Feature Friday: The Ham and Cheese Of It

Food In Review: Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes

Friday, June 12, 2015

I know you've probably heard me talking about the most amazing cupcakes ever to walk on the face of this Earth. I am not kidding. I am a glorified cupcake snob. I have asked for refunds on cupcakes after taking one bite to find them dry, stale or for false advertising. I despise it when cupcakes aren't what the bakers say they were. I mean if I wanted a pancake cupcake with a bacon flavored frosting I want it. Period. Anything less than cupcake perfection, to me, is a deadly sin. Especially, if I am going to fork over $5 for one. 

But, my dear friend, April over Sweet Madness likes to use me as a taste tester. Which, personally, I am not mad about it. Even if my waist line is. A few months back, at the beginning of May, she said she wanted to try her hand at baking. I was all for it! Especially, when she said she wanted to get crafty with her baking. Her plan was to create amazing cupcakes for her daughters first birthday.

I personally think she succeeded in not only raising my cupcake expectations, but she also mastered the art of creative cupcakes. The center is a perfect bite of chocolate chip cookie dough. The icing and cupcake breading isn't too sweet either. Because, nothing screams wastefulness when you have scrape half the icing off simply because it is as if liquid sugar had been injected into it.

Now to make these AMAZING cupcakes. April uses multiple recipes from different sources. She then combines them to create these wonderful cookie dough filled cupcake. For the cupcake itself she used the recipe from Midget Momma  to create a more soft and less sweet cupcake that wouldn't be overpowered by the heavy sweetness of the chocolate chip cookie dough. I was surprised when reading the blog on Sweet Madness, that Midget Momma, uses sour cream in her batter! How neat and creative is that?

I am happy to say that, when it came to the cookie dough portion of this recipe, she used my FAVORITE chocolate chip cookie recipe. This William-Sonoma Recipe is by far the best I have ever had. I personally use this recipe nearly every week. In fact not only do I have four rolls hidden in my freezer but I even did a Food In Review of the recipe itself. 

Now I am happy to say that the chocolate buttercream icing is of her own creation. The icing is the perfect touch to these handcrafted pieces of deliciousness. My taste buds aren't over powered by the sweetness of the icing and it always leaves me wanting just one more bite! April's ability to include my favorite cookie recipe and include my horrible, bad addiction of cupcake eating has left me beyond satisfied. Or as Marie Antoinette was falsely accused of saying, "LET THEM EAT CAKE!" as she stuffed another one down her throat. 

If you would like the full tutorial on how to make these cupcakes please check out April's blog at www.sweet-madness.net 

About Me

Hi! I am Trisha!

Hello New Friend! I am so excited that you took the time out of your busy day to come by The Ham & Cheese Of It. It fills me with such joy to know that you took a moment to read, share, comment or like my blog. It's such a wonderful feeling to know that you and I are going to be the best of friends!

Well, New Friend, let me take a moment to tell you a little bit more about me and my blog. I know you're just dying to know the girl that wrote that recipe or posted that VERY interesting blog post. 

To start off let me tell you that I am newbie stay at home mom to the most wonderful little girl in the world. Everyday she shows me exactly why my mother always used to say, "just you wait until you have a daughter of your own". She's a handful and a half and I wouldn't have it any other way. She makes every day exciting and new.

Originally my little family is from North Texas. A beautiful, wonderful place where you can go to Walmart at 2 o'clock in the morning for whatever you might possibly need. A place where there is a Sonic Drive-In on nearly every major street. Texas, the land of endless comforts. Sigh. I miss Texas. It will always be our home. But because of my husbands job we get the pleasure to live around the world. You probably are trying to figure it out. What kind of job is that? I want a job that lets me live around the world. Where can I sign up? Well it's pretty easy. Join the Air Force. They're always looking for new recruits! Yes, we are a military family living the military dream. Currently we are stationed in a small province of Tokyo, Japan. However, in November of 2015 we are uprooting our family to Germany.

These last few years in Japan have been amazing and I can't wait to share my experiences that I have had here with you. I also can't wait to share our next big adventure with you as well. It will be so wonderful sharing everything that I learn in Germany and the surrounding countries with you, new friend. 

Over the last three years my husband and I have adopted two crazy labs. Bo, is our oldest and most well behaved member of our furbabies. He's actually a mix that my father adopted for me back in Texas from our local animal shelter. He was this scrawny five month old border collie/lab mix puppy that just wanted to hide in my hair. But now he's a very well behaved three year old who loves carrot/ peanut butter dog treats and snuggle time.

Our youngest furbaby and newest house hold addition is our pure bred chocolate lab O'Hana. Her name is Hawaiian for "Family" and sometimes I glad she's named that. I always need a good reminder that she is, in fact,"family" and I can't just leave her at the fire station. Still being a young puppy and adopting her here in Japan, O'Hana has been... well very much like Marley from Marley and Me. She's slowly turning in to a very well behaved dog. But it's sure is taking some time! She loves digging into water (no idea why water) and eating everything she can get her mouth on. Especially my husbands work socks (GROSS). But we love her obnoxious self all the same.

Just so you know friend, I love to cook. I LOVE it. It's the kind of art that can leave a lasting impression on some one for years. Food, with it's sultry beauty, can leave a person in so many different states of self. When I was younger my Grandmother used to make the best spaghetti sauce. The kind that would cook all day and make the house smell like bay leaves and love. Now, twenty years later, whenever I smell bay leaves or her spaghetti sauce I am immediately taken back to those childhood days spent running around her house. 

Food is a reminder of happier and joyful times. Food is a comfortable embrace that is always waiting for you. I love food. That is why I write, post and create food to share with all of you! At the end of the day, food, will always be there for you.

I also, seriously enjoy trying out Pinterest recipes, and seeing if they really work or if there is something about it that can be changed. Because sometimes I don't need THAT much cream in my pasta when Greek Yogurt will work just as well. If you want to check out my pinterest recipes that I have tried and that do work, check out my pinterest page here. Now, dear friend of mine, if you have tried something different than what I or the other blogger did please let us all know! I love feed back and always want to know your thoughts.

Just as a reminder this blog is in general a place for me to collect my experiences. Either it be by traveling the world and trying out new recipes.  Sometimes this blog will be about trying to become a healthier me, sometimes it might be about my family or my dogs. This blog is about my crazy, crazy wonderful life. I can't WAIT to share my adventure with you friend!

 

You can check out her blog here.