I say these next words with pride and joy (and a touch of sadness), Miss A is now officially out of diapers. She’s been out of diapers for a few months, but now we’re officially past the “training” point. So this week we celebrated with a “Big Girl” party at Grammie’s house complete with all of Miss A’s favorites – mac and cheese, baby oranges, hot dogs and a new dessert that we found on First Look, Then Cook – Peanut Butter Cupcakes.
Both Mr. N and Miss A were very excited about this new adventure – Mr. N because he thinks we should be trying new desserts weekly as a part of this experience, and Miss A because she loves anything with peanut butter and chocolate! Now the first thing I’ll say is that I’m not a baker – at least not one that enjoys baking cakes or anything that involves frosting. I’m just not good at it and I don’t find any pleasure in it, but for my little ones I’ll give anything a shot. Fortunately for my first cupcakes from scratch I had the help of Miss A and one of Mr. N’s friends, Mr. R. (Mr. N was off playing with Mr. R’s twin, Mr. L.)
Both Miss A and Mr. R were very helpful in preparing the batter – even taking turns with the hand mixer. 
The batter looked smooth and smelled delicious, but it didn’t seem to be the consistency of what I think of as cupcake batter. That said, my taste testers approved so we pressed on. We baked the cupcakes for 20 minutes and turned them out to cool. 
(One jumped a little too far and right into the dish water! Oops!)
The others however made it to the cooking rack and looked very cute; although more like muffins than cupcakes. 
The next step in the recipe is creating the milk chocolate frosting. I don’t believe mine turned out like it’s supposed to; even after cooling, it was quite runny. My taste testers still approved though.
Again, baking cakes/cupcakes is not my forte – and neither is frosting. If I make these again I’ll go the store-bought frosting route. I’m truly so impressed with all the cupcake bakers and cake frosters out there. It is an art form as far as I’m concerned! 
As for our little peanut butter muffins…they turned out cute, if not messy, but were a hit all around. Four out of five kids approved and all the grown-ups ate them up too! I’m glad we found this recipe for our “big girl” and she was too! Miss A was very happy and feeling like a proud big girl. As her mom this is one of those bittersweet moments. My baby girl is growing up!
For this recipe visit: First Look, Then Cook
Eat, Play, Love 
I like the big girl party idea 🙂 When did she start the transition out of diapers?
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She actually stopped wearing diapers just before Christmas, but then we would have weeks where we would have setbacks. She’s been accident free for about a month now though. 🙂 She was SO excited by the party – you could tell she felt so proud of herself.
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Miss A’s Big Girl party was wonderful! She danced and floated around in her new party dress that she insisted must have a pink bow bought just for the occasion. She, Mr. N and Miss G, their Cousin, all loved the cupcakes. After destroying the cupcakes in various methods, they captured their Grandpa whom they call BoomBoom (don’t ask) and played playground on him on the floor. A great time was had by all! Thank you, Chef Mom, for the great dessert!
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Thanks for the party! It was wonderful!
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That’s so sweet! I’m still looking forward to the day when my youngest will be diaper-free. I’ll be celebrating too!
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It is definitely nice not to have to tote the diaper bag around anymore, but it makes me a little nostalgic for those baby days too. I guess we still have the transition from the crib to the big girl bed – but we’re not quite ready to go there just yet. 😉
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Mm mm mmm! Those look sooo delish!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
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I loved my “big girl” parties at grandma’s or when they would come over to our house. I really loved this post, so adorable. And those cupcakes with the chocolate.. delectable. You know I looked at the chocolate first lmao.
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LOL! I think the chocolate was what Miss A was drawn to as well. She ate the cake tops off instantly and saved the muffin portions for later! Have a good one!
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I vote three spoons for the cupcakes. The peanut butter flavor was good and I wish I could have been around for all the festivities.
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They look delicious, glad you all liked them!!
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Thanks Dawn! They were all gone on day-one. (And we made two batches!)
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