Snowmen

These guys just made me smile.  I made them for my daughter's Kindergarten holiday party and watching each little guy come to life was just what I needed after a tough week. They were super simple to make.  I used my favorite white cupcake and buttercream recipes.  Leftover candy from gingerbread houses were used for the noses, the eyes are a gel icing and the hat brim is made of mini marshmallows cut in half.

 I made Mike help with the decorating and while he grumbled about it I know he always enjoys decorating and it was nice having some company for the late night decorating session.

Simple White Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsps. Vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift flour and baking powder together, set aside.  In medium bowl cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stir in vanilla.  Add flour, mixing until just combined.  Stir in the milk until smooth.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Mississippi Mud

As always happens this time of year December has gotten away from me and there are many things on my to do list that will probably still be there when 2013 rolls in.  One thing I was not going to leave on my list were the Mississippi Mud cupcakes for this months Cake Slice group.  I have made myself a promise to stick with the Cake Slice bakers this year and I am proud to say that I have met the baking deadline two months in a row.  I missed the posting deadline, but the cupcakes were made in time.

I have always been a fan of Mississippi Mud.  I remember a recipe for Mississippi Mud brownies in one of my first cookbooks when I was little.  I don't think I ever actually made the brownies, but I know I read the recipe many many times.

Julie Richardson's recipe for Mississippi Mud Cupcakes, in Vintage Cakes, is a wonderfully moist chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate chips and pecans and topped with a marshmallow frosting.  I didn't follow her recipe for the frosting. Instead I cheated with a Fluff buttercream, a super easy super tasty frosting.  The cupcakes were not overly sweet and the addition of coffee in the batter helped to enhance the chocolate and add a very subtle bitterness.  I didn't do a good job at evenly distributing the chocolate chips and pecans so the one cupcake I had only had a couple of chips and one tiny piece of pecan which made it seem more like something had fallen into the batter than an actual component of it.  If I were to make the recipe again I would probably just sprinkle the add-ins into each cupcake rather than mixing it into the full batter.

These cupcakes left my house very quickly.  I finished them at 8:00am and delivered them to the staff room at my kids' elementary school at 8:30.  I did keep one as a sample, it was great with a mid-morning cup of coffee.  It was so good that I forgot to snap a picture before inhaling the entire thing.

Please go check out the other Cake Slice bakers and all the delicious looking cupcakes!

Kids Cupcakes

The cookbook Flour is absolutely beautiful.  Joanne Chang has filled the book with mouthwatering recipes that make me want to plan a trip to Boston just so I can visit the bakery.  The book sits on my baking shelf with many recipes bookmarked. I have been so excited to make something that I have been waiting for just the right occasion.  Which means the the book has been sitting on the shelf for over six months, untouched, not a single recipe made.  Until this week when I decided that Tuesday was special enough - we had made it through Monday so we might as well celebrate, with some lovely chocolate cupcakes.

Joanne explains that one of the things she likes about this recipe is that everything is dumped together and the result is a wonderfully moist super chocolaty cake.  Sugar and butter and water are combined until the butter melts and the sugar dissolved.  This is then poured over chopped chocolate and cocoa powder, everything is stirred together until silky smooth.  Some milk and egg are added and then some flour to bring it all together.  Then comes the part I really liked and have never done before the batter is left to rest before baking.  This gives the batter time to absorb the liquid and thicken up.  This little rest period is also good for little ones who might be easily distracted and become more focused on making-up their own recipes than finishing the one they  had started.

My favorite thing about this recipe, besides it's amazing taste and textures is that it a great recipe to do with kids.  There are opportunities to practice cutting, and scooping plus there are a variety of measurements - great for practicing math skills.


But the best part is it doesn't require the use of a mixer.  It is fun to use the mixer and it is great for kids to watch it go around and observe how the ingredients combine.  But, I think it is even better when they are the ones in control of mixing the ingredients together.  It is so much more fun to crack an egg, break the yolk open, slowly stir it around and watch it blend with the other ingredients until it has completely disappeared.  When doing it by hand beginner cooks get a much better sense of what the ingredients feel like and how they they work.  It can be a messy process, but there is nothing cooler than watching an egg drip slowly off the end of a spoon or play with sugar just as it is becoming moist.  Playing with sticky flour is also pretty cool.

Grab your favorite little person, a copy of Flour if you have it, or your favorite recipes and mix it together the "old fashioned" way.  When you're done go ahead and let them lick the bowl, having their name written on the forehead is optional.

Cherry Coke and Strawberry Daiquiri

This past weekend I went back to the 80's.  A friend was celebrating her 40th birthday and her husband threw her a great party.  We started off with a wonderful dinner where we all behaved like adults and then regressed back to our youth as the night went on.  The birthday girl requested a cupcake bar at her celebration.  She didn't request any particular flavors, just a fun variety.  I worked with another friend to come up with a couple flavor options and after much deliberation we decided on Strawberry Daiquiri, Key Lime, Cherry Coke and Chocolate Cream.  I didn't get any pictures of the final cupcake display, we didn't set it up until later in the evening and had left the "adult" stage far behind us.  I am hoping there is a picture of the cupcakes out there somewhere as we decided to make themed cupcake wrappers about 3 hours before the party.  We found paper reminiscent of each of her 40 decades and cut wrappers using this template.  They took more time than we anticipated, but they were really cute and made the display look wonderful.
I made the Strawberry Daiquiri and Cherry Coke cupcakes and was very happy with both.  I have been playing around some adult flavor cupcakes and the Strawberry Daiquiri is definitely one I will be adding to my list.  The rum taste was subtle, but flavorful enough that you knew what you were having.  I opted with a buttercream frosting since they were going to be in the car and then sitting outside, but I think they would be great with just simple whipped cream topping.

For the daiquiri cupcakes I used a basic white cake mix and followed the directions on the box replacing the water with daiquiri mix and rum and adding a little lime zest.  As I said they were flavorful without being overly powerful.  I topped them with a rum and lime zest buttercream and they were decorated with a little more zest and half a strawberry.

The Cherry Coke cupcakes were also a big hit, both within my family and at the party.  I was lucky to leave the house them, I think Will would have been happy eating the entire batch.  The coke flavor is not very strong, but it does give the cupcakes a great texture and when mixed with the cherry juice you definitely know what you are eating.  Steph over at Cupcake Project recommends using Kola extract to enhance the flavor.  I was short on time and wasn't able to order some for this batch, but would love to have some on hand for future batches, it would make these cupcakes perfect.


Cherry Coke Cupcake
Printer Ready  makes 24 cupcakes

3 c. Flour
1/4 c. Cocoa Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
2. c. Butter, at room temperature
1 c. Buttermilk
2. c. Cocoa-Cola
1 tsp. Maraschino Cherry Juice
24 Maraschino Cherries, stemless

Preheat oven 350.  Line cupcake pan with wrappers, set aside.  

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.  In bowl of electric mixer cream sugar and butter, mix together until light and fluffy.  In medium bowl mix together buttermilk, cocoa-cola and cherry juice.  Alternately add flour and liquid mixture to creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour.  Divide batter evenly between cupcake tins.  Drop one cherry into each cupcake.  Bake for 15 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
Top with cherry flavored buttercream and whole cherry.  

Cherry Buttercream
Printer Ready

½  c. Vegetable Shortening
½ c. Butter, at room temperature
4 c. Confectioners Sugar, sifted
1 Tbs. Milk
2 Tbs. Cherry Juice
¼ c. Finely Chopped Maraschino Cherries

In mixing bowl cream shortening and butter together until smooth and blended.  Slowly add confections sugar, scrapping bowl as necessary.  Add milk mix until fluffy.  Add cherry juice, mix until combined. Carefully stir in cherries.  

Stout Cupcakes

St. Patrick's Day is one of those holidays where I always have great plans for making fun yummy treats and then never get around to doing anything.  This year I had plans for Irish Soda bread and shamrock sugar cookies, both easy yet I never got around to making them.  Part of the reason I didn't get to them was I became distracted by these Stout cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream.  I remember seeing the recipe last year and wanted to make them, but never got around to it, so this year I put everything else aside and decided to focus on the adult desserts and let the kids fend for themselves.  And oh it was such a good decision.
I have made the Bailey's buttercream before and it is just mouthwatering.  I could eat a bowl of it by myself, in fact it is a pretty good snack when slathered on a graham cracker.
I hadn't done the cupcakes before, but am glad I gave them a try, they will definitely be added to the collection.  I did have a little problem when mixing the liquid ingredients together, I didn't bring the beer up to room temperature before adding it to the melted butter which caused the butter to solidify in weird clumps.  I poured the beer butter mixture through a sieve and remelted the butter, but it was still clumpy and the cupcakes had small hard pieces.  Which while not awful definitely messed up the texture.
This recipe makes a lot of cupcakes, I made two dozen large ones and another two and half dozen small ones.  When I make them again I will do even more small ones.  The ratio of buttercream to cake was perfect.  In fact I think I will add them to my mini dessert options.

Stout Cupcakes

Courtesy of Jami Schmidt and 

 

3/4 cup of unsweetened coca plus more for dusting at the end
2 cups sugar
2 cups AP Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
Pinch of fine salt
1 bottle of Guinness (room temperature)
1 stick melted butter (cooled slightly)
1 tbs Pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cups sour cream

Preheat to 350
Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl
In another mixing bowl combine stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream until combined and smooth. Gradually add in the dry.

 Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating half way through  

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting
Courtesy Martha Stewart
3 sticks unsalted, room temp butter
4 C. powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Cream butter until smooth.  Slowly add in powdered sugar, scraping down the sides as needed.  Add Bailey's and vanilla and beat until combined and smooth.  

Soccer Cupcakes

Liam's soccer season ended last weekend and this week the team celebrated with a pizza party.  There were only six boys on the team - in the U6 league they play 3 on 3, so cute - but with the noise and chaos the boys and their siblings created one would have thought there were 30 boys on the team.  Always looking for an opportunity to bake and then get the baked goods out of my house I volunteered to make the cupcakes.  I had wanted to make chocolate soccer balls, but ran out of time, so I was very happy when I found these guys at Michael's.  It was my first time using the grass tip, oh what fun!  I now want to make people just so I can pipe hair with this fun tip.  For the cupcakes I was craving chocolate, so I went to my old stand-by, the Martha Stewart "One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes."  This is a great recipe, very moist and super yummy.  I highly recommend them when you feel the craving for a classic chocolate cupcake.

Chocolate Cupcakes
2 1/2 c. AP Flour
1 1/4 c. Cocoa Powder
2 1/2 c. Sugar
2 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Large Eggs
1 Egg yolk
1 1/4 c. Milk
1/2 c. plus 2 Tbs. Vegetable Oil
1 1/4 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. Warm Water

Bake at 350
Sift together dry ingredients, place in bowl of electric mixer.  Add remaining ingredients, with paddle attachment beat on low until combined, about 3 minutes.  Fill cupcake tins about 2/3 full, bake for 20 minutes or until tester comes out clean. 

Leftovers

I have always hated the word leftovers, it sounds so sad.  The word brings back visions of gym class, those last few kids just waiting to be picked, except instead of skinny legged kids I envision sad pieces of food lined up against a gym wall.  To prevent these sad images I am trying to get in the habit of not being as wasteful and use up the little bits as much as possible.   Baking leftovers are easy, cake scraps transform into cake pops, curds and cake scraps become yummy trifles, pie crust turns into small turnovers to be eaten as the pie bakes.  

For me, one of the best ways to use leftovers is to give them to the kids when I am baking something for an event and can't have any helpers.  One of the problems of having kids who are very comfortable in the kitchen is that they feel they can, and should, always be able to help.  Some of our biggest kitchen meltdowns have occurred when I am trying to work on an item for a customer, or just want to practice, so when I sense a meltdown approaching I go to the freezer and see what is waiting for us.   I can usually find something similar to what I am working with so the kids feel like they are contributing and doing the same thing I am.  It is a good opportunity for all of us.  I get to focus on what I am doing and when I am working on my own project I don't hover as much and the kids have more opportunity to experiment and play.  There is usually more mess to clean-up, but I just tell myself that is one more learning opportunity for the kids. 

Yesterday I was making an apple tart to bring to a friend's fall festival.  I didn't have any extra dough in the freezer, but I got my dough rolled out quickly and was able to pass the scraps on to the girls.  They got to play with flour and practice rolling dough, Aggie even made her own tart to bring for the kids' table.   They became so involved in their own projects that I was able to work on mine with little interruption. 

Not all leftovers go to the kids, sometimes they are used to make something all new, like these cupcakes for Aggie's birthday celebration at school.  All I had to make was the cake, the icing was leftover from cakes made earlier in the week.  I put all the icing in a pastry bag and got fun swirled icing that the kids loved and they looked as if the swirled icing was a plan right from the start