Never Bashful with Butter

I’m not sure if it is entirely truthful to call these “Caramel Apple Pie” cupcakes.

Yes, there is pastry involved. Yes, they are cupcakes. And yes, they are filled with a cooked apples and cinnamon filling, and topped with apples and caramel.

…But they could also be called “Manzana pastel Tres Leches cupcakes con dulce de leche*” (Apple pie three milk cupcake with dulce de leche) Because they’re actually filled with a tres leches filling of sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and evaporated milk, mixed with diced granny smith apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter.

Also, there is just something to be said about a dessert whose name is spoken in another language. Saying the name in English, you’d expect to find them at a county fair or at a backyard picnic, and although there is nothing wrong with that… saying their name in Spanish… it could be a romantic dessert you indulge in while vacationing on la playa in Puerto Rico*.

I’m all for daydreamy desserts, so why not. Its been so cold here in the Seattle area, that my husband worked from home yesterday and this morning, because the slight incline from the road to our apartment turned into THE ICY MOUNTAIN OF DOOM overnight on Monday night, and although things outside have thawed a bit, its still REALLY COLD. I really wouldn’t mind a nice tropical climate right about now…. *daydreams*

*half an hour later*
Oh. Um.. Anyways-

They taste like caramel apple pie, but with a soft texture, cuz *duh* cake. They’re moist and apple filled and topped with a piece of butter pastry which adds that familiar crunch that you get when you eat a regular apple pie slice. Trust me. They’re amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I made them, or because I’ve recently decided to cut back on sweets, and therefore this was the first “sweet” I’ve had in a little over a week.

Nope. They really are delicious.

Anyways, so to make this, I used the Magnolia Bakery vanilla cupcake recipe, because I like that it is a pretty dense cake, and it absorbs the moisture from the filling really well, which is important, since the filling is pretty liquidy, except for the apple pieces.

You’ll want to make the cupcakes the day before you plan to serve them.

Here is the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe-

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

After allowing the cupcakes to cool, I used the cone and scoop method to hollow out a space in the center of the cupcake so to have enough room for the filling. Just use a sharp pointed knife to cut an inverted cone (think ice cream cone) into the center of the cupcake from the top, and remove the cone, cut off the point of the cone, and use a spoon to sort of scoop out some of the inside of the cupcake. You don’t want to remove too much cake, but just a little.

Then I filled each of the cupcakes with this filling that I made while they were baking-

Apple cinnamon three milks filling-

2 medium granny smith apples
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
scant 1/4 cup evaporated milk
scant 1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

A little while before you plan to fill the cupcakes (you should probably do this while the cupcakes are baking) mix together the sweetened condensed milk, the evaporated milk and the heavy cream. You can do this in any bowl, just mix them together with a spoon and set aside.

Peel, core and chop the apples into small pieces (remember that you’re using them to fill cupcakes, so.. probably no bigger than your pinkie fingernail) and swish them around in a bowl with the lemon juice so they retain their tartness and don’t brown too quickly.

Using a medium sized saute pan with high sides, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter starts to brown a little, pour in the apple chunks. Sweat the apple chunks, not allowing them to brown, just soften a little. Turn the temperature down if you need to, to prevent overbrowning. Once the apples chunks have softened, and a lot of their moisture has been wicked out, add the brown sugar, cinnamon and allspice to the apples on the stove. Stir to combine. The liquid in the pan may begin to caramelize a little. Pour in the three milks mixture and stir. Be careful not to overfill the pan (you can do this in a saucepan, but I didn’t want to make another dish to wash) and allow the liquid to reduce and thicken until it is the consistancy of a thin pancake batter. The mixture will have darkened slightly, but will be more beige than brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool before using.

I used about a tablespoon of the filling for each cupcake, but you may use more or less depending on the size of the hole in the cupcake. Use the spoon to press the filling down into the cupcake, since there is a lot of space between apple chunks, and the moisture will be absorbed into the cake, leaving holes if you do not compact them. Replace the top of the cupcake and press down again. You will probably have extra filling left over, just store it in the fridge for up to a week. You can make some extra pastry rounds and use it as a topping for those, or you could just make more cupcakes to fill it with! hehe..

After I filled the cupcakes, I iced them with an almond buttercream. Feel free to use Vanilla or whatever other flavour you feel would go well with caramel, apple, cinnamon and vanilla.

Almond Buttercream:1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons almond extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and almond. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

After I iced the cupcakes, I put them in the refrigerator overnight. This is kind of an important step, as it allows the moisture from the filling to fully absorb into the cupcake and it allows the flavours to co-mingle enough to where each bite of the cupcake tastes just like the others, rather than having a disjointed feel and flavour. Also, a cold cupcake is a delicious cupcake.

The next day (or about 8 hours later) I made some butter pastry rounds using my *blue ribbon apple pie crust recipe* only after I rolled out the dough I cut rounds out with a 3inch cookie cutter, laid them out on a non-stick cookie sheet and poked holes in the top with a fork before baking at 350F for about 10 minutes. (Note- You can use the extra pastry rounds as sandwich cookies with the apple mixture as filling. Just use a fork and strain off the extra liquid from the apples.)

The final part of this cupcake comes in the form of Dulce de leche, or caramel sauce. Feel free to use either. You can make the *caramel sauce* or the *Dulce de leche* yourself, or you can use a store bought version.

To assemble, I just put the pastry round on top of the iced cupcake, tucked a few apple slices under the edge of the pastry round, and drizzled about a teaspoon of the caramel on top of the whole thing. Wait until the last minute to do the assembling, since the caramel will be oozy, and the apple will brown if you leave it out for too long before serving.

Anyways..

So after I took a little bite of one of the cupcakes, I walked away for a moment to upload my photos to my computer, when I turned around and saw this-

Apparently Rodney decided to teach the new robot on the block how to eat a cupcake.

I don’t speak their language, but from what I could discern, The new robot prefers using a fork. I guess this new robot is slightly more civilized…

…Or perhaps its just that he has opposable thumbs and articulated fingers.

Yeah, that’s probably it.

-A.

*I do not speak Spanish fluently, so my translation is probably off. My apologies.

Merry Christmas from me, my cookie monster, and all of the robots here at Never Bashful with Butter!

We sincerely wish you all the best this holiday.

-A.

It never fails.
Every winter I get this overwhelming craving for cinnamon rolls.

It probably stems mostly from my family’s tradition of getting Cinnabon cinnamon rolls every Thanksgiving and Christmas eve. Growing up, fancy store bought cinnamon rolls were a luxury that could only be afforded for super special occasions, and originally, we only had them on Christmas eve. After a while my mom decided that Thanksgiving was a good day for Cinnamon rolls, because we ate “dinner” anywhere between 2pm and 4pm, right in the middle of the day. A nice, big, delicious cinnamon roll could tide us over until our feast was ready to be devoured… even if it did take a few glasses of milk to wash that turkey down.

But as with many things, our family has changed. Theres that whole matter of my cinnamon allergy (which I ignore each and every time I smell fresh cinnamon rolls, by the way. I’d gladly trade a swollen tongue for just one delicious cinnamon roll.) We don’t all live under the same roof, my older sister and I are not the only “kids”. My younger sisters have grown up wholly different than we did, my parents matured and are more secure financially, so there is no need to set aside special days for treats that could not be afforded during the rest of the year, and special treats like Cinnabon cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving and Christmas seem pointless to them, because they can have them whenever they’d like.

…And they don’t even LIKE cinnamon rolls.
I know. Its sad, isn’t it?

Needless to say, it just doesn’t seem right in my heart (or stomach, for that matter) to eat a Cinnabon cinnamon roll outside of Thanksgiving day or Christmas eve… But there is nothing wrong with making my OWN cinnamon rolls during the rest of the winter.

Just the other morning, early on Saturday, I found myself unable to sleep.

Its been cold and blustery up here lately, Fall seems to be turning to winter a lot faster than I remember in previous years… Or maybe I’m just getting older faster. I decided it was a great morning to wake up and make some tasty little cinnamon rolls for my husband, who was sleeping still.

Perhaps the smell of baking cinnamon and yeast dough would ‘rouse him gently, or perhaps he wouldn’t notice. Either way, I decided to make some cinnamon rolls.

The plan was simple.
Make the dough. Let it rise once, roll it out, section it off, roll those out, fill, roll up, slice, rise and bake. After they were out of the oven, I would glaze them, photograph them, feed them to my husband, and go about my day.

…but it didn’t happen quite like that.

I got through the baking part just fine. Out of the oven came amazingly delicious almond and cinnamon scented puffs of dough, oozing with buttery brown sugar filling. I placed them on a plate and iced them with an almond and vanilla flavoured thin buttery icing.

I couldn’t resist. I ate one.
Then a second one.

I didn’t feel so bad about eating two, because they were really small. I decided to feed a few to my husband while they were still warm… I’d save about half of them and just photograph those ones. It would be ok.

So I woke up my husband, and told him I made cinnamon rolls. At first he didn’t believe me, but then he smelled them. He grabbed a few and with a few “ooh’s” and “aah’s”… oh, who am I kidding.

He wolfed those puppies down.
They were gone in a flash. A few remained, but after I put the plate back in the kitchen I felt a little sleepy, so I laid down for little while and when I returned… they were gone. Only the residue of glaze remained on the plate.

…and there were tongue marks where my husband had apparently decided to try and finish that off, too.

So this morning I went for round two. Instead of almond I went with orange flavouring, but to be honest, I really enjoyed the almond better. My husband on the other hand… He says he likes the orange ones better.

So I guess its up to you which flavour you make them!
Just make them!

Teeny tiny orange (or almond) cinnamon rolls-

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling-
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange extract (or almond extract)

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

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Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 1/2 hours. (dough is ready if an indentation remains when touched).

Punch down dough. Separate dough into quarters and roll each section out into flat rectangles about as thick as a flour tortilla.

In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the filling. Spread about a quarter of the mixture on the flat sheet of dough and roll the dough up jellyroll style. Slice each finished roll into small sections, each section being a finished miniature cinnamon roll (slices depend on your preference and conditions. You can make larger cinnamon rolls or smaller ones, almost as thin as cookies. Its up to you.) Place each finished cinnamon roll slice on end (one of the cut ends down on the baking sheet) and continue with each of the quarters of dough. Allow rolls to rise for about 35-40 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes (small rolls, like mine) or 20-30 minutes for standard or jumbo sized rolls.

I made tiny cinnamon rolls that were about 1″x 1 1/2″ and ended up with about 30 of them.

For the glaze, mix together a tablespoon of melted butter, a tablespoon of milk or cream, a tablespoon of orange extract (or almond extract) and 2-4 cups powdered sugar, depending on how thick you want your glaze to be. You can also add a drop of food colouring to the mix, like I did for my orange rolls. (You may need to add more or less liquid to thin out your icing, depending on how much powdered sugar you use. Since I only used 2 cups, I only needed three tablespoons of liquid-melted butter, cream and flavouring. If you start out with more powdered sugar, you will surely need more liquid, however you will end up with more icing than is needed for this recipe of cinnamon rolls. Use your own judgement and common sense.)

Glaze the rolls as soon as they’re out of the oven to seal in the softness. Let them cool for a few minutes then devour!

See.. the robot even tried to sneak one!

-A.

When I was a kid, there was only one thing more tempting than my dad’s chocolate candy stash he kept hidden behind the coffee canister on the shelf in the kitchen that only he could reach.

…And that “thing”, was caramel.

I don’t know where the craving came from. I can’t tell you when I first tasted its richness, or when its delightfully chewy texture first crossed my palate.

I can, however, tell you about the first time indulging in my favourite candy became a “no-no” and how I landed on my orthodontist’s naughty list.

It was fairly early on when I realized how much I loathed any sort of orthodontia.

My first experience with an orthodontist yielded a mouthful of spacers, as my parents decided to act immediately on their recommendation to fit my mouth with an “oral appliance”. Basically, it was a spikey tongue guard that kept my tongue from pressing against the back of my teeth….

Conversely, it kept anything from entering my mouth as well, including food. Two weeks of spacers and suddenly I had this giant metal tongue guard in my mouth, keeping me from eating, speaking, or breathing the without some difficulty. The first night my mom took me and a couple of my friends out to dinner at the neighbourhood burger joint, sort of as a “sorry ’bout the giant metal monster in your mouth, how about we go to dinner” consolation prize.

Imagine my horror as I attempted to bite down on my burger only to realize- Oh yeah, there’s that big spikey metal in my mouth, I should probably cut this up before I try to chew it. yeah, I had to cut my burger into a million tiny bites before eating it.. With a fork. My friends all laughed. I turned red. Talk about embarrassing.

However, it only took me a few months to get settled into things, and the giant metal monster eventually became my tiny metal friend, as I found the thing was pretty fierce looking and intimidating to the schoolyard bullies. Fourth grade was a dangerous place to be.. Even more dangerous if you’re picking on the girl with the metal spikes in her mouth. *grin*

Unfortunately, about a year into my two year dental imprisonment, I had a slight mishap in the family swimming pool. I was singing “somewhere over the rainbow” in a contest with one of my friends, and I twirled a little wide, causing me to land face first, open mouth- into the edge of the swimming pool (crazy children, don’t ask).

I guess my orthodontist felt sorry for me, or maybe it was the huge hole in the roof of my mouth that caused them to end my stay and remove the appliance permanently.

I thought I was free…

But about a year later, my dentist springs it on me that I *might* need braces. *Might* meaning- Come back next week and we’ll get it started!

Anyways, this time I was older and more set in my ways. When my Orthodontist sat me down and gave me the list of “can’t do- can’t have” for my brace wearing years.. I got so mad I wanted to throw things. I think I actually cried. “They’re going to deprive me of POPCORN?!” This simply couldn’t be.. “What? NO CARAMEL EITHER!?!” *sigh* It wasn’t fair. I planned on not listening whatsoever. I mean.. really, how are they going to know if I ate caramel when they weren’t around?

Well. They knew.

And I paid for it. Not only with the obvious pain it caused by popping brackets and breaking wires… In addition to that, my orthodontist added THREE MONTHS to my “braces release date”. Apparently I as more stubborn than they thought, because by the time I reached 5 years with braces, when my original sentance was only three and a half years, I turned 16 and my parents let me decide if I wanted to keep my braces on or have them removed- BECAUSE I STILL HADN’T BEEN RELEASED.

I took the get out of braces free card, stopped by park place for my retainers and never stopped running. My orthodontist thought the whole thing was pretty funny, and as going away present, she gave me a whole pound of Brach’s caramels.

I’m a little older now, but still very much in love with all things caramel.

You can see it in the things that I bake. One of my most favourite ingredients is caramel.

So I decided today to start off my holiday candy recipe collection with a more grown up yet still classic version of the every day caramel. Something special for the holidays, or everyday…

And here is the recipe-

Hot buttered rum- cream caramels

2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup organic corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon butter flavouring
1 teaspoon hazelnut (or almond) extract
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of cinnamon

Line a 9×13 inch pan with waxed paper and spray with a light coat of non-stick spray.

In a medium-size pot, combine sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, and butter, and heat over medium heat until it reaches 250 degrees F.

Once the mixture has reached 250 degrees, mix in the rum, butter and hazelnut extracts, as well as the pinch of ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix throughly. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and allow it to cool completely without being disturbed. Once the mixture has come to room temperature, chill it for about half an hour in the fridge before cutting.

Once you’ve cut the caramels into small pieces, wrap them tightly in waxed paper and keep them in a sealed container away from moisture. The amount of caramels this recipe yields varies depending on the size of your pieces, but mine were about 2″x 3/4″x3/4″ and I made 80 of them. Heh.. though you wouldn’t know it by how many have disappeared since my husband came home and found out I made caramel. HA!

If you’re looking for a fun, easy but fancy schmancy food gift for your loved ones this holiday season, I’d definately recommend this recipe. Its so simple, and so tasty. And who doesn’t love little hand wrapped caramels, anyways?

…well, besides maybe my orthodontist.

-A.

“There is no gold at the end of the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad.. only cupcakes”

Rodney awoke to a loud thump on his front porch.

“What’s this?” Rodney sputtered. “Why is there a plain white cupcake on my front porch? I had ordered a green one with green sprinkles for St. Patrick’s day, Not a  white one!”

Wait, who are you?

“We come bearing sad news, Rodney!” It was the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad, and they looked pretty somber.

Someone has stolen all of the Rainbow Sprinkles in all of Sprinkle Town! THERE ARE NO SPRINKLES! They’re all gone!

Rodney was taken aback. “You neverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.commean, THIS is the cupcake that I ordered from the palace bakery? There simply are no coloured cakes or sprinkles anywhere on this planet?” He asked.

“No” The Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad replied. “You’ll have to come with us! We’re going to talk to the Cupcake Oracle to see what can be done!”

So Rodney followed. He did not know where he was going, but hoped that at the end of the day, he’d have a green cupcake to bring home to his family.

Finally, they arrived. The Cupcake oracle was one of the last decendants of the ancient clan of Crab Cake. They had shrunken in size as their population dwindled, and he was now merely a Crab Cupcake.

“Why have you come to see me, Rainbow ninjas? What questions do you have for me?” The Cupcake oracle asked.

Rodney spoke up “There are no sprinkles in sprinkle town. Someone has run off with them! ALL OF THEM! It’s St. Patrick’s day, and there is no green cake to speak of! This simply will not do!”

The cupcake oracle was angered by Rodney’s tone. For this, he informed Rodney if he was to find the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad’s cupcakes, and have any hope of ever finding any sprinkles or green cakes again, he would have to find “a little green man” and he would then know where to find what he desired.

…And he would have to go alone.

The Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad got comfy…

…And Rodney set out on his Journey.. The hunt for Sprinkles.

It wasnt long, maybe a mile down the road, where Rodney happened upon a green cupcake. Excited, he thought maybe no one would notice if he took a bite…

..But out of nowhere, a little green man jumped up! This was the little green man the Crab cake spoke of! He told Rodney that he would have to find the place where the two white cupcakes are in a row, before he would find anything of colour, especially rainbows.

So Rodney set out again on his Journey. High and low he looked…

Everywhere there were green cupcakes and white cupcakes, but no two white cupcakes near each other…

He had all but lost hope…

Finally! He found it!!! SUCCESS!

..but something seemed missing..

He hurried back to the home of the crab cake and gathered up the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad, he had found their cupcakes!

Excited, they all got reacquainted with their muffins.

Except the limey. His cupcake was missing. “I’m sorry Limey! I wonder who has YOUR muffin…” saidRodney, disapointed.

“I know who did this” said the limey, cryptically.

Rodney decided to follow the limey, just to be sure he didnt do anything drastic.

“LOOK LIMEY! LOOK AT ALL THE GREEN CUPCAKES!” Rodney was about to jump into the forest of green cupcakes.. Just as the limey yelled “DONT DO IT RODNEY!”

…out rushed a gang of other green ninjas. The leprechaun squad..

…They were the ones responsible for stealing all the rainbow sprinkles and coloured cupcakes. It was all their fault!

But before Rodney could say anything, they attacked!

Good thing Rodney was much bigger than them! He reached down and nabbed a cupcake, making his way back to the field of rainbow cupcakes to meet up with the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad.

“I got your back Rodney!” Exclaimed The limey..

After a short hike, and what seemed like forever, they made it back to the field of Rainbow cupcakes. Rodney placed the cupcake on the ground and helped the limey onto it. “thank you Rodney” said the limey “I appreciate your helping us. we couldnt have done it without you.”

And the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad were finally Reunited with their cupcakes.

Rodney left, saddened. Sure, he helped the Rainbow Sprinkle Ninja Squad find their cupcakes, but he was still without his green cupcake for St. Patrick’s day. He figured he would just have to make do with the white one on his front porch..

Just then, Rodney was approached by the little green man. the second oracle that the crab cake spoke of.
“what are you doing here” Rodney inquired
“I’ve been watching you Rodney. I saw your dedication to helping my people. The limey… he’s my great great grandson. You helped him, and so you must be rewarded. I will grant you one wish, Rodney. Choose wisely..”

And with that, The little green man hopped off his cupcake and gave it to Rodney. With a small handful, Rodney smiled, and took a bite.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY EVERYONE!

-A.

P.S. the rainbow cupcakes were Baileys irish cream boozemuffins with vanilla icing, and Rodney’s green muffin was lime flavoured with lemon icing. The white muffins were vanilla with lemon icing.

Rodney was a big fan of afternoon walks in the palace gardens.

The palace bakery set out fresh cupcakes every day at noontime, so the scent of fresh cupcakes filled the air.

Rodney started to get a little tired, so he thought he’d test one of the lime iced cupcakes to see if he could sit down on it..

Still a little soft..

Oh but this one.. This one was perfect. Rodney didnt know whether to sit on it or eat it, it looked so good.

Before he could snatch up the cupcake- Rodney noticed something move. Something far off in the distance. What was that?

It was Colossus,neverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.com Guardian of the cupcakes.

Colossus hated it when other robots tried to take HIS cupcakes. Rodney picked the wrong one. Colossus wanted the same cupcake as Rodney.

Rodney didnt know what to do. He’d never seen such a monstrous robot as Colossus. He was frightened. Too frightened to move even.

Before Rodney could react, Colossus picked up the cupcake and held it high above where Rodney could reach.

“Oh No” thought Rodney. “What do I do now? I really wanted that cupcake.”
He didnt know whether or not to run off or stay and fight for his cupcake…

Sooner than later, Rodney made his decision. He would stay and do what he had to do to get back his cupcake. He saw it first!

He climbed mighty Colossus’ arm. Dangling high above the soft comforting ground, where all the other cupcakes sat, Rodney held on tight and tried as hard as he could to reach the cupcake.

But Colossus was strong. He shook Rodney off his arm.

After falling, Rodney had no choice but to regroup. Something must be done about this cupcake thief. Someone must do something!

…But alas, Colossus was just TOO big. Rodney couldnt do anything from where he stood..

Or could he? Rodney pondered his next move.

Aha!  I’ll bribe him with another cupcake. A more DELICIOUS cupcake. A lime cupcake with Strawberry icing! That’ll get him.

So Rodney got to pushing…

..And he pushed some more…

Finally he managed to get the cupcake infront of Colossus, where he could see it.

“whats this?” Said Colossus aloud, setting down the cupcake that once had perched high above Rodney’s clutches.

“Is this… a gift?” asked Colossus- “For me?”

The kind gesture melted Colossus’ cold heart. If Robots could cry, a small robotic tear would have fallen from his little metallic eyes.

And indeed, it was a tasty cupcake.

The last thing on Colossus’ mind was that other cupcake. No, he had this cupcake in mind. He gorged himself upon the cupcake.

He offered some to Rodney…

But Rodney said “if you dont mind, Colossus, I’ll just take this one.”

And so off he went, with his delicious cupcake in his clutches.

Rodney did not look back, he did not want to see Colossus change his mind. No, this cupcake belonged to him. To Rodney.

As soon as he was out of the woods, with his back turned towards the palace gardens, Rodney looked down upon his prize. Yes, this cupcake was his prize, for he had won it fair and square.

Grasping handfuls of the flavourful icing, Rodney inhaled the crisp aroma of fresh cupcakes. Fresh lime icing.. Delicious sweet cupcakes fresh from the palace bakery, only enhanced by the hard work it took to free the cupcake from the clutches of the giant robot Colossus…

As he went in for a bite, he had no thought of anything other than the heaven he held in his hands..

He thought nothing of the king… the true owner of the cupcake…

Oh no Rodney.. DONT EAT THAT CUPCAKE!  LOOK BEHIND YOU!

-A.

A lot of people ask me what I do with all the cupcakes that I make.

Usually I make small batches. I’ve learned to photograph small batches and make them appear as larger batches. Sometimes I make full batches and I give the extras to my neighbours or my relatives or my friends. Sometimes I have large parties and I bake tons of goodies in advance, and bring them out of the freezer so I can give them to my guests.

And sometimes I just feel like experimenting, so I make a full batch of batter, separate it into a few bowls and mix in separate flavours.

I could have been more adventurous today. I didnt feel like it. I wanted to make something special for my husband, and he’s been hinting around that he’d like me to make him some rootbeer cupcakes with the rootbeer extract my mom just gave me.

I didnt want to make a full batch of them, just incase they were gross (which they werent, oddly enough) so I poured a third of the batter into a bowl and used that for the rootbeer cupcakes.

I poured another third into another bowl and used that to neverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.commake banana lime cupcakes. More banana than lime, but still slightly citrusy.

With the remaining third, I added in a little marachino cherry juice and some cherry extract. Pretty good I must say.

So, using one simple batch of “cake” batter (that I made using my favourite french vanilla cake recipe) I omitted the vanilla and added the flavouring at the last minute just before pouring the batter into the papers.

Heres what I came up with-

Banana lime cupcake.

I added in some mashed bananas and a little banana extract. Also, I sprinkled some lime jello powder into the batter as well as on the icing.

Cherry cupcakes!

This was by far my favourite. The marachino cherry juice made this cake very moist, and I only added a tiny bit of the cherry extract so it wouldnt taste too WILD CHERRY to me. I hate WILD CHERRY flavour.

Rootbeer Float cupcakes.

Pretty strange. I’ve only thought about making rootbeer cupcakes, never actually having made them. I’ve gotta say, they’re surprisingly good. The rootbeer extract is dark enough that the colour they ended up is from the flavouring alone, no added food colouring. They were a bit dry, but still good. The vanilla icing added that little bit of “Float” to it.

Here’s the cherry cupcake trying to seduce you..

The cool thing is, even though I made a full batch, I ended up with only about 4 cupcakes in each flavour. One for me, one for my husband and two for the freezer for later. It works out perfectly.

-A.

Just like most robots, Rodney has an appreciation for the arts.

So when it came down to picking his favourite cookbook (and mine, for that matter) he chose this cookbook solely because the illustrations inside are done by Andy Warhol.

It just happened to be a complete fluke that the recipes inside were pretty damn good.

When the label on the front said “complete” Rodney and I both assumed that it meant “as complete as the author felt it should be, and they really didnt think about it much at all” Just like most cookbooks. I have plenty of “complete” cookbooks, but none of them are anything like what I would consider “complete”

This one however, totally takes the cake. This book has EVERYTHING that I can think of. Its amazing. Its also old, so instead of having ingredients like “prepared puff pastry” it actually refers you to another page where it tells you how to make puff pastrneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comy. There is no mention of anything premade. Everything in this book is from scratch, and with whole and pure ingredients. Its awesome.

Originally Rodney and I were going to make Cream taffy…

But the last sentence of the directions frightened Rodney, as he has no “men friends” and thought it awkward to mention such things in the directions for a candy.

We picked out a recipe for honey taffy. Not only was it simple, but it looked tasty, and I happened to have all the ingredients in my pantry, so I didnt have to make a special trip to the store, which is a bonus. Plus, I’d never made taffy past the “pour it on your girl scout enemies stage” (dont ask) so.. I figured it would be a learning experience…

However, Rodney got a little sleepy, so he slept through the creation process. Good thing too.. I stood infront of the stove stirring the mixture for a good hour trying to get it perfect.

Finally I succeeded, and after mixing, heating, stirring, kneading, pulling and cutting the taffy, I wrapped it up in little waxed paper squares.

…Around which time Rodney decided to join me. I felt a little like little red hen, Rodney only wanted to be around when the taffy was made, he didnt want to help with any of the process.. but I figured hey, he’s a little robot.. he’d probably mess it up anyways.

Closeup!

Wanna bite?

Hey Rodney, where’d your candy go?

hahaha…

Seriously though, this taffy was pretty good. I dont think I’ll make it again though. I’ll probably attempt another type of taffy. There was just something about the overwhelming honey flavour that made my mouth water.. and keep watering.. and water so bad that it actually affected my ability to chew. A mouth full of saliva isnt exactly a good thing sometimes.

Anyways… Taffy pulling isnt too hard either. The whole key in any sort of candy making is to get the cooked mixture to the correct temperature before removing it from the heat. I added a little lemon extract to the mixture. When you’re making taffy its best to add the extract after you’re finished cooking and while you’re kneading. That way the flavour isnt able to burn off like it would had you poured it into the pot. Another tip… when pulling taffy, wear some sort of latex or vinyl powder free gloves. Just put them on and spray them down with a little cooking oil, and you will feel a little heat (because you’ve got to pull the taffy when its still hot) but at least you’ll have finger prints when you’re done. I was sort of doubting whether or not I’d have any after playing with the taffy all morning. My hands were beet red for a good hour afterwards. They’re all better now.

I imagine you could make this with some sort of Tea instead of the added water (I wish I would have thought of that last night, I would have done it myself!) and you’d make yourself some pretty awesome homemade cough drops.

So there you have it. Rodney and the honey taffy.

Taken from “Amy Vanderbilt’s complete cookbook”

1 Cup sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 Teaspoon salt
2/3 Cup Honey
1/2 Cup water
2 teaspoons Lemon or Vanilla extract

Mix together the sugar, salt and cornstarch in a large high sided pot. When combined, turn the heat up to medium high and add the water and honey. Boil over medium high heat until the mixture reaches 265 degrees or forms a hard heavy strand when dropped into a glass of cold water.

Remove from the heat. Grease a silicone baking pan or a glass platter. Let the taffy sit for about 20 minutes, until cool enough to touch. Pour the flavouring extract over the mixture. Knead the extract into the taffy, lifting the sides and bringing them up and over the center.

With greased hands, begin kneading and pulling the taffy. Continue doing this until the mixture looks milky and turns a light caramel colour. Finally pull the taffy into a long strip and cut into 1″ long pieces with a pair of greased kitchen shears. Let cool on waxed paper or wrap in squares of waxed paper.

The flavour settles in over 24 hours. The taffy will be much harder than commercial “salt water” taffy, but it softens enough to be chewable after a few minutes in your mouth.

I liked it, I just think it made my mouth water too much.

If you’re a fan of honey, or you’re looking for a nice old fashioned treat, Give this recipe a try.

-A.

Ok, not to brag or anything, but.. I have made the most perfect icecream ever*
* upto, but not including any future batches. Also may exclude batches other people have made that I have never tasted.

Seriously. This stuff was awesome.

I Figured out what I did wrong. I DID have the adapter thinggy for the churn attached wrong! Its not my fault. I blame kitchenaid for sending out retarded photo diagrams that dont look anything like the items they’re supposed to be of!
Basically, the churn blades werent touching the sides of the bowl. It was just stirring slightly chilled ice cream batter in an iced bowl. Totally uneffective.

Anywho.. I figured it out and yippee!

This one is a french vanilla with orange buttercream swirl. You cant see the orange buttercream because I made it with natural orange extract, and.. didnt use any food colouring. I should have, it would have looked way more cool. I’ll remember that for next time!

So, here’s the porn-

Look, it even has those perfect little ice cream cracks. You know what I’m talking about!

Rodney Approves!

And he tries to steal a cherry!

The end product from the ice cream maker wasnt nearly this solid. I took the end product, which looked like soft serve, but still much more like ice cream than the last stuff I made- and I put it in a rectangular tupperware in the freezer overnight. What resulted was perfect, creamy, delicious and drool worthy. Later today I’m going to try and make a sherbet. mmm.. sherbet. Hopefully I’ll be able to take photos of it before I snarf it all down. I love sherbet so much.

So, there you have it folks. Delicious french vanilla orange buttercream swirl ice cream!

-A.

I really want to blame this on the mixer. I want nothing more than to find out that I hooked up the ice cream bowl attachment incorrectly, or that I accidentally forgot a part while affixing the churn.

Or maybe I could blame it on my freezer. I’ve been sick the past week, so that means dear old hubby has been doing the shopping.

and the cooking.

…Suddenly I open the freezer and am confronted by a nearly solid wall of orange boxes. My husband is a big fan of stouffers lasagna and macaroni and cheese apparently, because thats what he’s been living off of the past week. I’m amazed he hasnt turned INTO cheese.

So, since our freezer is jam packed, the circulation hasnt been up to what it should be, and it takes longer for things to freeze. At least that what logic says. Or maybe its just what I want to hear.

In any case, I set out to make ice cream today.

I put the kitchen aid freezer bowl into the freezer yesterday morning, giving it over 24 hours in the freezer when it only requires 15.

I used a recipe straight out of the kitcheneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comn aid recipe book. I followed it to the letter.

I put the mixture into the freezer to chill for about 3 hours. (it said 4-8 in the fridge, so I figured 3 in the freezer was pretty good)

I hooked up the bowl and the attachment. I turned on the ice cream attachment and poured the mixture in. I let it spin for 20 minutes.

Beneath a layer of what could be described as the most glorious tasting coffee creamer ever, I found a slightly gelatinous layer of “ice cream”

I poured off the liquid part and spooned the “ice cream” into another bowl and put that part in the freezer to set up for about another hour.

I dont know what happened.

BUT- Since I dont want to be one of those people that only documents their achievements.. I called upon Rodney to help me out with a little “ice cream” failure photo shoot.

*this is Rodney’s “I dont know what happened” pose.*

Wait.. Who’s that?

Silly Crabby, Ice cream’s for robo- oh. Thats right, its not really ice cream, is it?

This is going to taste AWESOME in my hot cocoa later tonight.

ts ok Rodney.. We’ll give it another try tomorrow. I promise!

I really dont know what happened. The only thing I can think of is maybe I didnt cook the custard long enough, or maybe I didnt let the mixture chill long enough.. I know its user error. Thats just how it goes. But I’ve got the bowl back in the freezer, and I’m going to make a new mixture tonight and let it sit in the fridge over night tonight, and tomorrow morning I’ll try again. We’ll see if I can conquer the ice cream hurdle!

In other news, I love my new kitchenaid. It sounds like perfection. I want to make all sorts of stuff in it just so I can listen to the motor run. I love this thing.

In other OTHER news.. Guess who’s featured on Slashfood today? Woot woot! That’d be me. So exciting! I love it when people like the stuff I do. I’m always happy to make other people happy!
So.. until tomorrow-

-A.