Listen, I love being a mom. But part-time mommyhood is kind of my thing. I need to be elsewhere during the day to fully appreciate all of the stuff my kids pull, like covering the walls in sidewalk chalk or leaving raisins all over the house like animal droppings. I wish I were strong enough to handle them 24/7, but I’m just not.

Summer is a great wake-up call for me about my job and why I love it. I get to be an at-home mom for two months while not teaching, and then I can fully appreciate being with my kids all day. But man, is it ever the most exhausting job in the world. That’s why we need cupcakes!

This morning, my son’s buddy came over to visit. My girls were being bratty little sisters, destroying their brother’s Lego police station and screaming over the Frozen CD so that nobody could hear the millionth rendition of “Let it Go.” More on that another time, or I may never stop ranting.

Anyway. I needed to think of an easy baking project, and fast. These s’more brownie cupcakes were it!

You see, a week ago I saw these refrigerated Pillsbury s’more cookies in the grocery store. I was all over them faster than a baby boy can pee on a parent changing his diaper.

In the refrigerator the cookies went, a happy idea for another day. Until today. There are nine cookies in the package and I wanted to get maximum mileage out of them, so what better than to make them into cupcakes?

My favorite brownie base went underneath, which I baked for ten minutes to give the bottom a head start. Then my daughters carefully put the cookies on top and we baked them until they were golden and perfect. Talk about easy! Bear in mind that there are only nine cookies in a package, so unless you want to buy more cookies, you’ll have leftover brownie batter. I used mine in an upcoming recipe. Stay tuned!

And while the cookies do come with a drizzle packet, it wasn’t quite enough for our project. So we took some hot fudge, used a small star tip, and drizzled on some designs. Because we’re fancy like that.

The best part was biting into the cupcake and having that gooey marshmallow just spill out over the brownie and straight into my mouth. I thought I was going to moan out loud. Maybe I did? The girls were certainly making happy noises.

And with our chocolate high, yet another day of no camp passed without too much incident. Believe me, after mini golfing in the afternoon heat I was pretty bushed, but you know, this mom thing is fun!

When can I go back to work?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 package Pillsbury s’mores refrigerated cookie dough (limited edition)
• hot fudge (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with nine cupcake liners and coat lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cocoa into the melted butter until it dissolves. Add the sugar and stir again. When the sugar is incorporated, mix in the vanilla and eggs. Add the salt and flour, mixing until just combined.

Fill each cupcake liner halfway with brownie batter. Reserve the rest. I’ll be sharing what to do with it in the coming week!

Bake the brownie batter for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and top lightly with a s’mores cookie for each cupcake. Return to the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are golden on top.

Cool the cupcakes completely. If desired, pipe hot fudge onto the top of the cupcakes in any pattern you choose.

Store at room temperature for up to one week!