Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

This summer is busy.  Right now I am writing this post next to the pool-- sounds great, right? In reality I am watching a 5 year old swim class that C is taking, so it's not as cool as it sounds. :) We've been so occupied that June has flown by, which is good and bad-- we are all happy with the fun things we've been doing but it's hard to believe that summer is almost halfway over!

Of course, one of the things I love about summer is having all my family in town for the Fourth of July-- and trying all kinds of new recipes for them. I made these baby cakes this week for the first time. They are so cute! It's nice too because everyone gets their own cherry, which is always the best part of pineapple upside down cake. The hardest part of this recipe is getting the cupcakes out of the pan-- I would recommend running a sharp knife around the edges or using a toothpick to loosen up edges before you flip the pan-- otherwise they stick, and you ending up flinging them all over the kitchen on accident (not that I did that or anything). 

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

From 128 St Johns: http://www.128johnst.com/blog/pineapple-upside-down-cupcake

Makes 12 cupcakes 

Ingredients: Batter

6 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk 

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

Ingredients: Topping

6 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

12 maraschino cherries

12 rings of canned pineapple 

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cupcake pan with cooking spray- be sure you get all the surfaces of each well. 

In the prepared pan, place 1/2 Tbsp butter and 1Tbsp brown sugar. Put the pan in the oven as it heats-- allow the butter to melt (about 5 min). Remove from oven and set aside. 

Place 6 Tbsp of butter and the milk in a small saucepan. Warm over medium heat until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool. 

In the cupcake pan, place a cherry in the middle of each well, then arrange a pineapple ring around the cherry. You will probably have to cut the ring to make it fit in the bottom of the cupcake well. Push the cherry and the pineapple lightly to the bottom of the cupcake well. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. 

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. 

Alternate adding the warm milk/butter and the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary and beat until smooth. 

Divide the batter between the cupcake wells-- this batter was very thin, so I put it in a liquid measuring cup and poured it into the wells. They will be very full, but it's ok-- the cake doesn't rise a whole bunch. 

Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. 

Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pans for 5-7 minutes, then run the edge of a sharp knife around the edge of each cake, or use a toothpick to loosen the edges. Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack or other flat surface. 

Watermelon Sorbet

Hello friends! It's been awhile. It's also been a pretty crazy year. We have been busy bees around here. 

I ran my first half marathon. C played on a successful baby soccer team. And we had two graduations: I finished my masters and C finished VPK. Not pictured: the ridiculous and expensive and unnecessary hospitalizations (one each for me and the husband), the Teacher of the Year award I won, and my husband's pie for running a 5K in under 20 minutes. He's inhuman. 

But none of that is food-related-- and  that's why you're here. So: watermelon sorbet. It's very sweet-- sweeter than I imagined-- and also pretty low-calorie (about 88 calories for half a cup). In a shocking turn of events, it actually tastes like watermelon-- and not the fake watermelon, either. Like a super cold watermelon that's been sitting in the fridge for a long time. It's easy to put together too, which is nice. I definitely recommend it for these hot summer nights-- and I bet it would be excellent for the 4th!

Watermelon Sorbet

(From David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop)

3 cups watermelon "juice" 

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Watermelon juice: Remove watermelon flesh from rind and remove seeds. Chop and purée approximately 3 cups of watermelon in a food processor. This should give you about 3 cups of "juice". Remove any hard chunks of runs that may be in the juice. 

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat about 1/2 cup of the juice, the sugar, and the salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir the sugared juice into the remaining 2 1/2 cups of watermelon juice. Mix in lime juice. 

Cover and chill thoroughly; freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. 

So-- I am going to try not to go MIA again for a year. I was definitely in the kitchen making some cool stuff and now I am sad I didn't get to document it and share it with you. Hopefully things will stay slightly more sane this year...but I certainly am not counting on it. :)

Snickerdoodle Brownies (Dairy-Free)

In about two hours, I'm supposed to go running.  I reaaaaally don't want to.  Really really really really.  It's hot.  I tweaked my ankle at the beach today.  I'm tired and sore from yesterday's workout.  All I really want to do is sit and gawk at Pinterest.  And then watch True Blood and gawk at Eric.  Sitting and gawking are all I really feel up to right now.  But I'm going to go.  I'll hate every minute of it but I will go.  Because once it's over, I will feel glad that I did-- I always do.  You never really finish a workout and think, "Well, geez, I wish I hadn't done THAT."  :)

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The other reason I'm going is so that I can eat (at least) one of these snickerdoodle brownies.  As I've said before, cinnamon doesn't top the list of my favorite flavors, but husband and daughter love it, so I do more with cinnamon than I would on my own.  These smell fantastic, and I like that the base for the cookie has brown sugar in it.  The smell has me thinking about fall...maybe when I get home from my run, I will gawk at fall recipes on Pinterest while watching True Blood...

Snickerdoodle Brownies
(Adapted to be dairy-free from My Own Sweet Thyme)
Makes one 9x13 pan

2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup soy margarine*, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 Tbsps granulated sugar
2 tsps ground cinnamon

*I use Willow Run soy margarine to make this dairy-free.  You can also use butter here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth.  Add the dry flour ingredients to the butter/sugar and mix until incorporated.

Spread batter into prepared pan.  (This is a very sticky batter-- I had to fight with it a bit to get it spread evenly and into the corners of the pan.)  Combine the granulated sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl-- mix well.  Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the batter.  Bake for about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and place pan on a wire rack to cool.  While brownies are still warm, cut into squares.

Milky Way Brownies

I am distracted. 

Normally I am very good at multi-tasking.  In fact, I am a multi-tasking machine.  But not so much today. 

I decided I wanted to watch a movie.  I also wanted to get the blog updated with this recipe.  Usually doing both at the same time wouldn't be an issue, but the movie is totally capturing my attention.  So-- I am going to let the pictures and the recipe speak for themselves.  :)

Milky Way Brownies
(From My Baking Addiction)
Makes approximately 40 mini brownies

For the brownies:
3/4 cup butter, cubed
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
Approx 40 mini Mily Way candies, frozen for at least an hour

For the caramel sauce:
15 caramels (I used Kraft)
2 Tbsp heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray the wells of a mini muffin pan with Pam or other cooking spray.

Put the butter and chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat for 2-3 minutes on 50% power, until the butter is melted.  Stir thoroughly until chocolate is completely melted.

Add sugar, eggs, salt, and vanilla-- whisk until combined.  Gradually whisk in flour until just incorporated.

Spoon brownie batter into the wells-- approx 2 tsps.  Don't overfill the wells!  Press one Milky Way into each well-- press it down firmly, until the top is level with the batter, but don't worry about covering the candy with the batter.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set.

Let brownies cool, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

To make the caramel sauce, combine the unwrapped caramels and the heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl.  Heat for 30-second intervals on 50% power in the microwave, stirring after each interval (it took 4 30-second intervals in my microwave).  Stir until sauce is smooth.

Drizzle the caramel sauce over the cooled brownies and enjoy!

Mudslide Cupcakes

I just got back from Savannah, GA and let me tell you something-- those people know how to eat.  The food there is out of control.  I seriously gorged myself on Southern food and drink for about 48 hours straight.  We traveled with our good friends and had a fantastic time-- we stayed at a famously haunted inn, and I managed to scare the mess out of myself the first day, before we even walked into our room.  The story is that a broken-hearted girl threw herself out of an upstairs window and now haunts room 204, moving things around and generally being ghost-y.  So Joe and I end up in room 203-- literally right next door to the ghost room.  Wonderful.  So we climb the little stairs, turn the corner to our room, and that's when I see it.  There is SOMETHING IN THE WINDOW in the hallway.  I shriek and drop my bags and that's when I realize...it's a mannequin.  A really bad mannequin in a bad wedding dress and a worse wig, draped in the curtains.  That's what I am running from.  At this point Joe is laughing so hard that he can't unlock the door-- it was ridiculous.  Luckily, that's most supernatural experience that we had this weekend (although there were mysteriously falling cell phones in our friends' room)-- we devoted the rest of our time there to eating our way through Savannah.

Savannah is amazingly hospitable and full of wonderful places to eat and drink-- we have a new favorite from this trip, though.  It's called The Olde Pink House and it's literally some of the best southern food I've ever had.  And I grew up in Jacksonville and I have eaten my fair share of Southern cooking, so that's pretty high praise.  Anyway, that's our recommendation for food if you ever find yourself out that way.  :)  I also made my traveling companions stop and sample cupcakes at the bakeries-- I really had to twist their arms (ha ha).  There were some good ones, but husband and friends kept talking about these Mudslide cupcakes that I made right around the 4th of July.  I also promised some family that I would post the recipe for these, so now that I'm home, I finally have a minute to do it.  So here they are-- enjoy!

Mudslide Cupcakes
Makes about 22 cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes

(Recipe from Annie's Eats)

9 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup milk (either whole or 2%)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, blend the butter and sugar on medium-high speed, until fluffy (about 4-5 minutes).  Add the eggs one at a time-- scrape the bowl after you add each egg.  Combine the coffee and milk in a liquid measuring cup.

Add half the dry ingredients to the sugar/butter and mix until just incorporated.  Next, add the coffee-milk mixture and stir until combined-- the batter will look pretty runny at this point.  Add the remainder of the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.  Spoon batter into cupcake pans with liners-- you should make these no more than 3/4 full, because these cupcakes rise and dome very well-- you don't want them to overflow.  Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.  When cupcakes are cool, core them in preparation for filling. 

While these cupcakes cool, I make the ganache and the icing.

 

Kahlua Ganache

(Adapted from Joyofbaking.com)

5 ounces chocolate, chopped (I used semi-sweet for this recipe)

1/3 cup heavy cream

3-4 Tbsp Kahlua

Place chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring cream to a simmer.  Pour cream over chopped chocolate, add the Kahlua and let it sit for 5 minutes.  This is important!  Don't be impatient and try to stir too early (like I did the first few times I made ganache).  Then, whisk until smooth.  Let the ganache cool-- it will thicken a bit as it cools.  Fill the cupcakes with the cooled ganache.

 

Bailey's Buttercream

(Adapted from The Curvy Carrot)

 

2 sticks (16 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used clear for this)

5-6 Tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

 

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter.  Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.  Add three cups of the powdered sugar, one cup at a time-- beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl after each cup is added.  Add the Bailey's to taste (feel free to use more or less than what is listed in the recipe).  Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.  Transfer icing to another bowl and cover until ready to use.

 

Kahlua Buttercream

(From The Curvy Carrot)

 

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

3-4 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

4 Tbsp Kahlua

3 Tbsp hot coffee

 

In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the butter.  Add three cups of the powdered sugar, once cup at a time-- beat until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl after each cup is added.  Add the cocoa powder, Kahlua, and coffee and beat until smooth (make sure you start your mixer slowly here-- I definitely flung Kahlua and cocoa powder all over my kitchen). If necessary, add more powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. 

 

To ice the cupcakes:  I once again used the swirl method from GoodLife Eats, which you can access by clicking on the link (the highlighted name).  The description and instruction there is very clear and easy to follow-- I would just end up confusing you-- so check it out over there.  :)

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Life is good, friends.

It's summer.  We can go to the beach or the pool.  We can listen to summer music.  We can watch bad TV (because, let's face it, there's nothing else on).  We can grill every night. We can spend time with family.  We can celebrate our country with sparklers (what's better than sparklers?).  We can read silly books. We can travel.  In my mind, there's not much better than summer vacation.

I mention all these fun summer things because today is AP score day, so for AP teachers, it's almost like a day at work.  We get to see our students' performance on the test they took in May-- and at this remove, the AP scores can start to feel like a celebration or an indictment of our teaching this year.  It can be hard to remember that these results are a measure of the students, and not a measure of our own success as teachers.  However, it can be much easier to say (or write) those words than it is to believe them.  No matter what what the student scores look like, wonderful or abysmal, we get a fresh new crop of kiddos next year who will all benefit from our expertise-- no matter what we think this year's scores say about us, we are all good teachers and we deserve a chance to relax and recuperate this summer.  So, go do something summer-y. Or make these cheesecakes.  They are an excellent way to celebrate the successful completion of another school year as well as the new year we will be starting in August.

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes
(From Handle the Heat)

One package Oreo cookies (approx 42), 30 left whole, remainder coarsely chopped
4 8-oz packages cream cheese, slightly softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used the clear)
4 large eggs, room temp and lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Line 30 muffin cups with paper liners, and place one whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth.  Gradually add sugar, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Beat in vanilla.

Slowly add beaten eggs a little at a time, beating until combined.  Scrape bowl as necessary during this process.  Beat in sour cream until incorporated.  Stir in the chopped Oreo by hand.

Divide batter evenly between the 30 liners, filling each almost to the top.  Bake the cheesecakes for 20-22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.  Cool the cheesecakes completely on wire racks, then chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

I scored 1740 essays last week.

No, that's not a typo-- I spent the week in Louisville scoring AP essays for the class I teach and I scored almost two thousand essays in about 50 hours.  It's a lot, but it's really not as bad as it sounds-- although it's hard to convince people that I really don't mind doing it.  The worst part about it is that I'm away from home for 8 days, which is hard.  Being away this year was a blessing and a curse-- the last few weeks of school drove me out of my mind so it was good to get some distance, but I missed my family and my people.  I missed them A LOT.  That's not to say I don't have some pretty awesome people at the AP reading, but it's still hard to be away. 

I also missed my kitchen and being able to bake.  As I get older, I start to realize more and more things about myself-- one of which is that I am getting worse at sitting still and relaxing.  I am well aware of the fact that I'm type A and I'm pretty tightly wound-- but it seems like baking is just one more way to keep me up and doing things.  When did I become this person?  I honestly have no idea.  I will say that I infinitely prefer this hobby to something like, say, stamp collecting.  Or building model airplanes. At least everyone likes the outcome of my hobby.  At any rate, my book club seemed to really enjoy these cupcakes and loved the strawberry filling in the middle.  I personally love the icing-- it's the same consistency and flavor as melted strawberry ice cream.  Yummy. 

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
Makes approximately 28

Yellow Cupcakes
(From Smitten Kitchen)

4 cups plus 2 Tbps cake flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp table salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk*

*I made my own buttermilk for this-- 1 Tbsp vinegar for 1 cup of milk and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake pans with liners.  Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy.  Add vanilla and beat until combined.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping bowl after each addition.  Pour in the buttermilk and beat at low speed until incorporated-- it will look curdled, but that's OK.  Add flour mixture in three additions, beating after each addition until just incorporated.

Fill each liner approximately 2/3 full.  Bake for 16-20 minutes in preheated oven.  When removed from oven, let cupcakes cool for 5 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Once cool, core in preparation for filling (tutorial in the link).

Strawberry Filling

(From Wilton)

Makes about 2 cups of filling

1 16-oz package of frozen sliced strawberries

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp lemon juice

Thaw and drain strawberries, reserving liquid.  (I do this by letting the strawberries thaw in a strainer over a large liquid measuring cup.)  Add enough water to the strawberry liquid to equal 1 1/4 cup.  In a medium saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; mix well.  Heat over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and boils.  Cool completely, then stir in sliced strawberries.  Fill the cored cupcakes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Icing
(Inspired by Lemons and Anchovies)

1 stick unsalted butter
1 8-oz block of cream cheese
1 tsp clear vanilla extract
approximately 8 large strawberries, hulled and pureed
4-6 cups powdered sugar

In a food processor, puree the strawberries.  Be careful not to overdo it-- you want some smallish chunks, not just strawberry liquid.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese.  Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.  Mix in four cups of powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Add the strawberries and mix on low speed until just incorporated.  At this point, you may need to add another cup of the powdered sugar in order to thicken the icing and achieve the desired consistency.  Also, it may be helpful to put this icing in the refrigerator/freezer to firm a bit before you ice the cupcakes.

Once your icing has the consistency you wish, ice the cupcakes.  I would recommend doing this with an open tip, rather than a closed-- otherwise, bits of the strawberries will get stuck in the tip, which is annoying.  Store the cupcakes in the refrigerator.