Random Saturday blogging, with added cupcakes

Dear Internet: you are failing to amuse me.

I even got up and did all the dishes, hoping that there would be something to amuse me when I came back, and still bupkiss.

Okay, the dishes only took me 20 minutes, even though I'd neglected them for a couple of days. There's something to be said for having a limited number of dishes in the house. Also, the Newbury Comics pint glasses are kind of threatening to take over the cabinet.

eternaleponine has been steadily eating through the treats I brought home yesterday. As she was in a minor car accident yesterday, she's entitled, I think. No serious injuries, although some bruises from the seat belt and some neck soreness. No damage that renders her car undriveable, although she now has to live with a slightly bent hood unless she wants the insurance to declare her car totalled. Low speed, other guy at fault.

The treats? There was a party yesterday, so I brought home some extra mini cannoli, a cream puff, and a bunch of lemon tarts where the cookie cups were too uneven to put out in public. See, I don't much like the pre-made mini tart shells from Sysco. I've determined that if I roll out my (Cook's Illustrated) holiday butter cookie dough, cut circles, and center the circles on the cups of an INVERTED mini muffin tin, they will, in five minutes in the oven, drape themselves down over the cups and bake into crispy goodness. Then, once they've cooled, assuming you've sprayed enough pan spray on the bottom of the pan, you can pry them off and there you are, yummy little tart shells. And there's less breakage than if you try to put cookie dough on the INSIDE of the muffin cups. However, some of them WILL break, or drape unevenly.

I keep these irregulars on purpose so I can fill them and set them aside so my co-workers can scarf them up without screwing up the count of GOOD ones. And, of course, bring some home.

I filled them with misia's lemon curd, which I've been making a lot of lately, both for little lemon tarts for parties, and for lemon meringue cupcakes, as suggested in the Demolition Desserts book. This is in no small part because the base cupcake is a BUTTERMILK cupcake, and I have most of a case of buttermilk that I should use up, because Irish soda bread did not sell as fast as I had hoped it would, so I didn't go through the entire case making that.

The other suggestion in the book was for Boston Cream cupcakes -- instead of filling with lemon curd and topping with meringue, fill with pastry cream and top with chocolate glaze. These also have sold well. I just wish I could make everyone understand that PASTRY CREAM IS PERISHABLE, and that as enticing as a stack of cupcakes under a cake dome might look, they CANNOT sit out on the counter.

trowa_barton gave me another idea: mojito cupcakes. Flavor the base cupcake with mint, fill with lime curd, frost with a rum-flavored glaze. Of course, maybe I just want to make lime curd.

Maybe if I get bored enough I'll see about cooking up a batch of dulce de leche, and fill some cupcakes with that.

Anyone have more filled-cupcake suggestions for me to play with?