Valentine's Day Part 2 (Cherry-Vanilla Cupcakes)

I don't know when my cupcake love began, but within the last couple of years I kind of became obsessed. I don't just make them from scratch either, nuh-uh. Sometimes you only have time for a boxed concoction, but with some ingenuity and a well-stocked spice cabinet you can turn plain vanilla into AWESOME.

Since I was already making cookies, I wanted a box of cake mix and I knew I wanted vanilla. But as I was staring at the selection in the store, I wanted something more. To be specific, I wanted something with cherry. So I picked up some cherry flavoring and vanilla frosting and tried a simple cherry-vanilla cupcake.

They came out, really awesome. The cherry flavoring ( I added 1 tbsp.) was slightly pink, so I added 3 drops of red food dye for a faint pink coloring which totally made my girly side happy. And when it came time to decorate, I pulled out some of the V-Day decor I amassed after hitting up the day after sales, and did 5 different looks. So yeah, next time you see those boxes of cake mix, start thinking of add-ins. You'll be surprised at what you may come up with!

 

(bon appetit!)

Valentine's Day Part 1 (Sugar Cookies)

Sorry about being absent this past week folks. I had a head cold and I hate baking when I'm sick. But the sniffles are gone and I'm back with my Valentine's Day Post for the year.

So to start with, I hate Valentine's Day. I have NEVER liked this holiday, yet without fail I always bake some cutesy treats and whip up a nice dinner for the family. Last year I made Penne with a homemade vodka alfredo sauce,  a green salad, Parmesan bread sticks and for dessert, chocolate cupcakes. I decorated the cupcakes to look like they came in a box of chocolates, and they were awesome. Yeah, don't you wish you lived at my house? Alas, since V-Day is on a Monday and my brother and sister-in-law are busy, there's nothing special going on. But I still made treats! (I just can't help myself)

I found this recipe in the Tate of Home Cookie book that I mentioned in this entry. It was on my list of X-mas cookies to try, and I decided to put my heart-shaped cookie cutters to work.

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Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup half-and-half cream

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in cream. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 in. thickness. Cut with floured 2 1/2 in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 F. for 6-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

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So, this dough was a pain in the ass, but it could be because my hand-mixer is dying a slow and painful death (one of the blades won't turn at all). This dough took awhile to blend when you have a wrist addled with carpal tunnel. Still, I let the dough chill overnight and I had to add a ton of flour to get the dough non-sticky enough to roll out. I don't know why I'm surprised, that happens to me every time I make chilled dough cookies. Anyway, they taste really good, and I kept the decorations simple. I made a glaze out of powdered sugar and milk, and topped with red-white-pink nonpareils. Super easy, super cute, and super easy to whip up to hand out as gifts.

(the finished product)

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know how sometimes when you buy something, say a package of dried cranberries, that there will often be a recipe on the package? Yeah, how often have you actually made one of those recipes? I used to be someone who would discount those little recipes, but thanks to Ocean Spray, I found a recipe for these awesome cookies.

I wanted something with oatmeal, and after finding out I was missing a key ingredient for these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies I had made before, I spotted this and decided to give them a try.

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INGREDIENTS:

2/3 cup butter or margarine

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1-6 oz. package of dried cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Preheat oven to 375 F. 

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine, and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Makes 4 dozen

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These were really good. It's like a really decedent oatmeal cookie, and I love the combination of the tart cranberries and the super-rich white chocolate. Plus, they are the perfect size. They're a tall cookie, so you only need a couple to really stave off a cookie craving.

So let this be a lesson for you; never dismiss those little recipes. Remember, companies pay test kitchens money to find the best ways to highlight their product. Until next time, happy baking!

Blueberry Vanilla Bread

So I had some blueberries that I bought on Saturday that needed to get used. I found this recipe in a cookbook I checked out from the library, called "Fresh From the Oven" (which once I find a pic and a link, I'll add them here). This was pretty easy to whip together and was so freaking good for breakfast this morning. Seriously, it should be renamed the Breakfast of Champions.

INGREDIENTS

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup superfine sugar
2 eggs
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
½ tsp. Salt
1 cup ground almonds
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
Vanilla sugar for dusting

1) preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 1 pound loaf pan with a double thickness of parchment paper, making sure that the paper comes 1 inch above the rim.

2) put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, ground almonds, and vanilla extract in a bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Fold in 2/3 of the blueberries. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan, level the top and sprinkle with the remaining blueberries.

3) bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake has risen and is firm to the touch. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

4) turn out the bread onto a wire rack and sprinkle the top generously with vanilla sugar. Transfer to a serving plate.

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So I had to make a few concessions when I made this. First, I didn't use butter I used margarine. Second, you'll notice in the pictures that I did not use parchment paper. Oh yeah, that's how I roll. Third, I didn't have time to make vanilla sugar (it's 1/4 cup sugar & half a vanilla bean cured together for a week) so I instead made Cinnamon Sugar. I also put it in a spare shaker I had.

Secondly, I got to try out the new chopper I picked up at Walmart a couple of weeks ago. Worked like a dream. It was very much worth the $8 price tag.

So I made this last night for breakfast today and it was really good. The ground almonds give it a slightly crunchy texture even though the bread itself was a bit crumbly. If you want your bread to be a bit sturdier than mine, you should probably stick it in the freezer for a few minutes before you cut it. Either way, this was awesome and I will be making this again in the future.

EXTREME CLOSEUP!