Eggnog Cupcakes

What better time of year to post  then Christmas! And what better recipe to share then eggnog cupcakes!

I love Christmas and all the holiday spirit swooshing around(do spirits swoosh?). As tempting as the presents are under the tree I'm trying not to rush to Dec 25 and just enjoy the journey. Soaking it all up, planning on the many things to bake!  The list is ever changing, the number one things are the brownies, nanaimo bars and gingersnaps and then after well...I'm hoping over my holiday break from work to try and develope a Dorito cupcuke. So stay tuned.

Back to the eggnog cupakes! These were pretty delicious. The frosting came out light and creamy  and the cake was very tastey. It wasn't light nor too heavy. A little like a lemon poppy seen cake or a little lighter then pineapple. Plus if you choose you can have rum in it!

Now before I tried this recipe I checked out a few different blogs. I found two where the recipes were very similar but had different yields. One showed 12 cupcakes and the one I used 18-20 cupcakes. I doubled the recipe cause I was going to a party and much cupcakes would be needed. I got exactly 24 regular sized cupcakes. So in my post this will be for exactly 12 cupcakes incase you look elsewhere and get all head scratchy like me.  Now I also doubled the frosting recipe and ended up with quite a bit left over so just so you know.

Eggnog Cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes)
From Annie's Eats

For the cupcakes:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
¼ cup dark rum or bourbon (optional)
1 cup eggnog
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

- Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners. 

- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; whisk to combine.  

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the rum, eggnog, vegetable oil, vinegar, and sugar.  Beat on medium-low speed until well blended.  

- Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated

- Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling the cups 2/3 full.  Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:
20 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2½ tbsp. eggnog
1 tbsp. dark rum (0ptional)

For garnish:
Ground cinnamon or grated nutmeg
Cinnamon sticks

 - Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or using a hand held work too!  Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 20-30 seconds.  

- Add in the powdered sugar, salt and nutmeg, and mix on medium-high speed until incorporated and smooth, about 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  

- Add in the eggnog and  whip on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4 minutes.  With the mixer on medium-low speed, blend in the rum.

Fill a pastry bag with the frosting and decorate the cooled cupcakes as desired. (I used a my M1 star tip from Wilton). Sprinkle with ground cinnamon or grated nutmeg, and garnish with cinnamon sticks if you have'em.

Fantastico Scones!

 
I was so excited to start this blog and then after two recipes I went on a long hiatus. Can I blame my total lack of photography skills? So hard to capture the yummy-ness! But I'm back and hopefully will keep up a regular posting schedule going.

So today I bring you scones! After making buttermilk biscuits I got a craving for scones(and their raisins) and strangely enough a recipe dropped into my lap. One of the managers in a satellite office gave it to me, she ended up getting it as a 'recipe of the week' from a hotel she stays at when she's visiting other offices. I also did some snooping on allrecipes and found similar recipes but I got it from her and I loved them thus I share. Although I admit next time I may try a little vanilla.

My one regret with these is that I didn't have them with jam and cream, it would have been heavenly I am sure.  The recipe is fairly easy. I was a little worried at first as I have never zested anything before and I had no idea how much to put.. I went for almost the whole lemon and wasn't disappointed!

Keep in mind this recipe can be altered by switching out raisins with something else you may prefer and feel free to leave out the lemon/orange if its not your thing. I am not a lemon fan but I was surprised what a delightful taste it gave the scone.

Scones
From Unknown hotel in the wilds of the Canadian Prairies

1 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
4 cups all purpose flour
 1 cup white sugar
 2 tsp baking powder
 1 tsp salt
 1 cup butter, cold and cubed
 1 egg
 1 cup raisins (or whichever goodie you choose!)
zest of one lemon/orange...maybe less if its a big orange. (Use your judgement on how much you want)
*milk as needed

-In a small bowl blend sour cream, baking soda and lemon zest, set aside.
- In a large bowl mix flour, cream of tartar, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in Butter. Now stir in the sour cream mixture and egg into flour mixture until just moistened. Mix in raisins. *If needed I used a little bit of milk to moisten it a bit.
- Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into wedges(or go crazy and do your own shapes!) Place wedges on a greased baking sheet.
- Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown on the bottoms.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

When I get an idea for something to bake and manage to find a great recipe its all my brain can think of until I actually get to bake it. So when I wondered if there was such a thing as Pink Lemonade cupcakes and then found a recipe(So happy to find it and a great bake blogger too) I was very excited. I think I managed to work it into every conversation at work.  And finally! Dreams became reality. These are yummy, the ladies at work loved them. Its such a different kind of cupcake. They tastes just like pink lemonade!

I will point out right now that I included drops of red food coloring. Totally optional but please do not go crazy with them or else they will make the cupcakes go not so nice looking. Just 1-2 drops will enhance the pink thats already there!

These are seriously the perfect cupcake for BBQ's and pool parties!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes   (makes 24 cupcakes)
From Sweet Tooth

1 box white cake mix
3/4 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 egg whites
1 drop red food coloring (optional)

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 muffins tins with liners
- Combine all of the ingredients in an electric mixer and begin by mixing low for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium for another minute.
- Divide the batter evenly, filling the liners about 2/3 full
- Bake cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
- Allow cupcakes to cool before frosting

Pink Lemonade Buttercream frosting:

3 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 tbsp frozen pink lemonade concentrate
Pinch of salt
2 drops red food coloring (optional)

- Combine all ingredients in an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment and mix on low until combined
- Increase speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is light and to your desired consistency
-Frost away

Buttermilk Biscuits

Time for me to actually start posting recipes! Now I would have thought that I would start with something like cupcakes(cupcakes!!) or cookies but this ended up being next on the things I need to bake list. I had some buttermilk left over from a chocolate cake I had made and I didn't want it to just go to waste. So I thought biscuits would be a nice way to go.

I searched around and found a nice recipe on Canadian Livings website and while I was intimated by the "cut in butter" part they turned out quite nice! The boyfriend really liked them as well so its going on the to bake a again list. I'll probably play around with it as well, see what kind of goodies I can include!

Buttermilk Biscuits   (makes 12 biscuits)
From Canadian Living

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until in coarse crumbs*. Whisk buttermilk with egg; stir into flour mixture with fork to make soft dough.

With lightly floured hands, press dough into ball. On lightly floured surface, knead gently 10 times. Pat into 3/4-inch (2 cm) thick round. Using floured 2-1/2-inch (6 cm) round cutter, cut into rounds. Place on parchment paper-lined or floured rimless baking sheet. Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. (I found mine good at 12 minutes BUT start checking the bottoms of the biscuits at about 11 minutes. The bottoms can darken/burn and you not even realize it till its too late.**)

Topping: Brush with butter; sprinkle with sugar. (I used about 1-1/2 tbsp of butter)

Notes/Tips
*) "Cut butter in" - I googled this and you can do it with a kitchen aid mixer(which I don't have) or use two knives. I started with two knives and just started cutting up the cubes into some bits mixing into the flour mixture. Then I got my handy dandy little whisk  and just kind smushed down on it. The thing you need to remember is that you need to leave pearls/beads of butter behind in the "crumbs".
**) I broke my batch up in two trays and cooked separately as my oven can be tricky when cooking on two different racks. The 2nd tray had a few bottoms, not burned, but dark enough to taste. Unless you like that kind of thing check your bottoms!

The beginning...

A friend of mine started his own cooking blog. He's a great cook and has a passion for it. With my recent need to bake I thought a blog would be fun as well. We'll see how it goes.

Now if this is my first post I should be posting an amazing success right? Instead I will share the opposite. I had some buttermilk left over from a chocolate cake I made on saturday and thought it would be nice to use it up. Buttermilk biscuits would end the weekend off nicely. But I don't have a cutter to cut them out and even though I thought I could probably manage without I didn't feel like getting all floury once I thought about it.

To keep the theme of using things up I still have some chocolate kisses from a few months ago that should really be used for something so I thought peanut butter kiss cookies. I found a basic recipes on allrecipes.com that was basically 1c white sugar, 1 egg, 1 c of peanut butter. A reviewer had a different take on it using other sugars and increasing the batch qty. I figured I would meet them in the middle and yeah.... the cookies should have stayed in round ball form and instead spread out like pancakes.

And while I still stuck on the kisses after, they look pretty sad. But still edible and are a nice chewy peanut butter cookie. Still I nice reminder to always make a recipe for the first time without "making your own adjustments" that haven't already been suggested by more then one reviewer.

Oh well, it scratched the itch and I got to learn a little bit more.