Go ahead. Admit it. I rock.

Tomorrow is Juliette's school play and Thanksgiving feast.  I was asked to make cupcakes.  I was happy about that, actually, because I'd rather bake then cook.  I am also very glad I was not the person assigned to bring in one of two 10-lb turkeys.

Anyway, after some internet searching for creative thanksgiving cupcakes, I narrowed it down to two possibilites:  this, or this.  Juliette wanted the teepee cupcakes, and so I set out to duplicate these little masterpieces.

The first step involves baking the cupcake batter in a sugar cone. The biggest challenge was keeping the cones from not tipping over and spilling cake batter all over the oven.  My mom used to make cupcakes in regular ice cream cones, which are flat bottomed and less prone to tipping.  For these, I punched holes into some large disposable roasting pans to prop the sugar cones in.  If I do this again, I'll actually place them closer together so that they can all lean in and support each other. The first batch had a few casualties. Also, they took almost twice as long to bake as expected, I don't know why.  The pointy ends of the cones were smoky blackened chars by the time the cupcakes were cooked, which is OK because you cut them off, but it was rather stinky and smoky in the house.  My hair still reeks.  With the second batch, I placed the pan on a cookie sheet, and not only did that help with maneuvering the cone-laden pan in and out of the oven, but it prevented the cone from burning.

Once the cupcakes were baked, I had to snip the pointy ends off; and if you don't move quickly the cones get hard and crunchy again and more prone to breakage.  And then it was home free; the girls actually did most of the rest themselves.  So, without further ado, here is my contribution for this year's Thanksgiving feast:

Sugar cone teepee cupcakes, ala Christie at These are a few of my favorite things,

Not only do they look good, but they are delicious.  What wouldn't be good about  cupcake baked in a sugar cone? And to top it all of, you've got a salty pretzel at the end to counter all the sweet.  Mmm mmm.  I cannot wait to walk into school with these tomorrow!