The Taste of Failure & Sweet Success

It's Monday which means I generally like to put a cynical spin on things (you know, for those of you in the working world who wake on Mondays with a distinct feeling of WTF?) Any-who, I have been trying to teach myself to bake, and generally it's going pretty well. My regimen includes looking on Pinterest for cool pictures of desserts that I might like to try. Very scientific. I then try to make these desserts.

You may remember when I had an epic cookie fail 'round about Christmas time, and it tasted like shit. Well, actually the cookies tasted great (even though they looked like hell) but the failure tasted like crap. I was reminded that everyone sometimes has a kitchen moment that makes them cringe when I came across this great picture:

It made me laugh really hard, while simultaneously recalling my own epic cookie fail with lemon ricotta cookies: 

Obviously, I totally nailed it. 

Luckily, I am not easily discouraged and when I fail, I get right back on the horse. Then I make that horse my bitch and we jump over stuff and everyone is like, "wow! You are stunningly awesome!" To which I reply, "Yea, well, that was just my warm up... hehe." To these ends, I have been working toward becoming a regular ole Betty Crocker. And because of the aforementioned horse being my bitch statement, I wanted to brag about it and share some pictures of efforts in the cupcake department. 

They were my first attempt at homemade cupcakes, and I think I did pretty well. They are key lime cupcakes, and I did make a few changes... like not using the food coloring. I wasn't crazy about the icing, as it was a little too sweet for my taste, but then again, I am more of a savory gal anyway. Let's just say that the cupcakes didn't stick around long, and were enjoyed by (and forced upon, while I looked on mouthing, "So? What do you think?") anyone who came to my house. 

Anyway, in the face of another Monday, I wanted to remind everyone that sometimes our failures taste bad, but make the sweetness of success that much better. If you don't like that, just go with this one: Mondays suck--eat a dessert. Either way, enjoy these pictures, and then click here to get the recipe for these great key lime cupcakes! 

Let the record show that I squeezed my own key lime juice for this recipe. 

They are cute little suckers, though, aren't they? 

I am beginning to think I have a batter problem... the problem is that I keep eating the batter. I like it better than the actual [whatever] I am making... it's a problem, like I said. 

Another problem: I only have this one baking stone for making cupcakes. It has 6 cupcake holes in it. I need to get another one because despite my success with this recipe, if you let the batter sit while you are cooking the first batch of cupcakes, it loses something... like that big old rise to the top, which I love. 

Prepare to be frosted! 

I felt slightly handicapped with the icing; it was my first time, after all. Thank goodness presentation points are being doled out by none other than me--I win! 

YUM! 

They are cute, right?