Unemployment (underemployment?) doesn’t suit me. I’m not great at sitting still. I’ve been working at a cool olde pub lately, but it closed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve got a few irons in the fire, but for the moment I’m home a lot with my boys and in an effort to stay sane, I’ve been baking a lot. Gluten-free, gluten-full, sweet, savory…I’m in!
Today was the End of Term fundraiser and performance at Young Sir’s school. The little darlings sang songs and did all the little hand motions (or not, in Young Sir’s case). I was again reminded that the English have an “Incy Wincy” Spider instead of the “Itsy Bitsy” one I grew up with. After the recital, we moved onto party games. There was a Tombola (I had to Google what that was), a raffle, a “Guess the weight of the Victoria sponge” competition, and the ever-important cake stall.
Despite my recent baking frenzy, I had no idea what I wanted to bring to sell. Friends had all sorts of suggestions, some I’d never heard of. I fully intended to make something that would use up the half-jar of homemade lime curd sitting in our fridge, but then decided to make something that would make my kid smile (I’m a total sucker for that smile). Enter: Cookie Monster Cupcakes!!
Now, Sesame Street isn’t really a thing here. We watch it on YouTube, but it’s not like good ol’ PBS at home. What we do have is The Furchester Hotel. It has Elmo, puppety song & dance numbers, and guest stars. Most importantly, it has Cookie Monster!
Unfortunately, these adorable cupcakes are not gluten free. The sponge base is accidentally vegan, but the buttercream and white chocolate buttons kind of cancel that out. In fact, I didn’t see much on the cake table today that was particularly allergen friendly despite there being a handful of allergy kids in the class. Next time there’s a bake sale, I think I’ll make a fun kiddie option that’s safe for everyone. Maybe Elmo-themed. Or Paw Patrol? Whaddya think?
P.S.- I brought 10 cupcakes to sell and they were long gone before I had a chance to buy one. Young Sir had a normal cupcake but wasn’t particularly pleased with the swap.
