Hi there! I’ve been busy updating a few things around here…actually “here” doesn’t really exist anymore, or won’t soon anyway. I’ve changed the name of the blog slightly – I think it sounds a little better, and I’ve also done a few things with the general appearance. Anyway…head over here to see it all for yourself.
Blood Orange Cake
This cake is awesome. Awesome I tell you. It’s perfectly moist, the oranges and olive oil work exceedingly well together giving it a fruity, just-the-tiniest-bit bitter flavor, and I didn’t take a single photo of it. You’ll just have to settle for my glowing recommendations, because I was literally standing by the oven waiting to snatch it out and dash to my car (running in the driveway) to be on my way. I was bringing this to a lunch date (Hi Mama!) I had last week and as per usual I was just on the edge of being late. I did take some lovely action shots while I was baking though, so hopefully you can all forgive me for not showing you the finished product.
Actually, as seems to happen to me so often, I came upon this cake because I was trying to use up some random fruit I had laying around. My husband bought a bag of blood oranges and then ate only two of them before going out of town and leaving me with like 47 of them to find something to do with. Well, maybe not 47, but several anyway. I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, which is one of my favorite sites, and I must say, for being a combination of ingredients that I wouldn’t have put together it has turned out to be a really good cake. And versatile, too, since I imagine that it would quite easy to substitute the blood oranges for any other fruit you have laying around for much the same result.
It came together pretty easily, and I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about the olive oil, being an all-butter advocate myself, but I really enjoyed the flavor in the finished product – it is pretty mild with just a hint of fruitiness, but it really makes for a moist cake that holds up well for a couple of days. So run along and make your own. You know you want to.
In other news, it’s only February and I already have daffodils. I’m not sure, but I think winter is having an identity crisis. Happy Spring! Or whatever!
Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
3 blood oranges
1 cup (200 grams or 7 ounces) sugar
Scant 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk or plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (156 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups (219 grams or 7 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (8 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Grate zest from 2 oranges and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until orange zest is evenly distributed in sugar (My sugar was all pretty and pale orange!).
Supreme an orange: Cut off bottom and top so fruit is exposed and orange can stand upright on a cutting board. Cut away peel and pith, following curve of fruit with your knife. Cut orange segments out of their connective membranes and let them fall into a bowl. Repeat with another orange. Break up segments with your fingers to about 1/4-inch pieces.
Halve remaining orange and squeeze juice into a measuring cup; hopefully you’ll have about 1/4 cup but however much it is, don’t sweat it because you’re going to add buttermilk or yogurt to juice until you have 2/3 cup liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs and olive oil. My batter was a lovely shade of pink at this point, which gave me high hopes for a pink cake, but alas.
In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ones. Fold in pieces of orange segments. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake cake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and a knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up.
Dutch Baby, Etc.
I had an excellent holiday season. As you can see, my friends and relatives have pretty much accepted that I’m obsessed with food/cooking (and Julia Child, but really, the two go hand in hand) and they have bestowed upon me a wealth of new cooking tomes (Tomes. That’s a cool word. How often do we really use it though? Like, never). Before you go getting all jealous that I have the best family ever (I do) that spoils me with excessive gifts on Christmas, I should go all full-disclosure on you and admit that I also had a birthday last week that accounts for some of my haul. And I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I got about receiving so many of these “defining” cookbooks, as it were.
That Cook’s Illustrated one, oh it is Awesome. With a capitol A. I have been reading it like a novel (yes, I am a nerd. Deal.) and I had to stop sticky-noting the things I wanted to cook because I was putting one on every page.
The Commonsense Kitchen, aside from the story behind it being one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard, has some of the best, and most simple, “home-style” recipes I’ve come across in a while. The Dutch Baby I’m sharing with you below comes from it, and it was so good that it was eaten before it’s photo shoot was complete.
And really what kitchen is complete without How to Cook Everything? I have a love-hate relationship with Mark Bittman since I’ve had some …weird (for lack of a better work)…luck with his recipes in the past, but he does know his stuff, and his kitchen tips are invaluable. And you really can’t beat it for a wide selection – there’s bound to be something in 2000 recipes that sounds good to you.
The others three in there are more specialized, and most importantly to me, are about my favorite kitchen pursuit. I love to bake, and I don’t discriminate. Cookies, cakes, pies, bread, you name it, I love it. So that Peter Reinhart book pretty much made my day. He is one of the ultimate authorities on bread-baking and an excellent teacher. Despite the fact that almost all the recipes in this book require a starter of some sort, he explains everything in such a way that it not only sounds like an easy, approachable project, but something you should go out and do Right Now. As someone who does not particularly care for the typical sandwich loaves sold so prevalently in our supermarkets, this book is invaluable to me since it will (hopefully!) be able to teach me to create bakery style breads at home.
Sky High is the book for you if you like to bake celebration cakes; i.e. towering, three story cakes with a variety of flavors, fillings, and frostings. Which I do. Actually, I made one from the book for my birthday, which I will share with you another day. The pictures are gorgeous, and makes me want to eat the book, but I guess I’ll just have to make them all instead, since I would miss it terribly if anything untoward were to happen to it.
Farmer’s Market Desserts is another book that is near and dear to my heart. You see, I hate cold weather. I enjoy fall and spring (I mean, it’s gorgeous outside, so I can’t really dislike it), but winter is just not for me. I hate snow with a passion, and cold, blustery days make me want to stay inside with a cup of coffee and Pinterest Big Band Theory reruns anything but laundry a good book. Summer, however is my season. I love everything about it: the produce (oh, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, any-and-all berries, peaches, pears, how I love you!) the weather, the beach, the long days, all of it. So when I saw this book, I pretty much had to have it. I mean who doesn’t need to know like a thousand to new ways to use up all of that wonderful stuff that fills the farmer’s markets in the warmer months? The book also has chapters such as “Autumn Harvest” and “Winter Citrus” for those of you who like that sort of thing, but let’s be honest; I got it just for Aprium Almond Tart.
Lastly, As Always, Julia is a must-read for anyone with an interest in Julia Child. The book is a collection of the letters between Julia and her friend Avis DeVoto, who played a prominent part in getting The Book published. Most people have seen the movie, or read those other books, and so know something about how Mastering the Art of French Cooking came to be written, but this is really a whole ‘nother view of it. Avis was very involved in the editing of the book and finding someone to publish it after the original deal fell through and I really enjoyed seeing all of that behind-the-scenes type stuff. And all of the little things that two friends talk about (gossip, politics, popular culture, etc) was really very entertaining.
So, what I’m saying is “Go out and get these books immediately.” Or just stick around here and see what I make from them. Whatever.
Dutch Baby
Adapted from The Commonsense Kitchen
These are also known as German Pancakes, and are sort of a cross between a pancake and a crepe. The batter will be very thin but when removed from the oven will be puffy and golden. After cooling for a moment it will sort of settle down into a thin pancake (or a thick crepe) that is the perfect marriage of the two. You can serve it with fruit and powdered sugar, or syrup and butter, or really anything, just be prepared to take pictures for your blog immediately because if it’s anything like our house, it won’t sit around very long.
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 3/4 cup sifted flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter
Preheat the oven to 450°.
Beat the eggs, milk, flour and salt in a medium bowl until very smooth. I started out using a “spoonula” (one of those silicone spoon, spatula hybrids), because I wasn’t sure if I needed to be whisking a lot of air into the batter, but I couldn’t get it smooth at all, so I switched to just stirring with my whisk (not whipping) and that worked perfectly.
Melt the butter in a heavy 10 or 12 inch oven-safe skillet (I used a 10 inch cast iron). As soon as the butter is bubbling, pour in the batter and immediately put skillet into the oven. After 15 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350° and continue to bake for 7-9 minutes until the pancake is deep golden brown and edges are crispy looking. (If the center if is puffing up in really large bubbles in the first 10-15 minutes, you can pierce them with a fork, although I forgot, and I didn’t notice that it affected the taste. See above about not lasting long enough for decent photos.)
Cut the pancake into wedges and serve immediately with your topping of choice. I used powdered sugar and sliced strawberries, while Jacob chose maple syrup, though again, it’s your choice, and either way it’s delicious.
Pasta with Mushrooms
I know, I know. I waxed poetic about my new year’s resolution, and then I left you hanging for like a week and a half. Well I’m just going to pass the blame along to my husband who, for the third time this year no less, has brought home a cold and insisted on sharing it with me. So I have been moping around, using sick days, and cooking nothing more complicated than tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Now that I am on the mend (really I’m fine, I’m just trying to milk this pitiful invalid thing for all it’s worth) however, I’ve had to catch up with all of that stuff I’ve been avoiding – like two weeks worth of laundry, and cleaning my bathroom, and catching up all those Nanny reruns I’ve been recording off of Nick at Nite (does anyone but me still watch that?? I’ll be honest, I can’t stop.) And I really did want to share something wonderful with – something so good you would need to rush into the kitchen and make it immediately – but after all of that exhausting housework, I really just wanted to sit down with something simple and easy. I raided my fridge of all the odds and ends that have been piling up: half a red onion, mushrooms left over from last weekend’s dinner party appetizer, and the tail end of a block of Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar. I sauteed the onion and the mushrooms in just a very little olive oil and tossed that with half a box of spaghetti, hastily cooked to al dente, and I had dinner. I added a little butter and grated the cheddar onto the pasta and let it all sort of melt together and it was a perfect weeknight supper. I was a little worried that the cheese would try to run the whole show with such a strong flavor, but once it melted in, it just sort of coated the noodles in a suggestion of cheesiness and I just barely knew it was there – in a good way.
It was actually really good. It certainly wasn’t mind blowing cuisine, but it was tasty, satisfying, homey food, and what more can a girl who’s just gotten back into the kitchen after a week on her deathbed ask for? OK, maybe not my deathbed, but if I see another cough drop I’m going on strike.
Pizza Pizza!
I was so excited to make my own pizza! It’s the go to “lazy food” in our house…whenever I’m not in the mood to cook, or we’re in a hurry, or we run out of groceries (I never run out, just occasionally I end up with like 5 things that you can’t make a real meal out of. For instance: a plum, a kiwi, and half a pound of chorizo do not a balanced meal make.) this is what we always end up having. We love Papa John’s around here, and I’m certainly not knocking them, but there’s just nothing like making your own. For one, it’s super duper easy. Sure the dough has to rise, but you can make it in the morning before work or school and let it rise in your fridge while you go about your day and when you get home all you have to do is take it out, top it, throw it in your oven for about 10 minutes, and Ta Da! Pizza! The recipe says to let it rise at room temp for about 2 hours until it’s doubled in size, but if you do it in the morning and let it rise slowly in the fridge, it will actually develop a better flavor. A slow rise really lets the dough become “the best it can be”, and that is true for most breads. Either the warm/fast, or cold/slow methods will work here, with delectable results, so I encourage you all to run home and make your very own pizza as soon as possible.
Pizza Dough - makes one medium-sized thick and fluffy crust. If you prefer thin crust, just halve this.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
3 cups flour (I used bread flour)
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
2 tablespoon olive oil
Mix together the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Add the water and olive oil, and stir until combined and the mixture sort of comes together in a ball with lots of little floury pieces hanging around. Dump it all out on a lightly floured countertop and knead it all into a cohesive mass. Only knead it for a minute or two, then lightly oil your bowl, dump the dough back in, turn to coat with oil, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and go check out the latest on Pinterest – I mean go clean behind your refrigerator or something productive – for a couple of hours until the dough has doubled in size.
Once it has doubled in size, dump it back out on a lightly floured countertop and sort of gently squish it down with the palms of your hands – no punching here – be gentle! Sort of work it around until it’s shaped like a ball again, and let it sit on your counter under a bowl or plastic wrap for 20 more minutes. This is really an important step! If you don’t let it relax, your crust will be tough, and not at all pizza-like.
Preheat your oven to it’s highest setting (preheat your pizza stone, too, if you have one). Roll out the dough as best you can – this is kind of a chore, since the dough always wants to scrunch back up into itself, but just keep pushing it out with your hands until it’s close to a circle and looks approximately pizza-sized. Throw on the toppings of your choice, keeping in mind that the more you have the less your crust will rise, so if you like a lot of toppings, keep them thinly sliced. I don’t have a pizza stone, so I use a pizza pan like this one. I cover it with parchment paper and sprinkle on a little cornmeal before adding my pizza. Then just throw it in your oven for about 10 or so minutes, until it looks done. Enjoy!
In my absence
I just thought I’d share with you a few of the things I’ve been doing over the past few months.
There were not one, but two bridal showers.
There were two weddings.
There was pumpkin carving.
There was motorcycle riding. That’s my very talented husband. I can brag if I want.
There were words to arrange on the fridge.
There was Christmas.
There was vacation.
Chorizo and Mushroom Fideua
Apparently, Fideuà is the Catalan name for a traditional baked pasta dish. Not something I was planning to make, but I was looking for something to use up some chorizo I had and all I kept getting were breakfast recipes, until Epicurious hooked me up with this one. After a lifetime of avoiding mushrooms like the plague, I’ve recently decided that they’re pretty awesome, so I pretty much had to make this. It’s pretty straightforward to make, and the flavors are pretty straightforward as well. A little earthy, a little spicy, a little vegetable -y (yes, I’m aware that’s not acceptable grammar, but just go with it) and a lot delicious. It’s one of those warm, homey dishes that are good pretty much any time of day. I really liked that you finish it in the oven – the slight crunchiness it gives to the noodles is a little surprising and really gives it some texture. You don’t want them to shatter or anything, but just bake it until most of the moisture is gone and they will have a pleasant bite to them while still tasting like pasta should taste. And you know what I realized while I was making it? That the reason I love to cook is because it is the coolest thing in the world to take that pile of raw ingredients up there and turn them into this really delicious plate of food.
Chorizo and Mushroom Fideua
Adapted from Epicurious
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 pound onions, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 pound mushrooms, quartered
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 5 ounces Spanish chorizo or other garlic sausage (such as kielbasa), cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
- 3/4 pound fideo or angel hair pasta
- Minced fresh parsley
Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat olive oil in heavy deep paella pan skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until tender, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Add mushrooms and sauté about 5 minutes. Add paprika and cayenne and stir just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and green pepper and sauté a couple of minutes (2-3). Add chicken broth, wine, and chorizo. Bring mixture to simmer. Break pasta in half and add to pan. Cook until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Set pan in oven and bake until all liquid is absorbed and pasta is crusty, about 25 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.
A few notes:
Not all of us have a paella pan laying around. I mean, have you seen the size of my kitchen? I used a large pot to do my sauteing and stovetop cooking, then I dumped it all in a large casserole to finish in the oven. I know it’s not traditional, but it worked just fine.
3/4 lb onions is about 2 medium, or 1 1/2 large
Lemon Meringue FAIL
Happy New Years! I’ve missed you! I have taken a break from blogging, but am determined to be back full force in 2012. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to share with you…quite the opposite. I’ve been very busy in the kitchen the past few months, I just haven’t been sure of what to write about. I am a very organized person (some *cough*, Jacob, might say OCD), and I’ve been having a hard time organizing this blog into something that suits me. I considered for a while focusing on baking, but then I found myself doing mostly cooking, at which point I decided it didn’t matter, and I should just write about whatever I wanted, then I went away on vacation and didn’t write anything at all…anyway, it’s been a little up in the air around here. But enough of that. I am done trying to categorize, organize, and label everything (well maybe not everything, but the blog at least), and I am just going to share with you whatever it is I happen to be doing whenever I feel like doing it. So there.
And once I made my resolution, like everyone else after New Years I ran out to fullfill it immediately. Which is how I come to the story of my Lemon Meringue Pie Failure. You see, in my little corner of middle-of-nowhere we never get Meyer lemons in the grocery store. So when my Walmart, of all places, got them in I, of course, bought a bag immediately to whip up into something wonderful. Also, not two weeks before this I had made something that required me to use 8 egg yolks (don’t ask what, because for the life of me I can’t remember. Strange, since anything that uses 8 egg yolks should be pretty memorable.), and since I can’t bear to waste anything, I froze those 8 egg whites for future use. So here I am with a bag full of Meyer lemons and an abundance of egg whites – what else was there to do but make lemon meringue pie? I went to the Bon Appetit Dessert book, which to this date has never failed me, and found the Classic Lemon Meringue pie. I followed the recipe to the letter (I say that, but it wouldn’t be a failure, would it, if I had done everything right, so I’ve really no idea what happened) and still my lemon curd never thickend up. You cook lemon juice, sugar, egg yolks, a little cornstarch, and lemon zest over medium heat “until it thickens and boils, about 10 minutes”. I must have whisked that crap around for close to 20, but no thickening occurred. By that point I was pretty fed up with the whole thing, so I figured, with misplaced optimism, that if I poured it in the pie crust and let it cool while I made the meringue, it might firm up. Um no. It did not. I did make the meringue. I even spread it around beautifully atop that murky yellow slush that was supposed to be the yummy essence of Meyer lemons. I even put it in the oven and baked it up into a lovely looking, golden meringue-crowned, beauty of a pie. Nope. Once you cut into it, it was an oozing, soggy-crusted, sorry-looking pie, with a beautiful (and quite tasty) meringue top. And that, my friends, is how we celebrate New Years day around here.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
I’ve been away for a while, but I have been doing quite a bit of baking in my absence, and I have lots to show you! I chose these to start with since anything my husband declares “…are the best cookies I’ve ever eaten” must be shared. He just doesn’t do desserts, and he really doesn’t like raisins, so I figured these must be the mother of all oatmeal raisin cookies to get that sort of reaction from him. This is the simplest recipe, but the results are the sort of cookie that makes you want to curl up in your comfy spot with a good book or a marathon of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (that last may just be me though…). These are rustic, homey, not very pretty cookies – sort of lumpy and not-very-impressive-looking – but no one is going to notice how they look when they’re shoving them into their mouths as fast as possible.
I got this recipe from the Gourmet Cookbook (one of my favorites that I picked up at TJ Maxx for like $15…Who loves that store?!). They were listed as Oatmeal cookies with the note to add raisins or chocolate chips if desired, but really I don’t think they’d be nearly as good if they were just oatmeal – I think that would be too much “healthy” for me. I’ve also made them with both raisins and chocolate chips and let me tell you, that takes them to a whole new level (really, what doesn’t chocolate improve?).
These really are the easiest cookies to make: you just cream the butter and sugar (really well! Light and fluffy is the goal here!), add the egg and a little vanilla, then dump in all your dry ingredients. I used a medium cookie scoop – it’s 1 1/2 tbsp – and that made just the right size cookie for me.
So, in conclusion, you should all rush home and make these immediately. You won’t regret it. You might even want to do it when no one else is home so that you don’t have to share, but that’s your call – I won’t tell if you do though.
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook
makes aprox 2 dozen cookies
- 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (1 1/4 sticks)
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-1 1/2 cups raisins, or chocolate chips, or both – to taste; I like lots so I use more like 1 1/2 cups of raisins, and if I use both I do about 3/4 cups of each.
- Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Mix first 5 ingredients, plus the raisins or chocolate chips, in a bowl.
- Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy – several minutes. Add the egg and vanilla until well combined.
- Add oat mixture and beat until just combined.
- Drop heaping tablespoons (my 1 1/2 tbsp scoop was perfect) of dough about 2 inches apart onto the lined baking sheets. Gently flatten the dough drops with slightly moistened fingers – this helps them not mound up in the center.
- Bake cookies 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just golden for chewy cookies. You can let them crisp up for another minute or two if you like them that way, but beware of the bottoms getting too brown.
Enjoy!
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Aren’t those adorable? They taste pretty good too, if I do say so myself. I made them for my niece’s second birthday, but they were so good, I made a second batch later in the week to share with my coworkers. The batter is so light – almost frothy looking – and it bakes up into the fluffiest cupcakes you can imagine. The crumb was so tender, and with the hint of vanilla, these are the perfect light dessert. Light, you say? But isn’t that cream cheese frosting? Why yes it is…and if you beat it long enough, it too can become fairly fluffy. Now when I say light, I’m not talking calories, because you really can’t have cream cheese frosting and low cal – it’s oxymoronic. But you can make the frosting light in texture, and you can see I went fairly easy on the amounts – which you can get away with if your frosting is as full flavored as this one is. I also dressed it up a bit with the strawberries, which turned out to be a really good thing – the little bit of fruity-ness cut right through the sweetness of the frosting and really helped balance everything out.
This is a very straightforward recipe, and it comes together in a snap. Cream your butter and sugar – make sure you do this thoroughly! It should be pale in color and light in texture when it’s ready. Don’t just mix it together like I used to do…this step is what makes your crumb so light. Also, if you have the time, you should really beat each of the eggs before adding them – this will make them incorporate better, but if you don’t want to dirty up another dish I quite understand. Add your dry and wet ingredients alternately, and then mix until it looks light and smooth. When I was at this point, my batter looked almost like a mousse, it was so light. I couldn’t resist tasting a bit – maybe more than a bit if I’m being honest – and it was just perfect. Sweet, but not cloying, vanilla-y and rich – perfect.
A note on the vanilla also: this recipe calls for vanilla bean paste, and if you can get it you really should. I use this that I order from Amazon, since out here in the middle of nowhere all you can get is pure vanilla extract and imitation vanilla (can I just say Yuck!?), but you can probably get it at Whole Foods, or other similar stores. The cool thing about vanilla bean paste is that is actually has those tiny little seeds in it, so if you don’t mention it to anyone, they’ll think you went and used a real vanilla bean. It really does add another little dimension to your baked goods. You can use it interchangeably with vanilla extract, and I’m not convinced there’s a huge taste difference, but it sure does look nice.
Once your batter is ready, just fill your muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full and bake for 15-20 minutes. Once they’re done, just let them cool on a wire rack while you get the frosting ready.
Cream cheese frosting is very simple to make, and goes with all sorts of things. It’s also not hard to flavor with things like chocolate or extracts like vanilla, almond, etc. (I keep seeing Root Beer extract in the baking aisle, and I’m fairly sure that would make an awesome frosting…) Just beat the cream cheese, butter, cream, etc, until it’s well mixed, then add your flavorings and confectioner’s sugar and you’ve pretty much got it. See my note on the sugar below.
I found this recipe through a google search that led me to another blog. I am most thankful to Courtney’s Sweets for providing the recipe.
As you can see, the birthday girl thoroughly enjoyed her (second) cupcake.
Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
Adapted from a recipe at Courtney’s Sweets
Makes 24 cupcakes
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
3 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 pint strawberries; for topping
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, several minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is fully incorporated before adding the next.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl, and the milk and vanilla paste and extract in another.
- While mixing on low speed alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. This is a very important step! Don’t just dump it all in and mix it to death – take your time.
- Fill your muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full. I actually had more like 28 cupcakes, so if you have extra, you can do a second batch, or just add another pan – I used my small 6-cup muffin pan so I could bake mine all at once, but it’s up to you. The batter is fine to sit for a few minutes – just don’t wait all day. Also, if you don’t end up filling all of your cups with batter, make sure you add a little water to the empty ones or Bad Things will happen.
- Bake 15-20 minutes, or until tester inserted into middle comes out clean.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
8 Ounces white chocolate
12 oz cream cheese, softened – I only use Philadelphia; it holds up the best.
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
12 oz cream cheese, softened – I only use Philadelphia; it holds up the best.
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
- In the top of a double boiler (or you can certainly use the microwave) melt the white chocolate. Once melted and smooth, remove from heat and let cool.
- In clean mixer, beat together cream cheese, heavy cream and butter. Mix until it is one homogenous mixture with few lumps. You may need to scrape the bottom and sides of your mixing bowl to get all the cream cheese mixed in.
- Add the vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste, powdered sugar and cooled chocolate and mix until the frosting is the consistency you prefer.
I like my frosting light and fluffy, so I beat mine for several minutes, but if you like yours more dense and creamy, then you may not want to beat it as long. Also, not everyone likes their frosting the same sweetness. I like mine to not taste so cheesy and be lightly sweetened. You can adjust the powdered sugar according to your taste, just be aware that it will change the texture of your frosting depending on how much – or how little you add. Just taste as you go and don’t be afraid to adjust!
