Cupcake Ice Cream Cone Disaster

My friend Sheri was having a birthday and I wanted to make her something special. I heard that you could cook cupcakes in sugar cones and, when frosted, they look just like ice cream cones. How cute!

So, I prepared a package of Betty Crocker "Funfetti"cupcake batter and carefully filled each sugar cone. They were placed in the oven to bake as directed. About half-way through the cooking time, I peeked in the oven to see how they were doing and I was horrified! I had filled the cones nearly to the top and the batter began spilling over, like little, active volcanos! The hot batter literally melted the cones and made a huge mess. Not good! Here's the before photo - LOL! (I do admit, these were still really tasty despite their appearance.)

Luckilly I had another box of cake mix so I started over, but this time I only filled the cones 2/3 full. They cooked nicely this time, however, they seemed a little "flat." I got the idea to cook a separate batch of "tops" by filling a muffin tin 1/4 full. Using a dab of frosting, I adhered a "top" onto each cone and frosted each one. They turned out awesome; just like ice cream cones! Most importantly, Sheri loved them! Here's the after photo ... much better.

Let my mistakes here be your masterpieces. Hope you try making these sometime - just don't overfill!

Bacon ... on the grill?

My sister had a little get-together and we planned to make rib eye steaks with bacon-wrapped asparagus. Since my boyfriend is the "master griller" he decided it would be a good idea to pre-cook the bacon a bit before wrapping the asparagus -- on the grill! (Don't try this at home!) The project started out ok until bacon grease began dripping onto the coals. It quickly caught fire and engulfed the grill in flames about 4 feet high! (If you're ever trying to light a bonfire for fireplace, just use bacon!) Once we got the fire under control the bacon was charred and black; hillarious! After that experiment gone bad, we decided to broil the bacon-wrapped asparagus in the oven instead and it turned out fantastic! DO try this at home ... maybe with a drizzle of hollandaise sauce - YUM!