_edited.jpg)
It's been a WEEK in Bachelor nation, to say the least. I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that. But, in keeping with the intended levity of these posts, I want to focus on the episodes themselves, rather than the news or politics surrounding the franchise. There's a time and place for serious and these posts aren't it. I will say that out of deference to the bigger issues, I opted not to promote this week's post. I may be wrong, but skipping it altogether seemed like a waste, so let's get into last week's episode.
The episode started with the end of the two-on-one that had started in the previous episode with MJ and Jessenia. It looked to me like Matt felt he was the one in trouble. The look on his face made me think he might throw up before getting a word out, but he handled it like a champ in the end. My real question for Matt is, if you've watched the show at all, why aren't you waiting in the wings to listen to what they talk about when they think you're not listening? Or do the producers pull you away first? Also, why is this season full of sociopaths?
We then see Katie getting dragged for being... a human being? I'm confused at the thought process of some of these girls.
Next up, the Heather plotline comes in at last. As many people pointed out, she comes in mic-ed up, and also maskless, during a pandemic, but we're supposed to believe Chris was actually surprised to see her. Also, what is with those cringey quarantine videos? Was someone feeding her "fun" ideas like "balance a pizza on your head"? Someone save Heather!
I was low key excited for Pieper's date. She seems sweet and they were cute together, and this date—woah! I'm a sucker for a carnival. I also noticed he smiled almost every time he said her name, and also while they kissed. Good sign?
The bowling date, while cute, was weird to me. First off, they felt the need to say the girls should "make it a clean game". Aside from potentially throwing the bowling balls at each other—which I wouldn't put past some of them this season, is there a way to have a "dirty" game or even cheat in bowling? Also, Matt says something like, "on this bowling date I'm just looking for someone who is," among other things, "fearless". There is almost nothing that screams fearless less than bowling. Kit said it best when she joked, "qualities you want in a wife—good bowler." Especially given his other dates involved ziplines and hot air balloons. Last thought, why did they not capitalize on the last season's jokes, give one team silver shirts and call them the Silver Smokeshows?
Do I even need to talk about the Tyler C. cameo and Katie date? The prank was meh and their chemistry was basically like brother and sister, which I hate to say because if you couldn't tell, I'm very Team Katie, but here's hoping the rumors are true and shes the next Bachelorette—the people clearly want it. Also, I have to point out how unfair it is to make her meet you at a spa and not get to partake in spa-like activities. If anyone needs a de-stress massage, it's Katie.
Anyway, this week's episode, aside from the obviously negotiated mention of a celeb serenade on one of the dates, is largely being kept hush-hush in terms of what happens. So I chose to believe a source that said it would include a Go-Kart race and ran with that. With credit to my cousin who noticed Twinkies have a similar shape to Go-Karts/Race Cars, we teamed up to make some dessert Race Cars. They don't zoom on their own, but they are damn cute and delicious.
We used the closest thing we had to a Twinkie mold, so the shape came out more like corn cakes for the Twinkies, but the flavor was there and the corn cake shape worked oddly well. It's basically a yellow cake recipe (we used this one) with a special center (beyond the typical frosting). For the filling, we found one of the few options that didn't require marshmallow fluff. It does require some extra steps though, including basically starting with the same base as a gravy (flour and milk), letting it cool, then mixing in each following ingredient one-by-one. Sounds weird, but it comes out fluffy and delicious (and for those of you worried, tastes nothing like gravy)! For the wheels, we attempted some macarons, but they came out more meringue-like, which I didn't hate and still worked well. Maybe you'll have better luck with our recipe?
Once you work through the actual baking and filling-prep, it's time to assemble. Poke three holes into the bottom of your Twinkie and wiggle around a bit to make more space for the filling to take up, then pipe it into the cake. You should have extra filling, so add some frosting/filling to the back of each macaron "wheel" and apply the four cookies to each Twinkie. We also added some frosting to a mini hershey piece and put on the front for a window and piped in two frosting "headlights", but these are totally optional additions so you do you.
If you're looking to make this wholeeeee process easier on yourself, you can always buy Twinkies, Oreos/mini Reeses and pre-made frosting and just assemble using the instructions above too. It's your project. This took us a good few hours with each of the baking elements so maybe go that route if you want them in time for the episode.
What you're left with is a great mixture of textures and flavors, from yellow cake to chocolate macaron/meringue cookie to super fluffy frosting/filling. But more importantly, you can show off your "artsy" skills and snap some fun photos.
Hopefully tonight's episode brings the same much-needed light-hearted spirit as these speedsters.
Comments