Vanilla Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Filling & Salted Caramel Frosting

Posted by - Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, & Health

...if you have dirty dishes piled up, laundry that needs to be done ASAP, unread mail that needs to be opened, vacuuming, scrubbing and all that business Or, if you are an overachiever and have done all that (please come help me), fine don't- I like cleaning too but just not right now. Not today. 

If you are little overwhelmed like me, go run to your kitchen & surround yourself with heavy cream, flour, butter, sugar, sea salt and make a huge batch of salted caramel frosting, salted caramel filling and extra vanilla-y cupcakes and in the process pile up more dishes - what the hell you will be doing heck of a cleaning later anyways. The whole process is extremely therapeutic - it only takes a spoonful or two (but who's counting right) salted caramel frosting to calm this clean freak. I don't like when things are scattered here, there and everywhere but when I am not in the mood to clear the space I make candied salted caramel.. lets not clean today but shall we be creative, please? And eat all the cupcakes I want! 

Vanilla Cupcakes  
Makes about 6 cupcakes

Ingredients  
3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
3 tablespoon unsalted butter (softened)
1/2 cups sugar (add less if you like less sweeter taste)
1 large egg
1 Mexican vanilla bean (scrape with pairing knife)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions 
-Leave butter and eggs in a room temperature for an 1/2 hr or so
-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
-In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt together
-In KitchenAid Stand mixer (if using that) or a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add egg to the mixture and continue beating it in medium speed then add vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste until everything is incorporated.
-Scrape the sides of a bowl
- Add flour and milk alternatively to the butter- sugar mixture and continue until everything is well combined.
-Divide batter and pour it in a lined cupcake pan filling about 2/3 full
-Bake for about 18 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean
-Remove from oven and allow it to cool completely

While the cupcakes are in the oven, go ahead and make the most legit frosting of all times - Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting. The recipe is from Taste of Home,  fairly easy & requires almost the same ingredients as the caramel filling (recipe below). The recipe calls for leaving it in refrigerator for 4 hours but I left for only 2.5 hours. The final result was extremely fluffy, too good to be true and had to stop myself from tasting licking the bowl.. Its for 10 cupcakes but go ahead and make the full recipe. You can thank me later. 

I hope we all feel same way about Salted caramel filling inside a cupcake right? It perfectly compliments the vanilla cupcakes and keeps the center super moist. I adapted the recipe from 52kitchenadventures & halved it. This is one of the easiest, no fail recipe & I added sea salt to finish it off.

Normally, I have no patience - we all know that. It gets worse when there are cupcakes on a cluttered counter top and caramel butter cream frosting heaven in the refrigerator- try resisting that..its almost painful but today I am trying to be patient and not obsess about messy house or dirty laundry. I want to bring out the hidden patient, creative side of me and decorate these babies with salted candied caramel. The recipe is from Cupcake Friday Project. These candied caramel thingy always intrigued me on TV - it was pretty cool (although I burned it a little bit) but that's my attempt to be creative.

Okay, seriously,this patience business is starting to annoy me and me want some cupcakes. Can we assemble them already?

First whip up the butter cream frosting as directed in the recipe. Stir the caramel filling and get ready for some serious cupcake! Use a pairing knife to cut the center of cupcake, add about 3/4-1 tablespoon filling in the center and frost it. Adorn them with caramel candies. Sprinkle some sea salt.

Although it was little lengthy of a process, each component of this cupcake was worth it..slightly sweet vanilla cupcakes was perfect with salted caramel filling and the frosting - it was spectacular. Candied caramel spirals added a slight crunch which I enjoyed a lot. Let's just say it was worth every minute, every calorie/fat/sugar consumed because guess what - I need all that energy, for I have massive cleaning to do!

Lemon and Blueberry muffins

Posted by - Rhonda's Saucy Adventures

Lemon and Blueberry muffins

Recipe adapted from BBC Food

I found two recipes that looked really good...I couldn't decide so I made both. These were my husbands favorites. I had extra crumble left over from the other recipe so I put it on top of these mini muffins. I liked both muffins so I will keep both recipes in my GO TO binder.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 cup self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tsp for sprinkling

1/2 cup blueberries

1 tbsp lemon juice

zest from 1 lemon
2 eggs
5fl oz lemon yogurt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a 12-hole deep muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Melt the butter in a small pan over a low heat then set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and stir in the sugar, blueberries and lemon zest. Make a well in the center.
4. Beat the eggs with a whisk until smooth then beat in the yogurt, milk and melted butter until well combined. Stir into the flour mixture with a large metal spoon until very lightly mixed.
5. Divide the batter between the muffin cases. Place a teaspoon of the lemon curd on top of each one and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until well risen and golden-brown. Serve warm or allow to cool on a wire rack. (The lemon curd will be very hot, so don’t eat as soon as they come out of the oven.)

Happy New Year! January Challenge

Posted by - Rena

Happy New Year!

This month's challenge is to make cupcakes, muffins or popovers. Basically the challenge is to make anything that fits nicely in a muffin tin. Who doesn't like a cupcake?! Since I'm sure we all ate enough for 2013 over the holidays, feel free to make muffins or popovers as well. Popovers are one of my favorite things but take a little finesse to make from scratch.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a very happy new year! Happy 2013!

photo from MarthaStewart.com

Chicken Patties (a savory strudel alike)

Posted by - Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health



I can't believe Christmas went by so quickly and New Years is only a couple days away- WHAAAT.. I am still in denial and don't want to stop eating more cookies in the name of holidays! 

But at the same time I am excited to welcome 2013, a new year, new beginnings. Hope it will be another year full of happiness, success and good health. Lots of wishes from me to you and your family ♥

On any other day I probably would not have promoted this recipe - buttery, flaky chicken patties but c'mon its New Years - it deserves special attention; it comes just once a year - 365 days. 52 weeks. All I am trying to say warn you is - don't get too hooked because this buttery, flaky pastry sheets stuffed with flavorful chicken pieces are pretty hard to stop after your first bite. Even though every bite is so worth the calories, I usually save it for the special moments like these, a New Years gift from me to you!

...I love how these chicken patties take me back to middle school; times where I securely held on to my mother's hand and walked swiftly towards a small bakery after school that displayed colorful pastries, old-fashioned glazed doughnuts, different cookies, and patties. I occasionally craved for cream rolls but chicken patties & I were BFFs.

Still today, when I take a bite of this, I go back to a time where life's biggest concerns were chicken patties, more play time, and less homework!  So simple, so naive... 

Its like eating soft, buttery sheets with a spicy chicken surprise waiting inside but feel free to add other fillings of your choice: potatoes, mix veggies, paneer or whatever tickles your fancy! 

All you need are puff pastry shells, filling of your choice, and ten minutes of patience! I eyeballed all the ingredients, so please adjust it to your liking all you want.

Chicken Patties

Ingredients

*puff pastry shells, thawed

boneless chicken tenderloins (may use chicken breast too)

milk

chicken tandoori masala

Miracle whip

hot sauce

salt & pepper

*note- i used puff pastry sheets but i highly recommend using shells.

Directions

- In a sauce pan, boil milk and add chicken with tandoori masala until chicken is cooked.

-Shred the chicken and place it in a bowl

-Mix in with more tandoori masala, hot sauce, miracle whip, salt and adjust the taste as needed

The main goal is to make sure the chicken is not too dry and adding Miracle whip/mayonnaise helped keep it moist.

-In a preheated oven @ 400F, place pastry shells/sheets for 10 minutes or so until it turns slightly yellow/brown and top pops up

-Place the fillings and put it back in the oven for additional few minutes until its evenly golden

Serve it hot and this recipe stores well in the freezer. Simply reheat it in a toaster oven and enjoy :)

See you all next year!

Apple Strudel from Rhonda's Saucy Adventures

Posted by - Rhonda

Apple filling adapted from Paula Dean, Pastry Puff Directions from puffpastry.com

I have always been afraid to make strudel, so I am glad this months challenge got me out of my comfort  zone.  I LOVE this recipe and will definitely make it again.

Apple Strudel:
1 egg
1 tbsp  water
1/4 cup golden raisins
17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
1 Fuji apple
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, halved, and thinly sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon flour
1/2 cup vanilla wafers
 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons milk
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the raisins, apples, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, brown sugar, cookie crumbs, and pecans, in a 3 qt pan. Cook on low for 15 minutes, stir occasionally. 1.Remove pastry puff from the box, unfold the pastry sheet on the work surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a 16 x 12-inch rectangle. With the short side facing you, spoon the apple mixture onto the bottom half of the pastry sheet to within 1 inch of the edge. Roll up like a jelly roll. Place seam-side down onto a baking sheet. Tuck the ends under to seal. Brush the pastry with the egg mixture. Cut several slits in the top of the pastry. 2.Bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Let the pastry cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the confectioners' sugar, if desired. 3.Drizzle Caramel Ice cream sauce if desired. For the Glaze: Mix ingredients thoroughly. *Cook's Note: If too thick add a little bit of milk. If too thin add a little bit of confectioners' sugar.

December Challenge: Strudel

Posted by - Rena

Happy December! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far.

This month's challenge is to make strudel. You can make whatever kind you like. Strudel is typically a layered pastry with a sweet filling inside but you can go the savory route if you prefer. Since everyone is busy with the holidays, strudel seems perfect. The possibilities are endless for fillings so go crazy!

I wish you all a wonderful holiday and I'll see you next year! 

photo from MarthaStewart.com

Chocolate Cherry Chunky Blondies

Posted by - Dorrie

The Have the Cake theme this month is brownies, and while I'm all about chocolate and brownies, sometimes, like I like my men, I like a good blondie...

The blondies that I really love...

Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking: From my home to yours" has a lovely recipe for "Chewy, Chunky Blondies" that I adore.  Dorie's recipe includes practically everything in the pantry: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, walnuts and coconut.  I've made it this way before (substituting pecans for the walnuts) and they are great, but I've also simplified this time, and added only dark chocolate chunks and dried cherries.  Yum!

Chocolate Cherry Chunky Blondies

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chunks
1 cup dried cherries

(Dorie's original recipe has: 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chips/chunks, 1 cup butterscotch or Heath Toffee chips, 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, and 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and butter a 9-x-13 baking pan.  Place the buttered pan on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

In a stand mixer bowl or bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.  Add both sugars and beat until well incorporated.  Add each of the eggs separately, beating after each and then add the vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients until incorporated and then add the remaining ingredients, using a spatula to mix. Add the batter to the buttered pan and spread evenly.

Bake for about 40 minutes until the blondies are light brown, and pull away from the edge of the pan.  Cool in the pan before cutting and devouring, preferably with ice cream...

Baker's Chocolate Brownies

Posted by -Rhonda's Saucy Adventures

Recipe adapted from Cooks

 I looked for a recipe that called for Baker's chocolate, because that is what I had in my cupboard when I decided to bake. I made the cake-like version of this recipe and I don't think I will do that again. I give this 2 stars but hope the fudgy version is better. I am going to keep this recipe and give the fudgy brownie a try, because so many people gave this recipe 5 stars.

Ingredients

4 sq. Baker's unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour

1 cup chopped nuts, optional
1/2 cup chopped oreo cookies optional

1. Preheat oven 350.
2. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwave bowl at high 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
3. Stir sugar into chocolate. Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour and nuts. Spread in greased 13 x 9 inch pan. 4. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool in pan; cut into squares. Makes 24 fudgy brownies. Note: When using glass baking dish, bake at 325 degrees. For cake-like brownies, stir in 1/2 cup milk with eggs; use 1 1/2 cups flour.

Lemon Brownies

Posted by - bakingaddict

This is a really quick and simple recipe with lemons. I saw this on Me and My Sweets back in May this year and bookmarked it as I love lemon recipes. I made them in between packing so I couldn't find the right tin and used a foil takeaway container instead! It worked well though and although I didn't get a chance to try it, I was told it was delicious.

ready to go in the oven

lots of lemony glaze on top!

For the brownies

90g flour

150g golden caster sugar (I reduced it from the original amount so you may need to add more if you have a sweet tooth)

1/4 teaspoon salt

113g butter

2 eggs

2.5 teaspoon lemon zest (approximately 1.5 lemons)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

For the glaze

60g icing sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoon lemon zest (approximately 1/2 lemon)

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Add flour, sugar, salt and softened butter to a bowl and beat until combined.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, lemon zest and lemon juice.
• Pour into the flour mixture and beat until smooth and creamy.
• Pour mixture into a suitable baking dish and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely before glazing.
• To make the glaze, mix all the ingredients together until smooth. You may want to add more lemon juice depending on the consistency required.
• Spread glaze evenly on top of the brownies and add some lemon zest if desired.

Bacon-Bourbon Brownies with Pecans

Posted by - Gerri

I found this recipe in my Food and Wine cookbook. I love chocolate, bacon and of course, bourbon on occasion. What a great way to have all the flavors in one place. This recipe was developed by Kat Kinsman, managing editor of CNN’s Eatocracy.

The recipe was very easy to follow. I used pre-cooked Armor bacon that you finish off in the microwave, and substituted walnuts for the pecans.

These rich, intensely flavored brownies are the perfect combination of sweet, savory and salty. Chase with a cold glass of milk. You may have to stop yourself from eating the entire batch!

Bacon-Bourbon Brownies with Pecans
Active: Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour, 40 Min
Servings: Makes 24 Brownies

1/2 cup pecans

1/2 pound sliced bacon

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 packed cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons bourbon

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1.    Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches of overhang on 2 opposite sides. Spray the paper with vegetable spray. Spread the pecans in a pie plate and toast for about 8 minutes, until fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts.

2.    In a skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, turning once, until crisp, 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels and let cool; reserve 3 tablespoons of the fat. Finely chop the bacon.

3.    In a saucepan, combine both chocolates with the butter and stir over very low heat, until melted; scrape into a large bowl. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat in both sugars with the reserved 3 tablespoons of bacon fat. Beat in the bourbon. Add the eggs and salt and beat until smooth. Sift the cocoa and flour into the bowl and beat until blended.

4.    Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the bacon and pecans on top. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the brownies are set around the edges but slightly wobbly in the center; a toothpick inserted into the center should have some batter clinging to it. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the brownies cool completely. Lift the brownies out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares or rectangles and serve.