Sunday afternoon Baking

I love Sunday afternoons. They are just perfect dog dangling hours where nothing is expected of you until it is time to conjure up dinner. I usually spend the afternoon giving one room a real thorough cleaning while the kids do their best to destroy any of the other rooms. Then I get my apron on and hit the baking! I usually have an idea of what I am going to bake in advance, but sometimes I will just pick up a book and leaf through it until inspiration hits. Of late, cupcakes seem to be my thing. I like using them to practice my decorating - I need the practice believe me! Today we have Lemon Cheesecake cupcakes on the menu.

I have a very bad Barnes & Noble habit which is not helped by my son loving that store too. He begs to go there which I would like to believe is because I have fostered a love of reading in him. Of course, the reality is that they have a large Thomas train table there and he can spend the better part of an hour having a gay old time. I just get my fill of British magazines and watch him from the comfort of a chair! Anyway, I always end up purchasing him at least one book and I have to pass the bargain books to get to the checkout. Usually there is a pretty picture of a baked good that lures me into the sucker purchase. Most of these purchases bear not much in the way of good recipes, but my last purchase promises perhaps a little more. I was taken by the pretty cupcake festooned in its fancy floral decorations. Inside more pretty things were to follow and I decided that the lemon cheesecake cupcakes deserved first shot. I love lemon, husband loves lemon and we all love cheesecake. So here we go!! I made them in the jumbo or Texas size pan so it produces only 6. They were a little floppy when I tried to take them out of the pan but that was mainly because I could not wait the two hours that I was told to wait. Besides having a little sway to their sides, they tasted divine. Make again worthy for sure!!

While I was waiting for the cheesecakes to bake, I picked up a Martha recipe that had been sitting on top of my fridge. I guess I printed it out last week. So as it required no more than a little chocolate chopping and some microwave melting, I made my husband some peanut butter cups - his favorite. I cannot vouch for their taste as they are not something I would eat - not a combo I get on board with! Eric gave them a resounding thumbs up though so there you go.

So a productive Sunday afternoon for me and also a relaxing one. There is just something so calming about baking and cleaning and seeing the house shine that makes me happy. I guess I am really a frustrated 1950's housewife - and that is okay!!