Sunday, June 19, 2011
Lisa is Hungry is Moving!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
An Update: Its Been A While
Monday, August 30, 2010
An Albino Brownie
(above) I added some extra oats and chocolate chunks to sprinkle on top of the blondie before baking.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush an 8-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on both sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add in flour mixture; mix just until combined. Mix in 3/4 cup oats. Mix in chocolate chunks. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Using an offset metal spatula or table knife, smooth batter evenly. Sprinkle with remaining oats and extra chocolate chunks, pressing gently to adhere. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pan 30 minutes.
- Using overhang, transfer blondie (still on paper) to a wire rack to cool completely. Place on a cutting board (peel off paper); using a serrated knife, cut into 16 squares.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
5-Stars!
- Its easy and surprisingly quick to make.
- The cake is pretty much as good as carrot cake can get.
- I'm going to consider it healthy. It has a lot of carrots in it, really!
- The frosting is now my stand-by cream cheese frosting.
I halved the original recipe to make twelve cupcakes. I also made quite a few alterations after reading the reviews it got on the website. I used a half light brown sugar and half-white sugar combination in the cake and added a quarter teaspoon of allspice and an extra half teaspoon of cinnamon to the half-batch I made. I also used a little more than half the confectioners sugar called for in the frosting. As you can see, each cupcake got a generous dollop of frosting, which was perfect since the frosting (with the alteration) wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. I love the frosting for its rich and creamy texture and flavor. You can see from the photos that it pipes nicely as well.
(above) I halved the recipe and used 1 1/2 cups of shredded carrots (around 1 1/2 large carrots).
(above) Carrot cupcakes.
Five-Star Carrot Cupcakes
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together 4 eggs, oil, white sugar, brown sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, allspice and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in walnuts. Divide evenly into two 12-cup cupcake pans. - Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool on a wire rack.
- To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Movie Night?
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped (optional)
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
Coarse salt
Directions:
- In a large heavy-bottom saucepan, stir together 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 cup popcorn kernels; cover partially with lid to allow steam to escape.Cook over medium heat until popping slows, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand (covered) until popping stops, 1 minute.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Place popcorn in a large bowl; if using cashews, add to bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil, stirring constantly. Working quickly, drizzle popcorn with sugar syrup, and toss.
- Spread popcorn evenly on prepared baking sheet. Bake, tossing occasionally, until golden and shiny, about 40 minutes. Transfer hot popcorn to parchment-paper-lined baking sheet; let cool. Store in airtight container up to 1 week.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Peanut Butter Granola Bites
(above) Combine butter, peanut butter and honey in a pot and warm it up on a stove.
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup cold cereal like Rice Krispies
1 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the maple syrup or honey, peanut butter and butter. Heat until the butter is melted and the peanut butter is loosened.
- Combine cereal, oats and coconut in a medium bowl. Pour the warm peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and fold tom combine. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the peanut butter mixture. Allow the mixture to cool a bit for easier scooping. Mix in chocolate chips if desired.
- Using a small scoop, scoop mixture onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Press balls together with clean and damp fingers if they break apart a bit. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes to harden and set. Place balls in cupcake liners and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
I'm a Barbie Girl, In a Barbie World
I believe that this is the sort of cupcake that make cupcake bakeries famous; in fact, I know it. Vanilla cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting (nicknamed the "Barbie Cake") were actually the first type of cupcake that Magnolia Bakery ever sold. The best memories I have of barbies is my sister ripping the heads off her barbie dolls.
I tried a new recipe and made white cupcakes with butter frosting that I tinted pink. The cupcakes (which technically aren't even white because they contain egg yolks) are honestly, really really good. The cake has a texture that I can only really describe as fluffy and has a good, sweet buttery flavor to it. If you are going to try one vanilla cupcake recipe from my blog, I'd recommend this one. The frosting, by the way, is wonderful as well. I usually ignore recipes for buttercream frosting and just dump enough icing sugar until the frosting seems right. Don't do that. Follow this recipe and you will get a lovely, light and creamy frosting that unlike many buttercreams, isn't overwhelmingly sweet.
(above) These cupcakes were done after around 13-14 minutes.
(above) The cupcakes, frosted and sprinkled!
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar, divided
2 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and lightly butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3/4 cup (150 grams) of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.Beat in the vanilla extract. Then,with the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.
- In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, (or with a hand mixer) beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.
- Evenly fill the 12 muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Butter Frosting
Recipe from Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
2 cups (230 grams) confectioners sugar (icing or powdered sugar), sifted
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2-3tablespoons milk or light cream
Directions:
- In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Tint the frosting with desired food color.