Mari LOVES Dr. Pepper. She is only allowed to have it if we dine out, so I think part of the reason she chose the recipe was that a bottle of her favorite soda was in the list of ingredients. But as we sat down to make a shopping list, I started wondering how much she would really like these cupcakes. Prunes and dried cherries? Ginger, allspice, and cardamom?
Mari's mind was set, so off to Publix we went. Who knew a jar of Spice Islands Cardamom is $10 bucks? Island life. I set everything on the counter near my key lime green Kitchen Aid mixer to wait for our baking adventure.
At maybe 6:30 Sunday morning, Mari burst in my bedroom with 'HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY CAN WE MAKE THE DR PEPPER CUPCAKES NOW????" No, after some breakfast and church, sweetie.
To make a very long story short (or at least shorter) these cupcakes were one of the most labor intensive recipes I've made in a long while, and Mari took one bite of the finished product and suggested we share them 'with others.' John said he liked them, but I notice there are still 17 of the 18 made in the refrigerator. I thought they were fine....more like a British gingerbread or steamed pudding. Or something.
Maybe the whole situation was really a metaphor for life as a mother. We do a lot of things for the joy of our children, and that is what matters, even if we would like to be doing just about anything else at that moment. Baking (or cleaning or crafting or painting etc) with kids is so much messier than doing it yourself, but resisting the urge to say 'let me pour it' is worth getting the mop out later. And finally, it isn't about the end result. It's about the time spent doing something together. Which is what kids really want the most sometimes.
So. Who wants a Dr. Pepper cupcake? Only 17 left. :)
Loved your page in January key west weekly. Wish I could have gone to eat at Azurs!
ReplyDeleteLoved your page in January key west weekly. Wish I could have gone to eat at Azurs!
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