Thursday, April 05, 2007

Making low-fat cupcakes low-fatter, by mistake


The following is a reenactment from inside Laini's brain:

Huh. That's funny. I wonder why my cupcake batter is so thick. That can't be right.

Let me check the recipe. Mm hm. Mm hm. Eggs, got em. Yeah, oil. Check. Hm. I did everything right. Why then is the batter like cement?

Huh. What should I do? Ooh -- I know. I'll put some peach sauce in! (You know, like apple sauce but with-- yeah.) There, that's better. Plus, peace sauce is yummy. Think I'll eat a few spoonfuls out of the jar. Mm.

Okay, time to spoon these into the cupcake papers, better clear off the counter. Wait. What's this? Why is the vegetable oil still in the measuring cup? Hm. That explains things. But. . . I just put all that peach sauce in the batter. Hm. Well, I guess these low-fat cupcakes are about to be low-fatter. Hope they set.


And they did set. And they're good. And this has been a lesson that oil is not really necessary in baking. From now on, every time I bake, I am substituting peach sauce for the oil or butter. Okay, not really, but this was a happy accident! These, incidentally, are carrot cupcakes, now: carrot peach cupcakes, with ginger-fat-free-cream cheese frosting, topped with candied ginger. Yum! We're having early Easter tonight, because my parents are going out of town this weekend. You know what's fun about holidays, even while being kind of a pain? Loading up the car with all kinds of good stuff to take to your parents house, or wherever the holiday is occurring.

When we drove our two-seater pickup, I'd have to get in, and Jim would have to kind of tuck everything in around me: tureens of soup, good wine bought while traveling and saved for a special occasion; a cake on a glass stand, cradled lovingly over bumps in the road; bags of presents or stockings already stuffed and ready to be hung by the chimney; boquets of flowers; Easter baskets with handmade cashmere stuffed animals in them; loaves of fresh bread that smells like rosemary; little jars of this and that; dishes to return from the last time Mom stopped by with a cobbler or Papa with his mulligatawny soup; books they'll like; etcetera. And then getting there and having to be extricated from the truck and make lots of trips inside with arms full of food and presents and flowers. It's nice.

P.S. Here are the tulips Jim brought me yesterday. Sweetie.

14 comments:

Jeremy Lavine said...

The only thing I can think of why your batter was like cement at first is because you unknownly used the same ingredients you find in a Twinkie.

Judy Wise said...

Yum, the cupcakes look delicious and all the talk about food made me hungry!

Deirdre said...

Ummm...would you be interested in adopting a sister? Because I really, really want to be part of a family that celebrates holidays like this. Oh, the cupcakes look and sound delicious too.

Anonymous said...

I was sitting here thinking that I should do something for Easter, in a Muslim country with an Atheist boyfriend it seems a little bit challenging, but maybe I can make some hot-cross cupcakes at the very least?

x

Amber Lough said...

YUM!

Alex S said...

Those cupcakes were extremely tasty!!! Good going Fattyrump! It doesn't get much better than sitting back eating cupcakes watching a new episode of The Office.. BTW, are you coming to my baptism? After this fun Easter I am converting so contact me for further details...

Anonymous said...

I've had a week full of those forgetful kind of moments - but none of them turned out as deliciously as yours did. Peach sauce - what a great idea! Sounds yummy. Have a happy Easter weekend, Laini!

Amber said...

Sounds yummy to me! And Fun. All the packing you in with the stuff. ;)

The tulips are purty.

:)

wendy said...

Hi!
I've been participaing in SS off and on..So we have (kina) met. I stopped by Deirdre's blog to wish her a happy anniversary...She mentioned you and SS and your "ladies"..I clicked and had an out of body experience.. See, I bought 5 of your ladies in Grapevine Texas about 2 months ago. I bought them to thank the two hosts of a clinic I had attended..(the quote about the impossible by Edison) and 2 for my daughters and 1 for me...Heres the thing.. I had no idea that YOU were YOU...I just loved the ladies. Deirdre helped me finally make the connection! I love kismet. Thanks for SS..and the Ladies..

Maryam in Marrakesh said...

But where does one even buy peach sauce? I have never even heard of it know.

PS So impressed by your book deals. Wowza! How did you do that? Is there a blog entry on that?

Anonymous said...

Maybe you was preparing to close to a bag of concrete. I think this happened to my grandma last weekend, because her famous chocolate chip cookies were extra hard.

At first I thought mom brought the cookies, but when I felt whiskers in my mouth, I knew they was from grandma. As soon as I realized this I ran outside to spit them out, not noticing grandma was sitting in a lawn chair, getting that hairy too!

Grandma then looked at me funny, so I ate the other cookie in my hand out of respect. But when I chipped a tooth, I spat it out, then ran for my life!

Later that day a dentist fixed my tooth after removing several whiskers. He then asked me with a beaver face "who made the cookies?" so I said our neighbors dog. Think I'll tell him the truth?

Maybe I'll buy grandma tulips to, besides a razor.

madelyn said...

Weird! I am making cupcakes right now!!!

Those are lovely!

Yes, my name is Madelyn!
(maddy)

hugs sweetie!

Claudia said...

I want to go to Alexandra´s baptism...I´ll be her God mother!

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

Hum, I wonder if apple sauce would do the same thing? I'll give it a try. It is always wonderful to pretend I am eating something healthy, and this will be a great excuse to make "healthy" cupcakes!