I wish that I could take credit for these ridiculously cute, ingenious bites of pumpkin pie goodness.  I can’t, but I can give credit to the brilliant Bakerella who is the creator of these too-cute-for-words mini-bites of deliciousness. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? If you don’t know Bakerella yet, consider this your official introduction.  Did I mention that Bakerella was the creator of the now-omnipresent cake pops?  Oh yeah, she’s that good.

Starting a new job (and tackling a 90 degree learning curve) has left me exhausted and totally out of time for cooking, baking, blogging and all things fun.  Luckily, this crazy-simple recipe takes almost zero brain power.  I’m fairly certain I wasn’t even paying attention when I made these little guys and they still came out perfectly!  I added some allspice, cloves and ginger to give the filling some extra zest.  I suspect that these will become a quick standby at holiday parties and potlucks.  Next time I’m going to serve these beauties with a little dollop of whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon. Come on, how can you resist that level of cuteness!

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What makes a cupcake a cupcake?  Is it merely a muffin with frosting?  Or it is a small cake topped with an oppressive amount of sugary buttercream frosting?  To each, his own definition, I suppose.  Your opinion of these cupcakes will depend entirely on your personal definition of what the essence of a cupcake should be.

These cupcakes fall closer to the frosted muffin end of the spectrum.  They are mildly sweet, flavored with toasted sesame seeds, dense and crumbly.  Where you would normally find mountains of powdered sugar-laced buttercream, there is a zippy white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  With no added sugar, the frosting is tangy, mildly sweet and a pleasant companion to, what I’ve determined is the Perfect Breakfast Cupcake.

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Ice cream sandwiches are the pinnacle of summer food.  They evoke images of hot, sticky afternoons spent lounging outside in the company of good friends without a care in the world.  Obviously, some incarnation of these summer goodies needed to make an appearance at my Mini-Urban Cookout.

The outside of an ice cream sandwich needs to have a little crunch to it, in my opinion.  It needs some strength to hold up to all the soft ice cream in the middle.  While a brownie would taste divine, it may become overly mushy when sandwiched against ice cream.  To get the best of both worlds, the flavor of a brownie with the staying power of a cookie, I pulled out an old favorite recipe for brownie roll-out cookies.

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Brownie bites generally fall into one of two categories: (1) dry and cakey or (2) fudgy and mushy.  Bleh.  Rarely do you come across a brownie bite that manages to retain all the best elements of the brownie’s larger, full-sized self: a crisp outer crust with a warm, gooey center.  When I set about finding a recipe that would live up to this dream, I went straight for the Big Book.

Having read some mixed reviews of the actual recipe for brownie bites, I decided to experiment with the infamous Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies.  The story has it that Katharine Hepburn’s rules to live by were (1) Never quit; (2) Be yourself; and (3) Never put too much flour in your brownies.  Well, ok then.  If it works for Katharine Hepburn, then it’s good enough for me!

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Pretend that your favorite boutique cupcake bakery is located halfway across the country.  Pretend that despite this geographic divide you are a loyal subscriber of their email list which constantly updates you of their new seasonal cupcake offerings.  This, of course, leaves your mouth watering for key-lime pie or Irish cream cupcakes that you simply can’t get your grubby little hands on without boarding a plane.

Then they send out the announcement for their limited edition cherry cupcakes.  Gasp!  Oh good lord!  The craving overtakes you.  Rational thinking ceases to exist.  Suddenly you must find a way to make cherry cupcakes.  You know that they will likely pale in comparison, but you simply must have something cherry-flavored in the form of a cupcake.  Immediately.

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When I see chocolate and peanut butter paired together I immediately start humming “We Go Together” from the classic movie/musical Grease.  Aren’t they simply the most perfect flavor duo?  They would clearly be voted the Prom King and Queen of the dessert world.  We go to-ge-ther like shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yipitty boom de boom … !

Oh lovely friends, how I’ve missed you!  I am happy to report that I took The Exam and came out alive.  I can now return to my regularly scheduled life.  I’m sure you are all relieved.  I imagine you were all just waiting at your keyboards with bated breath for my triumphant return.  Wait … you weren’t?  Aw shucks, well … a girl can dream, right?  Anyway, to make up for my absence, I give you this moist, tender tribute to the eternal Cool Kids of the sugar kingdom … Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.

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Sometimes you feel like a nut … sometimes you don’t!  Doesn’t that little jingle bring up images of sweet coconut drenched in chocolate?  I’ve been on a bit of a candy-inspired baking binge lately, and these little guys are no exception!  These coconut macaroons taste just like an Almond Joy.  Seriously.  Just like it!  Except perhaps, with a slightly more gourmet twist.  Plus, if you don’t feel like a nut, you can leave the almonds out and suddenly it a Mounds bar macaroon!

The beautiful thing about these macaroons is how simple they are.  Toast up some coconut and almonds.  Mix in some sweetened condensed milk.  Fold in some whipped egg whites.  Bake.  Drizzle with ridiculous amounts of melted chocolate.  That could be the entire recipe!  I did you the favor of providing slightly more specific instructions below, but you probably won’t need them.

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