Funfetti Cupcakes

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

My passion for rainbows draws me to colorful foods.  I think I found these on foodgawker.com a while back, and they are so, so cute.  Who knew that simple nonpareils could turn a simple vanilla cupcake into a rainbow treat for the eyes?   Well, I guess Jessica of How Sweet It Is did. 

I like this recipe not only for the sprinkles, but also because it's a recipe that makes only 12 cupcakes.  These cupcakes are quite a bit more dense than the ones you make from a box, but they're moist, tender, and tasty.  Worth the extra effort, for sure.  And if you're wondering if they have a crunchy texture due to the nonpareils, they don't.  The sprinkles melt into the cupcake leaving just the color.
You'll see in the pics that I have some round and some heart-shaped cupcakes.  I couldn't really figure out a cute way to frost the heart-shaped cupcakes, so I only have unfrosted pics of those.  If anyone has suggestions on how to frost heart-shaped cupcakes beautifully, please share your insight.  Frosting is not one of my strong suits.

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

        --adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon King Arthur Flour Cake Enhancer (optional)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup rainbow nonpareils+ more for top of frosting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Fold in assorted sprinkles.

Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool, then frost.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cute heart-shaped pan.  These were over-filled by the way.

Cinnamon Crispas

Simple Cinnamon Crispas

I've decided to try posting some very basic foods that I cook but that I don't normally think of posting.  I tend to take these sorts of things for granted, that ANYone could think of making them, but perhaps that's just not true.  These Cinnamon Crispas are a quick, easy sweet treat that I'll make sometimes to have after a good Mexican meal, like my Chile Colorado Burritos or Carne Asada.  They're really super good with some deep-fried ice cream, but I don't even attempt to do that.  I leave it for the Mexican restaurants and Paula Deene.  

I think these are actually called buñuelos in Mexican cuisine, but I always think of them as Cinnamon Crispas, as in that tasty, crispy dessert they used to serve at Taco Bell in the 1980s.  It's probably one of the simplest desserts, short of buying a pack of Oreos. They're just flour tortillas (new or past their prime--not too far, though), cut into wedges, fried in hot canola oil and then shaken in cinnamon sugar.  

Thin tortillas produce crisper crispas; thicker tortillas produce crispy chewy crispas, which is what I like.  

Cinnamon Crispas

Ingredients:

• 2 large flour tortillas (or more)
• 1 inch of canola oil in a large frying pan
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Equipment:

• the large frying pan mentioned above
• a sturdy medium to large brown paper bag
• 2 tongs (one for frying, one for retrieving crispas from paper bag)
• paper towels
• large plate
• a sharp knife or pizza cutter

Instructions:

Heat oil in frying pan over medium-high heat.  You can either check the temp with a thermometer (ready at 375 degrees) or put in a little piece of tortilla when you think it's ready.  I use the little tortilla method.  Actually, I like to put a little piece of tortilla in the oil pretty early on and when I see/hear it frying, I figure the oil is ready.  Don't let it get too hot, though.

While oil heats, cut tortillas into eighths, like you'd cut a pizza.  

Place cinnamon and sugar in the paper bag, close top, and lightly shake to mix.  Set aside.

When oil is hot, fry 4-5 wedges at a time, turning a time or two until both sides are a deep golden brown.  Remove with tongs to paper bag with the cinnamon-sugar.  Close top and shake gently.  Remove with the second pair of tongs and place crispas on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.  Repeat with remaining tortilla wedges.

Makes 8 reasonable servings, or 2 very unreasonable ones...you get the idea.

I cut these tortillas into cute flower shapes
to go with my fried ice cream.

Gooey Brownies w/ Dove Chocolate Chunks

Ooey Gooey Brownies w/ Dove Chocolate Chunks & Pecans

Ooey Gooey Brownies w/ Dove Chocolate Chunks

This recipe is one version of my very favorite brownie recipe that came from a Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate can.  I usually make them with frosting, but tonight, I decided rather late in the game that I would make brownies for our guests, and I don't necessarily like these brownies with NOTHING on top.  I mean, come on, a naked brownie just isn't decadent enough is it?  So, since I always have Dove Dark Chocolate Promises on hand, I chopped up a few and threw them on top to act as a frosting.  We'd be eating them warm anyway.  Then, because many of us love nuts with our brownies, I added nuts to half of the pan.  In the photo, you will notice that I place the nuts on TOP of the brownies.  I do this for two reasons: #1 It allows me to only have half of a pan of brownies with nuts because I'm always trying to please everyone and #2 When the nuts are on top, they get crisp and toasty, which adds another couple of dimensions to an already fantastic brownie experience.
Ghirardelli purists might think it heretical of me to mix the Ghirardelli ground chocolate with Dove chocolate, but it works, and these brownies were a hit.  They were actually too gooey for my taste, so I stuck to the edges.  If you like dryer, cakier brownies, this is not your recipe, but if you like them really fudgy and gooey, this is the ticket.  Just be sure to brew a nice pot of fresh coffee or have a significant amount of fresh milk on hand when you eat these.  They are rich.

Ooey Gooey Brownies w/ Dove Chocolate Chunks (and nuts)


Ingredients:

• 2 eggs @ room temp. 
• ½ cup sugar 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract 
• ½ cup butter, melted & cooled 
• 1 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate
• 2/3 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 12-14 Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, chopped into big chunks
• 1/4-1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional) 

Instructions:Preheat oven to 350°F. Using a spoon, stir eggs with sugar and vanilla. Add melted butter. In a separate bowl, mix the ground chocolate with flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture. Spread evenly into a buttered 8” pan (or a pan lined with parchment paper or non-stick foil). Sprinkle chocolate chunks evenly over the top and press lightly with the palm of your hand. If you're adding nuts to half or all of the pan, sprinkle those on too and gently press.  Bake 25-29 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out relatively clean. (I might even let them go to about 32 minutes.) Allow to cool. Cut into squares. Makes 16-20 brownies.

This is the can you're looking for.  It's usually close to the cocoa powder in the store.

Bite Size Banana Cream Pie

Bite-Size Banana Cream Pie made with instant pudding

These were made with homemade vanilla pudding.  See recipe below.

So, the staff at the school I work at decided to have a "Souper Bowl" party today, to which I decided to take my delicious Chicken Pot Pie Soup.  As usual, I overdid it on the pie crust pieces that are served with the soup.  I brought home almost a full recipe of pie crust because I had doubled it.  I ALSO happened to have some vanilla pudding in the fridge because I made Nanaimo Bars for the fourth graders I teach, and my son wanted to make pudding out of the leftover vanilla pudding powder.  Of course, I always have bananas and heavy cream in my house, so I decided to see what would happen if I put all of these items together into cute bite-sized banana cream pie.  They're actually more like two bites of banana cream pie, but they're so cute, and so yummy.  I don't know if I'll ever make them again, and the recipe is my best guess at amounts.  If nothing else, perhaps this will inspire me and others to try other bite-size versions of pies with leftover pie crust. 

*Update 3/11/12: The Bite Size Chocolate Cream Pies were a success.
*Update 4/7/12: Bite Size Coconut Cream Pies also a success.
*Update 4/30/12: Three Bite Chocolate French Silk Pies are a tie with these banana cream pie bites for my favorite of the bite size pies.

Bite Size Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 small box instant vanilla pudding
• 1 3/4 cups cold milk (a little less if you're using skim milk)
• 2-3 bananas, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream*
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 batch of pie crust (see recipe below)

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, whisk vanilla pudding mix and cold milk for 2 minutes.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  (I'm not sure how long.  Mine refrigerated overnight.)
Whip heavy cream and powdered sugar into stiff peaks.
Using either a pastry bag with an open star tip, or using a zip-top bag with  about 1/4 inch of a corner cut off, pipe about half a teaspoon of chilled pudding onto each pie crust piece.  
Place a slice of banana on top of the dab of pudding.  Then squeeze about 1 1/2 teaspoons of pudding onto each banana slice.
Refrigerate the pies while you prep the whipped cream into another pastry bag (or the same one with the tip washed), and then pipe about 1 1/2 teaspoons of whipped cream onto each pie.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  
Makes...um...I'm not sure, but I'd guess about 3 dozen bite-size pies.
*You can also use stabilized whipped cream instead of the whipped cream and powdered sugar, if you want them to stay pretty longer.

Homemade Vanilla Pudding (I prefer the boxed stuff for this recipe, but if you're a purist, you might want to use this instead.)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium size saucepan.  Add milk and cream and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.  Pour a spoonful amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; blend thoroughly.  Add about 1/3 of the milk mixture to the egg yolks, then pour back into the saucepan.  Cook another 2 or 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla.  Cover with plastic wrap and press plastic against the 
custard.  Refrigerate until completely chilled.

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

(Note: you can also use store-bought refrigerated pie crust)

• 1 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons Crisco
• 3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons ice cold water
• flour for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut 4 T butter into flour until it looks like coarse meal, and then cut in Crisco until well blended. Add ice cold water and stir with fork. Then use your hands to gently work the dough into a ball.  Flour a rectangular sheet of wax paper, place dough ball in the middle, flour the ball, and cover with another rectangular sheet of wax paper. Roll dough out to a thickness of about 1/8”.  With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough roughly into 1.5”x 1.5” squares.  You can also be creative and use cookie cutters to make cute shapes.

Place dough pieces on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Prick each piece a few times with a fork.  Bake at 400°F for 11-13 minutes, or until browned on the edges.   Remove from oven. Cool completely before using for bite-size pies.

Bite Size Banana Cream Pie

Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Whipped Cream Frosting

Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Whipped Cream Frosting

Believe it or not, I don't get invited to very many friends' houses to have dinner.  Really.  It's true.  I don't know if it's Iowa culture not to have people over for dinner, or if my kids are more offensive that I perceive them to be, but in the last year, I can count on one hand how many times we've been asked over for dinner.  That might be obnoxious to put in writing on my blog, and I know if any of my friends read this, I'm either going to get grief, or some invitations to dinner, but it's the truth.  Yeah, go ahead and tell me that I "intimidate you" with my cooking.  Whatever.  If you had invited me over, I would have brought this.  As a matter of fact, Elaine has invited us over, and I made this fantabulous chocolate cake for the occasion.  So there.  I also made some outstanding banana cream puffs for Karen because she had us over for dinner too.  Come to think of it, Karen is from New York, and I need to have the Kennedys over because they've had us over twice...and we went.  And Karen's food was delicious.

At any rate, this is just chocolate cake with a simple cocoa whipped cream.  It's a deceptively light chocolatey creamy way to enjoy some yummy chocolate cake.   

I'm still working on my food photography here, so I expect this pic to change.  Maybe even several times today.  I just can't seem to get it right.  Actually, the day I made this cake, I also got a message from a Facebook friend who inadvertently got me started food blogging.  Anyway, she needed me to make some cupcakes for her photographer friend to shoot.  I ended up meeting this guy who gave me some great tips on food photography.  Sorry, though, Richard, I'm a slow learner.  At least this pic is an improvement upon the pic I took of the piece that fell in the snow last night when I was trying to make use of what little light was left at 5:00.  I will be going out to get a tripod and sheer fabric later this week.  My "part-time" job and family duties are constantly getting in the way of my food blogging.  
*Update on the photo: the top photo here actually made it onto foodgawker.com.  Go figure.

Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Whipped Cream Frosting

• 1 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa (or use 1/2 cup ground unsweetened cocoa powder and increase the total amount of sugar below to 1 1/4 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons King Arthur Flour Cake Enhancer (optional)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup butter, softened (that's 10 2/3 tablespoons)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cocoa Whipped Cream (recipe below)

Cake Instructions
: 

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  

Prepare two 8" x 1 1/2" round cake pans by spraying with non-stick cooking spray and then lining with parchment or wax paper circles.  

Into a mixer bowl fitted with a whisk attachment (or in a large mixing bowl if you're using a hand mixer), sift flour with ground chocolate, cake enhancer, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. 

Add butter and 3/4 cup buttermilk. Beat on low speed to combine ingredients. Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on low-medium speed for 2 minutes. 

Add 1/4 cup buttermilk, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat additional 2 minutes.  

Spread batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350ºF for 30 to 35 minutes. 

Cool on racks for 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pans.

When cakes are cool, cut each one in half so you have four cake layers.  Place one layer on a serving plate and spread with about 3/4 cup cocoa whipped cream.  Repeat with other layers, and then frost the top and sides.  Sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles or shaved chocolate, if desired.

Cocoa Whipped Cream Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons hot tap water
• 3 cups cold heavy whipping cream

Cocoa Whipped Cream Instructions: In mixer bowl with a wire whisk attachment (or in a tall mixing bowl, if you're using a hand mixer), mix cocoa, sugar & hot water, mixing to form a paste.  Allow to cool before adding cream.  Add cream and start mixing on low to incorporate cream into cocoa paste.  Stop the mixer and scrape the bowl.  Mix on high until stiff peaks form.

Whole Chocolate Cake with Cocoa Whipped Cream Frosting

Oatmeal Cookies with Blueberry Craisins

Oatmeal Cookies with Blueberry Craisins

In an attempt to make my ideal oatmeal raisin cookie, I've gotten sidetracked because in my cupboard next to the raisins is the bag of Blueberry Craisins that I bought with the intention of using in some orange blueberry scones.  Well, that  hasn't happened yet, so I thought these nifty little blueberry infused Craisins would really be great in an oatmeal cookie.  So I did it.  And they ARE delicious.  
I based this cookie on the Shakespeare Oatmeal Cookies that I've blogged about, which are pretty sweet.  They have a nice chewy texture, though, with nice crisp edges.  The blueberry burst you get when you bite into them is nice and unique.  I think I'll be making these again.

Oatmeal Cookies with Blueberry Craisins

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp  ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup Blueberry Craisins

Instructions:

Sift flour, salt, soda, & spices together.  Stir in oats.

Cream butter, shortening, & sugars.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients and blend well. Stir in Blueberry Craisins (Note: I took a few moments to separate the Craisins that were stuck together before adding them to the dough.)  Refrigerate dough for at least two hours or overnight. 

Preheat oven to 350°.  Form dough into walnut-sized balls and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool on wire rack.

Makes about 4 1/2 to 5 dozen cookies.

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet.  It's a staple in my house, so I guess I just assumed I'd posted the recipe.  Here it is now.
I first tasted baked potato soup at a restaurant in Portland, Oregon.  It was the best soup I'd ever tasted, but at that point in my life, I wasn't much of a soup maker, so I didn't even consider that I could make something that delicious at home.
When I found Allrecipes.com, I decided to look for a baked potato soup, and I happened upon a recipe titled "Restaurant Quality Baked Potato Soup."  I made it, and that was that.  Surprisingly, it was the exact soup I remembered from Portland.  It was almost too easy, but I'll take easy.  I don't normally find exactly what I'm looking for.  I mean, who really ever does?
This soup is thick and creamy, very well seasoned, and sticks to your ribs.  The original recipe called for discarding the potato skins, but I like to put some chopped up skins in the bottom of my bowl.  Then when I stir in all the toppings, the skins get mixed in and give the already hearty soup even more heartiness and texture, not to mention more nutrition.  
So, the next time you're faced with a cold winter day and a hankering for some potato soup, try this recipe.  It will not disappoint you.

Baked Potato Soup

   Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 medium baking potatoes
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped white onion
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups instant mashed potato flakes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 8 ounces bacon - cooked and crumbled (or a jar of bacon bits)
• 2 green onions, chopped 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake potatoes for 1 hour, or until done. Set aside to cool.

2. Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Saute onions until tender and golden brown. Sprinkle onions with pepper, basil and thyme, and stir. Stir in flour, and cook 5 minutes to make a roux. Pour in chicken stock and water, stirring constantly at first so as not to get lumps. Add salt,cornstarch and mashed potato flakes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the skin from the cooled potatoes, and set aside.  Dice the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes, and stir into soup, along with the half-and-half. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until thick. Spoon into bowls, and garnish with shredded cheese, bacon, chopped potato skins, and chopped green onion.

Makes about 5 servings.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies--Fluffy Type

Fluffy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I saw a picture of these cookies on Pinterest, I think, and thought they look just like the delicious oatmeal raisin cookies at KFC.  The think I love about the oatmeal raisin cookies at KFC is that they are really sweet, chewy, and the raisin flavor is confined to the raisins.  It's not like the whole cookies is raisin flavored, which is fine in some cookies, but I like this one.
Unfortunately, this recipe is not exactly what I was looking for, but I think I kind of knew it wouldn't be when I started out.  The recipe doesn't call for as much sugar as a typical cookie recipe, so I thought it might need more sugar.  Next time I make these I will probably be adding another quarter cup, and I'll also cut back on the flour, because even the cookies that were underbaked when I pulled them out of the oven turned out fluffy in the middle.  And now that I think of it, I didn't follow the instructions as far as the order of mixing the ingredients.  I suppose that could be part of my problem here.
These cookies taste good.  Don't get me wrong; they just aren't quite what I was going for.  You know, the elusive cookie recipe that is probably distorted in my memory.  I have so many of those.
So, these cookies are what I would describe as fluffy, soft, and moderately sweet.

Fluffy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
   adapted from Get Off Your Butt and Bake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Crisco
• 1 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 

Instructions:

Place raisins and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together oatmeal, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set aside.

Cream together butter, Crisco, and sugar.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended.  Mix in raisins and their liquid until raisins are evenly distributed in the dough.

Scoop dough into tablespoon sized blobs and place on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until done.  Allow cookies to cool on sheet for a couple of minutes and then move them to a wire cookie rack to cool completely.

Inside the fluffy oatmeal raisin cookie.