalizing.

This can get pretty specific. Just because I have a sweet tooth doesn't mean just any candy or cake will do. The craving is exact. It's not just red licorice but sometimes it must be a red vine or sometimes it must be cherry nibs or sometimes a twizzlers, because they are all different. You never know. And it changes quickly. Today I'm wishing for Mambas candy. Tomorrow I couldn't eat a single one. The next time it will be jordan almonds.

It's because of this that I have a candy stash. I seriously used to hide candy in a desk drawer at home for years so that I would know that I could get THE kind of candy I wanted when I wanted it. Now I've moved my candy into the pantry but my husband knows that he's not really allowed to eat any of it. Luckily, he's not into candy like I am and could care less. This is how we live in harmony.

So I store up like a squirrel for winter. But when I crave baked goods, that's a lot harder. I don't want to make a whole cake or batch of cookies or cupcakes only to eat some that day and let the others go to waste. This weekend, it was cupcakes.

In LA they have cupcake stores; Sprinkles, Yummy Cupcakes, Dainty's. I hear there are more. Seriously they are stores that sell nothing but cupcakes. I've tried them but none of them hit the spot for me yet. Yummy's is close. But I don't want anything fancy. I just want a cupcake like when I was a kid. Cake mix out of a box and icing out of a can.

So Saturday I came up with a substitute for making a whole batch. I had sugar cookie dough; the kind that comes in a roll that you keep in your freezer. I keep chocolate chip dough on hand as well, for emergencies of course. I went to the store and bought only the icing. I cut off a couple of cookies from the roll pretty thick and then iced them with the cake icing. Not bad. Pretty close. They ended up kind of being like cupcake tops with out the cake underneath. And now I have an open container of icing that I'll 'have' to finish fairly soon. That's a tragedy. But at least I didn't waste (or worse yet EAT) a whole batch of cupcakes.

Many of you may have found this substitute already. I am only hoping to pass along my knowledge to someone who's desperate for cupcakes. If any of you figure out any other cheats like this, I'd love to know.