Pupcakes!

Since yesterday was Mitch's birthday, we decided to spoil him a little bit [more]. For his birthday he received a new Kong, and got lots of pets and praise and snuggles. Unfortunately, it was raining and cold, so there were no long birthday walks. We'll make up for that come spring.

Also, we made pupcakes. I found this recipe on the interwebs and modified it a little. One of the best parts of the pupcakes is that they helped me to fulfill my dream of putting bacon on cupcakes. (Well, partly. I'd have to be pretty hard up to take a bite out of these. Matt refers to them as "yuckcakes," and you'll understand why in a minute.)

Like too many of the best things in life, these pupcakes start with bacon. Three strips. I accidentally bought maple-flavored bacon, which I thought would be gross but was pretty good. Plus, it made the kitchen smell AMAZING.

Another fun thing about making pupcakes was that I got to use the silicone baking cups Matt's mom gave me for Christmas. I was initially skeptical about them, but they're pretty great. (Mine are the Calphalon ones. NOTE: they're not nonstick unless you make them nonstick by spraying some Pam, preferably the baking kind, inside of them. Once you do it once they should be good.)

Six eggs. (Which means you can't eat pupcakes, Ship.)
Two cups of shredded carrots.

And here's the gross part. The recipe called for two cans of chicken-flavored baby food. But I was ingredients shopping at Target, and our Target doesn't carry baby food. So, I had to improvise. Here's what I came up with: chicken cat food. It's gross, I know. But I thought about how many times I've seen dogs eating cat food, and decided it might work. It was at this point that I knew that I would NOT be taste-testing these baked goods.

BLECK! (I just gagged a little. It's incredible the sacrifices that parents will make for their children, isn't it?) Oh, and around this time that wonderful maple and bacon aroma disappeared and was replaced with the disgusting, disgusting smell of cat food. Sacrifices, I'm telling you.
And once you add the flour, the bacon grease, the butter, and everything else, you get batter that looks like vomit, only grosser. (Grosser? More gross?)
Yuckcakes.
The funny thing is that once they had baked, they didn't look half bad. But don't be fooled; they still contain cat food.

Frost with plain yogurt, sprinkle with bacon bits, and insert candle, and you'll have yourself a birthday pupcake.
Get pup to sit first.
Feed him pupcake.

And repeat.

Pup is a big fan. And I'm a fan because I can smoosh them down into the new Kong and keep him occupied during Lost.

Ingredients:

• Three strips of bacon, crumbled up
• 3 cups of wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 cups of shredded carrots
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 stick butter
• the grease from the bacon (health pupcakes!)
• 2 cans of chicken-flavored cat food (or chicken-flavored baby food, if you want to go the less-disgusting route)
• Plain yogurt

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Fry the bacon.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and the baking powder.
3. In the large bowl of a mixer, mix together the butter and bacon grease.
4. Add the eggs, 1/2 cup of yogurt, cat food, and carrots.
5. Add flour mixture gradually.
6. Add bacon crumbles (but be sure to leave enough for sprinkles).
7. Spoon disgusting vomit-scented mixture into beautiful silicone baking cups. Convince yourself that the cups will not retain the smell.
8. Bake for 1 hour.

Happy baking to you! Your pup will thank you!