Camp Cupcake: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

This recipe is gluten-free. And unlike the other gluten-free recipe I made, this one turned out really well.

I took it to the first dinner my doctoral cohort has had in two years. They were well-received, but, like desserts at most cohort dinners, it was not the only one.

I took it to Relief Society on Sunday, and it was also well-received. Thank goodness for 2:30 church and men who don't bake.

Camp Cupcake: Ice Cream Cones

This week, I opted to make ice cream instead of cupcakes for the weekly meeting.

I figured people at work would be sick of cake.

And it was starting to get warm outside.

I called upon my Baskin-Robbins training to help me.

And I made mint chocolate chip.

And raspberry sorbet with sprinkles.

Then I got really ambitious and made some soft serve cones. Because not everyone likes hard scoop.

I did some with sprinkles...

Twists...

And even a sundae cone, which, as a Baskin-Robbins employee, I loathed making.

But I liked the way they turned out.

If you agree and want to try them, here's the link.

It's quite the head fake.

Particularly when they don't melt like regular ice cream cones.

Tonganterror: Week 7

Week 7

It really has been 7 weeks now. It's amazing how the time has flown by, and that I am still doing this workout. I am feeling great overall, even though the workouts, are well...a workout. It has been a very fulfilling journey and I'm excited to see what the last half of the program will do for me. Thanks to all who have followed and supported.

Day43—Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps—C an’t feel my arms…tired…great workout.

Day44—Plyometrics—Completely recovered and felt much more spritely during this workout than ever. I’m pretty happy with all the gains in strength and endurance here. I’m still no maniac by any means, but running up and down stairs in the library when copiers are out of paper is much much easier now.

Day45— Back&Biceps—Half way already. It really feels like we just started this program and now it’s already half over. My poor arms and back. I was already sore in my arms when I started this today. The worksheet showed some significant gains in reps today. The exercises are getting much easier, even though we missed last week.

Day46—Yoga X—I was tired and sore when I started Yoga last night. I was glad I went through with it though. My body really needed the stretch and the cardio workout that comes with it.

Day47—Legs&Back—This workout gets harder every week I think. It would seem that the more I am able to do, the more the workout kills me. It is really interesting to me that I feel worse every week, yet experience gains in the amount of reps I am able to do.

Day48—Kenpo X—For the first time, I found this workout extremely difficult. I suppose the extra work on the other workouts this week really wore me down. Whatever the reason, I was exhausted by the time this workout was over.

Day49—Rest—This rest day was long desired and now I am gearing up for the 2^nd recovery week I remember the last recovery week being a trail of tears, so I am not optimistic about getting a whole lot of rest this week. Now that we are more than halfway done, there’s no turning back. We will continue on. BRING IT!

Camp Cupcake: Cupcake Caterpillar

Believe it or not, this one had its own recipe. Lots of times, when Martha has a good decorating idea, she pairs it with a recipe she's used earlier in the book. Not so with this one.

I made the cake part for my dissertation proposal, which happened the first week of March. One of my committee members has followed my blog since I started it, and he often comments to me about the cupcakes. It seemed cruel not to bring some to my proposal meeting. Because I was more preoccupied with the actual meeting, I did not make a frosting for them at that time. Instead, I dusted them with powdered sugar and froze the remaining cupcakes for a different day. A day when I had enough time to do this:



It doesn't look as much like a caterpillar as it should, mostly because the cupcakes are crammed on the tray pretty tightly. Also, I added antennae later (strawberry Pocky for anyone who cares or knows what that is).

This was the first recipe that called for fondant. Fondant is somewhat similar to marzipan, in that it has some of the same properties as Play-Doh, but is made of sugar and can be eaten, if you are so inclined.


Martha and Bakerella use biscuit cutters to cut their fondant into circles to put over cupcakes. I could not find biscuit cutters at the store, so I improvised:


I do not claim to have any amount of expertise on using fondant to decorate cupcakes, so I have added this helpful link to the Pioneer Woman's site, and a tutorial that Bakerella gave there.


Cupcakes:


2 1/2 c. plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I use Special Dark)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. plus 2 Tbsp. (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. packed dark-brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. buttermilk


For decorating:

15 oz. fondant
Gel-paste food colors (I used red and purple)
Cornstarch (for dusting. Don't use flour)
Swiss Meringue Buttercream-this is mostly to attach the fondant to the cupcakes, and considering it is quite a process, I did not make it
2 candy canes or other stick-like candy for antennae


Preheat oven to 350F. Line 28 standard muffin cups and 1 jumbo muffin cup. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.


Cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well-incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in sour cream. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and mixing until just combined after each.


I filled the jumbo cup first, and then filled the rest, all about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 25-30 minutes.


To get good results, follow Bakerella's instructions.

Tonganterror: Week 6

Week 6

Day36—Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps—Worked my arms until they were jelly.  It felt great though.  I allowed myself to really feel the pain for this workout.  Feeling great. 

Day37—Plyometrics—It was my first real test on my injured knee to see if I had recovered.  Fortunately I was able to sink in and do the whole workout, and better than before.  My knee still felt a little shaky, but I am just happy to be able to do the workout.

Day38— Back&Biceps—I missed the workout today due to a sinus infection.  I’m filling my body with vitamin C and will do Yoga regardless of how I feel (no fever, so I should be fine), but tonight, I feel like I should rest.  Sidenote—today I weighed myself for the first time since starting the workout, and I still weigh 365 pounds.  For those of you paying attention, that means I haven’t lost a single pound!  I am not discouraged however.  I can see the results in my body and the four inches off the belly keep me grounded.  I’m still going to bring it.

Day39—Yoga X—Still Sick, and this workout almost killed me, I did what I coud and managed to come up with a good work out.

Day40—Legs&Back—Still sick.  I fought even harder to do the workout even though I was severely weakened by the cold.  My arms were dead, my legs were dead, but I finished the workout.

Day41—Kenpo X—We finally got this workout in late and when we did, it was great.  I am still a little sick, but I was able to do more of this workout than ever.  Feeling great.

Day42—Rest—Another week down .  Another inch off the waist.   I feel much more energetic and flexible than at any time in my life.  Loving the P90X

Mother Bird: The Best Pot Roast I've Ever Made

Don't let that title fool you; it really doesn't say much about this recipe. In the time that I've been married, I've made countless attempts at cooking a good roast, most of them in the crock pot. They always look like they're going to be good--moist, flavorful, tender--but I've always felt like all of the juices seem to just seem to run out into the cooking liquid so that when it's not totally immersed, it seems a little dry. So when I came across the Pioneer Woman's pot roast, I thought I'd give her method a try and see if it yielded better results. I followed her directions pretty closely, except that I don't have fresh herbs in the winter, so I used dried. It was delicious! She recommends that you serve it with the pan juices poured over individual servings, which makes it more moist and flavorful, but I felt like even without the pan juices, it was still juicier than other roasts I've made. I served it with Ree's mashed potatoes which are the only mashed potatoes I make now, although I do cut out some of the fat and leave them unpeeled for a more rustic texture. They're still awesome.

So there you have it. If you want a good pot roast method/recipe, this is the one that's going into our regular rotation. Two thumbs up!

Camp Cupcake: Chocolate Walnut Cupcakes

I have tried to save some recipes for specific holidays. The trouble is, some of these holidays are packed in very tightly together. So, with apologies to my Jewish friends, I made these for Passover a week early. The recipe is actually called Chocolate-Walnut Cupcakes for Passover, lest you think I arrived at the conclusion on my own.

You see, these cupcakes have no leavening, yet they remained very light and airy due to the whipped egg whites the recipe called for.

Once again, I did not get a picture of the finished product, but I feel like it's okay since it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. It happens sometimes, even to me. I will now proceed to go through this recipe to point out the things I should have done.

Chocolate-Walnut Cupcakes

6 large eggs, separated

1/4 c. plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 3/4 c. finely ground toasted walnuts. Okay, here was mistake number one. I forgot to toast the walnuts before I ground them. This turned out to be kind of important, as the untoasted walnuts ended up being a little bit moist and sticking together in my food processor, which did not give them the consistency of flour like they were supposed to have. Also, I think toasting walnuts makes the flavor a bit milder.

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, kosher if desired. Amazingly, in my grocery store here in West Texas, they did not have kosher chocolate. But that wasn't the mistake. Finely chopped or grated. That was my mistake. I chopped the chocolate, but it wasn't necessarily "fine." In fact, when I mixed it in later, it looked more like chocolate chunks. I should have frozen it first, and then put it in the food processor to get it really fine.

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

1/4 tsp. salt If this is supposed to be kosher, Martha doesn't mention it.

Confectioner's sugar, for dusting.

Preheat oven to 300F. Line muffin cups with papers. Whisk egg yolks and 1/4 c. granulated sugar until pale and thick.

In another bowl, toss together ground walnuts, chocolate, zest, and salt. Sprinkle over yolk mixture. Do not mix in.

Place egg whites in a heatproof bowl (I used my KitchenAid bowl) set over a pan of simmering water, and whisk until eggs are warm to the touch. Remove from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until soft peaks form. Add remaining 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and whisk until stiff and glossy, but not dry, peaks form.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg-white mixture into egg-yolk mixture to lighten. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.

See, the batter is supposed to look like chocolate, not chocolate chip. Fail.

Divide among lined cups. Bake until springy to touch. About 30 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving. If yours turn out funky like mine did, set them down in the common area of a building and run away before anyone knows you brought them. Don't hang around to find out if people liked them. Leave town the next day.