Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Finally, a break from all the meat recipes :)

These little guys were something that my mom had been begging me to make for weeks.  She stumbled across the recipe on Pinterest a while ago and was excited because it's basically her favorite things: chocolate cake and vanilla frosting (although to be honest, it's more marshmallow cream frosting than vanilla, but don't tell her that).

I find it interesting that I haven't been baking as much as I used to.  I was way more of a baker when I started learning how to cook, and now I am way more of a cook.  It makes sense: I don't really liked baked goods as much as I like a good home-cooked meal, but I think it was the fact that baking was more "set it and forget it."  Now that I am quicker and more confident, I enjoy the craziness of getting dinner ready.

But with that said, baking is still a comfort for me.  It's relaxing, slow, and calming.  These cupcakes were even better because once they were baked and the frosting made, you have to core the cakes, fill them, and cover the hole.  I have made a few filled cupcakes in my day and I enjoy the process.  I'm a weirdo, I know.

One word of advice: when it says to use jumbo muffin pans, it's not joking.  I didn't, and mine kind of melted together!

My family was happy with these.  Of course, Mom said the cake itself was a bit dry, but she still happily ate them for days.  I thought the filling - just Fluff and butter - was dangerously delicious.  I had fun making these on my last day of April vacation.  With that said, let the countdowns officially begin!  30 days left of school... 77 days till my wedding... and 3 weeks, 4 days till we move in to the new house!  Craziness!

Recipe:

cream-filled chocolate cupcakes
from Martha Stewart
yield 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for muffin tins
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for muffin tins
2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme (7.5-ounce jar)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter two 6-cup (each with a 1-cup capacity) jumbo muffin pans; dust with cocoa powder to coat, tapping out the excess.  In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.

2) Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  On low speed, add half the flour mixture, followed by sour cream, ending with remaining flour mixture; mix until just incorporated (do not over mix).

3)  Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 - 30 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking.  Cook in pans, 5 minutes; remove cupcakes and cook, right ride up, on a wire rack.

4)  Meanwhile, prepare filling: in a medium bowl, whisk marshmallow creme and butter until smooth.  Chill until slightly firm, 15 - 30 minutes  Transfer mixture to a heavy-duty resealable plastic bag, and seal; cut off one corner of the bag to make a 1/8-inch opening.

5) Using a small melon baller (or any other tool - see the picture below for my cupcake corer!) , scoop out center of each cupcake from the bottom, and reserve (you will use this ti plus cupcake after filling).  Hollow out each cupcake a bit more, discarding crumbs.  Insert tip of plastic bag into each cavity and squeeze to fill; replace plugs.  Using remaining filling in bag, decorate tops of cupcakes.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I made these for my mom a week or so ago as a surprise.  She had spent the day visiting my grandfather, and while they were there, my grandmother fell and hurt herself, so it was a long day for my mom.  I decided to pull up her Pinterest and find something sweet to surprise her with.  I found snickerdoodle cupcakes and decided to give them a try.

As you might expect, the cupcakes have cinnamon and sugar like a snickerdoodle cookie.  They were pretty quick to toss together.  Once they're baked, you frost them and shake some more cinnamon and sugar on the top.

However, the frosting was an issue; Martha Stewart recommended 7-minute frosting, which looked absolutely cloud-like and beautiful but is made with egg whites, 6 of them, for that matter, and I had used up my last egg in the cupcakes themselves (not to mention the fact that I get a little freaked out about eating uncooked egg whites).  So I whipped up a buttercream instead, which unfortunately was just weird.  I don't know if it was the heat (it was randomly hot that day), or if I screwed something up, but my mom described it as "wiggly."  It never looked right.  It tasted fine, but I think the texture weirded my family out, because lots of these cupcakes were tossed, unfortunately.  I am still not sure what happened, and I didn't try them, but I'd say if you give these guys a shot, go with the 7-minute frosting!

How adorable is he?

Recipe:

snickerdoodle cupcakes
from Martha Stewart
yield 28 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk
seven-minute frosting

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon.

2) With electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

3) Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.  Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4) To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar.  Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (Ateco No. 809 or Wilton No. 1A), pipe frosting on each cupcake: hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak.  Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar.  Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

seven minute frosting:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
6 large egg whites, room temperature

Instructions:
1) Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of the pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves.  Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.

2) Meanwhile in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  With mixer running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beating to combine.

3) As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat.  With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream.  Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes.  Use immediately.

Strawberry Cupcakes

After weeks of my mom begging me to make her these strawberry cupcakes, I finally cracked last week over vacation.  She had somehow found the recipe on Martha Stewart, and was all excited because it's from some bakery named Sprinkles.  My mom loves cupcakes, and loves strawberries, and I was intrigued by the recipe because both the cupcakes and the frosting call for strawberry puree.  I figured they would be very berry-ish!  And, as is often the case, we had tons of strawberries in the fridge.

The batter was pretty standard, but had some interesting ingredients (like the puree I already mentioned, as well as egg whites).  With the 1/3 cup of strawberry puree in it, I had really expected the batter to be pinker than it was!

Then the frosting.... here things got a little weird. The recipe called for two sticks of butter.... cold.  How you are supposed to make frosting out of cold butter is beyond me.  Even my fabulous KitchenAid mixer was having a tough time of it trying to blend cold butter into a "light and fluffy" consistency.  It never actually got all that light or fluffy, and as I (attempted to) pipe it onto the cupcakes, I could see there were still little chunks of butter intact.  Next time I will definitely use room temperature butter.  Weird.  Anyway maybe it was the butter problem or something else, but it never looked that great either; it almost looked curdled, and certainly not "dense and creamy like ice cream" like the recipe claimed!

I didn't actually try them, since I don't like frosting, never mind cake, but Mom said that they were good.  They tasted like strawberries - which is no surprise with all the puree in there!


Recipe:
from Martha Stewart, originally from Sprinkles Bakery


Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

Sprinkles' Strawberry Frosting (recipe below)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
• Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary.  Save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
• With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
• Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Strawberry frosting:
1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Directions:

Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

I'm BACK!

Great news: I am no longer on death's door, and that means that I finally can get myself back in the kitchen!  It has been a long, horrible, salmonella- and parasite-infested two weeks, but I'm back!  As soon as I was eating again, I went right back to my long lost Kitchenaid Mixer!

Yesterday I made red, white, and blueberry cheesecake cupcakes.  I was in the mood for baking a dessert, and since it is Memorial Day weekend, I thought these were perfect.  Even better, they are actually low fat, from the Skinytaste blog (definitely one to check out if you want delicious but low-fat food!)  You use low fat cream cheese and Greek yogurt, and only 1/4 cup of sugar.  The bottoms are vanilla wafers.  They are really easy to whip together too.  The only problem was that they are supposed to be mini cupcakes, but I didn't have any mini cupcake wrappers, so I ended up making only 9 regular-sized cheesecake muffins.  I love them.  They are not super sweet, and the fresh strawberries and blueberries on top are so pretty and patriotic!  I definitly recommend these little guys.

Today is Alex's graduation party, and Rachael asked me to make something sweet to bring.  I looked through my dad's old recipe files, and found the recipe for Betsy's black bottom cupcakes.  These are famous in my family, and they were handwritten both by my mom (the directions) and my dad (the ingredients), so I thought that  was cool.  They were fairly easy to make, although you have to make the black bottom cake batter, and the cream cheese topping.  I added the nuts and sugar to some of them to make Mom happy.  The recipe is a little weird (it has things like vinegar in it!). 

They just came out of the oven, and it seems like something has gone a bit wrong.  I am not sure what, but the tops of the muffins taste chemically somewhow.  And it's only the very tops!  No idea that this means.  I am perhaps a bit rusty in the kitchen :(  Hmph.


Recipes:
red, white and blueberry cheesecake yogurt cupcakes


Black Bottom Cupcakes

Ingredients:
6 ounces cream cheese
1  1/3 cup cugar, separated
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoo salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Optional nut topping:
2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup nuts

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 18 muffin tins.

2.  In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, and egg.  Mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

3.  In a large bowl, mix flour,  remaining 1 cup sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.  Beat 2 minutes on medium speed.

4.  Fill cupcake tins with black mixture 1/2 full. 

5.  Top with 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture. 

6.  Mix sugar and nuts and sprinkle evenly on each cake.

7.  Cook 20-30 minutes.

Not So Relaxing

Today I had expected to have a lovely, leisurely day in the kitchen, but unfortunately it did not quite work out that way.  I made cinnamon raisin bagel dough (bagels to be baked tomorrow) and strawberry chocolate cupcakes, but nothing quite turned out the way I wanted them to.  I still do not handle mistakes well, but I'm trying to deal with failure a bit better than I used to!

I asked Mom what kind of food I should make her while she went to visit my grandfather.  She said cinnamon raisin bread. Since I have made cinnamon raisin bread twice - and it's tricky - I decided to try a different form of cinnamon and raisins.  I noticed that my favorite blog had a recipe for them, but in the spirit of branching out  and trying new things today, I checked out another of my frequeently-visited blogs and found a different, quicker, easier recipe.  I went for that. Once the dough was made and resting in the refrigerator, I started to doubt my decision.  I have now made bagels 3 times, and they always require a lot of time to rise.  In fact, every yeast bread I have ever made needs time to rise, because that is the whole point of yeast.  And yet, this recipe calls for no rise time.  It calls for the dough to be made, formed into rolls, rolled into ropes, pressed into bagel shapes, and off they go into the fridge overnight.  Since the dough has to be warm to rise, the refrigerator time does not count as rising time.  And I like the other way to form bagels: make a roll, then press your thumbs through the middle and slowly widen the hole.  Making ropes and then cinching the end seems... not so bagel-like. So, I used the old way.  Still no time to rise though.  I guess we will see how it all goes tomorrow after I bake them, but I have my doubts. Unfortunately, this all went through my mind when it was too late.   I wish I had looked into the recipe a bit closer before I started! Next time, I stick to Annie's Eats.

As if I needed more stress, then I had a little cupcake catastrophe.  I wanted to surprise Mom with strawberry chocolate cupcakes; she had been craving a chocoalte cupcake with strawberry frosting and we had just talked about it earlier.  I found a recipe, made the cupcakes, put them in the oven, and then made the frosting.  While I was pureeing strawberries (yes, it was that involvled), I peeked into the oven... and gasped.  My cupcakes looked like tar.... bubbly and black and spreading out across the pan... and also very sunken.  And they stayed like that.  Sunken and horrible.  Kenzie tried it and said they tasted fine, but my strawberry puree buttercream frosting was just way too good to put on these crappy things.  So, I made the hard decision to throw out all 20 failures.  Normally I'd probably say that maybe the kitchen and I were not mixing well today and I could call it a day... but I had made the frosting.  I had to try again with the cupcakes.  So I did, and thank god they rose normally and turned out just fine.  Gram and Nick both loved them, even if Mom claimed that the frosting was "salty."  At this point, I was so sick of those damn cupcakes that the slightet criticism would ruin my day, so you can imagine that I took it really well.

Yikes...

So, what went wrong?  The only thing I can think of is that I used water from my Keurig during cupcake round 1.  The recipe called for boiling water... perhaps the water isn't hot enough?  I suppose they ask for boiling water for a reason... who knew it actually had to be actively boiling?  I don't know.  Rough resolution day, though. At least Neely Mouse lucked out and got to eat one of the weird, hardened cupcake tops from round 1!

Happy mouse!

Recipe:
cinnamon raisin bagels
strawberry chocolate cupcakes

Cinnamon and Clove Day

Today I may or may not have taken the day off from work... we were out late last night at the concert, and so I planned on having a relaxing mental health day.  It ended up being a good thing that I stayed home; I had to help get Dad up, and then Mark came over and we grocery shopped, and made lunch, dinner, and dessert together!  It was relaxing in that I was not at work, but still quite busy - and I must not be cut out for mental health days, because I spent much of the day feeling guilty.

Marky was in charge of lunch; he made grilled chicken sandwiches with bleu cheese, onions and peppers.  This is his specialty and they were great.  While he worked, I set up the slow cooker for dinner.  I made cinnamon chicken.  It does sound weird, I know, but I like weird food.  The recipe calls for boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced carrots, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coconut milk, and tomato sauce.  Quite the strange mix.  I couldn't find coconut milk, so I Googled it and mixed cream of coconut with hot water.  Then I let it set for 6 hours. 

Mmm... potatoes!

I also made my personal favorite, mashed potatoes. to go with the chicken.  I added goat cheese, butter and milk.... extremely healthy.  But the chicken wasn't bad, so I figured it would even out.  They were by far the best part of the meal, but I am a mashed potato kind of girl.  And add goat cheese to anything, and I will be happy.  So this was perfect.

As for the chicken?  Well, I don't like meat, so as I always say, I am not the person to ask. I thought the texture of the chicken was a little too stringy, but the flavor was very good.  I liked the carrots.  Kenzie,  Nick and Mark were the only ones home.  Mark and Kenzie both ate a lot and said they liked it.  Nick did his bizarre "I-may-usually-eat-like-an-elephant-but-happen-to-be-full-tonight" thing and gave 75% of his serving to the dogs.  Apparently he "doesn't like cloves."  Kenz and I are fairly certain that he would not have even known there were ground cloves in it except for the fact that I was telling her the ingredients.  I'm getting very used to Nick whining about my meals, though, so this time I chose not to be upset and just be entertained by his story that he wasn't hungry since he ate a hamburger 7 hours earlier.

Frosting with a weird tip?

While Kenzie was at class tonight, I worked on a surprise dessert for her.  She is having a crappy day, and I know that she loves chai tea, so when I saw a recipe for chai cupcakes, I knew I had to try it. You have the option to make chocolate or vanilla chai cupcakes (or both!) with either Swiss meringue honey buttercream or whipped chocolate cinnamon ganache for frosting.  I decided to make the vanilla cupcakes with the chocolate frosting.  In a funny coincidence, both my dinner and my dessert have cinnamon and cloves in them (so ha, Nick)!  The cupcakes came out delicious: spiced and soft and great.  Then the frosting might be my best yet.  It only called for semisweet chocolate, heavy cream, and cinnamon, which I was intrigued by because of so few ingredients.  I had to simmer the cream and cinnamon, then pour it over the chocolate, mix it up, chill it for an hour, and then whip it.  Then of course I ruin everything when I try to frost the cupcakes and they end up looking ridiculous, but it tastes amazing.  As someone who is not big on sweets, I will probably bring one to work tomorrow for lunch :)  And hopefully they did their job and made Kenzie's crappy day a little bit better.

Recipes:
slow cooker cinnamon chicken
chai cupcakes

This is where I gave up and just smeared the frosting on...

Stiff Peaks

I had a wonderful weekend in Boston, celebrating my birthday with a trip to see Blue Man Group.  Mark and I stayed over at the swanky Nine Zero Hotel (thanks Priceline!), so there was little time this weekend for my resolution.  However, yesterday I went grocery shopping with Kenzie with lots of new ideas in mind.  One of them finally happened today!

I saw a recipe for banana cream pie cupcakes on one of my favorite food blogs last week, and I immediately knew that I had to make them.  First of all, banana cream pie is Mark's favorite dessert.  Second, it would be my first attempt at filled cupcakes.  I love making cupcakes and so I have been intrigued by filled ones.  And, third of all: the recipe calls for a vanilla bean, another thing that intrigues me (despite costing $7 per pod!)

It was certainly a very involved process, but I would say it is worth the work!  I had to make pastry cream first, which is a very similar process and recipe as my vanilla pudding.  Then while it cooled, I made the cupcakes.  This was my first experience splitting open a vanilla bean, scraping out the black seeds inside, and using that in place of vanilla extract.  It definitely gives a more vanilla-y taste - for a hefty price!  However, I am getting my money's worth: I saved the bean pod and the jar it came in, put the bean back in the jar, and added sugar.  In a week, I will have vanilla sugar!  Great idea I found on a blog. 

Anyway, now comes the fun part: the filling!  I had to cut out a cone of the center of each cake with a paring knife (called the cone method... I'm so smart).  A big thanks to Allie and my mother for eating all the cones to avoid having to waste them ;)  Then I had to push in a slice of banana, a spoonfull of pastry cream, and top it off with another slice of banana.  It was pretty fun to put them together like that!  Last, I made whipped cream to frost them with.  The recipe called for it to be topped with another slice of banana and a circle of pie crust, but I was too lazy to make crust and didn't want the banana to brown, so they stay as is!  From what people have been saying, they are delicious... frankly I got too full eating the leftover pastry cream and some of the cones, and I haven't even had them yet!  They certainly are pretty.  And as you can see, Allie reaaaaally enjoyed them...

Then I ended up having leftover egg whites... and you know me, I hate that!  I am used to having leftover yolks, but I knew that with whites, I could make merengues, which I like (I love the term, and the process of creating, and the sight of - stiff peaks).  I found a recipe from Ina Garten for a pavlova, which sounded basically like baked merengue served with whipped cream and berries on top.  I was hoping that it would be good, because it was sooo fast!  I just whipped the egg whites, added sugar and vanilla extract, and then a tiny bit of corn starch and white wine vinegar (I know it sounds weird... you can't taste it!).  Then you put it on a baking pan with parchment paper and mound it into a circle.  I baked it for 90 minutes, and when that was done, I left it in the oven for another hour with the door closed.  I had leftover whipped cream from the cupcakes, mixed up some blueberries, strawberries, and sugars, and voila!  Mixed berry pavlova. The recipe called for a raspberry topping, but I made do with the berries we had.  I just ate a little bit, and man is it good!  It's almost like angel food cake pudding - since the ingredients are very similar.  Knowing that Pat likes angel food, I called him over, and he had two pieces.  And a cupcake.  So he's happy :) 

Anyway, I recommend both recipes from today.  The cupcakes take a long time but are worth it, and the pavlova is ridiculously good and easy.   Run, don't walk, to your kitchen.

Recipes:
Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes
Mixed Berry Pavlova

Cupcakes to Brighten Up a Monday

Beautiful little cupcakes, pre-glazing

I was going to take tonight off from my resolution, but then I stumbled on this recipe, and I was intrigued: glazed doughnut cupcakes!  They were compared to Krispy Kreme doughnuts. That brought me back to my first road trip to Montreal, stopping by the Krispy Kreme factory and eating fresh, hot doughnuts right out of the ovens (or fry-o-lators?)  As a person who doesn't love sweets (and yet loves to bake), I have a special place in my heart for Krispy Kremes.  So even though I wanted to relax tonight, I simply had to try these!

Glazed to perfection!

They were very easy (except for the fact that I forgot that we were out of eggs, until Mark had already gone out to the store and come home... he's the best, because he went right back out without complaining!).  I forget how easy and quick it is to make anything without yeast!  The only spice in the cupcakes are cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar.  They are not overly sweet (which I like).  Mom compared them to a plain spiced doughnut.  They are a really delicious cake - and they puffed up so beautifully!  There is nothing like a good cupcake crown.  I honestly think these are gorgeous; part of the reason why is definitely my new non-stick muffin tin from Mark.  I didn't use any paper liners because I am sick of them sticking to my cake- and they popped right out of the tins!  I was thrilled.  I love this new tin (and the boy who bought it for me!).  I double-glazed them with the doughnut glaze, and while they don't look as "glazed" as the picture, I think it adds just the perfect bite of sweetness.  Total success tonight!  It feels good after the newly named "mutt muffins" of yesterday

And speaking of my mutt muffins........

Well, at least someone is enjoying them :)

Recipe:
Glazed Doughnut Cupcakes

Muffins and Cupcakes, Oh My!

Last night before bed, I whipped up some apple cranberry harvets muffins!  I know, I know: who am, I "whipping up muffins before bed?"  But we had cranberries left over from when I made the cranberry breakfast cake, and we also had some apples that we beginning to get soft.  My new thing is trying to find recipes to use to get rid of ingredients!  And I am always trying to find quick breakfasts. 

The muffins came out good!  They are cinnamony and gingery, with apples and cranberries and raisins.  I think next time I would leave the raisins out though - too much fruit!  And maybe I would add some sort of nuts... I never say that but I think it needed some sort of a crunch.  Maybe walnuts.  So, note to self: no raisins, add walnuts!  Anyway, the muffins were great and I enjoyed one last night and one this morning before bed :)

Apple Cranberry Harvest Muffins

I thought I was done with the muffin tin for a while, since ours is older than me and horrendous to clean - but, enter wonderful boyfriend with a brand new nonstick muffin pan (and a mandoline!) today! He's the best!  So I just had to try it out. 

I decided to make creamsicle cupcakes.  I like creamsicles so I was excited when I found a recipe.  Since I had to zest 2 oranges, I juiced the oranges as well so I wouldn't waste them, so they have fresh orange juice along with the regular stuff.  They are certainly not the most beautiful things... Mark's new tin's cupcakes came out perfectly, but the other tin got a little stuck and are a bit mangled-looking.  I also tried the convection setting of the oven today, and I am not a fan.  It cooked too fast and too unevenly - which is weird, because I know that is not what is supposed to happen.  I think I will stick with conduction!  And, to add to the ugliness, my frosting job was pretty shabby; Mom told me to just take a knife to them and smooth them out.  I reminded me family to eat with theit mouths, not their eyes :) I am thinking about taking a course at Monty Tech on cake decorating; Mom and Susie took it a long time ago (but let me tell you, my mother is rusty!) and I definitely need some help. It sucks to spend so much time on something and have it taste great but look like a 6-year old made it!  Anyone want to take it with me?

Recipes:
Apple Cranberry Harvest Muffins
Creamsicle Cupcakes

Dinner and Dessert for Kenzie

The last two days werea bit a rough for Kenzie (and all of us) with a health scare, so tonight, it was all about her.  I told her to pick something for dinner, and something for dessert, and she can just take it easy and enjoy.  This led to me making Cuban black beans and rice, and Oreo cupcakes!

I was fully intent on making a completely vegetarian dinner, but you know these carnivores: they just aren't happy unless there is meat.  I refused, so Mark went to the store and got chicken and steak(carnivores, I told you!).  He was fully in charge of the meat aspect while I made the beans and rice.  The meal came together absolutely wonderfully!  My beans were delicious; nothing like finely chopped fresh cilantro, red peppers, onions and garlic to make beans amazing.  The best part was that it's a Weight Watchers recipe and only worth 5 points! Of course, that does not include the rice, or the steak, or the fact that Mark put his cooked chicken into my vegetarian beans, but it was still a healthy and delicious meal and we were all happy.

The healthy part ended with the cupcakes :)  They are pretty cute though.  They have a whole Oreo at the bottom, and lots of cookie chunks mixed in.  I made a cream cheese frosting with cookie crumbs and Oreo garnishes for the top.  Rachael treated Mom and Kenz to manicures so no one has tried them yet, but the cupcakes will be ready for them when they get in, and I am excited!  I am going to bring some to work tomorrow, I think, since my family never finishes baked goods (we do not have enough sweet tooths!) and I am sick of throwing out all my hard work!

Love you Kenz!  Think good thoughts, and enjoy the Oreo cupcakes! :)

Recipes:

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

The Introduction

Today my mom came up with the idea of creating a blog about my cooking resolution. She said that at the end of the year, I'll have sort of my own cookbook. I'm intrigued by this idea because I've always loved cookbooks, cooking magazines, and cooking shows - so this is perfect.

Background info: I am an awful cook. Well, I used to be, at least. In my family, I am famous for my failed attempts (i.e. the stuffed acorn squash that even the dog spit out, etc.) and so, being sensitive, I kind of quit cooking. Being 26 (27 in a week!), however, I realized that I really needed to start figuring this out. I've been experimenting since Thanksgiving with things like hand pies, stuffed peppers, cheddar biscuits, bagels, and caramels (yes I know I choose more difficult recipes than most beginners but I'm picky!). So far so good.... Except for an over-salty but still beautiful popover incident (and I followed the recipe, damn it!). I am getting more confident and maybe even enjoying cooking and baking a little bit.

Tonight is New Year's Eve. I'll be bringing to Dani's and bringing my margarita cupcakes! The cakes were easier than the tequila merengue buttercream frosting, which took at least double the time - but was quite worth it. The only snafu was the fact that our grater is dull as hell and so I had to resort to peeling limes and chopping the zest myself! Not so great when Kenzie is picking huge bitter hunks out of her cupcake (I am not the greatest chopper I guess!) but I think they will go over okay anyway. I also didn't want to waste egg yolks from the frosting, so I also made a banana pudding - FROM SCRATCH! I'll have that when I get back home tonight to meet up with Marky- he loves bananas.  It called for vanilla wafers to be layered in, but I just did bananas and plan to get some whipped cream.

Sorry for such a long post, but I had to give the background scoop. Happy New Year, and good luck with YOUR resolutions ;)

Recipes:
Margarita Cupcakes
Banana Custard Pudding