Day 3 of 12 Days of Cupcakes: Maple French Toast Cupcakes

These cupcakes originally intrigued me because they used a different flavoring for the sweetener in the icing: maple syrup! And since I just happened to have some on hand (from what I can't currently remember) I decided to give them a go. I altered them from the original recipe to not contain any bacon because I don't eat bacon. However, I think this may have altered the recipe for the worst. The cupcake was a little dry and the icing was a lot sweet. I included my recommendations for improving this recipe should you decide to go bacon-free. Here is my first trial of this cupcake (I hope to try again in the future):




Recipe
Maple french Toast Cupcakes (from The Busty Baker)

Cupcakes:
1 1/2c flour
1 1/2t baking powder
1/2t cinnamon
1/4t salt
1c sugar
1/2c butter (substitute some butter for oil or applesauce to make it moister), melted then cooled
2 eggs
1t maple extract
1/2c milk

Frosting:
3/4c butter, softened
2T pure maple syrup
1/2t maple extract
pinch of salt (I would use 1/2t sea salt to contrast with the ultra sweet maple flavor)
confectioners sugar

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 325F.
In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Whisk in maple extract. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 18 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting:
Beat butter until light and fluffy. Mix in maple syrup, maple extract, and salt until well combined. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Let me know if you have any other alterations. Enjoy!

Day 2 of 12 Days of Cupcakes: Boston Cream Cupcakes

Back in my younger years (i.e. high school) I used to be able to eat anything at any time. One of my favorite terrible snacks was doughnuts, and my favorite of all was the Boston cream. My track coach/ Calculus teacher, Mr. Snyder, was also a huge fan of doughnuts so I would occasionally snag a couple on my way to school (I had late entry for my college classes), ya know for Coach and just happen to get one or two for myself as well. Yum. Nowadays the fried-ness of doughnuts tears up my stomach and pretty much guarantees me a tummy ache. So, in order to capture the single serving essence of Boston cream pie, I decided to attempt this Boston Cream Cupcake recipe. I must say, it turned out completely delicious as I had hoped! Check out this beauty:

Pre-Assembly:

Finished Product:

Delicious center:


Recipe
Boston Cream Cupcakes (adapted from Sugar Plum):

Cupcakes:
1 1/4c flour
2t baking powder
1/4t salt
6T butter, softened
2/3c sugar
2 lg eggs
1t vanilla extract
1/2c buttermilk
1/4c sour cream

Filling:
1 lg egg yolk
1/2c heavy cream
1/4c sugar
1 1/2T corn starch, sifted
1/8t salt
1T butter
1/2t vanilla

Ganache:
1/2c semisweet chocolate chips
3T heavy cream

Cupcakes:
Preheat to 325F. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. Beat in buttermilk and sour cream until combined. Gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling:
In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk. In a small saucepan over medium heat, whisk together cream, sugar, cornstarch, and salt until well combined. Continue to cook until mixture is hot, whisking frequently. pour half of the cream mixture into the small bowl with the egg yolk, whisking constantly. Pour back into the saucepan. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly, until thickened. Strain out the lumps and add butter and vanilla. Stir until completely combined. Cool to room temperature.

Ganache:
Put chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds, until melted smooth.

To assemble, cut out a ball of cake from the center of the cupcake and fill the hole with custard. Pout ganache over tops of cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Puffy Christmas!

It's going to be a very puffy Christmas for some very special little nuggets out there. Here are two puff quilt blankets I just completed using the Honeybear Lane tutorial:



And in case you missed them, two that I've made in the past:



Hands down the best baby gift ever. Fo serious.

Duchess Potatoes Revisited

By the way, here are my second attempt at the duchess potatoes:




I added Old Bay to a few of them for extra deliciousness. They look way better and taste just as good as my first attempt :) The original post with the recipe can be found here: DUCHESS. Thanks!

Christmas Decorating

Christmas season is here! Now that we've made it past Thanksgiving and December is in full swing, it's time to get excited about and decorate for Christmas! I have been eying a few wreathes on Etsy that I wanted for xmas. They were all around $50 plus shipping and I decided that was way too much for me to be paying for a decoration. So, I ordered an awesome wreath from www.egrapevinestore.com and bought some red and white berry sprigs from Joann Fabrics on clearance. I just cut up the sprigs and stuffed them haphazardly into the wreath and I think it turned out exactly how I wanted. Here are my pics:



And it definitely cost less than the wreathes I had been eyeing! What are you making this year in the way of decorations?

Day 1 of the 12 Days of Cupcakes: Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I've decided to do a 12 Days of Cupcakes to get in the Christmas baking spirit (and to start plowing through my 'to-try' pile of recipes). These days probably won't be consecutive, but they will all be before Christmas. I hope you bake along with me or at least enjoy a daily drool in front of your computer :) To start things off I give you Cookie Dough Cupcakes (recipe from Annie of Annie's Eats and the Blue-Eyed Bakers):



These cupcakes are genius. They taste exactly like cookie dough, not cookies, but cookie dough-and are heaven. I've had several requests for these babies as my friends' birthday cupcakes. Can't wait to make them again!

Recipe
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes (original recipe from Annie of Annie's Eats and The Blue-Eyed Bakers)

Filling:
2 sticks butter, softened
3/4c sugar
3/4c brown sugar
4T milk
2 1/2c flour
1/4t salt
1/2t vanilla
1c mini semisweet chocolate chips

Cupcakes:
3 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2c brown sugar
4 lg eggs
2 2/3c flour
1t baking powder
1t baking soda
1/4t salt
1c milk
2t vanilla
1c semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting:
3 sticks butter, softened
3/4c brown sugar
3 1/2c powdered sugar
1c flour
3/4t salt
3T milk
2 1/2t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.

Filling:
Beat butter, and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the milk, flour, salt and vanilla until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate about 30 minutes. Take the filling out and roll it into teaspoon sized balls and place them in the cupcake liners. Put the cupcake trays into the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Cupcakes:
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients with adding the milk, ending with dry. Add vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, on top of the filling. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting:
Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Mix in powdered sugar. Beat in flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla until smooth. Make sure mixture is well blended. Frost cooled cupcakes and add mini chocolate chips for decoration.

Enjoy! And check back for lots of fun new cupcakes this month!

Thanksgiving Thanks

I just wanted to give a huge thanks to Kristine and Loi for having myself and 13 other guests (plus 2 doggie guests) over for Thanksgiving dinner! I had a great time and somehow managed to roll myself home after the massive feast. Here are some pics of the spread:



Thanks again!