Quick Update

Oh my god! I cannot believe that I haven't posted anything here since October! Time does pass by fast!

Anyway, I'll just do a quick show and tell of what I've been doing lately and if anyone's interested in a particular recipe, just ask for it.

Carrot-Pumpkin Cupcakes. It's like I'm obsessed with that combination, but these were very different because the had walnuts and coconut and were extremely moist. So moist that they would break apart while eating it. Got the recipe from verybestbaking.com


Chocolate on Chocolate Cupcakes with Pepermint Bark Garnish. I made them for my brother because he's very picky, and almost never eats my cupcakes. They were good, if you are a chocoholic. Got the recipe from A Baker's Field Guide for Cupcakes by Dede Wilson.


Pumpkin and mascarpone pie. It was a good pie, I've had better, but it was good. What made this pie good was the mascarpone whipped cream topping, which would be awesome on top of some cupcakes. I don't remember where I got the recipe, I just have it written down in one of my recipe notebooks.


Butter Pecan Ice Cream. Making ice cream is easy, but not as easy as I thought it would be, but it was totally worth it. It was creamy, rich and full of flavor, the pecans added a salty note to the ice cream. Eating store bought ice cream will never be the same after this ice cream. Got the recipe from http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com

Open Face Breakfast Sandwich

I got this recipe from Domino Magazine, it quick and easy for lazy mornings when you don't really want to cook, but don't want to eat cold cereal again for the millionth consecutive time.

Egg Benedict for a Crowd
Makes:12

non-stick cooking spray
12 slices Canadian Bacon
12 eggs
6 English muffins, split
6 tablespoons butter, softened
chives, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375F. Put two 6-cup silicon muffin trays on a baking sheet (I used regular sized tin muffin pans) and coat well with cooking spray. Crack an egg into each muffin cup, cover each egg with a slice of Canadian Bacon. Butter the English muffin and place the buttered-side down on top of the bacon. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 5 minutes. Cover mufin pan with a plate (I used a baking sheet) and flip over, remove muffin pan. Spoon with the Bernie Sauce and sprinkle with the chives.

Bernie Sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Mix together the mayonaisse, mustard, pepper and lemon.

Pumpkin-Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese-Ginger Frosting

I've been dying to bake pumpkin cupcakes since August, I've been constantly searching for a can of pumpkin in the supermarkets, but I was told by a clerk that "canned pumpkin is only available during the Thanksgiving season". I don't get it, what's the point of canning food if it's only going to be available when in season? Maybe people don't buy canned pumpkin in this island util November, but still that pumkin is gonna stay edible at least two years from when it was first canned.
Anyway, so at last I got me some pumpkin and did the cupcakes, using as base a Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cupcakes from Simply Recipes. I really love the way they turned out, when you eat them you taste the spices and the sublte flavor of the pumpkin followed but the nice after taste of the carrots and walnuts. The cream cheese with the ginger compliments the spiciness of the cupcake. The candies on top are chocolate covered ginger. I've got to say that I'm actually very proud of this cupcakes.



Pumpkin-Carrot Cupcakes
Makes:17

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger, ground
1/8 teaspoon cloves, ground
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1/2 cup buttermilk
½ cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup carrot, shredded

-Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream the butter, brown sugar, molasses and honey, until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add one at a time, the eggs, then the pumpkin and vanilla; beat until incorporated.
-In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and the spices. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively to the pumpkin batter. Add the walnuts and carrot stirring until just combined.
-Pour into paper lined cupcake pans, filling close to the tops (I used an ice cream scoop) and bake 18 minutes or until done. Let cool completely.

Cream Cheese-Ginger Frosting

8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons ginger spread
-In the bowl of an electric mixer, put the cream cheese, ginger spread, butter and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth. Refrigerate 30 minutes if too soft.

Naranja Cupcakes

In Puerto Rico oranges are called chinas, in the rest of latinamerica oranges are naranjas, but in Puerto Rico naranjas are bitter oranges that I don't have a clue what they would be called in english. Some think we call the oranges chinas because they would arrive to the ports in boxes that said "made in china", but this theory to me sounds kinda made up. The naranjas are not eaten in Puerto Rico, only the zest and pith are used to make dulce de naranja, a kind of preserve cooked in heavy syrup for a few hours. But I decided to use them for something something other than the dulce de naranja! For I don't think it's fair for the poor fruit to be tossed away... yes, I made cupcakes with them. I used a Seville Orange recipe from Dressing for Dinner with a few changes. The result was a bitter sweet combination, a soft dense cake with a hint of citrus paired with a strong sweet and sour icing.



Naranja Cupcakes
Makes:12

1/4 Lb sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 Lb self-raising flour
2 eggs
3 teaspoons naranja juice
1 1/2 teaspoons naranja zest
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F, line a muffin tin with paper liners. In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment mix the butter and sugar until soft and creamy. Then add the eggs one at a time until it's all blended. Slowly add the flour in three additions alternating with the milk and vanilla, ending with the flour. Divide the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before icing.

Naranja Icing

1 stick unsalted butter
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup naranja juice
2 tablespoons orange zest

Cream the butter, then add 2 cups confectioners' sugar and mix. Add the naranja juice, zest and remaining cup of sugar; mix until all is well blended. Ice the cooled cupcakes

Childhood memories

Recently I went to visit my grandma at her farm in Aguas Buenas. There still a few fruit trees from when my grandpa used to work the land, he was a farmer. There used to be hundreds of banana and plantain trees, acerolas (caribbean cherries), guanabanas, limes, a huge mango tree, even papaya trees and oranges. I remember he even had a corn field from which he would kee some of the cobs. He used to dry them in the sun adn then he would toast them with sugar and out them in banana leaves to cool; I don't know how I never broke a tooth eating those things. My brother, my cousins and me would pick the limes from the tree and make lime juice after a long day playing in the farm and sometimes my grandpa would get coconuts from the coconut trees and serve us coconut water, I used to love to sit with a spoon and scrape the sweet white flesh from the coconuts insides. After lunch I would go with my grandma to the chicken coop, where I would help her get the eggs the chickens had layed before they began eating them (I think they get jealous from one another and try to destry each others eggs). Coffee! I miss picking coffee on the afternoons with grandma; she would place them outside to dry in the sun, then peel it in the pilon (mortat), toast it, to finally grind it... no coffee will ever be good enough for me after years of drinking our coffee. We lived about 5 minutes from the farm and sometimes I wish I could have stayed living in the country, but we moved to the city and even though we would visit weekly, it was never the same.

Cheesecake Cupcakes

This miniatures disappeared the same day I made them, my family devoured them like they were the last desserts they were ever going to eat. But I don't blame them, they were moist and sweet with a hint of saltiness that left you wanting to eat a million if these. The recipe asked for fruit preserves, I used apricot jam for half the cupcakes and for the other half mango preserves. Recipe from The Baking Sheet, Autumn 2005.




Cheesecake Cupcakes
Makes: 12

12oz cream cheese
1/2c sugar
2 Large eggs
1 egg yolk
1tsp lemon zest
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp salt

Beat the cream cheese at low speed of an electric mixer until soft and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, increasing to medium speed, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Mix in the eggs one at a time, taking care to scrape the bowl after each addition, and mixing until smooth with no lumps. Beat in the egg yolk, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt.

Preheat the oven to 300F. Line the wells of a muffin pan with papers. Scoop the batter into the cupca by tablespoonfuls; the cups should be 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes. Once you take them out of the oven, they will fall down a bit and give you the head room you need to put on the topping.

Topping

3/4c sour cream
1 egg white
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1/4c sugar
1/4c fruit preserves

While the cupcakes are baking, combine the sour cream, egg white, vanilla extract, and sugar in a small bowl. After the cheesecakes have baked for 25 minutes, remove them from the oven and spoon a teaspoon of the topping over each, taking care to cover the entire top. Place a half teaspoon of jam or preserves in the center and return the cheesecakes to the oven for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pan. Chill until ready to serve.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with Cola Frosting

Last Thursday was my mom's birthday. She wanted me to make her a chocolate cake, so I found a recipe of chocolate cake with mayo and a cola chocolate frosting. Even though it sounds weird, it tasted very good even though it had a strong chocolate flavor, there was no hint of it having mayo and it added moisture to the cake.It's great for days when there's no milk and eggs at home, because the mayonnaise substitutes them. This was the first time I did a double layer cake, so it wasn't perfect, but I think that for a first time I did pretty good. Again, when dealing with a chocolate frosting I had problems because of the heat, I actually had to stop frosting it and put it in the fridge because the frosting was slowly melting. The recipe doesn't have walnuts but I added about 1 1/2 cups chopped in the middle of the cake and on top because my mom loves adding nuts to EVERY dessert she makes. I got the recipe from The Baking Sheet from Autumn 2005, a newsletter from from King Arthurs Flour me and my mom used to receive.



Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake with Cola Frosting
Makes: two 8 inches round cakes

2c all-purpose flour
1c granulated sugar
1/2c brown sugar
1/3c unsweetened cocoa
2tsp baking soda
1/4tsp salt
1/2tsp espresso powder
1c water
2tsp vanilla extract
1c mayonnaise
1c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour two 8 inch round pans. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. Pour in the water, vanilla and mayo, and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, stopping once to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool completely before removing from the pans.

Cola Frosting
Makes: 4 cups

1/2c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/3c unsweetened cocoa
1/2c cola beverage
6c confectioners' sugar

In a small saucepan, bring the butter, salt, cocoa, and cola to a boil. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and add 2 cups of the confectioners' sugar. Beat on low speed to incorporate the sugar and to cool the mixture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then gradually add more sugar. Once all of the sugar is incorporated, beat until the frosting is a soft, spreadable consistency. It will continue to firm up as you work with it (unless you live in a humid place where it will melt), so keep the unused portion covered with a damp towel.