Donut muffins, take 2,456.

I never tire of these little lumps of deliciousness. I mean, not only are they really good and easy to make, but they’re such a conversation piece. The debate still continues: is it a muffin, or a donut? Its not fried and has no hole, so it can’t be a donut right? But yet, they taste like donuts, not muffins. Hmm… its a question that will go down in history along with the likes of “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?”

And this time, the pictures came out so much better than last time.

In case you’re too lazy to click on a link; here’s how you too can make these little baking anomalies.

DONUT MUFFINS

Get this shit together for the muffins:

• 1/3 cup oil
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup milk

and this for the Cinnamon Sugar topping:

• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, melted
• ½ teaspoons cinnamon

And then:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Grease a muffin pan, don’t use paper liners because you’re going to want to dump these out hot and get started coating them in sugar.
2. Then, cream the oil, ½ cup sugar, and egg in a medium bowl.
3. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk to the creamed mixture, making three additions of flour mix and two of milk.
4. Spoon the batter into the greased muffin tin, about 1/2 full and bake for 20 minutes. Immediately remove muffins from pan when done and roll (or dip) in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon and sugar.

Enjoy!

I had to bake tonight since the weather’s gotten a little cooler. 75 degrees instead of 95. I was being harrassed about the lack of baked goods around here lately, in other words: “Yes, sorbet and panna cotta are wonderful, but give us the damn cupcakes bitch.” My public wanted my sweet fluffy cupcakes and who am I to deny them?

So… lemon felt summery to me, and I had a whole bucket load of yogurt left over from aforementioned panna cotta… hence, lemon yogurt cupcakes. Thank you Recipezaar.

This made about 17 cupcakes for me.

LEMON YOGURT CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 egg
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon lemon extract (or lemon oil)

Then you will:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and use muffin pan, lined with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter and egg until smooth. Add yogurt, lemon zest and juice and lemon extract, beating until smooth.
3. Add flour mixture, beating just until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes.
5. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with your favorite icing.

I topped these with vanilla frosting mainly because they are so lemony… I felt it would be lemon-overload to frost them with lemon. I’m telling you these are SUPER lemon flavored. Add a slice of lemon and voila!

You can find the vanilla frosting recipe here.

Percy’sAIMname: so whatelse do you bake got damnit?
cupcake rehab: I dunno, lol… cakes
Percy’sAIMname: regular cakes?
cupcake rehab: yeah, like layer cakes?
Percy’sAIMname: oooooo
cupcake rehab: or whatever
Percy’sAIMname: teach me
Percy’sAIMname: so then
Percy’sAIMname: we could be like Ace of Cakes
cupcake rehab: haha its easy
cupcake rehab: LMFAO
cupcake rehab: THATS AWESOME
cupcake rehab: HAHA

Later on… in reference to how Duff & Co. transport their cakes:

Percy’sAIMname: and then the way they transport them is kinda… flawed
Percy’sAIMname: they have the cake completely exposed in the back of a van, no strapped down or anything
cupcake rehab: yeah!
Percy’sAIMname: then wonder why rollerskate wheels fall off
cupcake rehab: LOL i first saw that and I was like… thats gangsta!
cupcake rehab: then i was like
cupcake rehab: wait…
cupcake rehab: wtf
Percy’sAIMname: lol
cupcake rehab: if the damn thing falls
cupcake rehab: ?
Percy’sAIMname: right
cupcake rehab: after all that work
cupcake rehab: i’d kill someone
Percy’sAIMname: right
Percy’sAIMname: and then there’s the whole temperature issue in a van
Percy’sAIMname: i’m sure that poses a problem too
Percy’sAIMname: you have fondant cracking and stuff
Percy’sAIMname: like what the hell man
cupcake rehab: yeah really
cupcake rehab: i love that you know about the possibility of fondant cracking, by the way

Percy rocks.

I’ve known Percy for like, a million years. Or 7. And this is the first time I heard about his fondant knowledge.

If I was certifiably insane, I’d post the rest of the conversation, which included talking about how Food Network Challenge is the awesomest thing ever and people with bad teeth (don’t ask). But I know you people come here for the food and not the stimulating AIM conversations.
I promise I’ll be back soon with a recipe.

I think its pretty fuckin’ cool that Wendy Brandes mentioned my lil’ ol cupcake blog on her blog.

I rarely talk about things other than cupcakes (or cooking, or baking, etc) but… I’m a bit of a fashion nut. I read fashion magazines all the time, I love them. I’ve been reading them since I was a kid. Thats why I ultimately ended up at F.I.T. for Fashion Design- just because I love fashion so much and love designing it so much and saw it as a form of art (and still do). Of course nobody tells you that artistic talent doesn’t matter in Fashion Design, its really how well you sew on an industrial machine thats bigger than a 6-year-old, but I digress…

She (Wendy) makes a necklace that, if you know me well enough, you know I’d love to have.. seeing how Anne Boleyn is indeed one of my favorite historical women and that time period is one of my absolute favorites, and of course… that B necklace is so iconic it practically speaks for itself. Of course I’d get it in an M, but still. In addition to being a fashion whore, I’m also a history nerd. 89% of the books I own are about Henry VIII and his six wives, or one of them, or the Tudor family and so on. The other 11% is about Marie Antoinette, Mozart, fashion, the 1920’s (my second favorite time period) and Harry Potter, to over generalize.

Lady Jane Grey necklace, Anne Boleyn necklace & Mary Queen of Scots necklace.

I’ve seen her stuff in magazines for a long time and admired it. How can you not like someone who makes Anne Boleyn necklaces, Queen Isabella wolf-head necklaces, Queen Min rings and Mary Queen of Scots earrings?

Just a few days ago I read her story in Marie Claire and then I see her name in my ‘Incoming Links’ section of my blog stats.

Anyway I just think thats pretty cool.

And no, this isn’t ass-kissing.

Ahh, lemon sorbet. Does lemon sorbet even need an introduction? Does lemon sorbet in this weather need a reason?

No -but I’ll give it one. I was walking on my “fitness walk” last night, sweating, craving lemon ice. Really good lemon ice, like Lemon Ice King of Corona lemon ice… but better. Creamy, smooth lemon ice. Then it occurred to me: lemon sorbet. I thought, “Self, that sounds pretty awesome.” So, not being the kind of gal who just wishes she had lemon sorbet, I made myself some.

Lemon ice is my favorite kind of ice, and that goes for sorbet too. I love lemon flavor (and scent). This was super easy and really good. It requires no mixers, no ice cream makers, none of that. However it tastes like a lot more work goes into it, so when you make it tell people you slaved over it all day. Or, tell the truth and say “It was nothing.” They probably won’t believe you anyway and you’ll look like a genius. “I make my own lemon sorbet.” I mean really, how good does that sound?

LEMON SORBET

Get these things together:

• 1/3 cup lemon zest
• 1 cup strained fresh lemon juice
• 1 ½cups sugar
• 1 ½ cups water*

Then you will:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Add lemon zest. Stir until mixture comes to a boil; boil 2 minute.
2. Add the lemon juice, stir well. Remove from heat, cool, and strain. Pour cooled mixture into a shallow container, cover, and freeze overnight.
3. Pour into container, cover, and place mixture in the freezer.
4. When it is semi-solid, mash it up with a fork and refreeze again. When frozen, place in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Cover and refreeze until serving time.

NOTE: Can be prepared 3 days in advance. Cover and keep frozen.

Supposedly makes 8 servings. I garnished the servings with fresh mint, but you could use lemon slices, candied lemon rind, whatever. Or leave them plain.

*I actually used more water, maybe another cup and a half? I wanted to make more servings, I doubted that this recipe could make 8. Obviously I’m insane, because it does indeed and now I have like a gallon of this stuff. Well not really a gallon but a big ass Tupperware full. Not like its going to go to waste or anything though..

Let me just state for the record; its so much cooler to be the type of chick that actually makes her own sorbet than to be the kind of chick who thinks its cooler to buy it.

I left it chunky and icy, partially because I was too lazy to blender-ize it and partially because I just really wanted to eat some right away, but if you ran it through the blender, then scooped it out you’d get a smoother sorbet. This way, it was more like an icee or whatever.

I’d also like to take this time to make you all jealous again, because the ever-so-talented-with-a-needle-and-thread Yoyo sent me a set of awesome coasters she made, and…. they match my Coke Zero cans! Coke Zero is my crack, in case you didn’t know.

Look at the cold, frosty goodness of that can!

I’m fairly sure if doctors were to do intense testing on me they’d discover that inside my veins flows Coke Zero. Which would actually explain a lot. But anyway… enough about me. I love my coasters! Seriously, how cute are they? Thank you so much Yoyo!

Panna Cotta is a perfect hot weather dessert. Its like the lovechild of gelatin based desserts and pudding, or alternately, if flan, Jello and pudding had a baby born in Italy. “Panna Cotta” literally means “cooked cream.” It originated in the Northern Italian region of Piedmont, but all over Italy they eat this dish with fresh fruit, berries and chocolate sauce. Its pretty much 100° in New York, and you could fry an egg on the sidewalk… so no baking. But this is a nice refreshing dessert thay requires little heat and a lot of enjoyment. This is an Ina Garten recipe, so of course its good. Expect more Ina recipes coming soon… I have a few I wanna try.

I’m including the balsamic-vinegar-strawberry-topping-recipe with this, I personally don’t like strawberries (or balsamic vinegar) but I made it for the rest of the family to enjoy. I ate mine with some chocolate chips on top because I’m a kid at heart and fancy-shmancy stuff doesn’t thrill me. But fresh peaches (or even canned) would work on this, even fresh strawberries, blueberries or raspberries. Use your imagination. Even caramel sauce would be delish.

PANNA COTTA WITH BALSAMIC STRAWBERRIES

Get ya grubby hands on:

• ½ packet (1 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin powder (like Knox)
  
• 1 ½ tablespoons cold water
  
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream, divided
  
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• ½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
  
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
• 2 pints (4 cups) sliced fresh strawberries
  
• 2 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• Freshly grated lemon zest, for serving

To make the panna cotta, then you gotta:

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin on 1 ½ tablespoons of cold water. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the gelatin to dissolve. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together ¾ cup of the cream, the yogurt, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean seeds.
2. Heat the remaining ¾ cup of cream and the 1/3 cup of sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Off the heat, add the softened gelatin to the hot cream and stir to dissolve. Pour the hot cream-gelatin mixture into the cold cream-yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Pour into 4 (6 to 8-ounce) ramekins or custard cups and refrigerate uncovered until cold. When the panna cottas are thoroughly chilled, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
3. Combine the strawberries, balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and pepper 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving. Set aside at room temperature.
4. To serve, run a small knife around each dessert in the ramekin and dip the bottom of each ramekin quickly in a bowl of hot tap water. Invert each ramekin onto a dessert plate and surround the panna cotta with strawberries. Dust lightly with freshly grated lemon zest and serve.

I didn’t use ramekins, I used rounded bottom dessert cups. Use whatever you want, as long as it’ll be easy to remove the panna cotta from it (i.e. no plastic containers, use glass/porcelain). You could probably make one big panna cotta in a big porcelain bowl, too. Then just slice it, or have everyone dig in with a spoon.

The consensus is: Excellent. Definitely would make this again. Everyone loved the balsamic strawberries too. Go Ina! Another point for the Barefoot Contessa!

I had some left over white chocolate from the Daring Baker’s challenge, and since there was a severe lack of baked goods in the house and people were starting to revolt- I made these. Vanilla cupcakes with double chocolate chip frosting (double chocolate because its white chocolate buttercream with semi-sweet chocolate chips). Sound good? Then read on…

I admit, when I first read the Daring Baker’s Challenge for May, Opéra Cake, I had two thoughts run through my head. One; ARE THEY CRAZY? and two; I thought of Adam Sandler’s Opera Man. My first thought was a bit judgemental. I thought that it seemed very daunting- as well as complicated and tedious, but honestly, its not. Its very far from it. Each step is absurdly simple and the actual building of the cake is easy as pie. My second thought continued far into the actual eating of the cake. OPERAAAA MAAN-OOOO, LIKAAA OPÉRAAAAA CAAAKE-OOO! *ahem* Sorry.

The basic idea of an Opéra Cake: several layers put together to create a kind of thin layer cake with buttercream, mousse and glaze.

I read that some people had difficulty when using chocolate chips as opposed to block chocolate, apparently it doesn’t melt correctly. I myself used Ghirardelli white chocolate chips and had no issue- they melted like a dream. I opted to use them because it was cheaper to buy (the block chocolate is like $8.00 for 5 ounces or something like that, and I needed about 21 ounces for this recipe… whereas the chips were $3.00 for 11 ounces), and I’m far from cheap but thats a large price difference. But also I’ve found that chips melt quicker because of the smaller surface area and they’re easier for me to work with. Unless a recipe specifically calls for block chocolate, I always go for the chips. I also could not find nut meal, so I used slivered almonds and flour to make my own, as suggested per the Daring Baker’s site.

The rules were simple: just NO dark colors. Light colors and flavors. Any flavor we wanted: almond, limoncello, etc. Just white chocolate, not milk or dark. We also were given a choice as to whether or not we wanted to use the ganache/mousse or just use all buttercream. I’m up for a challenge so I went for it and made the ganache-y mousse-y stuff and I’m glad I did cuz its awesome. I used this as the flavoring and it came out delicious. Technically, its not white chocolate flavored, so it may have been bending the rules, but thats what I’m all about anyway. But its clear- so it didn’t have a dark color. So I guess its kinda cheating. You can read more about that in the actual recipe. I also opted to make 2 mini Opéra cakes instead of one big one.

So the cake has 5 parts: the joconde (cake), the syrup, the buttercream, the ganache/mousse and the glaze. Easy enough, right? Right. It really was. I swear. It seems all involved and crazy, but its not. And aside from that- its f&%$*in’ DELICIOUS. This was my first Daring Baker’s challenge and I have to say, what a way to start! I would absolutely make this again. Although, I have to say, I split it up over three days: the syrup, buttercream and mousse was made one day, the next day I made the joconde and the third day I made the glaze and put all the components together. So unless you have a lot of time, and also someone to help you, don’t attempt this. Its not a recipe that can be rushed. Nor is it one I could’ve done all on my own… I found I needed an extra set of hands.

Problems I had: my joconde browned slightly more than it should’ve on the bottom- so in the pictures that is not dark chocolate or coffee or anything, its just the bottom of the cake. Also, my joconde didn’t bake completely even, I’m thinking because of the parchment paper (even though it said to use it I think next time I’ll try it without it). So my layers were a bit off, kinda slouchy. Like a Salvador Dali cake! So it may not look perfect, but it tastes DIVINE.

The Opéra Cake is dedicated to to Barbara of winosandfoodies.com (http://winosandfoodies.typepad.com/). As was written on the Daring Baker’s Kitchen: “While Barbara is no longer an active member of the Daring Bakers, as Lis so eloquently put it, she’ll always be an honourary Daring Baker for her bravery and character in the face of a challenge. As many of you may know Barbara is the force behind the food blog event called A Taste of Yellow that supports the LiveSTRONG foundation started by Lance Armstrong. This year’s LiveStrong Day is in May so we decided that we could show our support by dedicating our respective challenge posts to Barbara.”

I don’t know Barbara but I think thats an admirable thing to dedicate a cake to, so there you go.

Below I have listed the recipe, with my additions (as in what I used) in bold italics.

Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Samantha’s mom, I’m told, is a fan of the site (hi, Mrs. Urban!) So when she recently made the red velvet cupcakes that I posted a few weeks back and sent a picture of them, I had to post them:

Lookin’ good! Hope you enjoyed them!

I’m so glad people actually enjoy reading the inane crap I spew! it never ceases to amaze me. I like seeing that people get something out of this. Makes me feel good, like I’m making some kind of contribution to society. Or whatever.

So thanks for being a fan, Mrs. U!

Happy 27th birthday to my Jay! And MANY MANY MANY MORE! Love you!

As per requested by the birthday boy man, those are chocolate cheesecake muffin-cupcakes with mocha buttercream filling and you can find the recipe here.

So happy birthday to one of my favorite people in the world, and one of the (very) few I not only like, but love.