Category — Baking Recipes

Next time I play hostess, I think I’ll make some of these homemade hostess cupcakes that was posted by Sassy Smith on The Family Kitchen.

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl sift together sugar, Dutch process cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla and then add into the dry ingredients. Whisk in the hot coffee (Keurig Gourmet Mini Plus Personal Brewer).

Fill lined muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes (Rachel Ray 12 Cup Muffin Pan). Remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the filling:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup marshmallow creme

In a medium bowl, beat together all filling ingredients. Fill a large piping bag (Ateco Plastic Coated Pastry Bag 18 Inch). When cupcakes are cool, press tip into the center and squeeze 1-2 tablespoons of the cream filling into the center. Repeat for all cupcakes.

For the ganache:
3/4 cup cream
7 ounces chocolate

Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat stirring frequently until the cream is hot and just starts to boil. Immediately pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Spread warm but slightly cooled ganache over the tops of the filled cupcakes.

For the icing:
1/2 stick butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2-1 tablespoon milk

Once the ganache is set, whip together all icing ingredients until smooth, adding more milk if necessary. Fill a piping bag and pipe on the curls or write fun messages on your cupcakes.

All the foodies and bloggers out there are going crazy for pumpkins! Okay, this isn’t real pumpkin, but this  infant pumpkin costume is too cute! No infants were harmed for this blog.

I love pumpkins myself, and of course there will be recipes to come, but I couldn’t help but fall in love with Kotomi’s decorated sugar cookies at Bake Greek. Now that the weather has cooled down, I don’t see dripping ice cream cones everywhere. These faux cones will more than suffice!

Can you believe this was done with a sugar cookie and some fondant?

Wilton 10-pc. Gum Paste Tool Set

Okay, maybe I haven’t gotten over this ice cream thing…an Ice Cream Sundae Costume is looking mighty delicious!

Adult Ice Cream Sundae Costume

The Fig Test Kitchen takes the simple Honey Roasted Fig recipe to a whole new level. The Fig Test Kitchen offers up different ways to taste these yummy treats and have beautiful images to boot. I re-posted their recipe, but you MUST visit their site here.

Basic Honey-Roasted Figs

14 figs (about a pound), 1/3 cup honey, 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary or thyme (optional), Salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Slice figs in half and place cut side up on cookie platter (Oneida Bakeware Professional Large Cookie Sheet)lined with foil and lightly greased with olive oil

3) Brush (Rachael Ray 2-pc. Nylon Tools Pastry Brush Set) figs with honey and sprinkle rosemary or thyme evenly over them (herbs optional)

4) Season with salt and freshly ground pepper

5) Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the honey begins to caramelize. Let figs cool to room temperature

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pink ribbons are springing up everywhere–even in the kitchen. Blogger Baking Equals Love has such a personal story attributed to her Pink Ribbon Rosewater & Pistachio Shortbread. Read it here.

Pink Ribbon Rosewater & Pistachio Shortbread

recipe tweaked from A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon

Makes around 24 – 30 cookies

125 g unsalted butter softened

100 g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

2 Tbsp rosewater (or 1Tbsp rosewater + 1 tsp vanilla for a more subtle flavour)

70 g ground pistachio (or ground almonds)

210 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

pink food colouring (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar briefly.  I just did this by hand, because you don’t want to get too much air in there.

2. Beat in the egg yolk and then stir in ground pistachios, rosewater and a couple of drops of food colouring.

3. Sieve in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix to form a dough.

4. Form into a lump, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten slightly.  Refrigerate for one hour.

5. Preheat your oven to 180oC.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.

6. Take the dough from the fridge and divide in two.  Put the other half back into the fridge.  Roll the dough out in between 2 pieces of baking paper to around 0.5 cm. Cut to shapes with a cookie cutter – a pink ribbon one in my case – and place on prepared baking trays.  Sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar.

7. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes (mine took exactly 11 minutes) – be careful not to brown.  Cool on a wire rack (Sur La Table Cooling Rack).

8. Store in an airtight container for up to one week (Crate & Barrel Airtight Container).

Awareness Ribbon Cookie Cutter

Just the name of this dense cake makes my mouth water. Innovative blogger Bless Her Heart posted this recipe after she experienced a dip in the temperature. The same has happened here in Los Angeles, and with the turn of the weather,  all I think about are pumpkins!

Bless Her Heart’s recipe here:

Pumpkin Cake w/Oatmeal Streusel and Maple Whipped Cream

Ingredients for the Streusel:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 stick of butter, cut into small cubes and chilled

Ingredients for the cake:

2 1/2 cups of all purpose baking flour (unbleached)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 can of pumpkin, or 15 oz. fresh pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix up the streusel first:

Mauviel Copper Mixing Bowl – Medium

Combine the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger and salt in a medium bowl.  Using your fingers, quickly pinch the butter cubes into the oat mixture until it’s crumbly.  Store in the fridge, until you’re ready to use it.

Prepare a bundt pan by rubbing it with melted butter and dusting with all purpose flour.

Kaiser Bakeware & Alfi Carafes BUNDFORM, CLASSIC 9 1/2″

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together all of the dry ingredients for the cake.

In a medium bowl, mix the pumpkin, eggs, melted butter, oil and vanilla.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.  Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.  Sprinkle some of the streusel mix onto the batter.  Repeat the layers until all of the batter and streusel are used.  Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean [try the Ateco Cake Tester, instead!].

Ateco Cake Tester

Place the cake pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and then turn the cake out onto the cooling rack to finish cooling. Serve warm or cool, with or without Maple Whipped Cream

Maple Whipped Cream:

In a chilled bowl, mix (on medium-high) a half pint of whipping cream until it starts to stiffen, then add 1/4 cup of real maple syrup and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.  Continue to mix until your whipped cream is stiff enough to hold it’s dollop…but before it turns to butter.

Smart Planet Donut Maker, $29.95 at Cooking.com

I love Donuts, but several years ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which means I can’t eat anything made with wheat flour (rice flour and corn flour are ok).  Since pretty much every commercially-made snack has wheat flour in it, this means I have to do a lot of my baking at home.  It hasn’t been too hard to find delicious gluten free substitutions for things like brownies (I prefer the Gluten Free Pantry Brownie Mix) and cookies (King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Mixes).

But Donuts are pretty hard to make any home, especially since you need to fry them.  Except that now there is a way to make baked donuts at home, and to bake them instead of frying them means they will be much healthier!  It’s because of the Smart Planet Donut Maker.  You can bake donuts in it in 4 minutes.  Four minutes!  Isn’t that incredible???  One of the reviews I read of this product recommended using muffin mix to make the donuts.  I’ll probably experiment a bit to get the mix just right, but for $29.95 this seems like a terrific way for me to get my donut fix.   

The donuts are smaller than average donut size, but since these are healthier then regular donuts because they are baked and not fried, you could always eat two!  Although this is a very exciting product to those of us who are gluten free, this is also a terrific product for moms and dads looking to give their kids healthier snack alternatives.

Make your appliances work for you–make cookies in your waffle maker! Don’t want to turn on the oven? Feeling like you need cookies, right-this-instant-or-you’ll-explode? We’ve all been there. Paula Patton’s photo of Waffled Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies stopped me cold. The blog Dishing Out the Good Stuff really knows how to dish it out!

Waffled Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies  (makes 24+ cookies)
(from The Wafflizer)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soada
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup quick-cook oats
3/4 cup semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips (regular size are too big to work well)

Method:
1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well.
3. Stir in all remaining ingredients, mixing well.
4. Spray the waffle iron grids with nonstick spray or brush with oil.
5. Using a small scoop place a small amount of dough onto each waffle section (some waffle makers have only one section, some have two and others have four.)
6. Close the waffle iron and cook until the dough is set and just beginning to brown. (Mine took 1 minute and 10 seconds — some may take 2-3 minutes)
7. Remove carefully from the grids. Cookies will be soft. (I used wooden bagel tongs and a flexible spatula.) Transfer to wire racks.
8. If desired, drizzle with ganache or light mix of chocolate frosting.

Applica / Grill and Waffle Maker / G48TD

Waring Pro Professional Stainless Steel Belgian Waffle Maker

Cuisinart 6-Slice Waffle Maker

It sounds unconventional, but Panini Press Brownies are an awesome idea! I saw this recipe on Panini Happy and flipped, because it gives me a reason for the homemade blueberry syrup I wrote about earlier, too! Panini Happy’s picture alone makes my mouth water.

Panini Happy’s Directions:

Brownies:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat panini grill to 300 degrees.

Try, Cuisinart Griddler Panini Maker

Cook sugar, butter and water in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.  Remove from heat.  Immediately stir in chocolate chips, stirring until melted.  Stir in egg and vanilla until blended.  Combine flour and baking soda; add to chocolate mixture.

Spoon brownie batter onto the panini grill in 8 equal portions (depending on the size of your grill, you may need to do this in batches).  Close the lid of the grill, leaving about 1/4″ of space between the brownies and the upper grates.  Grill for 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a brownie comes out clean.  Carefully remove brownies from the grill (they will be a bit soft).

To assemble each sundae sandwich: Scoop frozen yogurt on top of one brownie.  Sprinkle nuts on top of the frozen yogurt.  Close sandwich with another brownie.  Drizzle blueberry balsamic syrup over the top and finish with a dollop of whipped cream.

Do you love chicken wings, but worry about the fat and calories?  There is an easy way to make baked chicken wings at home that are not only delicious but also not much healthier than most of the rings you’ll find at your standard BBQ joint.

This recipe comes from my mother in law.  She is the queen of finding lower fat ways to make favorite restaurant dishes.   She is a terrific cook, and also happens to be an excellent mother in law as well!

Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings:

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 heaping teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons butter (optional)

To prepare: Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.  Take your chicken wings, ad cut off the wing “tips” and discard. Cut remaining part of wings in half.  Spray a disposable foil pan with non-stick spray.  Bake the wings in the pan for 1 hour.  Brush the sauce over them with a basting brush.  Broil for 5 minutes, turn, brush again with wing sauce and broil again for 5 more minutes.

When wings are ready, serve with the traditional carrots and celery.  But instead of serving with fatty blue cheese dressing, try a lower fat version instead.  Ken’s Lite Blue Cheese is absolutely delicious and has only 80 calories and 7 grams of fat a serving, about half of what typical blue cheese dressings have.  You could also swap for a fat free ranch for even less fat and calories.

I found a recipe for yummy chocolate cake from Grace Langlois’  blog, La Mia Dolce Vita. One kitchen tool that is a must for this recipe is a silicone spatula–just look at all that frosting and all those layers!

Here are some that are well priced silicone spatulas ($27.50) that look great:

Williams-Sonoma Personalized Silicone Spatulas, Clear, Set of 3

And to maintain some semblance of dignity in an already messy kitchen, place any frosting covered spatula on the cutest Le Creuset Stoneware Spoon Rest.

Le Crueset Stoneware Spoon Rest in Kiwi

And without further ado:

Donna Hay’s Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

From Donna Hay, serves 6-8

• 1 cup (250 ml) water
• 125 g unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/3 cup (35 g) cocoa, sifted
• 2 cups (300 g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda, sifted
• 2 cups (440 g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 160° C (325° F).  Lightly grease 2, 18 cm round cake tins and line with parchment paper.
2. Place the water, butter and cocoa in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter has melted; set aside.
3. Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.  Add sugar and whisk to combine well.
4. Add the cocoa mixture and whisk to combine.  Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk to combine.
5. Divide batter evenly between the 2 cake tins.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 500 g cream cheese
• 2 cups (320 g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup (50 g) cocoa, sifted

1. Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed for 6 to 8 minutes or until pale and creamy.
2. Meanwhile, using a fine-mesh sieve, sift icing sugar and cocoa into a medium bowl. Repeat an additional 2 times.
3. Reduce stand mixer to low speed and gradually add the icing sugar, cocoa mixture.
4. Increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat for a further 6 to 8 minutes or until light and fluffy.

images and recipe via La Mia Dolce Vita