spring cupcakes

For these cupcakes, I used a very simple cupcake recipe and just had fun decorating them.

The lamb is my favourite...

Vanilla Cupcakes
adapted from Nigella Lawson, makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
*1/2 cup flour
*3/4 tsp baking powder
*1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put paper liners into 12 muffin cups.

Put all the ingredients except the milk into a food processor. Process until well blended. Add the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until you have a smooth batter.

Divide the batter equally between the paper-lined muffin cups. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.

*You can substitute 1/2 cup self-rising flour for the all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. It makes the recipe even simpler.


Buttercream Frosting
makes enough for 12 cupcakes

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tsp milk

food colouring (optional)

Blend all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Tint with food colouring if desired.

Decoration ideas!

A Google search will turn up plenty of fun ideas for decorating cupcakes. I went with these:

Lambs/sheep: Frost the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. Cut a handful of mini marshmallows in half (or leave whole, for "fluffier" lambs). Press the marshmallows into the frosting to adhere. For the faces, I flattened a large black gumdrop with the palm of my hand and used a toothpick to make nostrils. The candy eyes were purchased. For the ears and tail, I used black licorice Goodies. Little pieces of black string licorice would work too.

Easter eggs in the grass: Frost the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. Make the "grass" with tinted coconut by putting a cup of coconut and 2-3 drops of green food colouring into a small plastic Ziploc bag. Shake and rub the contents until evenly tinted. Nestle 3 candy coated mini eggs into the frosting, and then sprinkle the coconut over the frosting, pressing lightly to help it stick.

Baby Chick: Frost the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. Pour yellow sprinkles into a small bowl. Press the frosted cupcake into the sprinkles, turning a little from left to right to make sure the whole cupcake top gets coated. I sort of rolled the edges around in the sprinkles while I was pressing them to make sure they got a solid yellow coating. Then use what you like to make the faces: I used black licorice Goodies, cut in half, to make eyes. For the beak, I cut some triangular shapes from orange gumdrops.

a classic chocolate cake

Birthday cake! In my family, you get to choose your birthday cake and it's always homemade (with some exceptions, like when somebody wants a Mario Brothers cake with a picture of Luigi on top - I leave fancy decorations like that to a bakery). The most popular request by far is for CHOCOLATE.  

This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe


Beatty's Chocolate Cake
from The Barefoot Contessa

1 3/4 cups flour (measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling with a knife)

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs, at room temperature (I just warm the eggs gently by putting them into a bowl of very warm water while I measure the rest of the ingredients)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans; line bottoms with circles of parchment paper, then butter the bottom and sides of the pans and dust with flour.

Blend the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla till well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients gradually, mixing on low speed. Mix in the coffee and make sure it's well incorporated.

Divide batter between the two pans. Bake for 35-40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 30 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack and let cool completely

**If you're making the cake in advance - and I often do - just wrap them well in plastic wrap and freeze them until you're ready to assemble the cake. No need to defrost. In fact I find it easier to frost when they're still frozen. I even freeze it if it's just baked one day in advance, just to make it easier to frost.

Fudge Frosting

 

*makes about 5 cups

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half-and-half or whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate, then process until the frosting is smooth.

Christmas cookies, part 3: Mini Pecan Tarts

One-bite butter pecan tarts. So good!

When you make these, you might think, "Oh, I don't really need to toast the pecans." But I promise, toasting the nuts makes a difference.

You might think, "Oh, I can't be bothered to make pastry. I'll just buy frozen tart shells." But they won't be the same. Just sayin'.

Honestly, if you're going to make tarts from scratch, just go for it.

Mini Pecan Tarts

Pastry:
1 cup butter, softened 
6 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Pastry: Beat the 1 cup butter and cream cheese until combined. Stir in the flour. Roll teaspoonfuls of pastry into little balls; then press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of 24 ungreased mini-muffin cups. (*Note: You can do this with your fingers, but I have a great little wooden tool for pressing the dough into the mini muffin cups. You just dip it in flour and press it into the little balls of dough. It was about $3 at a kitchen shop and well worth it.)

Pecan filling: Beat eggs, brown sugar, and the melted butter until combined. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 heaping teaspoon of filling into each pastry-lined muffin cup. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until pastry is lightly golden and filling is puffed. Cool slightly in pan, then carefully remove tarts from pan and let cool on a rack.

Christmas Cookies, Part 2: Chewy Ginger Cookies

These gingerbread cookies are soft and chewy on the inside, and sweet and crunchy on the outside (because they're rolled in sugar). 

I make a triple (!) batch of these cookies at Christmas and freeze them. They keep really well in the freezer and you can stack layers of them easily so they also travel really well without sticking.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup fancy molasses
1 egg
2 1/4  cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup coarse white sugar (try a bulk food store for this - it's usually in the same section as all the cake sprinkles and spices)
**If you can't find coarse white sugar, golden coarse sugar works fine (called "Sugar in the Raw")

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add molasses and mix well. Add the egg and blend till smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Stir into butter mixture.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate about an hour or till the dough is firm.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a teaspoon to measure dough and shape into balls (I like using my small ice cream/cookie scoop but any spoon will do). Roll balls of dough in coarse sugar and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until tops are cracked and edges are firm, but the centres should be slightly underbaked. This will ensure that the cookies turn out chewy!

Christmas Cookies, Part 1: Brown Sugar Shortbread

I haven't posted here since August!! But now it's time for Christmas baking, so I'll try to post some of the recipes I make for the holidays over the next few weeks.

John's favourite Christmas cookie is shortbread, and he loves these big wedges of Brown Sugar Shortbread. I usually make at least two pans in the first week of December...and we usually run out before Christmas, so I end up making more. These cookies freeze really well.

Brown Sugar Shortbread

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla


Prep the pan: lightly butter a shortbread mold or an 8-inch round pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
With an electric mixer, blend the butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Stir or blend in the flour and then the vanilla.

With your hands, lightly knead the dough until smooth. Press into the prepared pan. Prick the top of the shortbread with a fork, like this:

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees, until golden brown. (If in doubt, overbake it a little - you don't want the centre of the shortbread to be underdone.) Cool shortbread in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack and cut into wedges while still warm.

Note: You can also roll little balls of dough and press with a fork to slightly flatten. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or till golden brown.

granola

A friend and I were recently having a conversation about breakfast, and how we both have a favourite breakfast food that we want to eat every single day. For me, that food is granola. 

I don't like my granola to be too sweet (even though I love sweet treats, as you can see from the recipes on this blog!). A lot of grocery store granola is way too sweet for me. Or else it's dry and tasteless. Or it has too much oil. I started making my own but it took a while to get the hang of it.

I think this recipe is going to be my go-to recipe from now on. This takes about 5 minutes to toss it all together and then you just spread it out on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for about 40 minutes.

Granola
Adapted from The Kitchn

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats 

1 cup unsalted cashews

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the oats, cashews, seeds, salt, cinnamon and cardamon together in a large bowl. Stir to combine. (Don't put in the dried fruit yet! It goes in after you bake it.)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Pour over the oat mixture and stir thoroughly.

Turn the granola out onto a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the mixture is light brown and toasty. Stir every 15 minutes or so for an even color and to make sure the granola is cooking evenly.

Remove from the oven and add the chopped dried fruit. Stir to combine.

Let cool completely. The granola will continue cooking just a bit in the cooling process — it will firm up/dry out, so if it seems a little too wet don't worry.

Store in an airtight container. 

*I like to eat my granola with a few spoonfuls of Greek yogurt and some fresh fruit - usually berries but chunks of banana or peaches are also good. Or you could just eat it with milk.

double chocolate cheesecake with salted caramel sauce

For those who love chocolate...and cheesecake...and caramel...this recipe is truly, seriously good.

Double chocolate cheesecake
Adapted from Anna & Michael Olson Cook at Home

Brownie layer:
 
1 cup butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9x13-inch glass baking dish.

Melt the butter and pour into a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the cocoa, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add flour mixture to the cocoa mixture and whisk until blended. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for about 18-20 minutes or just until the brownie is set in the middle. Let cool completely before adding cheesecake layer.


Cheesecake layer:

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 packages of cream cheese (250g each), at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream

Melt the chocolate, either in a double boiler (bowl set over pan of simmering water) or in the microwave (watch it carefully). Set aside.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until well blended.  Pour in the whipping cream and beat on high speed until thickened. Pour in the melted chocolate and quickly mix until thoroughly blended. Pour cheesecake filling on top of the cooled brownie layer. Chill in the fridge at least 2 hours. Cut into squares and drizzle with Salted Caramel Sauce.

Salted Caramel Sauce

adapted from Simply Recipes

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

6 tbsp butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

sea salt, to taste (optional)

Get all the ingredients ready before you start. This will be quick! In a 3-quart pot, over medium-high heat, melt sugar with 1/2 cup water. Don't stir it. Let it come to a boil, and let it keep on boiling until you begin to see it turning brown. It might turn brown in spots; that's okay. Don't stir it. You can gently swirl the pot to prevent any possible burning. 

As soon as the sugar has all turned brown, add the butter and stir. Remove from the heat. Pour in the cream, stirring carefully - the mixture will bubble up quite a bit. Stir in the vanilla and the salt, if you like. Pour into a glass container or jar. Caramel will thicken as it cools. Keeps in the fridge for a week or two.