My New "Pin"terest: Baking

Witty title, no?  It's 5:00 so my brain is halfway to turning off for the night - sorry.  As if blogs, facebook, gchat and online shopping weren't enough, I have fallen into the pit of lost time known as Pinterest.  First it seemed people were using it for home decor inspiration, but now I really enjoy using it to keep track of recipes I find online and want to try.  And ogling pretty home decor and clothes and accessories makes it fun too. :)

Here's a few pinned recipes I wanted to share:

{Margarita Cupcakes}
Pinned here. Blogged about here.  My very first experience baking cupcakes and making icing from scratch, and I was worried.  But it all turned out well and they were delicious!  Buttery, sugary and just hints of lime and tequila.  I highly recommend making these for your next fiesta!

{Low Fat Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins}
Pinned here.  I had a bunch of overly ripe bananas and had just seen this recipe, so voila!  We had muffins.  I threw some chocolate chips in because really, who doesn't want a healthy, low-fat breakfast muffin + chocolate?  They were so good!  So easy!  I love baking muffins and having them around for a quick breakfast in the mornings (or quick snack after work).  (Carbs are my love language.)

{Ready-to-Eat Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough}
Pinned here.  When I saw this on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it immediately.  Cookie dough was one of my guilty pleasures right after Sawyer was born, when I forgot I couldn't eat like I was pregnant anymore, and I was a single mom Sunday night - Friday night when Jeremy was working in Austin.  Alas, I had to stop buying it and keeping it in my fridge.  But every so often, you just need some dough, you know?  My conclusion: a pretty good substitute.  It's missing a little something (like raw eggs for starters) but when you just want a few bites of something sweet, it's not bad!

{Sugar Cookie Bars}
Pinned here.  I have this fantasy that one day we will win the lottery and I'll have enough money to quit my job and open a bakery (likely in the downtown tunnels for hungry professionals with a hot pink table with Emily).  With this recent dream and the help of Pinterest, I have been anxious to practice new recipes.  I was home sick last week and threw these together with ingredients we had on hand (with clean hands, don't worry!).  My advice: the recipe says you can use lemon zest in the dough, and either vanilla or almond extract in the icing.  I opted for lemon zest and for almond extract, and I wouldn't do both again.  Use the lemon with vanilla icing, or no lemon with almond.  It makes a lot, so they're perfect for cutting into bites and serving at parties.

And though it's not a Pinterest recipe, my traditional cake in "celebration" of OU-TX weekend:

Unfortunately the cake gave the Horns no luck.  Maybe next year I'll try vanilla...