Blog Blitz #2: Sweetheart Sugar Cookies)

Last weekend, after a very busy baking bonanza, and getting everyone off on a sail race, I still wanted to work in the kitchen (I mean, I had it all to myself for an entire weekend! Who can give that up?) but I needed something no-hassle and fun. Of all things, I got the urge to make sugar cookies.

I love sugar cookies. They so remind me of being a kid. They are so simple to make, that they are easily whipped up and the dough chilled until little hands are bored. The recipe I used came from Nigella Lawson's "Feast" that I had bought on a seriously price-reduced table at the local Walmart last week. I know - Nigella on Sale? I've never seen it before either. I had to have it, although I do try to avoid Walmart at all costs (although they are the only place in town with silk ivy leaves and I was making a Peter Pan costume. Don't ask).

Once I got home and started looking through this glorious book, I realized that the problem was that all the recipes were in grams (not cups), which is the European way. But I figured I would just google a conversion and be done with it.

The first search result I got back from my question "how many cups is 200 g. of flour?" provided me the snarky answer "cups and grams are not interchangable. Deal with it and find a new recipe".

I thought that was very rude, but as I flipped through the other search results I realized that it didn't convert that well. You see, while we might be able to read the butter box and see how much butter is in a pound and a cup...flour is a different density, so it isn't the same.

The guy was right. Either get a scale, or move on.

Once I dug out the scale, it was easy. And the recipe was totally worth it (I also added one tsp. of almond extract to the icing for a little pep) because (especially when you keep them cool) these cookies are delicious.

Try them, they're worth the effort


Cut-Out Cookies
From Feast by Nigella Lawson

90 g. soft unsalted butter
100 g. sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
200 g. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Icing
15o g. of icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. hot water
food colouring pastes

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Cream butter and sugar, the beat in egg and vanilla until well whipped
• Combine all dry ingredients separate
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until a thick dough (dough, but not tough)
• Wrap immediately in cling wrap and chill for 30 minutes
• Once chilled, turn out on to a floured board and roll 1/4 inch thick
• Cut out designs of your choice and bake 8-12 minutes until golden brown (the middle might still be a bit soft, but don't worry, it will set)
• Make icing by putting water in the bottom of the bowl with the almond extract and sift in sugar until you get a good stiff icing. Add pastes until you reach your desired colours (in my mind, the more colours the better)
• wait until cookies are entirely cool before icing

Summery Strawberry Almond Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting

Oh June. There is a reason brides are married in June, for it is truly a romantic month. June is the month (in Ontario at least) that you really feel that warm weather is here to stay. All flannel pyjamas can be safely stored and replaced by white cottons, dark coloured pants are replaced by flowing patterned skirts, and difficult, sensible shoes can be victoriously shunned for snappy strappy sandals.

Even this year, in the midst of this grey weather funk that has descended upon us in Southwestern Ontario, it feels like Spring. The poppies in the garden are bobbing diligently, and the roses are fighting the cool weather to bloom anyway!

June also marks the beginning of strawberry season. Well, late June, anyway. I have a lot of very dear memories of strawberry picking with loved ones. Just outside of town is a farm which has u-pick strawberries. Back in the patches it is as quiet as another world, and in the June the earth is still muddy and wet and smelling of new life. And what better way to celebrate the first hand picked fruits of the season than with cupcakes?!

I really like this cupcake recipe. It was given to me by a friend who wanted Strawberry cupcakes a while ago, and I've never really found out where she got it...so if I'm stealing from someone let me know! because I'd happily give credit where credit is due.

The only downfall to this recipe is the texture is a bit more muffin-y and less cake-y than I would prefer. I am a strong believer that there is a real difference between a cupcake and a muffin. A muffin is a cupcake charading health, while a cupcake is a cup of cake making no excuses and gung-ho for the journey, regardless of calories. In fact, most muffins and cupcakes have similar caloric statistics, and fat content. Just with a cupcake, there's no pretending.

I like honesty.

But the cupcake really is exquisite, especially when topped with this very odd recipe for whipped cream frosting. It's a real messy mix between a frosting, and a whipped cream topping. Somehow this technique just works and makes a truly phenomenal frosting - more like Cool Whip than whipped cream. You know? Anyway, it's awesome, and I always make a double batch so I can really load it on the cupcakes (it's not as sweet as traditional icing, and it makes this muffiny cupcake seem a little more decadent) and then use the rest for a bowl of berries on a hot day.

I didn't top them with strawberry slices, as I had hoped, because I ended up using them all in the batter, so I might sprinkle just a hint of red sprinkles on the top of the cupcakes tomorrow before work (I really mean just a hint - I want the visual, not the taste). Yep, that will be delicious.

Sensational Summer Strawberry Sweeties. I'll have two.

Strawberry Almond Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
3 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. slivered blanched almonds (some people prefer these toasted)
4 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. crushed strawberries mixed with 3 tbsp. sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Paper two cupcake tins
• Mix flour, baking soda, sugar and nuts in one bowl. Set aside
• Mix eggs, almond and vanilla extract, oil in another bowl. Add strawberries and mix well, but leave chunks of strawberry visible
• Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly
• Bake 20-22 min. until cake is springy to the touch and testing with wooden skewer comes clean
• Cool completely before frosting.

Whipped Cream Frosting
I always double this recipe - but here is the original (undoubled) version
Also, I know this recipe looks weird. Try it anyway. It's actually amazing. Seriously.
1 c. whipping cream
1/8 tsp. salt
1/3 c. flour
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
2 c. icing sugar
2. tsp vanilla

• Mix cream, flour and salt together into a saucepan on low heat
• Whisk gently to remove lumps, then mix with wooden spoon until it forms a paste that pulls easily away from the side of the pot (like play doh). Allow to cool completely
• Once cool, beat. Add butter and beat until fluffy. Add sugar and continue whipping. Finally add vanilla and mix well.

*note: this icing especially should be refrigerated because of the whipping cream.

Hummingbird Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Icing

My first cookbook dedicated solely to cakes was Cakewalk: Loving Spoonfuls from a Southern Kitchen by Robbin Gourley. It was an unexpected Christmas gift from my mother in 1997 when I was thirteen years old and highly impressionable. I have no idea where she found it, but I know it was more the beautiful illustrations that Robbin paints to accompany her recipes that lured my mother towards to purchase (my Mom is also an artist, after all), rather than the recipes. The illustrations are exquisite, complete with vignettes about Robbin's childhood and the family history behind each cake.

But the real artistic tour-de-force in this book is still the cakes. This is the book that first introduced me to scrumptious Red Velvet Cake, cheerful Pineapple Upside down Cake, and the ever-classic, decadent Bete Noire. Every recipe I have tried in this book has yielded amazing results - so while the book is not easy to find, if you ever happen across it...don't miss it!

I knew it was time to translate one of her cake recipes into cupcakes. Although I've tried almost every recipe in her book, I've never turned them into cupcakes - but I could hardly exclude Robbin from my cupcake quest.

You see, I've been feeling a bit of a funk these days. The weather in my hometown has been downright dreary these past few weeks, constantly drizzling out of the East in mournful shades of grey. The only days it seems to shine I am encased in my cubicle, far from the light. This is the first year with no "summer vacation" and I am feeling almost sick with lack of fresh air and vitamin D. I think my sense of disassociation with the seasons has caused me to veer towards more wintery, spicy, cupcakes, and I knew the time had arrived to seize Spring by the tastebuds and give it a shake.

Hence, Hummingbird Cupcakes. Hummingbird cupcakes are one of my most favourite recipes in Robbin's book. She writes "A long-standing favourite in the South, this cake is as delicate as the bird for which it is named". Indeed, these sweetooth pleasers are a gorgeous treat, full of sweet fruit and nuts. They have only a teaspoon of baking soda, and yet they rise gracefully and dome like a muffin. But their texture is definitely cake.

At work they were such a hit. I've recently moved to a new workstation - moving away from the front desk to my little corner just around the corner. The number one question I got when my coworkers were informed about the move was "where will the cupcakes be when you move?", which made me smile. Having the cupcakes on my desk is a nice way to have a little company throughout the day, as people come to pick up a cupcake or tell me their reviews.

Hummingbird cupcakes were the perfect salute to Spring. Fruity and sweet without the sickly taste of too much sugar, and my adapted cream cheese icing offered a nice balancing taste. Give these ones a try when the weather looks dull - they might not have much vitamin D, but they are still full of sunshine!

Hummingbird Cupcakes
From Cakewalk: Loving Spoonfuls from a Southern Kitchen, by Robbin Gourley
makes 24 cupcakes

3 c. all purpose flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
one 8 oz can crushed pineapple with juice
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. well mashed bananas

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees; paper 2 cupcake tins
• In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
• Add the eggs and oil and stir until all the ingredients are moist (Do NOT Beat!)
• Stir in the vanilla, pineapple with juice, pecans and bananas (Do NOT Beat!)
• I saved three tablespoons of pineapple and juices for the icing
  
• Spoon the batter 3/4 into tins and bake for 22-25 minutes until springy to the touch

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
pineapple and cream cheese is one of my favourite taste combinations, and here it was a perfect marriage of tastes
one 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese
1/2 c. (one stick) unsalted butter, softened
5 c. icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. crushed pineapple and juices

• Cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth
• Add first three cups of icing sugar one cup at a time
• Add vanilla and pineapple
• Add last two cups of icing sugar one cup at a time until smooth
• Spread generously!

You might consider sprinkling some pecans on the top of cupcakes for a cute effect, I topped mine with a tidbit of pineapple.

Enjoy!

Almost Orange Cupcakes with Absolutely Almond Buttercream

OK a lot of posting in a little amount of time. Turns out I lost the cord that hooks my camera up to the computer, so I had to put my pictures on CD at Shopper's Drugmart and the price for a CD is exactly the same if you have 2 pictures or 20...so I waited until I had 20.

:)

Anyway, last week for work I tried orange cupcakes with almond buttercream. The idea of the recipe started a week earlier when I read about on Wishing on Clovers' website called "Oh My Darling Clementine" Cupcakes. I tried the cupcakes and loved the clementine sharpness (which I kicked up a notch with a tsp. of orange extract) - however, when I went to make them the next week, I had lost my copy of the recipe, my computer crashed, and I had no clementines.

Time to improvise!

An orange was an easy substitute for the 2 clementines Clovers suggested, but it didn't have the same kick, even with 2 tsp's of orange extract. I also had to wing the rest of the cake recipe, and I think Clovers highlights the citrus taste a little better.

Still, it was a resounding success. Even the one Financial Advisor who used to be a professional baker said that the cake was great and the almond in the buttercream made for a fantastic fusion of tastes. It was subtle, but definitely there, and overall a pretty sophisticated blend of tastes. The morning after I took these pictures I topped all of the cupcakes with half a marachino cherry for a little colour.

The true success, though, was in my icing technique. Take a look at that swirling technique! Can you believe it? It took me a couple of tries (even to just fill the icing bag) but I totally managed it. At one moment my friend, Kiki, who was helping me bake up a storm, took a picture of me in a squatting stance to bring my eyes down level with the counter. It was embarrassing. Hence: not published!

So even more than the cupcake, I was impressed with the icing...but people hardly even noticed the artistry once they took a bite!

Almost Orange Cupcakes with Absolutely Almond Buttercream
makes 24 cupcakes

1 c. softened unsalted butter

2 c. white sugar

1 c. milk
3 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract

juice of one orange

zest of one orange

2 3/4 c. cake flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder*

• Preheat Oven to 350 degrees farenheit; paper 2 cupcake pans
• sift together flour and baking powder; gently mix in zest with fingertips until just combined; set aside
• mix milk, orange extract, vanilla extract, and orange juice together; set aside
• in a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar on medium with mixer until fluffly
• add eggs one at a time on medium speed and beat again until fluffy
• alternate wet and dry ingrediants in thirds until fully combinedtaste...does it need a few drops more orange extract? let your tastebuds guide you!
• fill cupcake liners 2/3 full; bake 18-20 minutes until golden topped and springy to the touch

* check your baking powder - it does have an expiration date. I found that my recipes turn out so much better since I splurged and got a new little container full of fresh stuff!

Almond Icing

2/3 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c. milk
2 tsp. almond extract
4-5 c. icing sugar

• cream butter and 2 c. icing sugar until smooth with mixer on low (otherwise the icing sugar shoots right out of the mixing bowl)
• add milk, mix again until cottage cheese consistency.
• add icing sugar until desired thickness**
• add almond extract and beat until smooth

** I came to a breakthrough: fun 1M swirls on cupcakes need stiff icing. I used a lot more icing sugar than I generally do, which made it stiffer...and sweeter. When I finished I slipped an extra 1/2 tsp of almond extract in there. But be careful, because I think my almond extract was also a little old. I'm a big fan of the "taste test" for optimal results!

Happy Baking!