(Re: Subject Line – I think I might have just dated myself…)
A month or so ago, my accounting instructor was explaining the importance of determining cost of goods sold, using one of three main costing methods. Our cost, she reminded us, doesn’t remain constant, and used limes as an example. Normally inexpensive, the price has skyrocketed recently due to a combination of poor growing weather in Mexico and the interference of drug cartels. “So you might want to skip the margaritas this weekend,” she concluded, “since the cost will be passed along to the consumer.” I didn’t question what she was saying at the time – produce really was an excellent example, because there’s always something to get in the way – but a few days later I read the same thing in the newspaper. The newspaper article, however, added that many restaurants are pushing other varieties of margaritas, such as peach or strawberry.
And that’s when it hit me: I’m not likely to head to the bar for a pitcher of margaritas, but darn it, what about my cupcakes?
So last weekend, instead of in between studying really hard for my accounting final, I tweaked my margarita cupcake recipe to come up with fuzzy navel cupcakes.
This is basically the Mucho Margarita Cupcakes recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, but I used peach schnapps instead of tequila, omitted the lime zest and juice, and added a box of peach Jell-o for flavour. (If you want to keep this vegan, and live somewhere with better animal-free options available, I believe that Simply Delish makes a peach “jel”. I do not, so I used the rather more pedestrian option available to me.) I made a simple orange-vanilla buttercream, and topped each one off with a Fuzzy Peach candy. One of my testers claimed he liked these better than the original, limey-salty version.
If these make me rich, my instructor is absolutely getting a cut of the profits. 😉