Yesterday, was supposed to be blog day; yesterday, I couldn’t think of what food place I wanted to write about. I racked my brain, and I racked my brain without any avail. The only solution I could come up with? Take a nap! And take a nap I did! It didn’t even dawn on me that I hadn’t written my blog until I was going to bed. In true Scarlett O’Hara fashion I thought: “I can’t think about that right now. If I do, I’ll go crazy. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
And I didn’t think about it today either…
Until 4th Block rolled around and at school I was sitting in the FACS classroom about to judge our school version of Cupcake Wars. My thought process all began when I spotted a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on one of the counters. My first thought was, “Man, I hope there’s a peanut butter cup cupcake entry!” Then I thought, “Oooo…Jilly’s has the best peanut butter cup cupcakes!” Which of course led naturally to, “Ooooo…do you think I could get Mr. Kisby to drive to St. Louis for a cupcake? Is there anyone I know in St. Louis that I can pay to bring me a cupcake? I should write a blog on Jilly’s Cupcakes!!!!”
If you know me outside of this blog, then I know that you are laughing because you know that is how my ADHD brain works. Also, you know that I LOVE CUPCAKES!!! Seriously, love me some cupcakes!
I can’t remember exactly when I found out about Jilly’s, but I know that it is my principal’s doing. I believe we were talking about food – maybe even judging school cupcake wars – and he mentioned that the best cupcakes in the world were at a place in St. Louis. I had to know where because I was going to be driving through St. Louis to go to my family reunion that summer. So he told me about this little place called Jilly’s that had been discovered during a trip he’d taken.
As soon as possible I was looking up Jilly’s. Much to my joy, it was only like five minutes off the road that we take to go to Kansas. Hooray! That meant a stop wouldn’t be overly out of the way. 🙂
When the day finally came to go to Jilly’s, I was over the moon. I had read that they were a two time winner of Food Networks Cupcake Wars and that got me even more excited! After all, Food Network isn’t going to give awards to places that blow. Upon arrival I immediately fell in love with the decor! There were neon colors everywhere (Queen Elizabeth would be pleased to know that Jilly’s color scheme totally matches the dress she wore to Harry and Meghan’s wedding!) and cool features that have this vintage diner feel. I was happy with the stop before I even got my cupcake!
Choosing a cupcake was very difficult! At Jilly’s they have various special cupcakes each month and their regular line: Simply Iced, Missylicious, Chocolate Thunder, Bee Sting, Twisted Pink Velvet, 24 Karat Carrot Cake, Reese’s Chunkage, and Turtle Cheesecake. I ended up going with the Reese’s Chunkage because Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are one of my most favorite things in the world so much so that as a teenager I got a cat and named him Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (Reese’s for short because that would’ve been a mouthful to yell every time he got in trouble)! This cupcake was amazing! It had a chocolate cake base with a little ganache surprise baked into the middle. Finding the ganache was a good bonus, kind of like at Mardis Gras when you chomp down on the plastic baby in the King’s Cake and win a prize!
What really brought this cupcake home was the frosting. Now to be fair, I’m a frosting-aholic! I’d typically rather eat the frosting than the cake, to the point that if somebody stuck a birthday candle in a tub of frosting I’d be as happy as a pig in mud. The frosting on the Reese’s Chunkage is a buttercream frosting made of little drops of heaven or as Jilly’s puts it chocolate and peanut butter with crumbled up Reese’s Cups all over it. I prefer little drops of heaven.
After this first experience, several more pilgrimages were made to Jilly’s as part of other trips. Two more family reunions found themselves paired with cupcakes. Went to St. Louis to see Phantom of the Opera for Mr. Kisby’s birthday present? He got theater tickets; I got cupcakes! On our last adventure to Jilly’s a little over a year ago, we not only got cupcakes, but we also tried Jilly’s Ice Cream Bar next door to the Cupcake Bar.
Now I must say that I’m not a big ice cream person because of how cold it is and how much the texture of real ice cream weird me out. However, I do love a good milkshake. With this in mind I was expecting that Mr. Kisby would really like Jilly’s Ice Cream Bar and I would think meh…it’s okay. WRONG! I will absolutely, 100% admit that I was wrong! I loved the Ice Cream Bar too!
When we went into the Ice Cream Bar we had no idea what to expect, but quickly found ourselves drawn to the Crazy Shakes! So what is a Crazy Shake? The best way I can describe it is you take a cup. You get the rim of the cup damp, and you swirl it around in a bunch of candy sprinkles so that they get stuck to the outside of the cup. Then you fill the cup with a delicious milkshake. Next you cover the top with whip cream. After that you cover the whip cream in wafer pearls, jam a piece of waffle cone down in the whip cream, and top it off with a miniature version of the cupcake providing the namesake for the Crazy Shake. Then just for fun you put in a few neon colored straws. Something this epic deserves more than one straw because a Crazy Shake likes to party!
For our first Crazy Shake soiree (and only one thus far in life) I chose the Missylicious Crazy Shake, and Mr. Kisby chose the Chocolate Thunder Crazy Shake. You see how good they look in the pictures above? Now imagine that as a taste and multiply it by like ten! Hands down this was the best milkshake I have ever had in my life! There really are not accurate words to describe their deliciousness!
If shakes aren’t your style, then Jilly’s Ice Cream Bar has other options as well. They have regular classic ice cream flavors, ice cream flavors inspired by the cupcakes, root beer floats, banana splits, and ice cream cupcakes. Oh yeah, and they have crepes! Literally, something for every sweet tooth out there!
You might be thinking what if I don’t like sweets? Guess what? Jilly’s also has a cafe in the Cupcake Bar part of the building. They have a variety of soups, salads, and sandwiches. I recommend the Famous Barr’s French Onion! Not into soup? Try the brisket!
Jilly’s has something for everybody whether their palette prefers salty and savory. Plus, they provide a fun atmosphere at very affordable prices. Personally, I think it is worth the trip to St. Louis to give them a shot!
Now who wants to bring me a cupcake? It’s just a 4 1/2 hour drive…
For more on Jilly’s Cupcake Bar visit http://jillyscupcakebar.com/.
#thegreatkaysby #mrkisby #foodie #jillyscupcakebar #jillysicecreambar #reeseschunkage #stlouis #cupcakes #foodnetwork #cupcakewars
The Great Kaysby 