Sunday, January 29, 2012

British Invasion!

This weekend my sister, Jocelyn, came to visit all the way from Washington State. In her honor, my mom made not one, but two delicious British meals!! The night she arrived we had mince and tatties, and the next night we had stovies (which mom NEVER makes, so please hurry back Joce!). Being that I am the resident baker in the family i knew I was going to have to make some sort of treat this weekend and while I was looking through my trusty Martha Stewart Cupcakes book I saw a recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes and knew it was meant to be.

What you'll Need
Cakes
8 oz dates (preferably Medjool)
1/2 water
1/2 brandy
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Toffee Glaze
4 tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 brandy
Pinch of salt

This recipe (and perhaps all recipes for sticky toffee pudding; I've never made it before) uses dates. I have never really eaten dates, let alone used them in cooking so I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Specifically, the recipe said to use Medjool Dates if possible and that was all that my grocery store sold. I did a little research and found out that Medjool Dates are known as the "King of Dates" because they are exceptionally large and pretty sweet in comparison to other dates. As a side note for all those non-date eaters like myself, dates do have pits so you'll need to half them and take out the pit prior to doing anything with them for baking.


The first thing I did was bring the dates (halved and pitted), water, and brandy to a boil. Once at a rolling boil I turned the heat down and let it cook until the dates were soft. I then immediately transferred the mixture to my food processor and pureed it until smooth. A word of advice, DO NOT put your face close to the bowl immediately after taking the lid off the food processor to smell it!! Because of the heat from coming straight off the stove, the fumes smelled so intensely from the brandy i almost choked to death!



While the date mixture was cooling I creamed butter and dark brown sugar in my Kitchen Aid mixer. Speaking of dark brown sugar, today I learned that the difference between brown sugar and dark brown sugar is molasses! If you don't have any dark brown sugar you can just add molasses to your regular brown sugar... In a separate bowl I sifted together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Then I added the flour mixture to the butter, alternating with batches of the date mixture. 

I did not use cupcake liners in my tin (you'll see why later on) so I made sure to butter and flour the tin instead. Once I spooned the batter into the tin, I baked them at 350 degrees for 24 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time.

While the cakes were baking I made my toffee glaze which was pretty easy. I melted butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar in a saucepan and brought it to a boil. I then added brandy and a pinch of salt and let it cook for an additional minute. That's it (I told you it was easy)!

Immediately after I took the baked cakes out of the oven i used a toothpick to slightly lift each cake out of the tin and poured a couple spoon fulls of the toffee glaze onto the bottom of the tin then put the cakes back down into place. I allowed them to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack. By this point the toffee glaze that I had poured onto the bottom was pretty well absorbed into the cake. Never the less it did still drip a little so make sure to lay something down on the counter underneath the cooling rack.


I covered the cakes with tin foil to keep them from drying out  until we were ready to eat them (a few hours later). Prior to serving them, I poured the remaining toffee glaze on top of each cake. I also added a spoon full of custard on the side (another British thing that i can't say no to...).


All in all I'd say these were delicious! I don't think I'd change anything about the recipe. My only critique is that I think these were designed to be served immediately after they came out of the oven. I imagine the warmth of the cake would have made the toffee glaze just slightly better. I suppose I could have heated them up in the microwave but I don't think it would have been the same.

Oh well, another cupcake down...


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Cheesecake Central!

Happy 2012 Everyone!! Wanna know what one of my resolutions are this year? Make MORE cupcakes and actually post to my blog on a regular basis! We'll see how that goes... On a side note, I apologize if this entry is a bit long and full of pictures. It's been a busy week, as far as baking goes.

One thing that will help me stick to my resolution is my brand new Kitchen Aid Mixing Stand! That's right everyone, after several years of begging, Mike finally caved and let me buy one. I got the Pro 600 series so that means I can make LOTS of cupcakes, woohoo!



As a result of my new awesome mixer I have been quite the little baker this past week. Not only have I made 2 different cupcakes but I also made some delish chocolate chip cookies. I should also mention that for the past week I have basically lived in my newest apron that my sister-in-law, Tammy, got me for Christmas. I am developing an obsession with cute aprons!



First, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies on Sunday for our book club meeting (yeah yeah I'm in a book club...). I have forever been searching for a chocolate chip cookie that has some substance to it and doesn't flatten out when I bake it. When I was in high school there was a family of girls that all went to my school and they were known for their amazing chocolate chip cookies; it was like this mysterious recipe that we all wanted to get our hands on. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have found it! The funny thing is it was such a basic recipe and I was not at all prepared for how great it would turn out. I read online once that the key to chocolate chip cookies was pastry flour, not just any old flour. Since I decided to make these so last minute I decided to try that theory out later and just stick with a quick and easy recipe. I'll have to use pastry flour next time and compare the two versions.



Next up is the cupcakes! My day off is always a good excuse to bake but this week I had even more incentive: a group of girls from work were getting together for dinner the next night and I volunteered to bring dessert! One of my coworkers had been bugging me for months to make a cupcake that I originally made for her over a year ago so I figured I'd make her happy which brings me to the first of my two cupcakes...

White Chocolate Cheesecake Vanilla Bean Cupcake
That's right folks, I said cheesecake AND cupcake!!! This cupcake didn't come from my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. When I originally baked this I found a recipe that had a dollop of cheesecake in the center of a cupcake. As delicious as it was, I didn't feel satisfied with the amount of cheesecake that I ended up with in my cupcake; I wanted more! So I decided to try literally combining the two and my result was amazing, if I do say so myself.

First, I baked a basic vanilla bean cupcake (using my homemade vanilla extract - that's right, I said homemade! I'll explain that a little later) but I only filled the liners 1/3 of the way with batter. They didn't rise as much as I had expected (or maybe they did but the weight of the cheesecake smooshed them down a bit) so next time I think I'll try filling them halfway. Once done baking, I let them cool.

While the cupcakes were cooling I began making the cheesecake. Since the cake portion was already cooked I decided to us a "no-bake" type cheesecake. I wanted a flavor that would give the basic vanilla a little pizazz without overwhelming the cake so I went with white chocolate cheesecake. First, I melted some white chocolate over a double broiler. As that was cooling a little I beat together cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract (yup, more of the homemade stuff!). Once it was smooth I added in the melted white chocolate. Then I smoothed it onto the top of the cupcakes and put them into the refrigerator to firm up. Before serving them I put a fresh raspberry on top for little pop of flavor and color.

I think they turned out great. In fact, my coworker said they lived up to her high expectations! In the interest of full disclosure, however, I will say that the consistency of the cake was a little different. It wasn't bad, just different if that makes sense. They were much denser then your average cupcake. I'm not sure if that was due to them being chilled in the refrigerator or maybe some of the cheesecake mixture was absorbed into the cake as it was firming. Who know, but regardless I think they were a success!



* How cute are the bottom of these liners?!?!

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake
I was surprised how quickly I finished making the other cupcakes and still felt like baking so I decided to keep on going... Since it's been a while since I made anything from my Martha Stewart cookbook and I had a lot of cream cheese left over I thought it would be a perfect time to make these mini cheesecakes! I'm so glad I did because they were SUPER yummy and extremely easy to make.

First, I put an entire Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake liner as the crust - cute detail! Then I beat the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Once it was smooth I folded in crumbled up Oreo cookies. I filled each liner with the cheesecake mixture and baked them. After they finished baking I chilled them in the refrigerator (still in the cupcake tin to help them keep their shape until they firmed up) overnight.

I must say these were a hit with all my coworkers! Shannon summed it up by saying "OK, frickin' yum!" HAHAHA, made me laugh... I would definitely recommend that everyone make these for parties, potlucks, etc... I guarantee you they will get eaten up quickly!




Lastly, I said I'd mention my homemade vanilla extract. My mom read about making your own extracts and we decided to give it a try. It is a 3 month project so it does require some patience. All you do is put a few sliced vanilla beans in vodka. A word of advice: buy your vanilla beans in bulk!! My mom and I bought a bunch of them online and divided them up; even with shipping it ends up being a much cheaper price then it would have been at the grocery store. Once a week you need to shake up the jar a little. At the end of 3 months you'll have yourself some awesome vanilla extract. The best part is you can keep topping it off with more vodka as you use it and occasionally swap out a vanilla bean for a new one. We took the idea and ran with it, and also made orange extract and lemon extract.

Day 1

After 1 Month

The Finished Product

Wildflour Cupcakes

It's no secret that I love all things cupcake, so I am constantly looking for new cupcake shoppes to try when I travel. Recently, a new shoppe called Wildflour (get the pun?!?!) Cupcakes opened up a couple minutes away from my house so of course I had to stop by and taste some of their yummy cupcakes!!!

The store front itself is actually really cute and pretty similar to how I would want to decorate my store (if I'm ever fortunate enough to open my own bakery). I really like the chandeliers and molding on the walls, it really adds character and charm. I also love the little details like the pink chairs and chalk board menu board. My only complaint with the physical store is the location. While it is in a great area and near a lot of other stores that get plenty of business (Starbucks, Pinkberry, Chipotle...) it is in the back of the shopping center behind the main row of stores so you can't see it and wouldn't even know it was there if not for the sign on the corner of the street.



Now for the important part: THE CUPCAKES! There wasn't a whole lot of options to choose from but then again, this isn't Sprinkles. I actually went to their website when I got home and found out that they do have a pretty wide selection of cupcakes that they rotate throughout the week. I decided to choose four flavors and came home with Red Velvet (of course, my favorite), Oreo Truffle (looked interesting and chocolatey enough to satisfy Mike), Pumpkin, and Carrot. The cupcakes looked exactly how I would have expected them to with the typical dollop of  frosting and small fondant flower decorations, but never the less they looked yummy. The girl behind the counter packaged them up for me in a clear plastic container that held all four cupcakes and put a sticker with their logo on the top. If it were my shoppe I would have used boxes, but that's just me...


Overall, I really enjoyed the cupcakes. They were flavorful and moist, very tasty; and the frostings weren't too sweet. I liked the Oreo buttercream frosting with the chocolate ganache coating on the Oreo Truffle Cupcake. The Pumpkin Cupcake was delicious!!!My only critique would be there was A LOT of frosting. I know some people are into frosting and can't get enough, but this felt like I was eating frosting with a side of cake, if you know what I mean. Regardless, I'm glad I tried the shoppe and will definitely return again!


Sunday, January 29, 2012

British Invasion!

Posted by Sweet Lissie at 11:53 PM 0 comments
This weekend my sister, Jocelyn, came to visit all the way from Washington State. In her honor, my mom made not one, but two delicious British meals!! The night she arrived we had mince and tatties, and the next night we had stovies (which mom NEVER makes, so please hurry back Joce!). Being that I am the resident baker in the family i knew I was going to have to make some sort of treat this weekend and while I was looking through my trusty Martha Stewart Cupcakes book I saw a recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes and knew it was meant to be.

What you'll Need
Cakes
8 oz dates (preferably Medjool)
1/2 water
1/2 brandy
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Toffee Glaze
4 tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 brandy
Pinch of salt

This recipe (and perhaps all recipes for sticky toffee pudding; I've never made it before) uses dates. I have never really eaten dates, let alone used them in cooking so I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Specifically, the recipe said to use Medjool Dates if possible and that was all that my grocery store sold. I did a little research and found out that Medjool Dates are known as the "King of Dates" because they are exceptionally large and pretty sweet in comparison to other dates. As a side note for all those non-date eaters like myself, dates do have pits so you'll need to half them and take out the pit prior to doing anything with them for baking.


The first thing I did was bring the dates (halved and pitted), water, and brandy to a boil. Once at a rolling boil I turned the heat down and let it cook until the dates were soft. I then immediately transferred the mixture to my food processor and pureed it until smooth. A word of advice, DO NOT put your face close to the bowl immediately after taking the lid off the food processor to smell it!! Because of the heat from coming straight off the stove, the fumes smelled so intensely from the brandy i almost choked to death!



While the date mixture was cooling I creamed butter and dark brown sugar in my Kitchen Aid mixer. Speaking of dark brown sugar, today I learned that the difference between brown sugar and dark brown sugar is molasses! If you don't have any dark brown sugar you can just add molasses to your regular brown sugar... In a separate bowl I sifted together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Then I added the flour mixture to the butter, alternating with batches of the date mixture. 

I did not use cupcake liners in my tin (you'll see why later on) so I made sure to butter and flour the tin instead. Once I spooned the batter into the tin, I baked them at 350 degrees for 24 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time.

While the cakes were baking I made my toffee glaze which was pretty easy. I melted butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar in a saucepan and brought it to a boil. I then added brandy and a pinch of salt and let it cook for an additional minute. That's it (I told you it was easy)!

Immediately after I took the baked cakes out of the oven i used a toothpick to slightly lift each cake out of the tin and poured a couple spoon fulls of the toffee glaze onto the bottom of the tin then put the cakes back down into place. I allowed them to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack. By this point the toffee glaze that I had poured onto the bottom was pretty well absorbed into the cake. Never the less it did still drip a little so make sure to lay something down on the counter underneath the cooling rack.


I covered the cakes with tin foil to keep them from drying out  until we were ready to eat them (a few hours later). Prior to serving them, I poured the remaining toffee glaze on top of each cake. I also added a spoon full of custard on the side (another British thing that i can't say no to...).


All in all I'd say these were delicious! I don't think I'd change anything about the recipe. My only critique is that I think these were designed to be served immediately after they came out of the oven. I imagine the warmth of the cake would have made the toffee glaze just slightly better. I suppose I could have heated them up in the microwave but I don't think it would have been the same.

Oh well, another cupcake down...


Thursday, January 19, 2012

Cheesecake Central!

Posted by Sweet Lissie at 11:59 PM 0 comments
Happy 2012 Everyone!! Wanna know what one of my resolutions are this year? Make MORE cupcakes and actually post to my blog on a regular basis! We'll see how that goes... On a side note, I apologize if this entry is a bit long and full of pictures. It's been a busy week, as far as baking goes.

One thing that will help me stick to my resolution is my brand new Kitchen Aid Mixing Stand! That's right everyone, after several years of begging, Mike finally caved and let me buy one. I got the Pro 600 series so that means I can make LOTS of cupcakes, woohoo!



As a result of my new awesome mixer I have been quite the little baker this past week. Not only have I made 2 different cupcakes but I also made some delish chocolate chip cookies. I should also mention that for the past week I have basically lived in my newest apron that my sister-in-law, Tammy, got me for Christmas. I am developing an obsession with cute aprons!



First, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies on Sunday for our book club meeting (yeah yeah I'm in a book club...). I have forever been searching for a chocolate chip cookie that has some substance to it and doesn't flatten out when I bake it. When I was in high school there was a family of girls that all went to my school and they were known for their amazing chocolate chip cookies; it was like this mysterious recipe that we all wanted to get our hands on. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have found it! The funny thing is it was such a basic recipe and I was not at all prepared for how great it would turn out. I read online once that the key to chocolate chip cookies was pastry flour, not just any old flour. Since I decided to make these so last minute I decided to try that theory out later and just stick with a quick and easy recipe. I'll have to use pastry flour next time and compare the two versions.



Next up is the cupcakes! My day off is always a good excuse to bake but this week I had even more incentive: a group of girls from work were getting together for dinner the next night and I volunteered to bring dessert! One of my coworkers had been bugging me for months to make a cupcake that I originally made for her over a year ago so I figured I'd make her happy which brings me to the first of my two cupcakes...

White Chocolate Cheesecake Vanilla Bean Cupcake
That's right folks, I said cheesecake AND cupcake!!! This cupcake didn't come from my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. When I originally baked this I found a recipe that had a dollop of cheesecake in the center of a cupcake. As delicious as it was, I didn't feel satisfied with the amount of cheesecake that I ended up with in my cupcake; I wanted more! So I decided to try literally combining the two and my result was amazing, if I do say so myself.

First, I baked a basic vanilla bean cupcake (using my homemade vanilla extract - that's right, I said homemade! I'll explain that a little later) but I only filled the liners 1/3 of the way with batter. They didn't rise as much as I had expected (or maybe they did but the weight of the cheesecake smooshed them down a bit) so next time I think I'll try filling them halfway. Once done baking, I let them cool.

While the cupcakes were cooling I began making the cheesecake. Since the cake portion was already cooked I decided to us a "no-bake" type cheesecake. I wanted a flavor that would give the basic vanilla a little pizazz without overwhelming the cake so I went with white chocolate cheesecake. First, I melted some white chocolate over a double broiler. As that was cooling a little I beat together cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract (yup, more of the homemade stuff!). Once it was smooth I added in the melted white chocolate. Then I smoothed it onto the top of the cupcakes and put them into the refrigerator to firm up. Before serving them I put a fresh raspberry on top for little pop of flavor and color.

I think they turned out great. In fact, my coworker said they lived up to her high expectations! In the interest of full disclosure, however, I will say that the consistency of the cake was a little different. It wasn't bad, just different if that makes sense. They were much denser then your average cupcake. I'm not sure if that was due to them being chilled in the refrigerator or maybe some of the cheesecake mixture was absorbed into the cake as it was firming. Who know, but regardless I think they were a success!



* How cute are the bottom of these liners?!?!

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake
I was surprised how quickly I finished making the other cupcakes and still felt like baking so I decided to keep on going... Since it's been a while since I made anything from my Martha Stewart cookbook and I had a lot of cream cheese left over I thought it would be a perfect time to make these mini cheesecakes! I'm so glad I did because they were SUPER yummy and extremely easy to make.

First, I put an entire Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake liner as the crust - cute detail! Then I beat the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Once it was smooth I folded in crumbled up Oreo cookies. I filled each liner with the cheesecake mixture and baked them. After they finished baking I chilled them in the refrigerator (still in the cupcake tin to help them keep their shape until they firmed up) overnight.

I must say these were a hit with all my coworkers! Shannon summed it up by saying "OK, frickin' yum!" HAHAHA, made me laugh... I would definitely recommend that everyone make these for parties, potlucks, etc... I guarantee you they will get eaten up quickly!




Lastly, I said I'd mention my homemade vanilla extract. My mom read about making your own extracts and we decided to give it a try. It is a 3 month project so it does require some patience. All you do is put a few sliced vanilla beans in vodka. A word of advice: buy your vanilla beans in bulk!! My mom and I bought a bunch of them online and divided them up; even with shipping it ends up being a much cheaper price then it would have been at the grocery store. Once a week you need to shake up the jar a little. At the end of 3 months you'll have yourself some awesome vanilla extract. The best part is you can keep topping it off with more vodka as you use it and occasionally swap out a vanilla bean for a new one. We took the idea and ran with it, and also made orange extract and lemon extract.

Day 1

After 1 Month

The Finished Product

Wildflour Cupcakes

Posted by Sweet Lissie at 7:02 PM 0 comments
It's no secret that I love all things cupcake, so I am constantly looking for new cupcake shoppes to try when I travel. Recently, a new shoppe called Wildflour (get the pun?!?!) Cupcakes opened up a couple minutes away from my house so of course I had to stop by and taste some of their yummy cupcakes!!!

The store front itself is actually really cute and pretty similar to how I would want to decorate my store (if I'm ever fortunate enough to open my own bakery). I really like the chandeliers and molding on the walls, it really adds character and charm. I also love the little details like the pink chairs and chalk board menu board. My only complaint with the physical store is the location. While it is in a great area and near a lot of other stores that get plenty of business (Starbucks, Pinkberry, Chipotle...) it is in the back of the shopping center behind the main row of stores so you can't see it and wouldn't even know it was there if not for the sign on the corner of the street.



Now for the important part: THE CUPCAKES! There wasn't a whole lot of options to choose from but then again, this isn't Sprinkles. I actually went to their website when I got home and found out that they do have a pretty wide selection of cupcakes that they rotate throughout the week. I decided to choose four flavors and came home with Red Velvet (of course, my favorite), Oreo Truffle (looked interesting and chocolatey enough to satisfy Mike), Pumpkin, and Carrot. The cupcakes looked exactly how I would have expected them to with the typical dollop of  frosting and small fondant flower decorations, but never the less they looked yummy. The girl behind the counter packaged them up for me in a clear plastic container that held all four cupcakes and put a sticker with their logo on the top. If it were my shoppe I would have used boxes, but that's just me...


Overall, I really enjoyed the cupcakes. They were flavorful and moist, very tasty; and the frostings weren't too sweet. I liked the Oreo buttercream frosting with the chocolate ganache coating on the Oreo Truffle Cupcake. The Pumpkin Cupcake was delicious!!!My only critique would be there was A LOT of frosting. I know some people are into frosting and can't get enough, but this felt like I was eating frosting with a side of cake, if you know what I mean. Regardless, I'm glad I tried the shoppe and will definitely return again!


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