Camp Cupcake: Gelato-topped Mini Cupcakes

Do you know how hard it is to find gelato in Lubbock?

Actually, it's not that hard. I found it at the second store I went to.

However, by buying it at the grocery store, I was pretty much limited to one flavor: pistaschio. It's okay; I like pistaschio, but I'm not sure it is universally enjoyed.

I'm also not sure what the point of this recipe is. I like gelato, but I'm not sure what about these cupcakes makes them suited to gelato. As far as I can tell, they are just a basic yellow cake recipe served in a nut cup.

Also, gelato presents some logisitcal problems. Namely, it does not travel well. Also, you cannot scoop it in advance and have it there, ready to eat.

For these reasons, it was harder to distribute these cupcakes in their natural form. After they were enjoyed by the people I made them for on Wednesday, I froze them. On Saturday, I made up some fluffy vanilla frosting, piped it on the remaining cakes, covered them with a few sprinkles, and took them with me to the temple, where they were eaten quickly by the other workers, some of whom later confessed to me that they'd had several. I was glad. It was a nice way to pay back the wonderful people I work with there, many of who try to set me up with men and/or give me their hand-me-down clothes. True story.

Here's a link to the recipe. As you can see, it is just a buttermilk-vanilla cupcake. You can top it with gelato, ice cream, or regular frosting, and people seem to enjoy it any of these ways.

Pie Are Squared: Oatmeal Nut Pie

This is my first pie from the "Cereal Pies" section of the book. It literally is a bunch of recipes for pies made of cereal, like cornflakes, Rice Krispies, grits, rice, Grapenuts...this seemed like a weird idea to me, but my husband was really excited about it.
This oatmeal nut required a little bit of substituting because I didn't plan ahead, and it was Sunday, and I didn't quite have all the ingredients. Instead of one teaspoon of maple flavored extract, I used a tablespoon of pure maple syrup. I also didn't have dark corn syrup and just used light corn syrup.
It ended up being much like a pecan pie, except with oatmeal and coconut in addition to the pecans. And, much like the pecan pie I made earlier, it was quite runny. Although this time, I think I can probably blame the fact that I might not have baked it long enough (as opposed to how I always blame the elevation) because the outer edges were set quite well but the middle was not.
Also, my past two crusts haven't been quite as good, and I just put it together that this is also my fault: I've been lazy and haven't been stocking up on heavy cream, so I've just been using 2% milk to bind the crust together instead of the cream. Apparently, that detail matters. So, my new words of advice are Always, Always, go for the cream.

Ratings:

Flavor: 7

Execution: 7-Soupiness wasn't great, though that might be chef error. It was a tasty pie, but I'm not really wowed. I fear I'm getting tired of the recipes in the book. But I'm not giving up!

Difficulty: Easy.

Overall rating: *** 3 out of 5 stars.

Camp Cupcake: Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

We had Thanksgiving in May. Allison called it Maynksgiving. It was a potluck affair, but, impressively, she roasted an entire turkey.

I offered to bring dessert, knowing that it would be cupcakes, despite the fact that Thanksgiving usually means pie. Cupcakes have never been a part of my family's Thanksgiving tradition. But lemon meringue pie is. My mother is famous, at least in my family, for two pies: banana cream, and lemon meringue. And she does a superb job of both.

My mom loves all things lemon. If I could, I would have waited to make these for her. I think, at some point, I still will.

They are an impressive little cupcake. There's a lemony cake base with lemon curd filling and a seven-minute frosting top that you brown, either with a blowtorch or in the broiler. I think Martha thinks it's pretty impressive too, as it is one of the recipes from the book that is featured on her website. Here's the link. Prepare to be wowed.

Camp Cupcake: Maple-Sweetened Carrot Cupcakes

Once again, I make a recipe that I do not feel is significantly different from other Martha recipes.

It was billed as a "healthy recipe." The cake and the frosting are sweetened with maple syrup.

Despite the painstaking piping of the frosting, these are actually a very rustic cupcake. Prior to frosting, some of them had cooked carrot shreds sticking out of them.

I will be extremely transparent: I do not feel these are as good as the carrot cupcakes I made when I stayed with Shane and Maria back in September. It may be because, rather than shredding the carrots by hand, I bought matchstick carrots, which were not as fine, and cooked up somewhat conspicuously in the cupcakes. It may be because the cream cheese frosting was not sweet enough, due to it being a healthy recipe.

Or it may be molasses, of which I am not a huge fan.

However, they passed the inspection of my friend Amanda, of the Five Harringtons. This was not an easy test, considering that she has had an aversion to all things maple due the combination of morning sickness and some maple-flavored bacon.

Maple-sweetened Carrot Cupcakes

2 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (no, I did not buy unbleached flour)

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamong

1 c. pure maple syrup, preferably grade B (I'm sure it makes a difference to use grade B, but grade B is REALLY expensive, so I used grade A).

1/3 c. unsulfured molasses

1 c. safflower or canola oil (I used canola oil)

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

5 large egg yolks

2 c. peeled, grated carrots (4-5 medium)

Maple Cream-Cheese Frosting

Candied Carrot Chips (I didn't make these because they sounded too complicated for something I was convinced was going to be gross).

Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tins (standard or mini). In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together maple syrup, molasses, oil, vinegar, and egg yolks until smooth. Add to flour mixture, and whisk until combined. Stir in carrots.

Fill lined cups about 3/4 full. Bake until dark golden brown, 10-12 minutes for mini, about 18 minutes for standard.

To finish, fit a pastry bag with a piping tip (I used a Wilton 12) and fill with cream cheese frosting. Pipe dots of frosting all over the cupcakes to cover.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 c. pure maple syrup, preferably grade B

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add maple syrup, and beat until combined. Use immediately, or refrigerate up to three days.

Smile because you have just made something healthy. Kind of.

Come back

One of the other authors of this blog sheepishly made a comment to me about how long it has been since she last posted. It got me thinking.

It is now May. 2010 is now 1/3 over. It's kind of a sobering thought, huh? Four months into the year, life has gotten busy, priorities have changed, and some of us have either completed, revised, or abandoned our goals.

When I started this blog, I wanted it to accomplish a couple of things:

• To give people a place to share their goals, and their disappointments as well as their triumphs.
• To give people a way to hold themselves accountable for their goals, so that they didn't give up on them.

Is it working? I'm not sure. Do people feel supported by this blog, or just guilty? Have you decided that the goals you set for yourselves four months ago are unrealistic? Did you decide that they no longer make sense given that your life has changed in some big ways since then? Have you completed your goals but been too busy to blog about them?

Life is busy. Don't feel guilty. If you've struggled with your goal, or given it up completely, don't let that stop you from trying again.

I guess what I'm trying to say to those of you who haven't been around for awhile is that I miss you.

Come back.

Camp Cupcake: Roasted Banana Cupcakes

In the last couple of weeks, I have found myself cranking out cupcakes with a sense of urgency. I apologize for taking over the blog with them. I'm not sure urgency and cupcakes belong in the same sentence. However, I am in the home stretch of a lot of things, including this project, and, rather than pacing myself on this, I am trying to get it done quickly.

Also, I can think of lots of occasions that call for cupcakes. School is almost over. Classes are ending. Mother's Day and Cinco de Mayo are right around the corner. I have a lot of eggs in my fridge. I have bananas I need to use.

Doesn't it seem funny that we buy more bananas than we actually eat, and we are constantly looking for things to do with the leftover ones before they go bad? As human beings, we are weird.

I made these for my last practicum night. I believe I have resolved my issues over being liked by the people I supervise, but I made these anyway. I actually made this recipe twice. After I roasted the bananas, I mixed them in with the eggs before they were completely cool, and it changed the texture of the cupcakes considerably.

Roasted Banana Cupcakes

Makes 16

3 ripe bananas, plus 1 to 2 more for garnish (I only used one)

2 c. cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c. sugar

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 c. sour cream

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Preheat oven to 400F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 3 whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast 15 minutes (the peels will darken). Meanwhile, sift together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Remove bananas from oven and let cool before peeling. Reduce oven temperature to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add roasted bananas and beat to combine. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, and beating until just combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

In another mixing bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold one-third of the whites in the batter to lighten. Gently fold remaining whites in two batches.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

To finish, fill a pastry bag with a medium French star tip (or, if you don't have a French star tip because you are not OCD, use a regular star tip, or just frost them with a knife) to pipe seven scallops around the perimeter of the cupcake and a large starburst in the center. Just before serving (if you do this too early, the bananas get kind of gross) thinly slice the remaining bananas and place 2 pieces on top of each cupcake.

Punch yourself in the face for following all of Martha's ridiculous directions for making what is, essentially, banana bread with honey butter.

Or don't.

Camp Cupcake: Meringue Cupcakes with Berry Compote

I don't think I have ever made anything as beautiful as meringue in my life. I have no children, so I feel okay about saying this without being hyperbolic.

It's just sugar and egg white, but in its unbaked form, it is fluffy and glossy like a sugary wedding dress. Remember when people used to stick a Barbie in the center of a baked Alaska or some other meringue cake so it looked like she was wearing a ballgown? Of cake? Here's a link to refresh your memory. Anyway, for the first time, I actually began to believe that a Barbie might want to be embedded in a dress of meringue. It was that pretty.

This is not your everyday, go-to, homemade goodie kind of recipe. It is much more high-falutin' than that. It would make a good dessert for something a little bit fancier, like a tea party, or a bridal shower (then again, when I make dessert for a bridal shower, it's still usually something simple like a bar cookie). Here is a link to the cupcakes. However, this link includes a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb compote. The recipe in the book calls for strawberry-raspberry compote instead. Here's the recipe:

Strawberry-raspberry Compote

1 container (10 oz.) fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled, and coarsely chopped

1/2 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 container (6 oz.) fresh raspberries

Bring strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice to simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced to 3/4 c. Let cool completely before stirring in raspberries. Refrigerate up to 1 day in an airtight container.

A word of advice about the cupcakes: be careful with the creme fraiche. You can make it yourself, but I bought it at the grocery store. When I whipped it with the cream, I whipped it too long and ruined it. So be careful.