Jenny's Noodle

Cupcakes featured in the book "Hello, Cupcake!" Photo credit: Real Simple

Cupcakes seem to be the new "it" food lately, and can you really blame them? They're delicious! Today we have an excuse to enjoy these delightful treats — November 10 is National Vanilla Cupcake Day!

When I learned of today's food holiday, I immediately thought of an episode of Paula's Best Dishes that I happened to catch the other day. Hey y'all! The show featured Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, the authors of Hello, Cupcake! (which I happen to own) and What's New, Cupcake?, their follow-up book. The couple showed Paula how to make one of their signature whimsical cupcake creations, the "TV Dinner," in which candies and other sweet ingredients are cleverly manipulated to resemble turkey, peas & carrots and mashed potatoes with butter & gravy. The pair also has a recipe for "Corn-on-the-Cob" cupcakes using jellybeans as kernels. Both recipes call for vanilla cupcakes as a base, and with Thanksgiving just around the corner...well, you know what to do...

> Recipe for TV Dinner Cupcakes
> Recipe for Corn-on-the-Cob Cupcakes