Cupcake Play Date

 

Looking for a fun way to forge a friendship?  J started a new school this year and has made a lovely new friend who shares her fondness for ballet and pretty things.  We moms connected over conversation about cake decorating and thus a cupcake play date was made.

The girls practiced on plastic and once they felt confident we brought out the cupcakes:

 

Check out Perfecting the Cupcake from Food and Wine Magazine for two foolproof cupcake recipes and three creative frostings.  Their chocolate cupcake recipe makes a great tasting cupcake with a beautiful dome every time:

 

 

Chocolate Cupcakes

From Food and Wine Magazine

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or foil liners.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the vegetable oil and water over low heat.

In a large bowl, sift the flour with the sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add the melted butter mixture and beat with a handheld mixer at low speed until smooth. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, then add the buttermilk and vanilla and beat until smooth, scraping the bottom and side of the bowl. Pour the batter into the lined muffin tins, filling them about three-fourths full.

Bake the cupcakes in the center of the oven for about 25 minutes, until springy and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool slightly, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Frost and top the cupcakes as desired.

Make Ahead:  The unfrosted cupcakes can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

 

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup shortening

3-4 cups powdered sugar depending on how stiff you want the frosting.

1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Mix butter and shortening until blended. Add one cup powdered sugar and blend.  Add the cream and vanilla until blended.  Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until you reach the desired stiffness.  Add more cream if you need to thin. 

note:  shortening helps the frosting keep its shape.  If you want to use all butter please do…and invite me over to share your fabulous cupcakes.

Chocolate Chunk Espresso Brownies

My husband and I lived aboard Ellos a 42 foot Hallberg Rassy Ketch.  We bought her in Trinidad, the southernmost island in the Caribbean and sailed her Northward for three seasons before shipping her cross country from Camden, Maine to our home on Bainbridge Island.

Nice boat but what does this have to do with brownies?

Well.  Only the fearless and well-insured sail during hurricane season which by happy coincidence falls on our summer months so we’d store Ellos in a secure yard and return home.   When the risky weather passed, we’d pack our two bags and return to exotic ports and lazy days. 

Hmmm.  Yes…and about those brownies?

When you’re only allowed two bags and you’re packing for a six month trip you really learn what’s important.  And I’ll tell you right now, chocolate is important.  My bags always contained a couple boxes of Baker’s chocolate and a some good sized chunks of Callebaut bittersweet.

So I could make these:

Chocolate Chunk Espresso Brownies

4 squares Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

¾ cup (1 1/2 stick) butter

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon espresso powder

3 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 9X13 pan with foil and spray foil with Pam.

Microwave chocolate and butter in one minute increments until butter is melted. Let chocolate soften for another minute then stir until all chocolate is melted and butter and chocolate are combined. Stir in sugar, vanilla and espresso powder until mixed. Stir in eggs. Fold in flour just until mixed then add the chocolate chunks.

Bake 30 minutes or until the center is firm (look for fudgy crumbs) and brownies start to pull away from the edge of the pan.

Cool on wire rack then remove from pan using foil as a handle. Cut into squares and enjoy.  You’ll be the hit of any sundowners party .(and your kids will love them too.)

BBA Challenge #4 Bagels

I love bagels.  And I love these bagels more than any other bagel I’ve tasted.  Maybe because I had to knead them for thirty minutes and when you’ve invested that much time into a relationship with some flour and yeast you are compelled to love them.  But truly, they taste as good as they look and I keep peeking at them because I can’t quite believe that they are this pretty:
 
The fourth bread in the BBA Challenge; bagels, taste fantastic.  An overnight snooze in the fridge brought out their malty, yeasty  flavor.   A quick dip in the bagel spa (boiling water) gave them a chewy exterior and a generous hand with sesame seeds and kosher salt gave my taste buds a hearty wake-up-and-smell-the-bagels call this morning.
These were a family activity.  I’ll tell you right now it’s with mixed emotions I approach baking with a 3 and 6 year old.  At no time does flour reach greater heights than when E is doing the stirring.  
But in this case, I was glad for the company. 
This was the stiffest dough I’ve ever worked with.   Still two cups from finishing the flour and my Kitchen Aid whined at me to take pity.  I dumped the dough on the counter and kneaded the remaining flour in by hand.
 
Ten minutes later the flour was incorporated but it took another twenty minutes of kneading to pass the window pane test.  J and E kneaded their dough along with me and time really flies when your 6 year old unloads her whole arsenal of bug jokes.


Once you shape the dough into balls you get to rest for 20 minutes while the gluten relaxes, then you shape the bagels. 
You can either roll the balls into a “snake” and then join the ends (J and E’s favored method) or press your thumb through the center of the ball and shape the bagel around it.


More resting and then your dough has to pass the float test.  Kind of like Kinder one swim class for bagels.  Drop in room temp water and if it floats within ten seconds it passes.  Sink…back to the counter for ten minutes.  Mine passed the first time round so they went straight to the fridge where they rested overnight. 
 
The hard part is done, unless you count having to wait until morning to see and taste the fruits of all that labor.  When you’re ready to cook your bagels, preheat your oven to 500 degrees and boil a pot of water.  When its at a full boil,  toss in a tablespoon of baking soda.  Plop your bagels in and boil a minute on each side:


Adorn them with your favorite toppings.  I dressed mine up with sesame seeds and kosher salt. 

Finally!  Some nearly instant gratification…bake them for five minutes, spin the pan, reduce the heat to 450 and bake another five minutes and they are done!

Sensational with cream cheese, sublime with peanut butter and jelly.  These cuties (we made mini-bagels) will turn a few heads, and so will your shapely and toned upper arms thanks to all that kneading.  Enjoy!

Pecan-Brown Sugar Shortbread

Lately I’ve been nut obsessed.  I’ve been trying to perfect a recipe to rival *Megan's candied pecans and ruined another batch of nuts in the process.  To restore my nut karma I made a batch of pecan-brown sugar shortbread.  This dish was on the menu for last week’s food Friday as a grand finale to our curry shrimp and potato soup.  We ran into a few problems and had to tweak the recipe when the first batch emerged from the oven a sticky, greasy bubbly mess.   Our second effort was much better:

h

If you like rich squeak-against-your-teeth shortbread this recipe is for you.  The buttery crumb melts in your mouth leaving bits of pecan behind to roll around on your tongue until you’re ready for that last satisfying crunch.  Brown sugar adds a nice richness that ties the butter and pecans together like an old fashioned praline.  Toast the pecans for an extra burst of nuttiness and serve with poached  or caramelized pears, a great way to end a harvest feast.

Pecan-Brown Sugar Shortbread

Adapted From: Lee Bailey’s Soup Meals

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup finely chopped pecans

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter well a 9 inch round cake pan.

Beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.

Combine the pecans and flour. Add them to the butter-brown sugar mixture in four portions mixing well after each addition.

Pat the mixture into the pan and pierce the top with the tines of a fork. Bake until slightly browned and puffy, about 30 minutes.

Carefully cut into wedges before allowing to cool.

Makes 16 wedges

*Megan’s Pecans are in the bulk section at T&C and Central the perfect combo of sweet and crunchy.  They’re wonderful on seasonal greens with crumbles of blue cheese and a walnut sherry vinaigrette.

Wilkes School Harvest Fair

Garfield

Spicy Pickled Green Beans

I’m a huge fan of Tillen Farms/Hogue Cellars spicy green beans.  A great addition to any buffet, a healthy alternative to chips and a piquant treat anytime.  I’d buy them every week except I can eat an entire jar as an afternoon snack and they cost $7 buck a pop.  Not one to let a little thing like a budget stand between me and my taste buds, I’ve been experimenting with recipes. This one is a winner.

For the record. Its really hard to make green beans look pretty.  I tried photographing them in a bowl, fanned across a plate and on a fork but frankly they’re just not sexy.  So forgive the boring photo and trust me on this…you want to make these.  And they are surprisingly easy even for a first time canner like me.

 

Spicy Green Beans

Adapted from Sunset Magazine

makes 6-12 ounce jars

3 pounds green beans

12 sprigs of dill

12 sprigs of tarragon

48 black peppercorns

1 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

6 cloves peeled garlic

1 quart white vinegar

1 quart water

2 1/2 tablespoons salt

 

If you’re new to canning spend a few minutes reading this step by step to canning from Ball, makers of canning jars.

Wash jars.  Place 2 dill sprigs, 2 tarragon sprigs, 1 garlic clove, 8 peppercorns, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes in each jar.  Fill with beans that have been washed and trimmed to the height of your jars less 1/2 inch.  Select straight and blemish free beans; (you’ll have lots left over so you can be choosy).

The easiest way to do this is to trim beans on one end then sort for blemishes and uniformity.  Gather in one hand and tap on the counter so the longest ones stick up, then lay on a cutting board and cut across all the tops, to the proper length, at once.  Gather again, eyeballing the jar for size then press the entire unit into the glass.

Boil vinegar, water and salt then ladle into jars making sure to cover all the beans and leave 1/4 inch air space.

Process in a water bath at 180 degrees (simmer do not boil) for 15 minutes. You want your beans to be snappy so temp and time are important. Let cool for five minutes then remove to counter.

Store for 6-8 weeks then mix a batch of Bloody Mary's and use these as a garnish.  They’d be great at a holiday buffet or as a very special  hostess gift…if they last that long. Or just eat them as an afternoon snack because they’re so good.

Food Friday Curry Shrimp and Potato Soup

There are few things more pleasurable than a sunny afternoon with boon companions until you add a kitchen, a quest, and champagne.  Thus the origins of Food Friday where five friends join together to cook.

Our quest on this particular Friday was a savory and fresh take on potato soup.  This once humble dish is enriched with both fish and chicken stock and elevated to company dinner status with the addition of shrimp. We threw in a can of coconut milk to amp the creaminess and keep the curry company.  The result is a particularly attractive and luscious soup.

Curried Shrimp and Potato Soup

Adapted from Lee Bailey’s Soup Meals

¼ cup butter

1 cup finely chopped tart apple

1 cup finely chopped celery

3 cups finely chopped onions

One pint light cream or half and half

1 can coconut milk, reserving 2 tablespoons of the cream for garnish.

2 tablespoons curry powder

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups fish stock*, heated

3 cups chicken stock, divided.

1 pound cooked and peeled medium shrimp.

1 pound white potatoes, peeled, cut into ½ inch dice

Garnish: snipped fresh chives

 

Melt butter in a deep skillet and sauté the apple, celery and onions until wilted and onions are turning golden, about 5 minutes. Add one cup chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering until almost all the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Puree the mixture in a food processor until smooth.

Return mixture to the skillet and whisk in the cream, coconut milk, curry powder, salt and pepper. Simmer over very low heat, whisking regularly until reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the fish and chicken stocks.

Meanwhile cover the diced potatoes with salted water and bring to a boil. Boil slowly for 5 minutes, then drain and add to the soup. If you want a smooth soup, puree the potatoes before adding to the pot. Continue to simmer for another 10-12 minutes or until flavors have fully blended.  Add the shrimp and serve when shrimp is warmed through.

Garnish each serving with chives and a swirl of coconut cream.

*You can buy frozen fish stock or substitute clam juice.

Variations:  One Friday Foodie sautéed a teaspoon each of grated ginger and grated garlic with a tablespoon of mustard seeds then stirred them into the soup. She got rave reviews!