Happy 9th Birthday to PandaGirl!

PandaGirl turns 9 years old today.  Very fun day planned with her grandparents coming up to get her out of school and take her to Pei* Wei* Chinese bistro for lunch. How fun is that?! However, last night she had 101 fever and puked her guts up.

Nooooo......not on her birthday!! Especially the first year that she is NOT having a big birthday bash.  Especially in the year where she's seen PandaJOY get gobs of gifts for her shower and birthday that happened in the summer. Boo.  That is yucky.  Well, we are keeping her home and hopefully she'll be all better today so that tomorrow her good friend can come over as planned for a fun-filled sleepover and shopping trip on Saturday for a new purse.

As for these cupcakes that I made upon request yesterday, I wanted to share THE BEST and I do mean the scrumdillyumptious best buttercream frosting recipe that I got from LMM.  I told you I have no original thought......only borrowed ones.  That's what the internet basically is, right?  Just a gazillion borrowed ideas.  Well, LMM is one of my favs and I copy her stuff a lot.  It makes me smile.

This recipe is a hybrid from LMM's Oreo* cupcakes where the cookie is in the vanilla cake batter.  This time PG requested chocolate cupcakes with just the cookie infused frosting.  Be prepared to gasp when you see how much butter is involved.

Before I give out the goods I must say that I cannot stand that cool-whippy kind of frosting on a cake.  Gaggity-gag-gag-gag. I'd rather not eat the cake, which is saying I have an enormous amount of disgust, than to eat the fake cool-whipped icing. Bleh.

When I made this frosting back in the summer when trying LMM's recipe, I think I may have fallen down in the kitchen floor after tasting it.  It was my favorite kind of frosting.  Super, uber rich and creamy sweet, sweet, sweet.

OK.....recipe:

Beat 4 1/2 sticks butter (room temperature......I nuke mine in the microwave for a minute at power 30% or 40%......you do not want it melted, just soft) and 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar (that's powdered sugar!!) until pale and fluffy. ("That unicorn's so FLUFFY....I'm gonna DIE!!!!".....do you know what kid movie this is from?  I squeal that line a lot. And giggle. The little girl sounds JUST like me when I see something that tickles my fancy).

Gradually add an additional 5 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Add 1 1/2 Tablespoon milk
Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat until pale and fluffy (I'm gonna DIE!!)

Now for adding the crushed cookies or any other flavoring you just fold it in and enjoy.

What crushed cookies? Oh yeah, the oreos* that were crushed in a little bag.  I had a little bitty helper get mine all crushed up.  She so wanted to lick the frosting off the beaters, but I made her wait until PG got home from school where I, mother of the year, had saved two beaters filled with frosting of the year.  The children squealed in delight.  I was happy, for a moment.

I think I might have crushed up about 12 cookies and only used HALF of the frosting base.  The rest is in the fridge awaiting something new and wonderful to cover.

Did you notice how much butter you use? Yes, that IS a lot, but it takes all of it.  Also for a fun treat, remember to put a full size Oreo* in the bottom of the cupcake liner.  Makes for a surprise when biting into the cupcake.

As I type this PandaGirl has since come downstairs, fever free and just fine.  She is excited that she doesn't have to go to school....on her birthday.  This kid blows my mind with her gag reflex.  I really need to take her to the doctor.  She has some kind of funky something that happens where she'll starting coughing in a certain way and then.....woops.....trash can, please.  Apparently, that is what happened last night.  She has never been able to take medicine very well.  Last night she was hot and has a hurt back so I gave her children's Tylenol* melt-aways.  She started her usual gagging, which sometimes I have no sympathy for and want her to just "get over it", but then comes the pukity-puke and I feel sorry for her.  She is just fine and looks like we'll be having the fun sleepover after all.

Oh, and just to keep it all real so that you sweet voyers that never comment will know that my blog is not just all the great pictures and that my life is not perfect by any stretch..... 

Check out the non-martha-stewart move that I did when placing the lid on the cake plate. Yeah. I rock.