Kentucky Bourbon Cupcakes

Inspiration: Kentucky Bourbon Cake from United Cakes of America by Warren Brown
Purchase the book here.

Browsing through this incredible book, I came upon a Kentucky Derby Cake recipe. I'd had a Kentucky Bourbon cupcake at a local cupcake shop not too long ago and wondered if the cake recipe could be adapted to a cupcake form. I decided to tweak the recipe a bit here and there for my purposes and the result was show stopping.

The recipe follows:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 oz bourbon
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Combine the buttermilk, vanilla, and bourbon in a liquid measuring cup and set aside. Add the dry and the wet ingredients to the butter mixture alternately and mix just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans. Scoop batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes on 350 degrees.

While the batter is baking, on the stovetop, combine 1/2 stick of butter, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp water in a medium pot. Bring to a low boil and simmer 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup bourbon. This will be the bourbon sauce.

When the cupcakes come out of the oven, while they are still hot, poke the tops of the cupcakes with a fork all over. Using a pastry brush, apply the bourbon sauce liberaly over the tops of the cupcakes. Let the sauce soak in.

These cupcakes can be eaten as is, but I topped mine with cream cheese icing, then drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauces and then some more chopped pecans. Enjoy!!

Three in One Cookies

Three in One Cookies
Inspiration: High School Graduation

Today was the high school graduation for the school where I teach. Something strange happened as I sat watching the students walk across the stage to accept their high school diplomas. I was transported back to my two oldest children's graduation ceremonies. Even though they have both long graduated, I found myself wishing they would both appear as the next eager face walking fearlessly into their adult destinies. My two grown children have both proven to be competent, amazing adults as we expected them to be. However, sitting in that ceremony with nostalgia swirling all around me, I longed desparately for them to be just small enough to fit back into my lap where we could play a game we called "squeeze the baby" or "monkey in the mirror." Since both of them currently live further than a quick drive away, I had to content myself with connecting to the past through baking one of their favorite childhood cookies instead.

 These three in one cookies combine the best flavors in several yummy homestyle cookie recipes: peanut butter, oats, and chocolate!  I like to bake these as monster cookies (2 oz scoops), but they work as minis or standard sized cookies as well. Adjust your baking time accordingly if you change the size.

BTW, when my youngest (the only one still home), picked up a cookie to taste, he saw the "look" on my face and patiently tolerated my cuddling up to him and sobbing in his hug for a few minutes. I guess the combination of baked memories and that kind of unselfish, loving hug worked its magic. I still don't like the almost empty nest, but at least now I can enjoy knowing there are 2 wonderful new adults in the world out there. Soon enough a third will join them. Perhaps they will all come home together for a visit and we will sit around eating these cookies!

Three in One Cookies

1 c butter or stick margarine
2/3 c peanut butter
1 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c quick cooking oats
1 1/2 c chocolate chips

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. and mix slightly.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Drop by cookie scoop fulls (I use the 2 oz scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes.

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Angel Biscuits

Whole Wheat Angel Biscuits

Inspiration:  Old family handwritten recipe

I rediscovered this tattered and stained recipe in my family cookbook. I made a batch this morning, converting the white flour to a whole wheat blend (pictured).

These biscuits never seem to disappoint. For light, tender, melt in your mouth biscuits, use all purpose or better for bread flour. For a slightly healthier version, substitute half of the flour called for with whole wheat flour. These are yeast raised biscuits, so be sure to allow a good hour and a half before you want to serve them. They also freeze beautifully, so the recipe below is a double batch. Just bake, cool, and put in freezer bags. Take out just what you want for breakfast and microwave.

When my children were growing up, I would par bake these for about 7-8 min and then finish them off in the oven the morning I wanted to serve. This recipe has withstood the test of time. Make it part of your family favorites.

 

Angel Biscuits (makes 24 large biscuits)

2 pkgs yeast
1/4 c warm water
2 c. buttermilk
5 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 c shortening.

Combine yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes.

Add buttermilk to yeast mix and set aside.

Combine all dry ingredients and cut in shortening with a pastry cutter or two knives. Add buttermilk mixture and mix with a fork until moistened. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead 4 or 5 times.

Roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, or
silicone baking mat. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes. To freeze biscuits, bake for 7-8 minutes, cool and freeze. To serve, thaw and bake 5 minutes or until heated.

3D Easter Cookie

3D Easter Cookies

Inspiration: 3D easter card

While shopping, I came across some cute 3D Easter cards. I thought they would make attractive cookies, so that became my goal. For this post, I am not going into great detail about how to make roll out cookies, though a recipe for the cookies and glaze can be found here. Instead, I wanted to highlight the creative process.

I made the roll out cookies and then glazed with them according to the base colors I wanted.

Next, attach the chicken's wings with royal icing.

Next, outline the chicks and wings with the royal icing.

Add eyes and a beak.

 Then finish off with a bow.

Decorate the "broken" egg halves.

Next, pipe some green icing on the base cookie and insert the chick. Leave to dry.

Prop the back of the chick against something to hold it in place while it dries. I used my rectangle cookie cutters.

If so desired, use other Easter animals instead of the chicks.

Pipe some green icing and add the egg piece. Allow to dry again.

 Wrap in cellophane bags and enjoy!



Gourmet Pretzels*

Gourmet Pretzels*

Inspiration: Homemade Caramel and The Painted Pretzel

Well, I did it again. I got an itch to create something and blog about it, but the purist could convincingly argue against its inclusion here. Though I have a rebellious side to me, at my core, I am pretty much a rule follower. Therefore, I am just going to have to give myself permission to make the rules as I go along! As such, Any post marked with an asterisk will be some form of gourmet cooked or decorated food, but will not officially be baked in the cooking process. Perhaps that will allow some clarification for anyone searching the posts and will still allow the creative muse to move.

All that to say that I decided to make these pretzels after seeing a homemade caramel recipe. It made me think of caramel apples at a local candy factory at first, but then I remembered a product called The Painted Pretzel from one of my favorite TV shows, The Shark Tank. Since I love pretzels, I figured dunking them in caramel, dipping them in chocolate, and rolling them in several toppings would by pretty close to pretzel heaven. I dug out some goodies from the baking cabinet and the adventure began.

The first step was to cook the caramel according to the recipe link above to the soft ball stage.

Make sure to use a candy thermometer to get an accurate reading . Once the caramel reaches the correct temperature, dip pretzel rods into the caramel and lay out on a silicone mat to harden slightly.



 After the caramel has set, dip in melted chocolate and then roll in toppings of your choice. I chose the following: chopped pecans, chopped almonds with coconut, toffee pieces, mini chocolate chips.

Wa-La....the finished pretzels!

For me, this was a creative outlet. I enjoy trying something challenging and then being able to eat the results. The caramel tastes fabulous, but was time consuming. Save this recipe for gift giving season or for special party favors. They taste wonderful, but it is a labor of love.

The caramel was rich and buttery. I will use this caramel recipe again for fall apples! For less special occasions, or for snack purposes, I will also try my hand at other pretzels that are simply dipped in chocolate and rolled in the toppings or drizzled. If you make them, I'd love to know how your experience went!



Diva Popcorn

Diva Popcorn

Inspiration: Jello popcorn recipe and "Toddlers and Tiaras"



Ok, so I admit this recipe only LOOSELY fits in the baked category. It does spend some time in the oven, but for for a finishing effect more than cooking. Still, I was enamored with the idea of making this candied popcorn, and my life tends to run counter to the norms anyway. Therefore, I decided to stand in the loop hole and go for it!

For the original recipe, go to the any flavored popcorn recipe. When my daughter came home from college on spring break, we scheduled a Toddlers and Tiaras watch-a-thon and wanted to make this popcorn for a snack. Since Toddlers is a show all about "GLITZ" and over the top EVERYTHING, we decided to glitz up the basic recipe. This technique can be adapted for any flavored gelatin that you can find, but we preferred a fruity flavor.

First, pop some popcorn and measure out 12 cups. We used the plain brown paper bag method of popping plain kernels rather than microwaved popcorn, but I would suppose any basic popcorn would work.

 Heat one can of sweetened condensed milk and one box of flavored jello on the stove for 4-5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Be careful to watch it; it burns easily!

Remove from the heat and pour quickly over the popped kernels. Sitr to coat entire batch.

Spread out on a lined cookie sheet. I used a silicone baking mat, but you could use parchment or foil.

Bake at 300 for 20 minutes. The two things to take note of here is the oven temperature and the fact that you will need to stir the popcorn mixture about every 5 minutes. We tried to bake it straight through and burned the first batch. It starts browning on top pretty quickly, so the stirring is essential.

As soon as it comes out of the oven, "Diva-fy" it. We choose to stay with complementary colors, so added various Jelly Belly jelly beans in shades of pink or white, white and red sanding sugar, and peanuts.

Let the whole thing cool a bit while you melt 8 oz of white candy coating (or white chocolate if you prefer the real thing).

Drizzle the melted cany coating on top. Let stand about 10 minutes or so until the coating hardens. Break up the popcorn into pieces and enjoy!

DIVA POPCORN

12 cups of popped popcorn

12 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

3 oz box of flavored jello

8 oz of candy coating

garnishes of your choice (sprinkles, edible glitter, sanding sugar, candies, nuts)

Creme de Cacao

Creme de Cacao Cupcakes

Inspiration: Creme de Cacao liquer and Tiramisu

It is spring break for our family! Normally, we seem go full throttle all week, but are able to squeeze in a baking project on the weekend. I'm so excited because this week, I've already had the chance to try a few new recipes off Pinterest and have plans to attempt a few more before the week's end.

Meanwhile, I recently came across a bottle of a product called Creme de Cacao in the local Sprouts grocer here in Austin. Most people search the liquers for drinking purposes, but my thoughts tend to turn to baked goods when I see an interesting flavored liquer. My husband is the one who thought it might taste best soaked as opposed to baked, so I adapted a basic tiramisu recipe for my first attempt. To see the original recipe, go here Tiramisu Recipe. My adapted version is below.

First, I made the base cupcake and portioned it into 12 cupcake liners as seen here.

After they were baked, I poked them with holes with a fork and brushed on the Creme de Cacao.

I started with 3/4 of a cup, but I think next time I'd let it sit awhile and then add another 1/2 cup all over.

Finally, I mixed up the icing, swirled it on top, and sprinkled them with mini chocolate chips. The icing was a bit fluffy, so it didn't pipe as easily as my normal icings, but the taste was nice and light.

Cake batter:

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, plus one egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, plus the egg yolk. Mix well after each addition. Sift together the dry ingredients and add alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry. Scoop into 12 cupcake liners. Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Poke holes in the warm cupcakes and brush with 3/4 cup of the Creme de Cacao.
For the icing:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp Creme de Cacao
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Using the whip attachment of the mixer, whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Transfer to a separate bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to a clean bowl and beat until fluffy. Add the whipped cream back into the mascarpone mixture and beat until well incorporated.

Ice the cupcakes and then sprinkle with the mini chocolate chips.

One thing to note: I like to swirl the icing on top of the cupcakes and I had EXACTLY enough for these cupcakes. If you like more icing, adjust the recipe accordingly.

This is a denser cupcake (I assume to handle all the soaking). My husband said he'd prefer a lighter base if we try them again. Happy baking!