Camp Cupcake: Tres Leches Cupcakes

Cinco de Mayo is pretty big in Lubbock.

I would like to think it is because of Lubbock's significant Mexican population. However, I recently learned that Cinco de Mayo is a much bigger deal in the US than it is in Mexico, so I think it falls under the same category as St. Patrick's Day: holidays that give people an excuse to drink in the middle of the week. If you want to know more about St. Patrick's Day, check out my other blog.

However, just because a) I don't indulge in margaritas, and b) it's a fake holiday, it doesn't mean I didn't want to celebrate.

With cupcakes.

And despite the fact that I had leftovers at my house for four days, I took no pictures. No Bloggie for me.

However, I do have some thoughts about this recipe:

• Just like the name suggests, there are three kinds of milk in this cake. It is not a cake for the lactose-intolerant (pretty sure I would never bring them to an Oka family function for this reason).
• It is really moist. Moister than the tres leches cake I have had before. If that creeps you out, you have been forewarned.
• It takes awhile to get the cake to absorb the milk mixture.

Here's the recipe:

6 large eggs separated, room temperature

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. coarse salt (I use sea salt)

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 c. all-purpose flour, sifted

1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

3/4 c. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325F. Line muffin tins with foil liners. This is important because the liquid will soak through paper liners. With an electric mixer, whisk egg whites, baking soda, and salt together until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low. Add yolks and sugar, whisk until completely combined. Fold in melted butter. Add flour in four batches, folding until just combined after each.

Divide batter into lined cups, filling only halfway. Bake about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately poke holes in the tops.

Whisk together evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. With cupcakes still in tins, brush milk mixture over cupcakes. Repeat until all the mixture has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb at least 30 minutes, or up to one day in the refrigerator tightly covered.

To finish, dollop with whipped cream and dust with cinnamon.

Tonganterror: Week 10 and Week 11

I definitely forgot to write about last week. The P90X goal is still intact. I have been going strong and will finish Week 11 here in a few days. For the math wizzes in the crowd that means 77 days of bringing it.

As I approach the end of the 90 days, I am realizing that I won't have rock hard abs by the time this is over. I also won't be some amazingly fit guy. What I will be is a much more athletic and fit guy than I was 90 days ago. I must admit my diet was terrible from start to finish. I have not lost a pound in all the time that I have been doing the workout. However, I feel I am much more muscular than before. I have lost 6.5 inches around my waistline (at the belly button) and I can touch my toes. At the end of the day, I have found a serious workout plan that I can do and have made it a habit. So I'm marking this goal down as a big fat "satisfactory".

I have had many friends start the program and fall off the wagon. To those that felt that the program was too hard, I say "just keep pushing play". There were days we felt terrible, there were days we didn't have time, there were days that weren't really all that effective for working out; but as we kept pushing play, we created a habit that propelled us forward. Now the momentum will for sure see us through. I hope the fallen friends will get back in to the workout and see it through. I am a much happier, confident person because I was able to stick with this goal. I wish that for anyone else who might be pursuing any worthwhile goal.

I am going to make an effort to get serious about diet now that I have locked in the P90X habit. I figure another year of this combined with a good diet will leave me about where I want to be. The program will end in two weeks, wherein, hopefully i will have found my "before" pics and will post next to my after pics. This is just round one, however, of what promises to be a great fight with P90X. BRING IT!

Shape Shifter: Fireman 5K

It has been a while since my last post, which might make one think that I have fallen off the wagon again...but this is not so. I have continued training for a 5K and am currently on week 7 of a nine week training plan! My mileage is a little over two miles now...and will be determined as soon as I get my new little toy calibrated. My running partner surprised me with a Nike+. It is this little device that fits in the sole of my Nike running shoes that monitors how far I have fun as well as how many calories I have burned. I used it for the first time last night and it was great to be able to see my progress on my I-pod Nano.

Concerning actual shape shifting...I am still working on that. My running partner and I also joined Weight Watchers. We have been going for about five weeks. I am in the 10+ pounds lost bracket...we will see how that might change on Friday. It has made monitoring what I eat a lot easier...less guess work. I don’t know how familiar anyone is with different body types. There is the ectomorph who is naturally skinny and petite---so not me, the endomorph---naturally a little cushioned, and the mesomorph—can get cushiony if not working out, but builds muscle quickly. I fall into the mesomorph category, which is why I think running will be great for me. I hired a personal trainer once and did a lot of weight lifting...I tend to bulk up. Being as how I don’t plan on perusing a job as a line backer...I choose running.

My mother took my body measurements in February and she is going to remeasure me this weekend when I go home. I will be curious to see what king of physical changes have taken place in the last three months. It is hard for me to tell...I see myself everyday and feel that I look the same.

Running has helped me to work out some stress and anxiety as of late. If for no other reason, I will keep running just for that benefit. Let’s just say that nothing is definite in my life right now, other than the fact that it is all changing. Some of those changes I have created for myself, and others are just a part of life. Regardless of their origin, I tend to have a hard time with change.

I have signed up for the Fireman’s 5K in Fort Worth over Memorial Weekend. I am getting excited!

The Mighty Pen: On Coming Back

As the "one of the other authors", I appreciate Megan's call to come back. Have I made progress toward my goal? Hardly, unless you count two and a half pages written over the course of three days--over a month ago. That's better than a blank sheet, I suppose. That day to day life just always seems to get in the way. Even while my priorities suffered an overhaul shortly after I joined this blog I've realized that, because of my busier, less self-indulgent schedule, I need this goal more than ever. So, here are some thoughts I had several weeks ago when I started out:

I am determined to persevere, even while fighting amazement at how terrible the product is. One of the hazards of penning a story is allowing yourself to ramble. Stories are linear where unfortunately, thoughts are not. That means that every sentence you write can't just be in natural progression from the one before it; it has to be pointing toward an end, as well. Exploring derivatives can bring you to an observation you wouldn't have made before, but it can also be hard to get back to where you were going. Maybe that's why George Eliot always overdid the metaphors. I can certainly understand the fascination that many authors have with stream of consciousness. In the end I'm most likely going to have to plan out every scene, how they each lead to the next. Structure isn't only important to architecture.

The building blocks are waiting!

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.