Cupcakes and Cocktails

Hi!

Well, as per usual, this post is almost too after the fact for it to be worth it but, I made that silly promise to myself so, here it goes!

I had a premonition last week. I'm sure that I'm using that word wrong because people don't normally have premonition about cupcakes, do they? I guess, if you're a dessert loving foodie, you probably do!

Anyway, because my boyfriend was going to be working last Thursday and I was going to be alone (which would have been simply terrible- being alone makes me depressed and moody!) I decided it would be brilliant to have a little girls evening with my sister. What makes this a premonition? Well, I haven't gotten to that part yet!!

Drum roll please!!!


Image this-- sweet, buttery cupcakes, matched perfectly to a girlish cocktail! oh, my goodness!!

I can't actually take all the credit for this idea. I actually signed up for a Thirsty Thursday newsletter. That's when the idea hit me; I would match a recipe from the newsletter to a cupcake recipe! Well, that's all well and good if the newsletter actually comes, which it didn't. Not to happy with Cooking Channel right now.

So then it was up to me. BTWs, I know nothing about mixing cocktails. I don't even drink that often because I'm such a super lightweight that I would barely enjoy it before I fell into a tipsy rant about oh, I don't know how freaking HOT the apartment is.

So yea, I was pretty sad that my whole cute idea was about to be spoiled because I didn't get an inspirational newsletter. Silly ,silly me. The Internet is one giant inspiration vacuum! I'm even on Pinterest for heavens sake! So I off I went into the wilds of the Internet hoping something yummy would just jump out at me!

What I found was Skinny Girl Vodka. That means lo-cal liquor to compliment my hi-cal cupcakes (if that's not a match made in heaven, I don't know what is!). AND! They have recipes right there on the site! The one I decided on kinda depended on what I already had in my kitchen. I ended up going with the tangerine flavored vodka and a drink they called they pom-tangerine (mostly because I have some crystal light cherry pomegranate in my cupboard). To match, I decided we'd go with a citrus theme and do lemon cupcakes!

The Pom-Tangerine

No, it doesn't have Blue Moon in it. That's just the only clear glass I own... (I'm actually pretty proud of that glass. It was a prize from some party Mellow Mushroom had in Athens last year.) Sorry about the picture quality, it was night-time in my apartment (aka the lighting was dodgy) and I took it with my smartphone. Oops! All in all, it was pretty good. The first time I made it though, I put in wayy too much of the sparking water. I know because that's about all it tasted like. The second time was much better though! As for the vodka itself- we sampled that too (you know for research purposes...) It was pretty good. That doesn't make me that comfortable however, knowing that I spent $22 on it and it was only "pretty good." It wasn't overwhelmingly tangerine-y but it wasn't as full and smooth as I expected a $22 bottle of vodka to be. I guess the "you get what you paid for" saying still rings true because I did pay for a low calorie, flavored vodka; so with that in mind, I guess it would have to be a little bit pricey. And I guess that explains why it wasn't full-bodied; it was full calorie-d.

So on to the cupcakes!

I'm sure you can tell, they are pretty different. Like, I didn't even decorate them the same! I thought (and I don't think you can tell this from the picture) that the recipe had a glaze below the frosting- it didn't. And I couldn't find lemon-shaped hard candies at the store, anywhere! So I improvised. :) What I ended up with was blue and yellow sprinkles and orange lifesavers. Tipsy Girls Approved! And, no worries, all the left overs were pretty good too! 

Till next time!