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.

Lemon Cupcakes

It's Memorial Day weekend, which always seems like the unofficial start of summer to me.  It's also my husband's birthday weekend-- lucky him!  He never has to work on his birthday. These cupcakes were the first of his birthday baking-- he requested them as dessert for the tailgate we went to for the US-Scotland exhibition game that was played in Jacksonville last night.  (US won, by the way, 5-1.  It was awesome.)  So yesterday was gorgeous-- hot, sunny, and perfect summer weather.  Right now? Not so much.

As sunny as these cupcakes are, they do not reflect the current weather in Jacksonville.  We are in the midst of Subtropical Storm Beryl.  Wind, rain, storm surge-- this is what we have to look forward to for the remainder of our holiday weekend.  We are considering ourselves lucky so far, since we still have power and all of our trees are still standing and the limbs are all still attached-- for the moment, anyway.  Ah, the fun of living in Florida.  At least we get more sunshine than tropical storms, and great citrus fruit. I hope that your Memorial Day is drier than mine is!

Lemon Cupcakes
(Cake and icing recipes adapted from Wilton)
Makes 14-16 cupcakes

Lemon Cake:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (approximately-- this is really to taste)
1 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp fresh lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pan with liners.  In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon juice; beat until well-mixed.

Add flour and baking powder to butter mixture and beat for about 30 seconds.  Add lemon zest and beat for one more minute.  Fill liners about 2/3 full.  Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Ice with lemon buttercream (recipe below).

Lemon Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 tsp fresh lemon zest
4 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter until fluffy.  Add lemon juice and zest and beat until combined (don't worry if it looks a bit curdled).  Add sugar, one cup at a time; beat each cup until fully incorporated, scraping sides of bowl as needed.  If icing is dry when finished, add more lemon juice to achieve desired consistency. 



Blueberry Muffins

Summer is SO. CLOSE.  This is the first summer in a while that I won't be working-- I will actually have the summer off, almost completely (we won't talk about the week that I'll spend in Kentucky scoring AP essays).  I am so looking forward to the beach and dollar movies and the library and reading and the zoo...OK, well maybe not the zoo, but an extended time away from school is starting to sound better and better.  Since it's the end of the year, we are all starting to go a little crazy-- students AND teachers.  It can be hard to make the kiddos work when you don't actually feel like doing anything yourself, so the end of the year is one big long struggle against the temptation to do nothing.  Luckily, I'm teaching one of my favorite books-- The Great Gatsby.  It's always the last novel I teach, and between that and all the descriptions of summer in the book ("There was music from my neighbor's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whispering and the champagne and the stars..."), I am ready for the end of school.   

One of the other things that makes me think of the end of the year is meeting with my department to discuss our plans for next year.  We had that meeting today and I brought these muffins, which are really really yummy and really, really pretty.  One of the things that makes them so good is that you brown the butter before you mix it in, which gives the muffins a really rich taste.  I had a great time planning our next year with my people today-- I am feel so lucky to have such an energetic and excited group of people to work with-- so even though I am ready for the end of school, I am still excited about what we plan to do next year, which makes the summer even sweeter.

Blueberry Muffins

(From Joy the Baker)

Makes 12-15 muffins

For the Muffins:

7 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 cups blueberries

For the Topping:

3 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 1/2 Tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line at least one muffin pan with liners. 

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.  Don't leave it unattended-- it will start to foam and crackle, then small brown flecks will appear in the butter.  Once the flecks appear, the butter will cook down a little and turn a gold-ish brown color.  Once it reaches that color, remove it from the heat.

Combine milk, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla-- whisk until combined.  (If you have a large liquid measuring cup, it's a good idea to whisk these ingredients in that.)  Add the browned butter to this and mix until combined.  (NOTE:  These ingredients don't really "combine"-- the butter will probably sit on top of the rest.  Just give it a good stir before you add this to the dry ingredients.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Pour in the butter/milk mixture and stir to combine.  Gently fold in the blueberries.

Topping:  Combine all ingredients in a bowl and use your fingers, a fork, or a pastry cutter to combine until crumbly.  

Fill each liner about 2/3 full, then sprinkle generously with topping.  Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. 

Shortbread

This is my grandmother's shortbread recipe.  It's kind of a big deal for me to write this and put it out on the internet, but somehow I think she would approve.  My grandmother helped me to become the person I am today in countless ways-- many of which I am still realizing today.  One of the most significant things my grandmother did for me was to buy me books.  She bought me beautiful hardcover editions of Heidi, The Secret Garden, and Little Women, among others-- I read them over and over and over again.  I still have them and I'll be able to give them to my daughter in the next few years.  These books were my introduction to classic literature, to a subject that I love.  This has led me, in an indirect way, to teaching-- I want to share that same gift with my students.  Words and literature were always important to her and are to me as well-- so much so that there are pieces that I can't teach in class, because they remind me of her so forcibly that it's impossible for me to talk about them with my students without crying.  Dylan Thomas' s poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night," for example-- "Rage, rage against the dying of the light"?  It's too much for me. 

One of the other things my grandmother did for me was teach me how to bake and make candy-- we can all see where that has led!  My grandmother was many things, but accomplished baker is definitely chief among them.  Her shortbread is pretty legendary in my family-- she would make it at Christmastime, and it's become a holiday staple.  I started making it two years ago, mostly for my father.  Grandma Betty's shortbread is pretty traditional-- it's buttery, crumbly, and not terribly sweet.  It gets most of its sweetness from the chocolate on top.  It is amazing with coffee.  I'm sure you could do all kinds of interesting things with this base recipe-- different flavors, adding nuts, or playing with different toppings-- but I can't bring myself to do it.  To me, this recipe is pretty sacred.  :) 

Grandma Betty's Shortbread

2 cups sifted flour (NOTE: Do not pack the flour-- measure it after sifting it.)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of soft butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 large Hershey's bar (the kind in the foil inner wrapper)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  This will be the second sifting of the flour-- I was told by my mother, who was told by my grandmother, that this sifting is one of the most important parts-- so don't skimp on the second sift!

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, mix butter and sugar until very fluffy.  Mix the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar.

Refrigerate the dough until easy to handle-- just a few minutes in the refrigerator should do the trick.  Pat the dough evenly into the bottom of a 9x9x2 pan. 

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until shortbread is barely golden on the edges.  Cut it into shapes while still warm.  Let shortbread cool.

Melt the chocolate bar in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave-- stir until smooth and glossy.  Spread the melted chocolate over the cooled shortbread.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I have come to the realization that I am no longer cool.  (This statement presupposes that once, I actually was cool, but whatever.)  I am like the queen of the nerds these days...and yet I am strangely OK with this.  Do you need examples?  I speak Old English.  Like, the language that Beowulf was written in.  I love teaching my AP English class-- so much so that I spend a week every summer reading and scoring the exams.  I listened to MxPx in high school-- and I am still listening to them, which is basically the definition of uncool.  I geek out over new books.  I watch historical programs on TV (on Showtime, but still).  I would rather stay home and watch bad TV (like One Tree Hill) on a Saturday night than go out.  I bake for fun.  I have a blog. All of this is fine with me. 

I guess the baking part really isn't too uncool-- people love baked goods and are actually pretty impressed by them, so this hobby doesn't really add to my geek-dom.  These cupcakes are actually a request from little miss, who wanted something strawberry-- so these are also dairy-free, not that you can tell.  The cupcakes are cool-- even if their creator is not. :)

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Lemonade Cupcakes

(From The Cake Blog)

Makes about 24 cupcakes

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature*
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup lemonade powder mix (Country Time or similar)
1 cup milk**
3 Tbsp lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract

*I used Willow Run soy margarine

**I used unsweetened almond milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans with liners.  In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and lemonade powder-- whisk together. 

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, being sure to scrape the bowl after each addition.  Add the lemon juice and vanilla and mix until combined.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Fill the cupcake liners approximately 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling.

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.

The icing for these cupcakes is swirled strawberry and lemon buttercream (recipes for each below), which was much easier to do than I expected.  I used the tutorial on Good Life Eats (access through the link) to do this-- there are step-by-step instructions and pictures, all of which are much clearer than I could provide.  If you want to try the swirled icing, I highly suggest you take a look at the tutorial provided-- it's really good. :)

Lemon Buttercream

(From Wilton)

1/4 cup vegetable shortening (I used Crisco, but you can use all butter)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2-3/4 tsp lemon zest

2-3 cups powdered sugar

Cream together the butter and vegetable shortening in a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add lemon juice and zest and beat well.  Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition.  Beat well on edium speed until fluffy.  Add extra sugar or lemon juice until icing has reached desired consistency.

Strawberry Buttercream

(Adapted from Wilton)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable shortening (I used Crisco)

1/2 tsp clear vanilla extract

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup strawberry preserves

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and shortening until light and fluffy.  (Again, you can use all butter if you'd like.)  Add the vanilla and mix until combined.  Add sugar one cup at at a time-- beat well on medium speed, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl often.  (At this point, the icing will look dry.)  Add the strawberry preserves and beat until incorporated.  Add extra sugar or preserves until icing is the correct consistency.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

Core the cupcakes using the cone method.  Fill each cupcake with the cooled strawberry filling.  Frost the cupcakes-- see above for the swirled method and link to the tutorial.  Eat and enjoy!

 

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Monograms

This spring has been crazy busy-- even crazier than usual.  I expect a certain level of insanity this time of year-- prepping my students for the AP, doing my own final papers for my spring class, chaperoning prom, all accompanied by a general desire to start the summer, which means I stay up way too late reading or doing something slightly less productive, like watching The Borgias with Ana.  This year I've added the unenviable task of being in charge admitting the 8th graders to the AP program in my high school, along with various other AP tasks. Also, little miss has started her first season of soccer, which means practice and games twice a week, which is SO. CUTE-- but it adds up. So, needless to say (although I just did), I am swamped.  "Psychotically busy" is probably the best way to describe it. 

Because of this, I have developed a bad habit of thinking that doing any activity that isn't immediately associated with school (either the school I teach at or my graduate work) is wasting my time.  So all the things I enjoy doing, like reading, spending time with family and friends, catching up on bad TV, going to the beach, taking a nap, baking, blogging, listening to music, idly looking at Pinterest, etc-- all those things that keep me sane-- all those things have become unproductive in my brain and I feel guilty for doing them.  So my resolution for the rest of this spring is, at the end of the day, to review all the things I did accomplish, not the things I left undone.  For example, today my school bag stayed in my car.  However, I did watch cartoons with little miss this morning.  I got to go to lunch with my husband and little miss.  We all went grocery shopping together.  I took a nap (which was amazing).  I finished reading The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt.  I read more of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to little miss.  And now I am (finally) updating this blog.

Looking at my life this way makes me much happier.  You should try it.  :)

How to Make Cupcake Monograms
From ohcupcakes! via Pinterest

Ingredients:
4-6 blocks of Candy-Quik (I used vanilla)
Round multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles

These are actually very easy-- I was shocked.  I don't have a very steady hand, and any attempts I have made at decorations prior to this have been disastrous.  But these turned out great!  One of the things that helped was the fact that I printed guide sheets to trace for all the decorations I wanted to create-- letters and flowers in this case. 

Prep the tracing area-- place your printed guide sheets on cookie sheets, then cover the guide sheets/cookie sheets with waxed paper.

Melt the Candy-Quik in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave according to the directions on the package.  When warm and smooth, transfer the Candy-Quik to a pastry bag with a round tip (I used a Wilton #7 tip) or a baggie with a small part of a corner cut off.  Trace the printed guide sheets with the melted Candy-Quik.  While the Candy-Quik is still soft, sprinkle the letters/shapes with the round non-pareil sprinkles.  Let the monograms harden-- you can speed this process by refrigerating them. 

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes
(From Annie's Eats)
Makes 24+ cupcakes

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
16 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs (room temperature)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (I made my own-- directions here)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans.  In a medium bowl, combine and whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the same bowl.  Beat the butter and vanilla bean seeds on medium-high until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for another minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.  (I know, I know-- this part is annoying, but it makes a difference.  Just take the time to do it.)  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated.  Scrape the sides after each addition of egg.  Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry-- be sure to mix each addition only until just incorporated.  When finished, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for an additional 15 seconds.

Fill each liner approximately 2/3 of the way full.  You will probably have extra batter-- I made about 12 mini cupcakes to go along with the 24 full-size cupcakes.  Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool the cupcakes in the pans for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
(Adapted from Wilton)

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract (I use the clear, artificial stuff for this-- it keeps the color very white, and there's something about the taste of it in this frosting...(
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter.  Add the vanilla to the butter, mixing until incorporated.  Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, scraping the sides after each addition.  Add milk and beat until frosting achieves desired consistency-- you may end up using more or less milk, depending on your frosting.  Frost cupcakes.

My cupcakes were for a girl's baby shower, soI tinted my icing pink with Wilton icing gel color and then frosted them using a pastry bag and a Wilton 1M tip.  I added the monograms at the end.