Easy Black Bottom Cupcakes

It's back to the salt mines today.  Ugh.  Fall break never seems to last long enough. 

I spent most of my fall break suffering from TMJ.  I'm sure going to the dentist/oral surgeon would be a smart move, but I can't even think about surgery right now.  This is the first bout of TMJ suffering I'm experiencing.  The Help told me it can take weeks to feel normal again.  It HAS been weeks for me, and the pain has traveled from the area of my ear to my lower jaw.  The pain seems to be getting better, but it has been a slow recovery process.

Having a sore jaw kinda put the damper on eating my favorite snack...potato chips.  I have a large Costco-size bag of Cape Cod chips just calling my name, but I need to hold off.  I did manage to eat regular Lay's potato chips without too much trouble, but Lay's (yellow bag) lacks the satisfying crunch of the Cape Cod chips.  I guess it's apparent why I have TMJ.

On Saturday afternoon, I asked The Help what did we do for the past week.  He said we did chores.  Maybe that's why I didn't want to think about it.  Doing chores suck.

I vaguely recall going to Kona sometime last week.  The trip, which would have been a high point, was marred by a stupid power outage due to a large tree falling on electrical wires.  It was the one day where I was craving Starbuck's lemon pound cake.  Unfortunately, I never got my pound cake because they were unable to ring the register at Starbuck's in Target.  It would have been nice to get my safety check (vehicle inspection) done too, but the car dealership's computer was down, which meant no safety check that day.  A dinner at Monstera would have been nice too, but D2 refused to come with us.  Going to Kona this past weekend was totally out of the question with the Ironman happening on Saturday.

I do clearly recall going to a football game.  The Viks notched another victory, and my thoughts about the worst behaved kids in east Hawaii were validated.  I'm thinking about calling the school and complaining to the principal about players and their girlfriends who created trouble by not abiding by stadium rules.  Several players lied, and one was foolish enough to give me his name, which I cross-referenced with the roster and asked another player.  The girlfriends were another story.  One wanted rules bent for her AND her friends.  While she seemed nice, one of her friends had a sassy attitude and a nasty mouth.  Apparently, she hasn't learned manners yet.  Of course, no rules were bent for them, and they stormed off. 

I couldn't help thinking that I was the idiot for spending my vacation dealing with pilau kids from another school!  That really IS dumb.

One bright spot about my vacation. . .my beloved Huskies upset the Trojans.  Yeah!!!

On my last day of vacation (yesterday), I decided to treat myself (and D2 and The Help) and make dessert so we could end our vacation on a sweet note.  I noticed a brick of cream cheese in the refrigerator, so instead of making plain devil's food cupcakes, I made these cream cheese-filled ones.  They are easy to make, and they don't need any frosting to taste like a million bucks.  If only I could've had a handful of crunchy Cape Cod chips with these. . .

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Easy Black Bottom Cupcakes

     8 oz cream cheese
     1/2 c sugar
     1 egg
     1 c chocolate chips
     1 box devil's food cake mix (preferably the non-pudding type)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan(s) with 20-24 paper liners.  Cream together cream cheese and sugar.  Add egg and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Set aside.  Prepare cake mix according to directions on box.  Fill each cup 1/2 full (a #20 disher works well) with cake batter.  Plop 1 tbsp (a #50 disher works well) of cream cheese mixture on batter in the center of each cup.  Top with more cake mix (#20 disher, half-full or #40 disher).  Bake 22 minutes (or whatever cake mix instructions give as baking time for cupcakes).  Remove from tins and cool completely on wire rack.

It's back to the salt mines today.  Ugh.  Fall break never seems to last long enough. 

I spent most of my fall break suffering from TMJ.  I'm sure going to the dentist/oral surgeon would be a smart move, but I can't even think about surgery right now.  This is the first bout of TMJ suffering I'm experiencing.  The Help told me it can take weeks to feel normal again.  It HAS been weeks for me, and the pain has traveled from the area of my ear to my lower jaw.  The pain seems to be getting better, but it has been a slow recovery process.

Having a sore jaw kinda put the damper on eating my favorite snack...potato chips.  I have a large Costco-size bag of Cape Cod chips just calling my name, but I need to hold off.  I did manage to eat regular Lay's potato chips without too much trouble, but Lay's (yellow bag) lacks the satisfying crunch of the Cape Cod chips.  I guess it's apparent why I have TMJ.

On Saturday afternoon, I asked The Help what did we do for the past week.  He said we did chores.  Maybe that's why I didn't want to think about it.  Doing chores suck.

I vaguely recall going to Kona sometime last week.  The trip, which would have been a high point, was marred by a stupid power outage due to a large tree falling on electrical wires.  It was the one day where I was craving Starbuck's lemon pound cake.  Unfortunately, I never got my pound cake because they were unable to ring the register at Starbuck's in Target.  It would have been nice to get my safety check (vehicle inspection) done too, but the car dealership's computer was down, which meant no safety check that day.  A dinner at Monstera would have been nice too, but D2 refused to come with us.  Going to Kona this past weekend was totally out of the question with the Ironman happening on Saturday.

I do clearly recall going to a football game.  The Viks notched another victory, and my thoughts about the worst behaved kids in east Hawaii were validated.  I'm thinking about calling the school and complaining to the principal about players and their girlfriends who created trouble by not abiding by stadium rules.  Several players lied, and one was foolish enough to give me his name, which I cross-referenced with the roster and asked another player.  The girlfriends were another story.  One wanted rules bent for her AND her friends.  While she seemed nice, one of her friends had a sassy attitude and a nasty mouth.  Apparently, she hasn't learned manners yet.  Of course, no rules were bent for them, and they stormed off. 

I couldn't help thinking that I was the idiot for spending my vacation dealing with pilau kids from another school!  That really IS dumb.

One bright spot about my vacation. . .my beloved Huskies upset the Trojans.  Yeah!!!

On my last day of vacation (yesterday), I decided to treat myself (and D2 and The Help) and make dessert so we could end our vacation on a sweet note.  I noticed a brick of cream cheese in the refrigerator, so instead of making plain devil's food cupcakes, I made these cream cheese-filled ones.  They are easy to make, and they don't need any frosting to taste like a million bucks.  If only I could've had a handful of crunchy Cape Cod chips with these. . .

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Easy Black Bottom Cupcakes

     8 oz cream cheese
     1/2 c sugar
     1 egg
     1 c chocolate chips
     1 box devil's food cake mix (preferably the non-pudding type)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan(s) with 20-24 paper liners.  Cream together cream cheese and sugar.  Add egg and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Set aside.  Prepare cake mix according to directions on box.  Fill each cup 1/2 full (a #20 disher works well) with cake batter.  Plop 1 tbsp (a #50 disher works well) of cream cheese mixture on batter in the center of each cup.  Top with more cake mix (#20 disher, half-full or #40 disher).  Bake 22 minutes (or whatever cake mix instructions give as baking time for cupcakes).  Remove from tins and cool completely on wire rack.