Nature's Path Organic Toaster Pastries

I despaired of weaning my kids off Pop-Tarts because they didn't just like the plain ones, it had to be the ones with the wild and crazy colors—and the most artificial flavors and colorings. Then I found these: Wildberry Acai frosted toaster pastries by Nature's Path. The fun also comes in Cherry Pomegranate, Raspberry and Chocolate, but they do carry the plain, unfrosted ones as well. I get the fun versions at Whole Foods, but Costco carries a two-pack of the regular.

365 Organic Everyday Value Yellow Cake Mix

I didn't know it, but this is Whole Foods' private line of organic food, and I have high hopes for the rest of the products.

That said, make sure you read the directions on the side of the box FIRST. I goofed and started dumping wet ingredients (1 egg, 2 yolks) into the dry mix, as you would with regular boxed cake mixes. Then I read the directions: You're supposed to cream 8 tbsp of butter, then add the eggs, then add 1 cup of milk until all the wet ingredients are combined. THEN you add the cake mix.

Another potential glitch was that I didn't soften the butter to room temperature beforehand, I just stuck it in the microwave to soften. This method, while convenient, makes for little butter lumps in the batter, I've found. I ended up creaming the butter, then mixing in the milk before dumping this bowl of wet ingredients into the other bowl with the dry mix and eggs. It took a while to get the mixture "smooth and shiny" as it says in the box, but I finally got a fairly smooth, dense batter that I felt good about it.

Sure enough, the cupcakes turned out AWESOME. Moist, tender with a wonderfully buttery flavor. Of course, with an entire stick of butter, how else would it turn out? While I'm not thrilled about that nor having to find another use for 2 egg whites (I know, I know, making a healthy omelet would fit the bill), these cupcakes taste better than other boxed cakes mixes I've used.