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.

Some things come easier than others.

Breakfast this morning, for example, was one of those things. I don’t have any particular recipes to share that go along with this post, I just felt like spreading the love, and fanning the flames of desire that we all feel for a nice, full, hot and delicious breakfast.

I woke up fairly early today, snuck out of bed, careful not to wake my husband.

I didn’t even have to change out of my Pajamas! I love that about breakfast at home.

After a quick spruce-up of the kitchen, I set to making some French toast, fried eggs (scrambled, for my husband) sausage links and bacon- The thick sliced kind. I feel I should share with you one of my favourite breakfast making tips, even though you’ve probably already heard it.

Instead of making your bacon in a skillet, bake it in the oven!

Lay the strips out flat on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the bacon looks almost done, then flip them over and bake until they start to foam a little. It takes only like 20 minutes to make perfectly crisp, evenly done, FLAT bacon, and the only mess you have to clean is the non-stick baking sheet, rather than having to clean up the whole stove top and the skillet if you pan fry the bacon.

Either way, there is no arguing, bacon is DELICIOUS. hehe..

I had some little mini croissants, so we had those on the side with strawberry jam (I smuggled this jar out from a hotel we had room service in) and we drank some fruit juice and milk.

Eating breakfast always makes me feel like I’m a kid again. My family always ate breakfast together on Sundays, though we would usually have homemade waffles or pancakes, which were my dad’s specialty.

French toast WAS the first thing I ever learned to make in the kitchen though, so I’ve become quite the expert at making it, not that its very hard to make or anything. hehe.. Now that things are finally becoming more normal (5 months since relocating, not bad.) I’ll finally start sharing some more breakfast recipes. Until recently, breakfast on the weekends was more like Eggos and poptarts. Not the most nutritious or healthy of breakfasts, and not really even very tasty, either.

Nope, no more toaster strudel for us. We’re in the dead of winter, and there’s no better weekend recharge than a nice big tasty breakfast, so there are plenty more in store this season. Don’t you worry.

-A.

P.S. If you’re into breakfasts- be sure to check out one of my favourite food blogs (which I am lucky enough to be able to contribute to.) The Breakfast Blogger.

There are certain foods and food making ingredients that I just don’t feel comfortable not having on hand in my pantry, freezer or refrigerator.

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this.

I’m talking about stuff beyond “the staples”. Beyond flour and sugar and butter and milk. Stuff like fresh limes and at least three different types of cheese (I swear I have a panic attack when we’re only down to ‘just cheddar’), and a jar of black olives and a bottle of extra virgin olive oil. Stuff like apricot jam and dark chocolate chunks and wonton skins.

And above all of that, I always have phyllo dough waiting for me in my freezer.

Why? I’ve never really been sure. I know that from time to time I start to feel less creative in the kitchen, and this time, having phyllo dough on hand really helped me out.

Phyllo dough is super super super thin dough that is extremely fragile, but looks BEAUTIFUL in almost any application. You have to be pretty careful when handling it, but its totally worth it.

So today I made little phyllo bundles filled with cream cheese, apricot preserves and pecans.

They were super easy to make, and healthy, so far as desserts go. I used no sugar added “only fruit” preserves. Apricots are totally sweet on their own, so this dessert is free of any added sugar.

I sliced the bundles in half and garnished the plate with warmed apricot preserves and pecan halves.

Phyllo dough desserts always make me feel all special like a Grecian goddess.

Wrapped up in a toga with golden jewelry and doused in all sorts of exotic perfumes. Sort of like spirit days back in high school (yeah, I totally rocked the toga). I never got to experience a college toga party, since I didn’t go to a college with sororities and fraternities, let alone dorms, even. The closest I ever got to a toga party outside spirit days in highschool and the occasional towel toga during the mad dash from the bathroom to the bedroom back when I still lived with room mates, was the year I dressed up as Baubo- goddess of belly laughter, for halloween.

Having recently learned that Baubo wasn’t the goddess of belly laughter, but something rather different indeed, I’ve decided that I should probably work on my knowledge of Greek mythology a litte bit before announcing that I’m portraying a mythical character that I really just looked up in a book and did very little research about.

Perhaps this is just the snack to eat while reading up on my mythology. Perhaps this is the ambrosia, the nectar of the gods to which legend refers.

…Or not.

Its fun to pretend though! *smile*

Want to know how to make these Cream cheese and apricot phyllo bundles with pecans?

You’ll need-

Ingredients:
Phyllo dough
Apricot preserves
Cream cheese
pecans
melted butter

Tools:
short bladed sharp knife (paring)
pastry brush
non stick cookie sheet

Proceedure:
Before you handle the phyllo dough, its important to have everything prepped and ready to go. Since phyllo dough is extremely thin and lacks fat in its ingredients, it has a tendency to crumble and break when it dries out, which happens very easily. Keep the phyllo in its package until you’re ready to use it, just make sure that it is thawed out.

Meanwhile, prepare the cream cheese. I cut one brick (8oz ) into 10 pieces roughly the same size each. I melted about 4 tablespoons of butter and had it ready at my workstation. I had my pecans ready to go as well.
Once I had everything out, I removed two sheets of phyllo from the roll and laid them on top of each other on my clean, dry, workspace (a wooden cutting board) I brushed a thin layer of butter on top of half of the top sheet, and folded the two sheets together, in half (meaning I did not brush butter between each layer, only on half of the first sheet, where I folded the non buttered half on top of the buttered half.) Then I brushed a thin layer of butter on the top of the folded sheets. using my knife, I cut the layered phyllo sheets in half (two sheets folded in half makes it 4 sheets thick, phyllo, phyllo, butter, phyllo, phyllo, butter) widthwise.

On the exposed buttered top of each half of the layered phyllo, I placed one piece of cream cheese, which I smushed a bit to elongate it a bit. On top of that I spooned about a tablespoon of the apricot preserves, and then topped that off with two pecan halves. I folded the whole thing like a burrito, folding the short ends up and over the filling, then folding the long ends up and over the previously folded phyllo ends as well as the filling.

Then I placed each bundle folded side down on an ungreased non-stick cookie sheet, and brushed the tops with a little bit more melted butter.

Once you’ve finished all ten, (or as many as you’re making) bake them at 350 for about 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Some of the preserves will have melted out through the seams, but don’t worry, this really isn’t preventable. Also, if you notice the ends crisping and turning brown but not the tops, turn the broiler on for a moment, but be sure to keep a very watchful eye on them, so they don’t burn. The broiler works quickly!

Once you’ve removed them from the oven, quickly use a fork or a spatula to lift them up and lay them down folded side UP on a wire cooling rack or parchment covered plate. If you let them cool on the baking sheet they will stick when the melted preserves harden, and they’ll break apart before you are able to pry them off. Also, if you lay them down folded side down, the bits of melted preserves will cool and harden onto the plate or wire rack, causing the same problem.

Now that the bundles are out of the oven, you can either serve them hot, with a little extra apricot preserves and some pecan halves on top of the full bundle (as pictured at the bottom of this post) or you can let them cool a bit and slice them in half on the bias, and serve them on a platter, cut end up, or two halves to a plate all pretty with some heated apricot jam and pecan halves drizzled on top.

Notes:
I made about 10 bundles, so I used 20 phyllo sheets. I still had some left on the roll, so I just rolled it back up, wrapped it in saran wrap and put it in the fridge. Phyllo keeps pretty well so long as its wrapped and in an area of the fridge where it won’t get damaged.

I used a no sugar added no preservative variety of apricot preserves. Apricots are naturally sweet, and their colour is vibrant enough to really perk up this dessert. I also tried making this with some homemade blueberry jam and found that the jam soaked through the phyllo dough slightly while it was baking, and though I prepared them exactly the same, they didn’t brown or crisp as well as the apricot ones. They were still SO GOOD though.

As well as trying this with different jams, I also tried different nuts. I greatly preferred the pecans, because they held onto their flavour. The almonds added the same crunch as the pecans, but their flavour was lost with the jam. Same with the filberts (hazelnuts). Really though, get creative here and use whatever type of nut you want, so long as its small enough to be bundled and soft enough to be bitten through.

If you wanted to cut the fat of this dessert, you could use neufchatel cheese, which has about 1/3 less fat in it (it is made with whole milk instead of cream, otherwise it is the same), although it tastes very very similar. Also, you could use cooking spray (Like pam) instead of melted butter between the layers of the phyllo, and that will cut some of the fat as well, though you’ll miss out on the flavour that the butter provides.

So go and get thee to thine grocers freezer and get some phyllo to play with! Who knows, maybe you’ll create some sort of delicious concoction that would make Zeus himself ask for the recipe.

…anything is possible!

-A.

Or: Why food blogging is close to my heart.

A year ago today, I began my journey into the world of food blogging, with this photo.

…Ok, so that’s not entirely true. The story actually started a few days before Christmas, 2006, when I took my first real food photos. I had made chocolate covered strawberry marshmallows as Christmas gifts, and I went out and bought frilly little silver boxes with food safe paper to house them in. I was so proud, I took some photos to remember it.

Cut to the day after Christmas, 2006.

My husband used to have a job where he was required to do a lot of travelling. I was lucky that I got to spend Christmas with him, since he had spent a week in North Carolina, coming home on the day before Christmas eve, only to leave and go to Seattle for a week, starting the day after Christmas.

I had just quit my job, and I was incredibly bored. It snowed off and on most of those days, and though it never stuck, it did keep me from really venturing out of the house much, for fear of crazy drivers and car accidents.

Time passed incredibly slow.

Between phone calls from my husband, sleep, and the occasional visit from my mom or my older sister, I did a lot of thinking. A lot of thinking about my life, my self, what I wanted out of life.

Somehow I got myself on the topic of treating myself better.

It wasn’t yet New Years, and although I never really have been the kind of person to make resolutions, I decided that in the coming year, I wanted to take better care of myself. I wanted to spend time treating myself to little luxuries, and enjoying everything about life.

Part of that was intertwined with my obsession with food.

I love food.

I’ve always loved making food and cooking and baking and eating food. I realized that when I had people over, I’d get down to business and put so much effort into making the food look good, as well as taste good, where as when I made food for just “me”, I found that I would just slap a few things together and eat it for nutrition.

There were all sorts of reasons for my strange relationship with food. Part of it was how I was raised.. that food wasn’t necessarily something to enjoy, so much as something that needed to be eaten to survive. There are other reasons that I won’t get into here, as they’re much too personal to reveal on a public blog such as this, but I had my reasons. Plenty of reasons.

It had become achingly apparent that something needed to change in the days where my husband was traveling. I never once brought out a skillet or baking sheet. Almost everything I ate came out of a box or was something that could be eaten ‘on toast’.

I told myself right then that I needed to change that, and I did.

It wasn’t until my husband came back and we celebrated New Years, that I realized there was a very good way to keep myself accountable for my new resolution. For my birthday in September, my husband had bought me this shiny new camera. I’ve always loved looking at pictures of food, whether it be online or in a cookbook, why not take pictures of the food I make, and keep track of it all?

Slowly but surely, I began taking photos and posting them to my personal online journal. Over the course of a week, I realized I loved what I was doing, and I opened up my first food blog- A_Muffin_Story, on Livejournal.

I originally started posting food photos with stories that related to the food I was eating. I didn’t start this food blog until a few weeks later, and even then, it was just to keep track of recipes. I had no real intention of making this blog anything more than just a go-to site for the recipes I was using.

Anyways, my first real food blog post on A_muffin_story was a simple photo of one of my favourite foods- carrot slices that I had cut into little heart shapes with a knife. I loved it so much, and I still do. I often find myself looking back to it for inspiration when I can’t think of anything to make or take photos of.

Like this-

Its funny, because I started food blogging so I wouldn’t eat food from a box or stuff that I could just slap together, but I found inspiration in a little carrot cut into a heart shape. It was like it was meant to be.

Over time, the carrot motif became less important, but the heart motif stuck. If you notice, every now and then I throw a little heart into my photos. That’s all because I want to remember where I started. I want to remember why I am doing this… For me.

I’ve since closed A_muffin_story, but Never Bashful with Butter has become “The Big Blog” for me, where I’ve posted stories and recipes and all the photos that I take. I love it here.

So in memory and celebration of one full year of food blogging, I made a little cake for my husband and I to eat with dinner tonight.

Its a carrot juice and clementine cake.

I didn’t use a fancy recipe, and I decorated it simply, but appropriately and deliciously!

Here is the recipe that I used- It was originally a recipe for a simple vanilla butter cake, but I subbed out a few ingredients, and judging by the smell and the texture of the cake itself, it will be a delicious ending to a full year of food blogging… Oh, and a delicious ending to dinner tonight, too. *smile*

Carrot juice and clementine cake-

2-1/2 cup sifted cake flour
1- 1/4 cups sugar
3-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup carrot juice
1/4 cup milk + about a little extra (or what I lovingly refer to as “a glug”)
1-1/2 tsp. lemon juice
3 egg whites, at room temperature

Clementine mixture-
1/4 cup clementine juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9″ round layer cake pans and line the bottoms with waxed paper; set aside. Sift flour, sugar, and baking powder into a large mixer bowl. Add butter, carrot juice, milk and lemon juice. If you really want to, you can add the carrot pulp to the mixture as well. I didn’t, but looking back, I wish I had.zSB(3,3)

Beat on slow speed until blended. Then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add unbeaten egg whites, and beat two minutes longer at medium speed.Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until cake is light golden brown and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool 15 minutes in pans, then carefully remove layers from pans and cool completely on wire rack. While the cakes are cooling completely, poke a few holes into the cake with a toothpick or skewer, and slowly pour the clementine mixture over the cakes so that it soaks into the holes you’ve poked. (you don’t have to use all of the mixture, so use your good judgement on this one)

Once the cakes have cooled, you’ll need to fill, stack and ice your cake. I chose cream cheese icing, only I added more milk to the mixture so that it was more like a cinnamon roll coating, and not so fluffy, like traditional cream cheese icing. You can choose whatever icing you’d like.

So, Happy 1 year!

This year I’ve decided to continue with this blog as it is currently, devoting it to baked goods and sweet things. Next month I’ll reveal a secondary blog dedicated to healthy, real foods and meals and a generally healthy lifestyle. I’ve asked a few of my friends to help me with it, so I’m expecting it will be a wonderful, interesting project!

Also, if I might direct your attention to that side panel over there…*clears throat and points to the upper right hand side panel*—>

If you notice, I’ve opened up a “ooh you tasty little things” merchandise shop over at cafe press! All you have to do is click on your preferred design and choose what product you want it on, buy it, and enjoy! I made the designs myself, and they’re all fun, original designs. I hope ya’ll like ‘em!

-A.

In case you’re curious as to what the title refers to, click here.
No, I don’t really get it either, but it sure is happy!

Peanut butter jelly! Peanut butter jelly!

But first, a note about new years resolutions.
Its a new year, and here at the muffin household, things, they are a changing.

For one, we’ve made it a goal of ours to eat healthier. I know, everyone is making resolutions to eat better, lose weight, exercise more.. whatever.. Health issues in both of our families have really pounded it home that getting into better shape and being healthy is very important if we want to live long, enjoyable lives.

That having been said, don’t worry, it won’t affect what you see here. I still plan on making one or two tasty little treats a week, not for me or my family, but so that my husband can take them to work for his co-workers. They seem to appreciate them, so why not keep them happy. Who knows, it might make my husband’s work day more enjoyable, and if I can help with that, I will.

However, if you are one of those whose new years resolutions (or just your own personal goals) include weight loss, healthy eating and exercise, keep an eye out on the sidebar over there- (points at the side of the page to the right) for an announcement for a new healthy food blog that I’ll be launching later this month, once I’ve built up the archives a bit. I’ll be updating it probably more often than this one, since I’ll be using it as a sort of motivational blog as well, for myself and those who want to eat healthy food that just happens to taste awesome and look pretty.

ANYWAYS. All of that behind us now, ONTO THE DELICIOUSNESS!

I made peanut butter and jelly chocolate cupcakes today.

Strange combination? nope. Not at all. Delicious? Definately.

The salty peanut flavour, the creamy chocolate taste, and the sweetness of red ripe strawberries combined. Its like the a triple threat of tastiness.

I made them mini sized and tried a few different decorating styles.
Some of them just had plain peanut butter icing on them, some with a drizzle of chocolate. Some had peanut butter icing and were dipped in chocolate before being sprinkled with lightly salted peanuts and some had the same treatment, plus a slice of strawberry. All four were pretty and simple, and easy to do.

I took a photo of the outside of the cake so that you could get an idea of the texture.

I wasn’t able to get a good photo of a dissected cupcake, because they were filled with strawberry preserves, which just looks shiny against the dark brown of the chocolate cake.

Also, they were very moist, and while they didn’t crumble, they sort of smushed down a little when I sliced into it.
Pretty to look at, tasty to eat, but not very attractive after the first bite. hehe..

Anyways, here are the recipes that I used-

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcakes

2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 eggs, separated and at room temperature
3/4 cup cold water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Heat oven to 350°F (180° C).

Combine 1-3/4 cups sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large bowl. Add oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla; beat until smooth.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in extra-large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Gradually pour chocolate batter over beaten egg whites, folding with rubber spatula just until blended. Spoon into prepared cupcake cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly. Allow to cool completely before removing from muffin tin (or you could do like me, and use freestanding cupcake cups). Fill, frost and enjoy

Makes around 18 standard cupcakes or 36 mini cupcakes.

I filled my cupcakes with some homemade strawberry jam that I recieved for Christmas. You can use any flavour of jam you think would go well with chocolate and peanut butter. I imagine grape would be DELICIOUS, but then again, I love grape flavoured anything. hehe..

I know I said I’d take photos of how to fill a cupcake using the cone method, but really, I think the best way to do it would be linking to The Cupcake Blog, where I actually learned how to do it. She has so many tips and tricks, not to mention delicious recipes. If you want to learn more about cupcakes in general (plus cupcake porn, omg) I’d take a peek over there. (a little ways down on THIS page, she shows how to fill a cupcake through step by step photos.)

Then I got a recipe for peanut butter icing from Southern food (about.com) and I iced my cupcakes before dipping half of them in melted chocolate, drizzling a few with the chocolate and then decorating them how they are shown.

This year, I challenge every one of you to become more daring with the food you eat. That is one of my goals as well this year, and I hope to show more adventurous, less blah foods on both here and the new blog.
-A.

P.S. Come back soon for a very special post! (hint, my blog-aversary is coming up very soon!)

I know, I know. Late again.

I should have been prepared and posted my picks for the best drinks to ring in the new year with WEEKS ago, back when people were planning their NYE parties and they could have made it to the grocery store in time to buy the ingredients to make these delicious things.

Oops. My bad.

So I guess instead of making these drinks for your New Years Eve party, you should just find some way to incorporate them into your usual mixed drink repertoire for the year 2008.

Why?
Because they’re just that good.

The Robot Graveyard

Remember when you were a kid and you used to make “the graveyard” (where you mix ALL the sodas together.) with your fountain drinks?

Yeah, its kind of like that, only with fruit juice and a little bit of soda and some alcohol.

The robot graveyard-

2 parts-
orange juice
lemonade
grape juice
cranberry juice
pineapple juice
Lemon lime soda
Cherry cola

1 part-
Strawberry nectar
banana puree
guava juice

1 shot of bacardi white rum for each serving

Mix together all the juices and sodas. In a cocktail glass, pour one shot of bacardi white rum and top off with the juice mixture. (You can also mix all of the ingredients together in a punch bowl or a pitcher, if you’re having a party and don’t want to be bothered with mixing individual drinks!)

Garnish with as many fruits as you have available, the more, the better.

The Poe

I guess you could call it “The Black Cat” but die hard EAP fans will recognize the nod to his short story, The Black Cat. Blue Curacao, fresh squeezed lime juice and cranberry juice make up this strangely coloured (you can’t really tell, but the colour starts out a much brighter purple at the bottom) but beautifully haunting drink.

“But my disease grew upon me –for what disease is like Alcohol!”

The Poe

for each serving-
1 measure blue curacao
1 measure vodka (can be flavoured, if you’re feeling adventurous)
3 measures lemon lime soda
1 measure cranberry juice
1/2 measure fresh squeezed lime juice

Shake together the curacao, vodka, lime juice and soda. Pour the cranberry juice into the bottom of a tall glass. Gently over the back of a spoon, pour the alcohol mixture over top. Serve with black cat cocktail stirrer (the drink should be stirred just before drinking) and a lime curl or slice.

The Cran-Pop

Ok, so this one is an oldie but a goodie (hence the play on “gran-pop” and “cran pop”) and I think I’ll keep drinking it until my liver fails and they pry my last bottle of vodka from my cold, dead, alcohol soaked hands.

…well, that makes me sound like a lush, doesn’t it? haha.. Seriously though, this drink is just as good without the alcohol. Its actually like cranberry lemon lime soda.. only prettier.

The Cran-pop

For each serving-
1 shot premium vodka
lemon lime soda
a few teaspoons of cranberry juice concentrate

In a balloon glass or other decorative (but large) cocktail glass, add the vodka and top off with enough soda to fill the glass 3/4 full. Stir. Pour the cold cranberry juice concentrate (not juice, but the actual frozen juice concentrate. You can use cranberry juice, but it won’t be as pretty) directly into the center of the glass, slowly. It should settle to the bottom of the glass and slowly spread out as you serve it, creating a pretty range of rose colours in the bottom of the glass. Serve with a wedge or slice of lime, which should be squeezed into the glass just before drinking.

The Blue Orange

If I were an alcoholic when I was in high school, I would have instead named this drink “The Oralue” As those of us who had the misfortune of growing up Spudders also had the misfortune of blue and orange being our school colours. (Oralue= ora(nge) + (b)lue, or the Ridgefield high school yearbook title)

Oh my darlin’ Clementine!

The Blue Orange

For each serving-
1 measure blue curacao
3 measures lemonade (the lemon actually accents the orange flavour)
2 measures lemon lime soda
1 scoop orange sherbet

In a tall, small glass, place a scoop of orange sherbet, and press it into the bottom, removing any air pockets. Mix together the curacao, lemonade and lemon lime soda, pour over top just before serving. Serve with an orange wedge and a straw/stirrer.

The Sparkle Ninja

I know what you’re thinking… But where is the ninja? I don’t see a ninja!
…Exactly.

You should never be able to see a good ninja, and with any luck, you’ll never taste the alcohol in this drink.

Just like the ninja, it sneaks up on you, and out of nowhere, it puts you out of your misery.
(if you have questions about ninjas, I suggest checking out Real Ultimate Power! NSFW)

The Sparkle Ninja

3 parts lemon lime soda
2 parts strawberry nectar
1 part guava juice

1 shot banana rum per serving

Dip cocktail glass into lemon juice and then into pink coloured rimming sugar (otherwise, its not sparkly) Allow to dry.

In a large container, mix together the soda, strawberry nectar and guava juice. (you can add the rum if you know how many servings you intend to make, which is why this is a great punch bowl or pitcher drink for parties) when serving, pour in the shot of banana rum and top off with the juice mixture. Serve with the a pink umbrella so the ninjas have something to hide behind.

So there you have it!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

-A.

When I was a little girl, I would do whatever I could to get into the kitchen and bake with my mom.

For a while, I don’t think she really wanted me there. I asked too many questions, I made too many messes, I didn’t listen to directions well, and I’m pretty sure I was the most annoying child to have in the kitchen with you when you were actually attempting to make something that was- A.) edible and B.) would be appealing to the entire family and not just the crazy 5 year old who thought that sugar should be its own food group.

My mom’s answer to my constantly begging to make goodies in the kitchen was to give me outlets for my culinary creativity. Namely, the county fair baking competition.

For one week in August every year, the Clark County Fair would open and give me a chance to enter all sorts of baked goods that I’d tried to perfect during the rest of the year.

Most kids wanted to go to the fair for the rides or the cotton candy. Not me (ok, so maybe part of it was for the cotton candy). For months ahead of time Ineverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.com would be in the kitchen perfecting my recipes and presentation for the big show. I longed for the excitement of entering. The first sight of the entry book at the local pharmacy would send shivers up my spine, and I would be giddy from then until the final submission date.

I had competition fever.

Sure, there were hits, and of course… there were misses. PLENTY of misses. So many misses that I often questioned my ability to make anything that tasted good. It was the few that won that kept me going.

This is one of those recipes. Just like the Zucchini bread muffins and the Sugar plums, this is one of the recipes from the good ol’ family recipe book, so no creativity necessary for these babies.

Few things have changed since my great grandmother created these recipes, so they’re perfect for days like today, when I don’t have a creative bone in my body.

Applesauce and pecan spice cake with raspberry preserves and cream cheese icing.

4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1-2 cups chopped pecans (you can use almonds or walnuts if you prefer)
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 cups applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients together and stir until smooth (with small bumps for the pecans, of course) spoon or pour into prepared muffin tins (will make about 36 standard size muffins or 24 standard plus 12+ mini muffins) or two well greased 9″ round cake pans.

Bake for 15-25 minutes for muffins (it took my oven about 20 minutes, but I’d check at 12 minutes just to be sure.) or 45 minutes+ for round cake pans.

Allow to fully cool before filling with raspberry jam (apple butter or apple sauce is also VERY tasty as filling) and either sprinkling with powdered sugar or icing with cream cheese icing (I used the cream cheese icing recipe posted here). Top with a pecan half and enjoy!

I did a few with the purple icing and the raspberry filling and the rest I left unfilled (because I’m lazy), and I topped them with uncoloured cream cheese icing. They were still pretty darn tasty.

They have pecans inside the batter in addition to the pecan half on the top. I sprinkled the icing with a little ground nutmeg and cinnamon as well.

I think I’ll feel more creative later on this week. Right now I’m still in “Christma-shock”, so I apologize for the boring tone of this post.

But really, you should totally make these cakes. They’re actually kind of healthy, so those of you whose New Years resolutions include eating healthier, these are totally up your alley.

Or maybe that’s just my great grandmother talking. After all, anything that has fruit in it HAS to be healthy, right? *smile*

-A.

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.

These are SO simple to make.

However, with a special touch and some fancy wrapping, you can make them look like gourmet goodies, even if you let the kids help!

I should know. I grew up making these things. My mom called them sugarplums. I have no idea why, since they’re not plums, or even plum flavoured. I suppose you could try and make them with some sort of plum puree, but I prefer this version. Plain and simple and delicious.

Really, all they are, are really thick buttercreams. The secret is in how you mix the ingredients together.

To make these ones, you’ll need-

1lb powdered sugar (about 6 cups)
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon raspberry extract (though you can use any flavouring that you wish.)
2 bags white chocolate chips
white sprinkles
Extra powdered sugar

You can mix these by hand, or you can mix them with the paddle blade in a stand mixer.

Rather than whip the butter, you want to keep it as dense as possible, so you need to incorporate as little air as possible.

Place the butter in the bottom of the bowl. At LOW speed, begin by blending the butter, then slowly add the powdered sugar, about a cup at a time, allowing each cup to be fully mixed into the butter before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar is mixed into the butter, you should have a pretty thick dough that separates itself from the side of the bowl. Add the flavouring extract and beat for few more seconds to make sure it is mixed in. At this time you can also add paste colouring. Whatever you do, do not add extra liquid to this recipe. If you don’t feel there is enough flavouring to it, be sure to add more powdered sugar to make up for the extra flavouring you add. The resulting mass should be a thick paste. You may need to add more than 6 cups of powdered sugar, so make sure you have extra powdered sugar on hand.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a powdered sugar coated piece of waxed paper (the waxed paper helps absorb any extra moisture when the dough is sitting at room temperature) Pinch off small pieces of the dough and roll into small balls, placing them on another sheet of waxed paper on a cookie sheet. The size of the ball doesn’t really matter, but I’d try to stay around 1″, as the larger ones tend to flatten out.

Once you’ve rolled the dough into balls and placed them on a waxed paper covered baking sheet, put them in the freezer and keep them there until they are solid. This took me about an hour. The larger the balls, the longer they’ll need to freeze.

Just before you remove them from the freezer, melt one bag of white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon shortening in a double boiler. Stir, and dip each frozen raspberry ball into the white chocolate individually, removing it with a fork and placing it back on the waxed paper coated baking sheet. Sprinkle with white sprinkles and allow to sit for another hour or so at room temperature, so they will set up. if you freeze them, they may melt once removed from the freezer. This recipe makes about 100 1″ish snowballs. Feel free to halve the recipe!

Package and label them. Even just a few in a bag is a nice holiday treat!

I made my bags out of waxed paper that I sealed with a gluestick. They look pretty shnazzy, I think.

Here is the label I made-

…

Anyways, I’m off to spend the weekend with family! I’ll be back on Christmas eve to share a special story and photo post. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-A.

Sometimes winter just needs a little kick in the pants.

Here in the northwest, we’ve already weathered wind storms, early snow and some very serious flooding, and it isn’t even technically winter yet! Sure, we’re used to the rain and its pretty much a given that between the months of September and March, the only colour in the sky is grey.

Its weather like this that makes me think of summertime flavours, if only to cheer me up a little. Sort of a “Calgon, take me away!” type deal.

So for this dessert, I mixed together one of of my favourite winter holiday recipes and one of my favourite summertime flavours, and in the process, I created one of my very favourite Christmas gifts from the kitchen-

Lime Curd.

Don’t knock it ’til ya try it. Like the label says, “Trust me, it tastes good!” It seems like most people who have never tried curd don’t really know what they’re missing out on. Its sort of like a fruit jelly, only… a little different. Its uses are pretty much the same though.

Lemon curd is very popular, but you can pretty much make curd out of any sort of fruit or vegetable juice, if you think about it… or you could mix different juices together! OH, the possibilities are endless!

After I made the lime curd I realized I had a little bit extra, so I made a little vanilla sour cream cake (one of my holiday favourites) and used the curd as filling. The flavours mesh perfectly!

You’ll have to pardon my lack of story for this dessert/kitchen gift, I’ve been so busy lately that I can’t seem to think of anything to share! you’ll have to settle for photos and a recipe, but I don’t think you’ll mind-

Anyways.. here are some more photos!

Curd.. tasty tasty curd.

The sour cream cake is nice and rich and moist and dense and perfect! I iced it with a basic cream cheese icing, and the sharp citrus lime curd really cut through the rich flavour of it all. Delicious!

Without any further ado, here is the recipe for lime curd-

6 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup lime juice**
2 tablespoons finely grated lime or lemon zest (optional)
1/2 teaspoon citric acid (sour salt)- (optional, but recommended)
8 tablespoons butter

The first few times you make any sort of curd, I’d suggest doing it in a double boiler to avoid making lime flavoured scrambled eggs. If you’re completely comfortable with it, it is alright to go ahead and use a pan over direct heat, but make sure you’re prepared to commit to constant whisking. Seriously, you can NOT stop whisking, or you’ll end up with weird scrambley eggs. ew.

Also, always try and use the freshest ingredients possible for this project. Fresh eggs and fresh squeezed juice really make this curd sharp and delicious. Some recipes you can get away with using less than the best ingredients for, but you can really tell the difference with this one.

Anyways..

Before you begin the cooking process, prepare your ingredients. Cut the butter into small pieces and set them aside. Have all of your ingredients measured out and ready to go. You’ll need to be able to add them with one hand while whisking constantly with the other.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in either the top pan of a double boiler (with the bottom pan full of boiling water) or in a medium saucepan over direct heat, until blended. Cook, whisking constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or a hollandaise sauce) and reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which will take about 10-15 minutes. whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Add the lime zest and citric acid at this point and Remove from heat. Pour through a fine strainer to remove any lumps and pour into designated containers with tight fitting lids. Seal and let cool. The lime curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Keep refrigerated. The curd has a shelf life of about 2-3 weeks. Makes about 3 cups.

** You can use lemon or orange juice in this recipe if you wish, just make sure you use lemon zest with lemon juice or orange zest with orange juice, so you don’t end up with little green flecks in your orange curd!

As an added help, this site right here has some special tips and techniques for making curd. I didn’t follow their methods, so I can’t speak for them, but they look like viable ideas!

Also, check out this blogger’s delicious recipe for meyer lemon curd (and her completely adorable label!) you can see that there is much variation between recipes for curd. They’re all similar, but the amount of eggs, juice and butter is almost always different. Some people even use recipes that use entirely egg yolks, and not the full egg.

Oh, also- here is the label for the lime curd-

There are many different ways to gift the lime curd. Give it with a plate of fresh baked shortbread rounds, or with a pound cake in a tin (you can make the sour cream cake, and place IT in a tin!) You could even just make a little recipe book with all the different ways that lime curd can be used!

But all of that is up to you. I think the curd itself is gift enough!

Onward!
Here is the recipe that I used for Vanilla sour cream cake

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease a 9×9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally, mix together the sour cream and the milk, and stir it into the rest of the mixture until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

Once the cake has cooled, fill with lime curd (or your desired filling) and either frost with cream cheese icing (which I did) or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Its soooo good!

Hope you are all having a delicious holiday season!
-A.

*EDIT*
I went and searched the intarwebz, and I found a recipe for VEGAN lemon curd! Here is a link to the recipe- CLICKY!

I haven’t tried it myself, but it makes sense that it would work.

Just a note, “Fructose syrup” can be substituted with organic corn syrup (organic doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient, whereas regular does. If that doesn’t matter to you, then rock on.) Also, you can use corn starch instead of arrowroot, though the finished product won’t be as clear as if you were using Arrowroot powder, but still just as tasty.

Another thing, the author doesn’t mention this, but you should still include the lemon zest, as it makes the curd just a little more tart. Also, you should still follow the “remove from heat when mixture thickens” directions for the non-vegan curd, because I don’t think just bringing the mixture to a boil will thicken it up enough for it to be the right consistency. Thats just me though, like I said, I haven’t tried this recipe yet. If you do, lemme know how it turns out!