Lemon Cupcakes

Yummy lemon cupcakes with a fresh lemon butter cream to top!  I frosted these 2 ways with the help of my friend, Kim.  Enjoy!

Makes 24+ a few cupcakes
Cupcake Batter:  

• 3 Cups flour, sifted
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 Cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 Cup milk
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• Zest of 2 lemons 
• 1/4 Cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 3 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating very well after each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix together milk and sour cream in another bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk/sour cream. Mix until well incorporated. Add lemon zest and lemon juice, mixing just until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups to about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  If you put 2 pans in the oven at once, side by side, be sure to turn them around 1/2 way through cooking time.



Lemon Butter Cream Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Few drops of yellow food coloring (if desired)
• Sprinkles, fresh berries, etc. for decorating

Beat butter in mixer until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition.  Pour in heavy cream 1 tablespoon at a time until butter and sugar come together.  Beat on high speed until fluffy, another 3 or so minutes.  Add zest and juice of 1 lemon and beat on high for another minute.  Pipe onto cupcakes using a piping bag or spread on with a butter knife.  Decorate as you like!

Cupcake batter adapted from  a www.xplicitsweetness.blogspot.com recipe

Chocolate Caramel Cake

I decided to make a layer cake for dessert at my Mom's Sunday dinner.  Using the chocolate cake and caramel butter cream recipes from my cookie dough cupcakes, I made a yummy layer cake.

Make batter as instructed, but pour into 2 greased 8-inch round pans.  Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Make frosting and frost inside and outside of both layers.  If I had more time, I should have split each layer and made a 4 layer cake, but I would have needed an extra 1/2 recipe of caramel butter cream to do that.

Sprinkle mini chocolate chips on top of the frosted cake.  Enjoy!

One of my many vintage cake carriers!

Quiche Re-do

Just wanted to show you that I can make a better looking quiche ;)

This morning's quiche was ham & cheddar.  Delish!

Lemon Chicken Carbonara

This is something I just made up for dinner, so sorry if the measurements are not exact, but if you like to cook like I do, you'll get by ;)  Hope you enjoy, I couldn't wait to go home and heat up the leftovers for dinner!

Ingredients:

• 3 bonelss/skinless chicken breads (split in 1/2 and cut in thirds)
• Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder
• 1/4 cup flour
• Butter/olive oil
• 1 package chopped pancetta
• Chicken Broth about 2-3 cups
• Chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream
• Juice & Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 egg yolk
• Handful of Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 pound cooked pasta of choice (I used Barilla Protein Plus Angle Hair)

Directions:

• Clean chicken, thin by cutting in 1/2 and then, cut each half in thirds (6 pieces per breast). 
• Sprinkle salt, pepper & garlic powder on chicken to your liking.  Coat lightly in flour and shake off excess.
• Heat 1 tablespoon butter and a little olive oil in a large frying pan.  
• Cook chicken on both sides until browned.  Add pancetta and cook until browned as well.
• Add chopped parsley and enough chicken broth to cover the chicken.  Simmer for 20 minutes until chicken is fully cooked.
• Cook your pasta to desired texture and drain.
• Stir cream into sauce and simmer briefly, add lemon juice, lemon zest and egg yolk.  Stir quickly.  
• Put pasta into a large bowl, pour chicken & sauce over the top.  Add handful of Parmesan cheese and some additional fresh chopped parsley.  Stir to combine and serve!

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Caramel Butter Cream

Makes 24 cupcakes 

Ingredients-For Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 package break and bake cookie dough (squares)
  

Ingredients-For Caramel  

• 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter 
• 1/2 cup heavy cream 
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar

Ingredients for Frosting

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar 
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 
• 1/3 cup of the caramel sauce you make
• 1 tablespoon cream

Ingredients-For Garnish

• Mini Chocolate Chips for sprinkling
• Mini Chips Ahoy cookies in tub with plastic lid

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Pour wet ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full, drop one cube of cookie dough into each cupcake liner and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

 

Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing them.

nTo make the caramel sauce, combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.  Once it reaches a boil, lower the heat to medium and continue to boil until the mixture is thickened, about 8 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool. 

nTo make the frosting, mix together sugar and butter in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. Mix on low speed until well blended, add in 1 tablespoon heavy cream to pull butter & sugar together, and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.  Add 1/3 cup of your prepared, cooled caramel sauce and continue to mix on medium spend for 1 minute until blended.

Frost cupcakes with a piping bag with the end snipped off.  Sprinkle with mini chips and 1 mini chocolate chip cookie.

n

 

 

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

Makes 24 Cupcakes


Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 1 package Oreos (used for entire recipe)
• 2 cups + 4 tbs all-purpose flour
  1 tsp. baking powder
  1/2 tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk (best to use 2% or higher)
• 20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (place in a zip lock baggie and crush them with a wooden spoon, rolling pin or anything heavy!)

For the frosting:

• 8oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
  2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of cupcake pans with paper liners. Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.
Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 14-17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Place frosting in the freezer for about 30 minutes to set-up.  I usually put my frosting into the pipping bag, place it in a large cup and clip the end so it's ready to go when set.  Then, just snip the end of the bag and you're ready to go!

Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves (if you have enough!).

Channeling Grandma D'Onofrio

In an attempt not to be wasteful I made homemade croutons tonight with some leftover Italian bread.  I think Grandma would be proud of my attempt to use up everything!

Croutons

Ingredients: 

Nearly 1 loaf Italian bread beginning to get stale
4 tablespoons butter, melted
4 tablespoons olive oil
Ranch dressing packet

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cut bread into small cubes, put into a medium sized bowl.
In a small bowl, mix butter, olive oil and ranch dressing powder to taste.
Pour over bread cubes and mix until evenly coated.

Spread bread cubes out on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, stirring about every 2 minutes to keep the bread cubes from burning.  Cool before putting in a baggie or air tight container.

Veggie Quiche

Veggie quiche for my co-workers this morning.  It was nice having a warm piece of quiche at work after getting in the car to drizzle, rain and then....SNOW!!!!! This spring is not off to the best start, hopefully this is the last of the wet stuff. 

A little brown, but not bad for last minute before work!

My Vintage Pie Carrier!  This comes in so handy for pies, quiche or even cookies/brownies!

Ingredients:

• 1 unbaked pie crust (I used Pillsbury refrigerated crusts)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups milk and/or heavy cream (I used 1 cup whole milk and ½ cup heavy cream)
• Salt & pepper
• Dried oregano (to taste)
• 1-1 ½ cups filling of choice (meats, veggies, etc. –
• I cooked my veggies in a small frying pan with a little oil and salt & pepper just until a little soft.  This is really important if you’re using veggies that will release a lot of water when cooked, such as mushrooms, spinach or peppers.
• 1/2 -3/4 shredded cheese of choice

Directions:

• Place pie crust in pie plate. 
• Place filling directly on pie crust. 
• Mix eggs, milk/cream, salt & pepper and oregano. 
• Pour on top of filling. 
• Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. 
• Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until eggs are set.

Thank you Martha!

I'm very excited for my new double-decker cupcake carrier!  Now I can easily transport my cupcakes to work, etc. and it's deep enough to not skimp on the frosting.  Thanks Martha Stewart ;)  Now I have no choice but to test out all those recipes I've been holding on to.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

Without time for from scratch baking, boxed cupcakes did the trick today!

Lazy Man's Cookie Dough Cupcakes 

1 box cake mix (your choice, I used chocolate)
Ingredients to make cupcakes based on box instructions
1 package break and bake cookies
2 cans Pillsbury Easy Frost frosting
Sprinkles
Coconut M&Ms

Make cupcakes according to box instructions.  Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.  Place 1 cookie square in each liner and top with batter.  Bake for about 22 minutes or until cupcakes are set and toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool & frost with decorations of your choice.  

Farewell to a family friend :(

Today had a rough start with having to say goodbye to an old family friend.  Rosie will surely be missed.  I think the fruits of my labor in the kitchen today would be a meal she would love.  And, as her eulogy stated, "You should never turn down a pastry or piece of pie".  This one's for you Rosie....

Let's start with dessert:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Blood Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

*I found this recipe at: www.simplysweetbakeshop.blogspot.com

The recipe is for 12 cupcakes, so my recipe below is based on a double recipe (I ended up with 22 cupcakes).  However, I did a single batch of frosting and just altered that a bit.  Thank you to Simply Sweet Bake Shop for the great recipe and jumping off point!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups and 2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Spoon mixture into muffin tins, 1/2 full.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 18 - 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
   
   

Blood Orange Cream Cheese Icing

 

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
8 oz of cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
  3Tbs juice from one blood orange
  2tsp zest from one blood orange
3-4 cups of powdered sugar (sifted)-I only used 3 cups
1 tsp of orange extract-did not have, so used vanilla instead

DIRECTIONS:

1. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

2. Add the orange extract, blood orange juice and zest and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness.

3. Either spread on with a blunt knife or spatula, or spoon into a piping bag and decorate your cupcake.I had to put this in the fridge to firm up a bit.  This could be because I added an extra tablespoon of orange juice (originally asked for only 2 TBS). 

And now for dinner:

Local made Italian sausage with parmesoan and parsely roasted in the oven with:

• 1 sliced onion
• 4 thinkly sliced yukon gold potatoes
• Sliced mushrooms (as many as you like)
• 2 packages of sausage
• Parsley, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper
• 1/2 cup of water (white wine is better if you have any!)
• Drizzle with olive oil & toss

Dump everything in a baking pan, cover with foil and bake 350 degrees about 45 minutes or until you think it's cooked!  Take foil off after 30 minutes to let everything brown.  Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.  Yum!!!