Accio Butterbeer (cupcakes)

With the final film coming out tonight at midnight (eek!), Harry Potter-mania has taken over yet again. I picked up the first book about 12 years ago in middle school and I was immediately sucked in to the magical universe J.K. Rowling geniusly created. My sister and I are re-reading our way through the books, and in an attempt to bring this whimsical world to life, I decided to whip up a batch of Butterbeer cupcakes from a recipe I found online (and modified slightly).

First I laid out all my ingredients:

Flour

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Salt

Butter

White Sugar

Brown Sugar

Eggs

Vanilla

Buttermilk

Cream Soda

Then I mixed together all my dry ingredients (2 C flour; 1 1/2tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt)

Then, I creamed 1 stick butter; 1/2 cup white sugar & 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Mixed in 3 eggs; 1/2 cup buttermilk; 1/2 cup cream soda; 1/2 tsp vanilla & all the dry ingredients

I filled my cupcake cups about 3/4 the way full, baked them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees...

...and let them cool over night before frosting

So...I forgot to take pictures of the frosting-making process, but I melted a bag of butterscotch chips with 1 tsp of butter and about half a cup of pre-made frosting (it is VERY sweet) and used that to top the cupcakes. I also added a shake or two of sprinkles for some extra sparkle!

(I used green, because that's what we had; not because I'm a Slytherin, 'cause I'm not. If anything, I'd probably be in Hufflepuff, but I digress...)

The finished product:

They are delicious, 'Honeydukes quality', if I do say so myself...

Now I'm going to take my nerd self, curl up in a chair with one of my confections, and finish reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

'A rit-dit-doo'

When the character of Andy Bernard first joined the cast of The Office, I thought he was the most annoying person on the face of the Earth. I almost hated him more than Dwight (and I can't stand Dwight). But he grew on me. Yes, he is very annoying. Yes, my heart still belongs to Jim Halpert. But Andy is just such a clueless goof that you can't help but laugh. I definitely would have rather had Jim mug, it's true. But Jim didn't go to the party; if you know which episode this mug is from, you'll understand.

I'm not going to lie, I think I'll be glad after tomorrow when this mug thing is done and I can blah-g freely about random stuff again. Not that I haven't been doing that throughout this, but I feel a little locked in to writing about the mug of the day and trying to tie that in to something that makes sense.
For instance, I'd love to write about the re-awakening of my Harry Potter obsession. It's been pretty dormant for a while, but...it's baa-ack!
I was watching Sorcerer's Stone last night. Everyone is so little in that movie. I can't believe it's been ten years since it came out.
There is a part near the end, when they are trying to get to the Stone, and they have to play an epic game of Wizard's Chess to get through. Ron is telling Hermione to be a castle, Harry to be a bishop and then he says: "As for me, I'll be a Knight"
This part is so special for me because my grandfather's name was Ron Knight. I know it's just a weird coincidence. JK Rowling didn't know my grandpa, but for some reason...I don't know.