I’m not usually a proponent of using box mixes. It’s often just as easy to mix up the ingredients yourself and skip the shelf stabilizers and other weird chemicals. But sometimes, life intervenes. You need a hack. You need chocolate funfetti cupcakes fast.
Okay, faux croissants, but so simple and easy to make and so rich and chocolaty that unless you’re living in Paris, you probably will forgive the nomenclature miscue because you are too buys chewing these rich, decadent breakfast (or really anytime) treats. Using store bough puff pastry dough (really, who makes there own at home?!), whatever chocolate you have in the pantry, and a little egg wash, you can have these from fridge to table almost in the time that it takes to brew a fresh pot of coffee.
One thing that I really had to work on during homeschooling this spring and now, into the summer, is making sure I didn’t completely slip into a habit of constant negative feedback for the girls. We are around each other so much that if I stopped and recorded our ‘conversations’ they would mostly consist of me saying things like: Stop doing that. Don’t touch this. Turn off Netflix. Vacuum up the unicorn sprinkles. No. No. No.
The negativity comes from a good and well-meaning place (here is where Ce would roll her eyes). I want to keep them safe. I want to show them how to be better. I really want a clean floor.
But I realize the constant barrage can eventually flood their feedback systems and come out not as encouragement but nitpicking criticism. For all my good intentions, that is not the way to have a healthy relationship with kids.
So this Saturday, with Michelle away most of the day, I challenged myself to be more positive. Let the little things go. Find some Jedi ways to say “Yes” even when I really mean “No.” I needed to engage with the slime rather than try to hold it at arm’s length.
I still insisted on sweeping the floor. If you give glitter one inch….
Such a no-brainer idea. Why make a bunch of small, insignificant individual chocolate chip cookies when you can make one giant, warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie pie? Warning: it’s probably best to make this with other people around. I am not liable if you eat the whole pie yourself.
If you want to make it even more decadent, you could add some frosting.
Easier than a cake. Easier than a pie. It’s a cookie. In a pie dish.
I was in a hurry and knew it was risky but did it anyway. What happened? Grainy ganache. The cardinal sin of frosting!
Would the brownies taste good without the frosting? Sure. Would they be decadent and delicious? Perhaps. But they certainly wouldn’t be quite as luxuriously self-indulgent.
Could I throw out an entire batch of ganache? Hell no.
Quick and easy might also describe how fast this cake disappeared in my house!
Yesterday was Michelle’s birthday and after the excess of Easter, including a decadent three-layer carrot cake, she claimed she didn’t want any cake on her birthday. There was no way I was going to let that stand. Life is too short not to eat cake on your birthday.
But I could see her point, too. I definitely like my desserts, almost as much as the kids, but sometimes a little can go a long way. Thank you, Dessert for Two for introducing me to the world of mini cakes last year.
For a family of four, a mini cake is the perfect thing for a mid-week celebration where prep time might be short or for keeping that celebratory pomp and circumstance but without being left with an entire cake to eat.
Just a short post as we traveled the last few days for my Grandmother’s funeral.
No matter how you get through it, it is a draining day. I feel like one of Allison’s bun bun’s that gets tossed in every bag and car and goes unwashed for a week.
Kids can be the most wonderful distraction and reminder that it’s all a circle of love on days like yesterday.
