Food Gift Flop

I love getting food gifts. They take time, they take love, and they require a little bit of labor... unless they came from a plastic box at walmart. Whatever, either way food is the best present ever.
Just recently I gave what may be the best food gift I've ever given for my homegirl Tiffany's sweet 16.

Super fab right? Sixteen strawberry ricotta cupcakes for sixteen years. Yes I know, clever too!

As superfly as these cupcakes were, I soooooooo didn't think my timing of this gift through. So, when delivery time came for the cutest boxful of cakes ever I called the birthday girl repeatedly only to get her voicemail....like seven times. I then realize that our church's children's group is in northern New Mexico for a week of summer camp fun, and Tiff is a sponsor.
Great. Now how am I gonna get rid of these cupcakes? There was no way I was going to give Tiffany week-old-not-so-sweet-16-cupcakes. No way.

After distributing the nummies among family and homies, Tiff gets home. Cupcake time again! Everything goes well, she picks them up and What? She puts them in the trunk of her car, covers them with a pool towel, and runs errands in the southern New Mexico heat for a few hours. So they melt, and droop, and get all soggy in her tunk, in their cute little box before she even opens it.

Later that day I end up chillin' in her pool with a few other homegirls, and Tiff being the good homie that she is decides to share her gift with all the other homies. They were RAUNCHIE. After their heat stroke mutilation, the cupcakes were put in the fridge to reverse the effects of the 100 degree weather. The frosting was hard and stuck to the roof of your mouth, and the homies were forced to lie about how bomb they were.

So what was the best food gift of all time, melted like the wicked witch into the worst. Happy Sweet Sixteen Tiff!Strawberry Ricotta Cupcakes (Joy the Baker)

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (half a stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
8 ounces ricotta cheese mixed with 1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup diced strawberries, fresh

Center a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcakes papers and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Dice strawberries and set aside.In the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla.Add the ricotta mixture alternately with the flour mixture. Starting and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in the strawberries .Divide among the 12 muffin tins and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until risen and very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.


Please, PLEASE, handle with care ;)