Since Fall is about to fall upon us, (see what I did there), I wanted something fallish in the oven. Randy had requested a pecan pie so I looked up the Pioneer woman’s recipe and it looked wonderful so I made that for him and then decided to whip up these wonderful little spice cupcakes to take to some sweet ladies who work ever so hard at trying to make even us oldies look pretty snazzy. So a shout out to Apple Blvd for the fun I have watching them model cute clothes while Randy watches football! And of course, I do hope that Apple Blvd will come to my rescue by letting me sleep in their parking lot in my car when Randy kicks me out from buying too many clothes !

1 box Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix

1 small box french vanilla instant pudding mix

4 large eggs at room temperature

1/3 cup veggie oil and 1 cup water

Mix all ingredients together and beat for 2 min. Using large cookie scoop, divide batter into 24 cupcake liners. Bake in preheated 350 oven until a little shine is left in the lines on top of cupcakes. I always take them out before that shine is gone so they aren’t dry. Cool completely and frost with Praline frosting

In a medium size saucepan, melt 1 stick unsalted butter (8 oz) with 1 cup of light brown sugar and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream or milk! Stir until brown sugar is dissolved and butter is melted.

Boil for 1 min. Pour mixture over 3 cups of powdered sugar. Beat until smooth! You might have to add more milk or more powdered sugar depending on how thick or thin frosting is. Add 1 teas vanilla. When Cupcakes are cool, frost with frosting and top with sprinkles of your choice!

I’m not saying I’m a true blonde and I’m not saying I’m not! AND….I’m not saying that covid made me do it and I’m not saying it didn’t! We have all heard of some folks having a little “mind fog” after having Covid! And we have also heard our fair share of blonde jokes! All I can say is this; Randy and I are running out of cities and neighborhoods to move to after these most embarrassing moments! Bless Randys heart, he has had his fair share of these situations but they were mostly of his own doing! Mine, well, let’s just say that mine, for the most part, tend to come because I tend to look at life thru rose colored glasses! And when I hear certain words like party, celebration, fellowships, weddings, birthdays and grand openings, all I can think about is fun fun fun and food food food!!!!

Yesterday was one memory that will go down in my book of “need to move NOW” situations as much as when we moved after me doing a spread eagle with a grocery cart at Kroger! I know y’all probably thought we moved to California due to Randys job but we had to get away from TX quickly when that happened! My kids told me it was a shame that I hadnt had that move on video as it would have won us a lot of money on AFV! But moving forward to this past weekend….we have been hearing our Pastor preach lately about Jesus telling us that we are to be salt and

Light in this ole world and to be looking for opportunities to share Christ with people who might need some encouragement or hope! Well, I saw an opportunity yesterday when we were leaving the house and waved to our neighbor who lives behind us! He was outside across from our driveway putting something in his truck so I told Randy to back up and let me run back inside the house to get some gingerbread biscotti I had made to give to he and his wife! So Randy backs up the car and I proceed to walk over to hand him the bag of biscotti and tell him I hope he and his wife enjoy it. He then begins to thank me and tell me that they are headed out to a “Celebration of Life” for his wife’s mom! As I hand over the biscotti I, well the conversation went like this: Trudy—“oh how fun. Please tell Patti’s mom I said Happy birthday for me and after y’all get home from the party having all the neat celebration food, you can sit down and relax and have a piece of biscotti!” Dewayne—“thank you so much for the biscotti. I’ll tell JEN, you brought this over!” Well, I walked away to get in the car so proud of my good deed when Randy looks over at me and says, (yes he had had the car window down and heard what I had said)

“You just told him to wish his dead mother in law a happy birthday! Do you realize a celebration of life is for people who are dead? They aren’t having a birthday party for her!”

As we drove away I told Randy to now back up because I had to go back and apologize! So we did back up and Dewayne came over to the car! Randy once again rolls his window down and I lean over and begin to apologize and tell him how sorry I am for not realizing what a Celebration of Life was! Randy begins to tell our neighbor that I am blonde and these things happen al the time! Dwayne began to laugh and tell me that his MIL had indeed died in July but because of Covid the Celebration was just being held! I also realized that when he kept talking about his wife “Jen” I had called her by the wrong name before! So the moral to my story is this: when you are trying to be a good neighbor and be salt to people around you, maybe call Jake from State Farm to get some tips beforehand! And learn today’s lingo before opening your mouth! It will save you from having to move so often like we do!

Last week when I was just beginning to get my taste back after not being able to taste even the strongest flavors for over a week, I wanted to taste chocolate. As I looked for something new, I came across this recipe that made a 8×8 pan and sounded so good with not only cocoa in it but 6 oz of chocolate chips. So hurried to get the ingredients out and went to work! This recipe is such a great one to make if you are in a hurry and know that you have to have an ooey gooey brownie in the next hour or you won’t be able to live to see the temps go down in a month or so!
6 oz of unsalted butter

6 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teas baking powder

1/4 teas salt

2 eggs at room temp ( unless you just can’t stand to wait to make them then go on and take a chance at using them right out of fridge, I did that night and lived to tell about it!)

2 teas vanilla (yes I am still recommending the clear mexico vanilla).
1 cup granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8” baking pan with parchment paper (I Didnt do that, I just sprayed my pan with Pam with flour) But if you use the paper, spray it with cooking spray.

in a heatproof bowl, melt the butter, cocoa and chocolate chips together over a pan of hot water or in microwave. Stir until combined and cooked a bit.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl combine the eggs with the sugar and vanilla. Beat until color is pale yellow for egg yolks, about 3-4 minutes. Mix in the cooled chocolate mixture and then add the flour mixture. Stir until combined.

scrape mixture with spatula into prepared baking pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes! I baked mine about 23 minutes but check after 20 minutes as ovens vary! You want them done but still a little gooey so when a few crumbs still stick to inserted knife in center when checking for doneness, take them out. They will still continue to bake even after you remove them from oven. We had a bowl with some Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream on top. Ah….we will be able to live to see the Fall temps arrive after all! I would add a picture but ate them up so fast I guess I’ll have to make them again to take a picture!

oh. I forgot. I sprinkled some chopped pecans over the top before baking. Yum….