Sweet Basil & Olive Oil Cupcakes

This summer, I started volunteering at a local food co-op.  Every month, a member of the co-op hosts a potluck party, and this month’s shindig was scheduled for yesterday.

Well, it was scheduled; then Mother Nature decided to step in and throw a hurricane-tornado-apocalypse at the eastern seaboard.  Needless to say, that -ish got cancelled.

But my Saturday night shift partner and I were like, hell no, Ms. Hurricane Irene, a little rain and wind won’t stop us from making—and eating—delicious foodstuffs.  So, like many East Coasters, we turned the cancelled potluck into a hurricane survival party.  And survive, we did—with the help of food and beer.

My contribution to the feast was these Sweet Basil & Olive Oil Cupcakes, a Christabel Martin recipe.  I had been growing basil on my balcony this summer, and figured this was the perfect chance to utilize it.  Now, I was indeed skeptical—basil and olive oil are not your standard cupcake ingredients.  I was plagued with questions: “Would they taste sweet or savory?” I asked myself.  “Will everyone be left with little bits of green in their teeth after consuming them?”  And of course, “Will they taste gross?!”

Well, my fears were subdued like the winds of a passing hurricane once I took my first bite.  The cake has a pleasant, subtle citrus flavor from the zests and OJ, and the basil in the frosting is balanced by the vanilla extract, which compliments the cake amazingly well.  Not overly sweet, but not savory in the least.  And certainly not gross.

So, in your face, Irene.  Cupcakes > Hurricane.

(As usual, find the full recipe at the Butter & Sugar Brigade.)

Sweet Basil & Olive Oil Cupcakes

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

Earlier in the summer, I spent a week in Vermont attending a workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies.  (Yep, I went to comic book school.)  I met many an awesome person there, one of whom I promised to become pen pals with and send baked goods to.

Today, I finally made good on that promise.  I had asked my comic book friend what kind of baked goods he might like, and one of the items he mentioned was banana bread.  But I can’t just make regular old banana bread for my hip-cool comic book friend, I thought; so, I turned to my trusty Baked cookbook and came upon this recipe for Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins.  It solved my banana needs, and offered the added bonus of coffee, which my comic book friend was quite the consumer of.  And who doesn’t love chocolate?  Nazis.  Nazis don’t love chocolate.

So, these muffins are pretty darn perfect: fruit and chocolate; not too sweet, but just chocolatey enough; and the banana flavor intensifies over time, meaning the muffins keep well (i.e. perfect for mailing to friends who live in Vermont).

Check out the Butter & Sugar Brigade for the full recipe; and, while you’re at it, check out my comic book friend’s awesome website, Light Riot, to see his fabulous art.  I can only hope he’ll draw a picture of these muffins and post it for your viewing pleasure.

Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pineapple-Mango-Papaya Bars

When I recently launched my baking blog, The Butter & Sugar Brigade, and consequently posted about it on Facebook, a friend of mine responded by saying, “Please make me everything on this website.”  Of course, I’d be more than happy to oblige, I told him, but why not make something new to post and share with my loyal readers?  So I told him, pick a flavor, and I’ll make you a baked good.

The flavor he picked?  Mango.  Mango?!

And so, I set off on a Never Have I Ever Recipe Adventure—because never have I ever baked with mango before.  And after some Internet perusing, I found a recipe on Epicurious that included a few others ingredients I’ve never baked with before, namely papaya and fresh pineapple.  (I have quite a few top-notch recipes using canned pineapple, but I’ve never cut up and cored a fresh pineapple, let alone baked with one.  And papaya?  Let’s not even go there.)

Well, the result of my tropical fruit devirginization?  Something to build upon.  The original recipe produced a basic bar, with a sort of nondescript filling that was less in-your-face tropical than I was hoping.  If I were to make these squares again, I’d amend a few components of the recipe, including reducing the baking time, adding macadamia nuts to the crust, and perhaps incorporating sweetened coconut to the filling—the one classic item missing from this tropical fruit trifecta.

See below for more pictures, and visit The Butter & Sugar Brigade for my revised recipe.

Pineapple-Mango-Papaya Bars

Homemade Twinkies

(Photo courtesy of Joy the Baker)

So recently, I celebrated the birthday of a friend by packing up some specially-selected picnic items and watching a screening of Ghostbusters in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  By specially-selected, I mean that all the food had some relation to the movie; and I went with the theme of Egon’s favorite junk food: Cheez-Its, Crunch bars, and, of course, the Twinkie.

But despite purchasing the Cheez-Its and Crunch bars as is, I couldn’t bring myself to buy the Hostess version of these portable cakes, so I did some Internet research on the top homemade Twinkie recipes.

There were many to be found, so I narrowed it down to the cake-and-filling combo that I thought sounded best: Joy the Baker’s sponge cake and a filling recipe that was part of Instructables’ Homemade Twinkie Challenge.  With so many recipes to pick from, it was a shot in the dark—but this combination hit the flavor target dead-on.

And, because this was truly a DIY experience, I ended up using Todd Wilbur’s suggestion for making homemade Twinkie molds out of heavy duty aluminum foil.  (There are fancy gadgets available for those of you who are lazy and/or are going to be making these Twinkies once or twice a week, but the individual foil pan version worked fine for me—and I didn’t even have heavy duty foil to use!  Apparently regular works fine, too.)

Here are my personal recipe winners!  Enjoy.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKES:
2 c. all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. whole milk

INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING:
1/4 c. non-hydrogenated shortening
1/4 c. margarine
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Make the cakes: Place rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Spray molds/pan with non-stick spray.  (The recipe yields 12 cakes, so mold and spray accordingly.)

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.  Set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition.  Beat in vanilla extract.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture alternately with the milk in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until just incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared molds.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are just slightly golden and a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Make the filling: Beat together the shortening and margarine. Add the powdered sugar and beat until completely light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.

Fill the cakes: Fill a pastry bag with the cream filling and, using a medium-sized plain round tip, poke 3 holes in the flat side of the cake and fill until the cream just starts to explode from the cake.  (This is hard to judge, and the first few cakes I filled were definitely lacking in their full cream capacity; so, my recommendation: err on the side of more.)

Blondies

My friend Katie is getting married on Sunday, and a lovely little bachelorette party was thrown for her this past weekend.  Katie is blonde, so of course, the logical dessert of choice to make for her?  Blondies.

This recipe is from my America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.  A great go-to cookbook for classic confections, I haven’t had a single baking fail with any of its recipes.  These non-chocolate brownies are cakey (versus gooey), slightly dense bar cookies; they might pair well with a scoop of ice cream or two.  The white chips overpower the semisweet, so feel free to sub in any combo or proportion of chips if you’re not a fan of white chocolate.

Here you go: classic blondies for the blonde bachelorette in your life.

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1 c. pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9-in. baking pan with foil, leaving a slight overhang (for easy removal later). Coat the foil-lined pan with vegetable cooking spray or shortening.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.  In another medium bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.  Fold in the semisweet and white chocolate chips and the nuts, and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and cracked and feels firm to the touch, about 22 to 25 minutes. Place the pan on a rack and let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

Fresh Strawberry Scones

So I had bought a carton of fresh strawberries with the intention of making some kind of dessert with them for the Fourth of July, preferably strawberry shortcakes.  But July 4th came and went, and the hustle and bustle that is going to picnics and setting off fireworks illegally in someone’s backyard prevented me from being home to make said shortcakes.  So, I decided instead to make one of my favorite baked goods later in the week: scones.

I did a little Googling, and found Ina Garten’s recipe; but since hers call for dried strawberries, I had to adjust accordingly.  I also took a look at some of the reviews, and consequently reduced the amount of salt she calls for, while adding vanilla for flavor.  The result was melt-in-your-mouth awesome.  I recommend eating them right out of the oven, with some clotted cream, if you can get your hands on any.

Yields about 20 scones.

4 c. plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 sticks cold unsalted butter, diced
4 eggs, lightly beaten + 1 egg (for egg wash)
1 c. cold heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. fresh strawberries, diced
2 tbsp. milk, for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In large bowl, mix 4 c. flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the cold butter on low speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. In small bowl, combine 4 eggs and heavy cream; quickly add to the flour/butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss the strawberries with 1 tbsp. flour; fold gently into dough. The dough may be a bit sticky; no worries.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. (You will see lumps of butter in the dough.) Cut into triangles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Beat 1 egg with 2 tbsp. milk for egg wash; brush on top of the scones, then sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and the insides are fully baked.  Devour while warm.

(Vegan) Mayan Spiced Chocolate Pudding

So, the other night, I decided it had been way too long since I made dinner from scratch.  (Because no, grilling a veggie burger on the George Foreman does not count as dinner from scratch.)  I flipped through some old issues of Vegetarian Times, realizing I had never actually made a recipe from the year-long subscription of stored up magazines I had—I’d only looked at the pictures and thought, hmm, that sounds good, but what frozen dinner am I going to have tonight?

Well, that changed when I came upon a recipe for Banana and Black Bean Empanadas, which were wonderfully…wonderful.

But I needed to follow it up with a dessert as awesome as the meal itself, and so, I followed VT’s recipe for Mayan Spiced Chocolate Pudding.

The recipe is for a vegan pudding, but since I’m not a vegan, I used regular chocolate in place of the vegan bar.  I also couldn’t find light coconut milk, so I threw caution to the wind and used the full-fat variety—which of course resulted in rich, chocolatey goodness that I will certainly be making again soon.

1 13.5-oz. can light coconut milk, divided
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. chili powder, plus more for garnish
1/8 tsp. salt
1 3-oz. bar vegan dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk together 1/4 c. coconut milk and cornstarch in small bowl. Set aside.

Combine remaining coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, chili powder, and salt
in saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk 1/4 c. hot mixture into cornstarch mixture to form slurry.

Whisk slurry into hot mixture, and cook 3 minutes, or until thickened, whisking constantly. Remove from heat, and whisk in chocolate and vanilla.

At this stage, you can either refrigerate the mixture in a bowl covered in plastic wrap; make sure you press the plastic wrap directly onto the pudding if you want to avoid a pudding “skin” forming on top.  If you’re more impatient and want your pudding ready faster, transfer to metal bowl, and set in larger bowl filled with ice and water. Whisk occasionally to cool. Either way, serve the pudding cold and sprinkled with a pinch of chili powder.

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