Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Pre-Blog Creations

Dad's Birthday Cake - 
Cake Recipe: Used Devils Food Cake Mix, Devils Food Pudding, Coca-Cola
Frosting/Ganache Recipe: Added Vanilla Bean Paste instead of Vanilla, Used raspberries and filler and toppings


Second try at Royal Icing decorating using new tips:

First try with Royal Icing - need a steadier hand and better decorating tips:

 Easter Cookies!


Valentine's Day Rice Krispies: Use 2 sizes of heart cookie cutters, switch the inside hearts of different rice krispie recipes (mixed with sprinkles vs dyed pink)

Cake mix pinwheel cookies with sprinkles: 2 seperate sites, one for a recipe, one for preparation directions


Rice Krispie Pumpkins with Sour Apple Straw Stems

Rainbow Birthday Cake: I used the directions for the rainbow, not the recipe. I believe I used 2 box mixes. Sprinkles on top and in the middle, with chocolate butter cream frosting.

Pistachio Cupcakes

Pistachios - I have loved these nuts since I was a small child. The cracking of the shell, the salty then sweet taste, who doesn't love a pistachio (besides those with a nut allergy).


I always liked the idea of pistachio pudding as a child but I could never get over having tiny pieces of the nut in the actual pudding (the one that came from a box). I would pick around the pieces and leave them in the bowl to be washed down the drain. I only recently tried pistachio ice cream and I had the same issue! I hated the soggy texture of the pistachios in the ice cream.


Regardless, I've been looking for a pistachio recipe and came across an awesome recipe on Bakerella for a box cake mix mixed with pudding, and I decided to use pistachio and make cupcakes! Who knew that was coming?


So, I have another issue other than my dislike for soggy nuts (haha, very funny, moving on). My cupcake pans are more of muffins pan so my cupcakes come out very large and squat. But! I came across larger cupcake wrappers that are geared towards absurdly large cupcakes which worked perfectly. Plus, the recipe make the cake rise higher than normal so the wrappers kept it from spilling over. 


Here's what I did:



Pistachio Cupcakes amended from Bakerella's Simple Sprite Cake 
1 white cake mix (I used funfetti, I wish I had used white)
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 box instant pistachio pudding (3 oz. size)
8 oz. can of Seltzer (I ran out of clear soda's and didn't go the the store, I wish I had used sprite)
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Place wrappers in cupcake pans. (I made 12 giant cupcakes, I assume normal sized ones are around 24.)
  • Mix ingredients on low until combined and then increase speed to medium and mix for about 2 minutes.
  • Pour batter into wrappers (about 1/2 way) and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Cool for a few minutes in the pan before removing and placing them on a cooling rack (the image below is showing them cooling in the pan).




Then have your boyfriend whip up some frosting because he think your homemade butter cream frosting is never soft enough for his taste. Or use the canned stuff, I love both options.


These turned out delicious, moist, and I didn't find any soggy nuts (last time, I promise). 

Scrap Sugar Cookie Dough and Bulk Sprinkles

I hate being wasteful. I feel guilty not eating leftovers and leaving thing in the freezer too long so that they become recognizable. I feel compelled to recycle and bring my plastic bags back to the store. Maybe I watched too much Captain Planet as a kid or maybe I'm just weird, so humor me. 


Have you had those moments when you're almost done with the sugar cookie dough but the scraps wont stick together enough to roll it out again? Since I hate to waste anything, I'll share how I use every last piece of dough and make something very tasty!


On another note, I also hate paying full price for anything. I will stock up on butter when I find a good coupon and sale. The same goes for sprinkles. I buy my sprinkles on Amazon, not that they offer sales or coupons, but they do sell sprinkles in bulk! You can buy 16oz of sprinkles for a little more than a small container of sprinkles at the grocery store. 
*Tip - Check the bakery section at the grocery store after a major holiday. Many times, I've found bulk sprinkles the bakery purchased for holidays that they didn't end up using. This is how I now have twice as many red and pink sprinkles after Valentine's Day than I did before Christmas.

What I love about buying the sprinkles in bulk is that you can create your own custom mix of colors without paying extra for someone to mix them for you. Many colors work for multiple holidays, example Red Sprinkles are used for Valentine's day, 4th of July, and Christmas.  I currently have some leftover custom mix I made for Easter (white, pink, yellow, blue, and green) that I couldn't bear to throw away so I keep it for times like these.



So now that we've covered that, let's start with the cookie dough scraps and sprinkle mix.

Once the sugar cookie dough has incorporated a lot of flour after multiple roll outs, it tends to be uncooperative when trying to roll out. When this happens, I like to take the remaining dough and turn it into small quarter sized balls. Then grab a wet paper towel and the leftover sprinkles. Gently roll the balled dough on the wet paper town to moisten the outside of the dough. It will begin to feel sticky. At this point, roll it in the bowl of sprinkles. The sprinkles will begin to stick to the outside.



Once the ball is covered, place it on the parchment paper covered baking sheet (I always use parchment paper, less cleanup and no burned sprinkles on the pan. Can you tell I reused the parchment paper from the sugar cookie cutouts?).



Bake per your recipe's directions and be cautious of eating the cookies before they're cool. Since the sprinkles are mostly sugar, they are very hot once out of the oven.

The scrap cookie's I've made tend to keep their shape so keep an eye on them while baking since they wont flatten and you can't see them browning on the edges.

Enjoy!


Sunday, June 3, 2012

Breakfast for Dinner - Popover Edition

Breakfast for Dinner - Popover Edition

Breakfast for dinner is a favorite of mine. Last night, it was eggs and toast at a diner. Tonight, it was homemade (from a box, but I made it at home so it counts) popovers. I promise to try out actual homemade popover recipes in the future so check back.

This was a first, but was a long time coming. After visiting the Popover Cafe in NYC with a friend, I have been hooked on these fluffy, egg-y, delicious treats. 

A few months ago, I bought a popover pan from BB&B, of course when I had a coupon. 

I found a mix at the grocery store and followed the directions. Make sure to let the batter sit after mixing and  don't open the oven during the first 30 mins of baking.


I only had one pan with six cups so I did two batches. The 2nd half of the batter baked up fine after waiting for the 1st batch to complete. Here's the 2nd batch, please ignore my table mess. I have a teeny tiny kitchen.


Now, you get to pick how to dress your popover.

The BF and I made a few toppings:

  • Raspberry Butter - mix raspberry jam and room temperature butter. You can probably add a little powered sugar for more sweetness.
  • Olive Oil and Parmesan Cheese
  • White Chocolate Cream Cheese w/ Key Lime Curd or Wild Blueberry Jam - this was the first time I've tried this stuff...pretty yummy. 


Unlimited options... only a dozen or so popovers.