Waterfalls and Chocolate.

So yesterday was my last day of working for the summer.  I'm shipping off the the old shewl house once more very soon.

PLEASE tell me you understood the Megamind reference.
[via moviecitynews]

Anywho, being the baker/culinary extraordinaire that I am, I felt the need to end my summer job on a high note.

And I can say with complete confidence that I achieved this goal.


Why?  Because I literally made some of the best cupcakes I have ever made.  And let me tell you, I've made a fair amount of cupcakes in my life.  So to even have the confidence of saying this, you need to know that they're good.

I made flourless chocolate cupcakes.  Now these in itself set people off because they're just so damn good.  BUT NO.

I had to push the envelope and go that extra mile.  I frosted those bad boys with peanut butter mousse frosting.

Sweet baby Jesus.

These cupcakes are completely gluten free and taste incredible.  I can't even stress this enough.  Ladies - if you're looking for a man to propose to you, then make these cupcakes.  Ladies - if you're looking for a lady to propose to you, then make these cupcakes.  Men - if you're looking for a lady to propose to you, then make these cupcakes.  Men - if you're looking for a man to propose to you, then make these cupcakes.  Because these will seal the deal.  Seal it with metaphorical superglue.

You know those desserts that you just NEED to drink, nay, CHUG lots of milk?  Well plan on having it ready by the gallonful.  You'll need it.

So the cupcake recipe is from here.  I just turned it into cupcakes.  The peanut butter was my own brainchild.  Mmm.

Heat up some chocolate and butter until they're melted into a chocolate wonder soup.

In a bowl.

 Melty melty melt melt.

Melty melty melt melt melt melt melt.

 Melty melty melty melty melty melt melt melt melt melt melt.

Melted! While everything's still hot, pour it on top of granulated sugar so the sugar dissolves.  Whisk it really fast.  Beat eggs in, one at a time.  By this time, the cake batter should look like something out of a sewage treatment plant.  I mean, it's going to be bubbly from vigorous whisking and brown from the chocolate.  Listen, it's already been a long day.  Just let it slide.

Toss in some vanilla for good extract and sift cocoa powder into the swampy mess.

Stir promptly.

Once that's all good then pop the batter into little muffin cups.  Preferably assorted colors.  Zoo animals are better.

Oh baby.

Place those little gems in the oven at 375 degrees until they're fully cooked.  To my surprise, the cupcakes actually rise a good amount.  It was unexpected because there is no leavening agent...except magic.  Obviously it was my magic that made them rise.

While the cake's in the oven, take this time to whip up your frosting.  Now I made WAY TOO MUCH.  At least half of it was left in the bowl afterwards.  So I'm going to cut my recipe in half.  This frosts about 2.5 dozen cuppy-cakes.

Take 1 cup of peanut butter and 1 brick of cream cheese and mix them together.  Please soften the cream cheese.  It will make your life a BILLION times easier.

I promise it tastes good despite.

Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar (sifted) and 1 tbsp of vanilla. 

Now here's where it gets weird.  At this point, you basically have peanut butter pie filling.  So it's pretty damn delicious on it's own.  But add in 1 tub of Cool Whip, and this pie filling suddenly turns into a mousse-y dream cloud of peanut butter magic.

I wish I was kidding.  But out of nowhere, it because whipped.  And it wasn't my folding, because folding in ingredients does nothing.  It was the Cool Whip.

Cool Hwhip.
[via tumblr]

So yeah, stir in a tub of the stuff and prepare for what you're about to see.

So once it's thoroughly mixed, put it in a ghetto pastry bag and frost the cupcakes that should be cooling at this point.

Your kitchen should smell incredible.  You should feel so proud you made something worthy of the gods.

I don't even think the gods deserve these.  But I brought them to work on my last day.  People bit into them and I saw eyes roll into the backs of heads.  One of my coworkers proposed to me.  I heard a few moans.  It was actually ridiculous.  But I got the same reaction out of everyone - that those cupcakes were one of the best, if not the absolute best they've ever had.

And that made my heart feel all fuzzy.  I love it when people love to eat my food.  It makes me feel accomplished.  It makes me feel so happy.

It makes me a Giddy Kitty.
[via thepqnation]

Which brings me to the "waterfall" portion of this blog post.

Kids, let me tell you one of my dreams.  All my life, I wanted someone to send me an Edible Arrangement.  They're just awesome and they're pretty expensive, so I expected that it would be something my future spouse would get me for my birthday or something.

One of my dreams.
[via ediblearrangements]

One of my dreams came true.  And it's a small dream, but one nonetheless.  I can't begin to say why I started crying.  But I have a pretty good idea.

I think it's because I tell everyone I know at some point that I would love to get an Edible Arrangement.  EVERYONE.  I remember telling everyone at work, naturally.  I love to do things for people.  In fact, I go out of the way to make sure that everyone is happy.  Before myself.  I think of everyone before I become a thought.

So the fact that people listened to me, and cared enough to get me something that I've wanted for as long as I can remember was really touching.  It was more than fruit, this Edible Arrangement was.  It was the caring thought behind it.  It was showing me that, yes, people do think about you.

And let me tell you, it feels pretty effing great to know that people think about you.  So I guess that's why I cried.  It caught me completely off guard.  And of course, everyone whipped out their phones once I started crying.  There are at least five videos of me crying over an Edible Arrangement.

I'll never hear the end of this.  But I don't mind.  It just reminds me that I'm loved...at least by someone other than Gary.  He's got my back forever.  All in all, it was a pretty nice ending to my summer of working.  It's nice to leave for a while, but I made a lot of slammin' memories at that damn rental agency.

So to any coworkers that read this, thanks for not making my summer not suck too much.  You're pretty cool in my book.