The part when I cheat

It's not easy to make cupcakes in college. I don't have the ample stores of flour, sugar, butter and eggs that are so plentiful at home. So when I was asked to make a couple dozen cupcakes for a bake sale, I copped out. I cheated. I made these Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cups:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/peanut-butter-brownie-cupcakes-recipe/index.html

All you have to do is make boxed brownie batter, pour it in cupcake tins, stick a mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the middle, and bake the whole thing. Almost TOO easy. But man, were they delicious!

AWWW YEAH.

I wanted to make them prettier, so I tried melting a peanut butter cup and drizzling it across the top, but it looked like a weird lumpy gross thing. I yearned for the amply-stocked kitchen of Park City; I'm sure I could have melted peanut butter chips or even chocolate chips for a pretty little drizzle. A drizzle, for shizzle. But that's for another day. 

For the second flavor, I made the Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Granola frosting. I also made a huge flour disaster mess. The bowl was too small -- don't blame me! I cheated on these ones too -- I bought cream cheese frosting from the store. I didn't realize just how different store-bought frosting tastes, though. It's definitely not as good as the homemade kind, but I was not willing to sacrifice an entire wing of the dorm in a poisonous cloud of powdered sugar that exploded from a too-small bowl. (If I were to actually die that way, though... what a way to go!)

I made SO MANY CUPCAKES! And they turned out so well. Great success. And they all sold at the bake sale!