CUPCAKES!!

My new thing is cupcakes...of all kinds and flavors! So far...I've made a coca-cola cupcake--which was a major flop, and sourcream cupcake with nutella icing-yumm! and my favorite so far, a ginger cupcake filled with pear compote(cooked fruit stuff) and a pear ginger whipped buttercream topped with candied pears. SO GOOD!! As my husband called them "Adult Cupcakes" and not in the sense that they are inappropriate, but they are for a more sophisticated palate ;) to me they just tasted good! My next cupcake is going to be a fluffernutter cupcake and a chocolate cupcake with grand marnier ganache. I'll keep you posted on those! I'm also still tweaking the basic cupcake recipe...here's what i've got so far

1/2 cup of softened butter or margarine--butter for more melt in your mouth cupcakes and margarine if you're on a budget, either will do

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups SIFTED--very important! no one likes lumpy cupcakes!--cake flour

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream or buttermilk--if you dont have either you can mix 1 tbsp. lemon juice with 1 cup whole milk minus 1 tbsp and let it sit for a little bit(Still only use a half cup though!)

1/2 tsp of salt--I know, doesn't sound important, but it really brings out the flavor!

1 and a little less than a 1/4 tsp of baking soda

vanilla extract--however much you want :)

1/2 cup hot water

beat sugar and butter together, add each remaining ingredient one at a time until all combined and beautifully smooth!

cook at 350 degrees about 15 minutes until a toothpick or knife or whatever you have handy--skewers in my case ;)--comes out clean

hope you enjoy!!!!

oh! I also got my french book today! Plan on cooking my way through a good portion of it. No it's not a Julia Child book, actually Alma Lach, but its so good and full of useful information!

Buen Provecho!

Cake Flour

Interesting thing I learned while making red velvet cupcakes-of which the recipe I will post at a later date if successful-Is that for every one cup of All-purpose flour you use, you can substitute it for 1 cup and 2 tbsp. of cake flour...just in case you were curious!

Buen Provecho!

Brownies

So, these are the best brownies I have EVER had! Let me tell you!
And oh so simple.

I got this recipe off of Epicurious.com(a favorite website of mine), courtesy of Alice Medrich, though I tweaked it a bit to make it simpler and more accessible...

2 sticks of unsalted butter-melted(I melted mine in the microwave for a minute)
2 cups sugar
1 cup plus 4 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
and chocolate chips, or walnuts, or marshmallows, or whatever you want to put in it, if anything....they are delicious all on their own!

preheat the oven to 325 F, and put the rack in the lower third of your oven.

Mix the melted butter, cocoa, sugar and salt together and mix on medium-medium high speed until it has the consistency of thick mudd---I know, I know, not a pretty visual, but it gives you an idea :)

add the eggs one at a time-make sure you crack them into a separate bowl first to catch any shells---I had the fun experience of fishing through my batter to find a shell piece. I am far to good of a baker to let someone crunch into an egg shell

once the batter is smooth, add the flour and continue mixing until a thick, frosting like(better comparison than mudd *Smiley*) consistency.

Grease a 9 x 13 pan and line with parchment paper, so a little is hanging off the side--as to be able to life it out of the pan later.

bake about 15-20 minutes. Check at 15 minutes. A toothpick should come out moist with a little bit of batter on it. If it's covered in batter...put it in five more minutes.

once done and chilled, drizzle with melted Andes mints for a Christmas feel, brulee marshmallows on top, or just enjoy by themselves! These would make GREAT Sundays, I might add!

Buen Provecho!

Christmas!

So, I got it!

I got my Cuisinart mixer!! And I am sooooo excited. It was of course my Christmas present, and I can't wait to make something with it.

I'm thinking.....

Bourbon cookies
Sugar cookies
Pumpernickel bread pudding
lemon cupcakes
truffles
brownies

I'll post all the successful recipes with pics!

Check out the mixer!

Until next time, buen provecho!

Christmas Ideas...

I know, I've been blogging like crazy today!
I have a couple ideas for fairly inexpensive gifts especially if your family doesn't do the whole gift thing.

Bruschetta "Gift Baskets" which will cost around ten dollars

aaaaannnnnnddddd

Cookie/cupcake mixes which will also cost around ten dollars, with endless possibilities, however I'm thinking a lavender cookie with a white chocolate lemon gancahe...mmmmmm :)

I'll let you know!

something I learned

Just so everyone knows...
Extra Virgin Olive Oil has a lower smoke point--375 F
Virgin Olive Oil has a smoke point of--420 F
Pomace Olive Oil is--460 F
Extra Light Olive Oil--468 F

:)

Bruschetta...Oh My Word!

So, the family is over today and we wanted something light and flavorful for lunch, so I picked a classic...Bruschetta, and Oh My Word! One of the best things I've ever made, and it only gets better each time I make it!

What you need:
3 large tomatoes or 1 carton of campari tomatoes from publix-seeded and diced
5 or 6 garlic cloves minced very well
4 or 5 largish basil leaves-chiffonade
salt pepper and olive oil to taste
loaf of good french or Italian bread and more olive oil to drizzle on top

Once you prepare all the ingredients mix them together in a bowl wit the salt and pepper to taste and olive oil to coat. Heat your oven to 300 F. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and bake for about 7-8 minutes or until lightly toasted. Put bread on a platter, top with bruschetta and enjoy!!

Hope you love it, I know I do!!!