It’s a very busy night. I’ve got Cupcake Week on Martha Stewart on the DVR. American Idol is on and tonight is the season premier of Hell’s Kitchen! Whew! In honor of Cupcake Week however on MS, I think it’s important to talk about cupcake essentials.

My favorite kitchen essentials are my OXO non-slip bowls. I’ve got two sets of the three graduated sizes. I like that they’re light and stackable. Most cupcake (cake) recipes call for the butter and sugar to be mixed separate from the dry ingredients. These bowls are the perfect for sifting flour and other stuff. Finally, these bowls have a pouring tip on them. When I’m making a cake recipe that’s runnier, I don’t have to scoop out the batter; I can just pour it out.

Another cupcake essential (or pet peeve) is good baking cups. I hate it when a cake sticks to the liner. I’ve had my share of using Reynold’s Baking Cups and I think that if I was only making cupcakes every now and again, they would be fine. But I’m baking every week and I’m not always baking the nice and simple box cake recipe: Sometimes cake recipes are dense, sometimes they’re sticky and other times they’re just messy. My favorite baking cups have been Beyond Gourmet Unbleached Baking Cups and for fun these Fluted Baking Cups. I’ve got two sets of silicone baking cups, but I think they’re a pain to wash.

Finally and I blame this blog, for my mostest essential baking item. My camera. I use a little point and shoot Kodak and I love it. It’s got two settings that I use most when shooting food; Auction and Bright Flower. I feel that it shoots a picture that’s clear and I don’t have to play with too many settings. I use a few free photo editing packages to clean up the pictures, but for the most part I like how it takes pictures. You might like to read this blog post about how to take pictures of food too, Photojojo.

So, what I want to know from you is what can you not live without in your kitchen?

 Black Friday. I’ve always heard about it, but quite honestly, I’ve never paid attention to it. My participation in Black Friday shopping was always watching people go crazy on the local news channel. I’ve never ever thought about actually leaving a kitchen full of left-overs to go shopping.

Part of my lack of participation could be that I’ve already got my tree up and presents wrapped.

This morning I’m enjoying a cup of coffee and slice of my favorite pie. It’s a recipe my Moo Moo gave me years ago and it quickly toppled over pumpkin, and pecan pies. I always fuss over my pie crusts. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to get the ridges on mine to fold evenly. I recommend a pie plate that’s pretty enough that you don’t have to do the work.

Buttermilk Pie

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick butter, melted
1 unbaked 10-inch basic pie crust shell

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, and lemon zest. Whisk in the eggs, 1at a time. Stir in the buttermilk and melted butter. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the pie shell and bake until the top is lightly browned and the center sets, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Slice the pie into individual servings.

I’ve mentioned several times (here, here and here) that I’m in an amazing volunteer group called the Junior League.

So, what does the Junior League do besides sip wine?

We volunteer and raise money. We support several charities in Phoenix with our volunteering wo-man power. Each person who joins the League is responsible for ‘clocking’ several volunteer hours. We do it all. We clean houses for terminally ill families, we work with women who are recently out of jail and help children who have been abused.

Last year several women, on their own dime, put together a trip to New Orleans to meet up with a Habitat for Humanity project.

But, what about the wine?

OK! That does happen (a little). Another great part about the League is that I’ve gotten an opportunity to build friendships with great like-minded women. We get together several times a month to plan out our next project and there are times that a little sippy-sippy happens. It’s great to blow off steam and and to share in each other’s joy.

Here is how CareCard works?

Individuals purchase a Care Card for $50.

Participating retailers offer a generous 20% discount on regular price merchandise to cardholders for the specified week of shopping, some restrictions may apply.

100% of the Care Card sales price goes directly to the Ryan House and to The Junior League of Phoenix’s community programs.

How can I order one?

This CareCard program is for Phoenix, AZ only. If you would like to purchase one, you can get here by following this link: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=123985.

Here’s where your money will go: http://ryanhouse.org/index.html

 Thank you!

OooooWeeee! Man oh man, did I make some tasty cupcakes. While trolling elite food blog Vanilla-Garlic, I stumbled across a recipe for Chocolate Chipolte Cinnamon Cupcakes (C4 for short).

C4, that’s appropriate. They’re spicy and sweet and delicious.

To tote these little babies, I got a chance to use a new cupcake tote I found at Fry’s. You may think it’s overkill since I already have one, but this one holds 24 cupcakes snugly in double decker fashion.

I love it.

If you check out the C4 recipe on Vanilla-Garlic you’ll see several variations. I chose to top mine with dark chocolate frosting and then sprinkle them with cinnamon spiked powered sugar.