Archive | October, 2010

Pistachios & Pears

31 Oct

Lately, in the midst of all my muffin making, I’ve been pondering the virtues of muffins versus cupcakes. And I’ve decided that it’s not much of a contest. Maybe it’s the fall leaves talking, but muffins are the clear winner in the battle of the baked goods.

  • For one, no icing is required. And truthfully, frosting has always been a sugary, sticky, pain in my butt.
  • Secondly, they’re hearty and dense. It’s cold out and I need heavy comfort food. Not fluffy, pink sugar pillows.
  • And finally, their flavors can run the gamut from chocolatey and sweet to toasty and savory. I like to experiment when I’ve got extra time and extra ingredients on my hands, and muffins provide a wider range of gag-proof possibilities. (Basil Buttercream, anyone? No? No one? Didn’t think so.)

Don’t get me wrong, though. Cupcakes will always hold a special place in my heart, and will still make an occasional appearance in my life. But only when I’m in a shabby chic mood for something cute and dainty. Or flamboyantly sugary.

This muffin recipe is yet another take on Molly Wizenberg’s Pistachio Cake with Honeyed Apricots recipe from her book, A Homemade Life. I’ve talked about this book before (here, as a matter of fact) and I decided to give this recipe another shot, with my own tweaking. And if I may say so myself, these muffins are BALLIN’.

Roasted Pistachio & Pear Muffins

Peel 1 pear and chop into substantial chunks. Put pear pieces in a bowl and douse with a good helping of honey. Toss to cover throughly and sit off to the side to marinate. In another bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, 3/4 cup of finely chopped roasted, shelled, unsalted pistachios, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and1/2 baking soda. In yet another bowl, cream 1 stick of butter at room temperature with 1 cup of sugar. Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, blending throughly after each addition. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Add the flour mix and 1/2 cup of milk to the butter, alternating each, ending on the flour. Don’t over mix. Use a spatula to incorporate ingredients, if necessary. In one more bowl, combine 1/3 cup of brown sugar with 1/4 cup of cold butter, using your fingers to make a kind of crumble. Spoon batter into a lined muffin pan. Top each muffin with 1 or 2 pieces of honeyed pear (depending on size). Sprinkle each with the brown sugar crumble. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 12 muffins.


Whoops.

 

It’s Halloween

31 Oct photo 2-1

Eat some pumpkins.

Click here for the recipe.

Pumpkin & Cream Cheese

29 Oct

So, Starbucks has this perfect autumnal treat- the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin- that I decided to try my hand at replicating because 1. I’m broke and 2. I’m bored.

Starbucks

Also, it happened to be Lydia’s birthday this week, and what better occasion for experimental muffins than a fall birthday? And if you know Lydia, you know that her third favorite thing in the world is Starbucks and fourth is their hazelnut mocha.

Plus, scratch versions of fast food treats? Always a good idea.

Not that these are in any way healthy. To quote my mother as they were baking, “It smells like butter in here, Paula Deen.”

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Take 2 cups flour and combine with ¼ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp baking powder. Sit to the side. Cream 1 ½ sticks butterwith 1 cup of sugar. Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, blending throughly after each. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Add the flour mix and 1/2 cup milk, alternating each between mixing, ending on the flour. Fold in 3/4 can of pumpkin puree, making sure to blend throughly. Now in another bowl, blend 1/2 block of cream cheese with 1/2 stick of butter. Add 4 tsps condensed milk and 6 tablespoons powdered sugar. Blend until creamy; add more condensed milk if too dry, powdered sugar if too wet. Spoon pumpkin batter into a lined muffin pan. Top each with a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with raw, shelled pumpkin seeds. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes about 24 muffins.

 

Pistachios & Nutmeg

26 Oct

I read A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg for my nonfiction techniques class and I have to give a presentation on it tonight. I made a little handout and since it’s a memoir that revolves around recipes, I thought it was only appropriate to bake something from the book for the class.

Since this was a last minute decision, I had to find a recipe that used things that I already had in my kitchen. So it had to be the pistachio cake with honeyed apricots from page 278. Except I didn’t have honey, or apricots, and the pistachios were dry roasted- not raw, like the recipe called for. Whoops. Oh well. So I made pistachio muffin cakes. I topped them with powdered sugar, and they have an interesting roasty (hi, pistachios), autumnal (hi, nutmeg) flavor.

I kind of regret my decision not to dye them green. Next time.

PS. A Homemade Life was pretty adorable and it’s based on Molly’s blog at orangette.blogspot.com. So. Go there. Read it. And let me know how I can have her life.

Pistachio Muffin Cakes

(adapted from Molly Wizenberg’s Pistachio Cake with Honeyed Apricots)

Take 3/4 cup of shelled (raw is probably better) pistachios and crush them until you get a fine meal. Add 1 cup of flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Combine 1/2 cup milk with 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and sit off to the side. Cream 1 stick of butter with 1 cup of sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy. Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, beating throughly after each egg. Then add the flour mix and the milk mix, alternating each, starting and ending with the flour. Pour into a muffin pan and bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Top withpowdered sugar when cool.

 

Time for Pie

21 Oct

Next week, I’ll officially be a professional pie baker for Dangerously Delicious Pies. I am beyond excited about the new shop in Canton, but I’m going to have to closet my love of cupcakes in order to spare myself the wrath of my fellow rock and roller pie bakers. Don’t get me wrong; this doesn’t diminish my love of baking at all. I never considered myself strictly a cupcaker. I just don’t want to be “that girl” at the shop.

You probably think that I’m making this into a bigger deal than necessary. However, the first thing I was told at my interview was, “We hate cupcakes. But we won’t hold that against you.” Actually no, no, the first thing that was said was, “Hi, are you Amanda?” And THEN it was, “We hate cupcakes.”

Seriously, though, I worry that the cupcake trend might be on its way out. As much as my yuppie side loves the dainty cuteness of a cupcakery, I think the food world has driven it into the ground. I blame Food Network for this. Specifically, Cupcake Wars.

But cake is cake and pie is pie and treats are treats. Anything warm and made from scratch is all right in my book.

In the spirit of my newfound profession, here is a pie recipe that my mom found way back when in one of those dated stay-at-home-mom magazines. My mom has about 4 dishes in her repertoire, so whenever this particular pie makes an appearance, it’s cause for celebration. Consequently, I had to find a picture online of a similar pie, because ours hasn’t made an appearance in quite awhile.

Tomato & Basil Pie

Not surprisingly, our pie never looked like this.

Slice 4 large tomatoes and 1 yellow onion. Layer the tomato, onion and a handful of chopped basil in a 9-inch pie shell. Feel free to make your own, if you’re feeling particularly productive, but Pillsbury makes a really good, almost homemade refrigerated piecrust. Salt and pepper the layers. Mix together 1 cup of shredded mozzarella, 1 cup of grated parmesan and 1 cup of mayonnaise. Spread over the top of the tomato and onion layers. Sprinkle oregano over the top of the pie. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until slightly browned.

 

I don’t think this rule applies to me, but it’s useful nonetheless.

20 Oct

“Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself. [...] Enjoy these treats as often as you’re willing to prepare them- chances are good it won’t be everyday.”

-Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan

Typical.

18 Oct

Liz: What kind of cake are you making?

Me: Better than Sex.

Liz: Doubtful.

Cool Whip & Chocolate

18 Oct

This past weekend was the boyfriend’s birthday, so I decided to make a batch of cupcakes that my grandmother has been getting on my back to make ever since she bestowed the recipe upon me. Better Than Sex cake was the cake she made for her friends’ birthdays back in the day. I remember eating it when I was little, but being too embarrassed to say the name of it and blushing whenever I saw the recipe on her refrigerator. But as a twenty-something woman, I asked for the recipe, and to quote my grandmother, “It’s your job to make that cake now. I’m retiring.”

There are a lot of different Better Than Sex cake recipes out there. I’ve seen recipes with caramel, toffee, and Paula Deen has one with pineapple. But this recipe is a classic fudgy chocolate cake with pecans and one of my favorite vanilla frostings. It’s not my go-to chocolate cake (Guinness Chocolate Cake is the current fave). It’s a bit too decadent and brownie-ish for everyday consumption, but it’s always a special occasion in my home when I decide to make it.

*Disclaimer: I feel weird about using pre-packaged foods when baking and mystery ingredients that have the same name in multiple languages (Cool Whip), but this is my one exception. This cake is too good to get finicky about. And yes, Cool Whip still scares me. Let’s move on.

Better Than Sex Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take 2 tablespoons of chocolate cake mix (Duncan Hines Devil’s Food is my favorite) and coat 12 oz chocolate chips and 3/4 cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts). Place on the side. Mix the rest of the cake mix with 4 eggs, a 1/2 cup of oil, 1/4 cup of water, 1 cup of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1 package of instant chocolate pudding. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Bake for 20 minutes.

For the frosting, whip together 1 package of instant vanilla pudding with 1 cup of milk. Add about a 1/2 cup (or more) of powdered sugar. Let sit for a few minutes to set. Fold in a 8 oz. package of Cool Whip. Frosting will be loose and won’t set completely, so keep refrigerated.

 

Maple & Raspberries

12 Oct

I found this recipe for Pudding Cake on Epicurious.com while I was searching around for good buttermilk baked goods, and in the process, I discovered that maple soaked raspberries are awesome. I mean, really, just go get some raspberries, cover them in real maple syrup, let them sit in the fridge, and then shove them in your face. Even if you don’t want to deal with the pudding cake, just give the raspberries a try. I even found golden raspberries, which were a little more tart, but worth the experience.

Buttermilk Pudding Cake

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a shallow baking dish.

Whisk together 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Melt and cool a ½ stick of butter. Mix together 1 1/3 cups well-shaken buttermilk,the butter, 3 large egg yolks, and 1/3 cup sugar in a separate bowl, then stir into the flour mixture.

Beat the 3 left over egg whites with an electric mixer at medium speed until frothy. Increase speed to medium-high and add remaining 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until whites hold stiff peaks. (Mine didn’t quite hold a peak- I think I added too much sugar too fast- but it still worked out.) Stir about one third of whites into batter to lighten, then fold in the remaining whites gently.

Pour batter into baking dish and bake in a water bath (a pain in my butt) until puffed and golden-brown, for 55 minutes. Cool slightly. Toss 1 half pint of red raspberriesand 1 half pint of golden raspberries (if you can find them) with 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup and serve with warm pudding cake. (The cake will be wet and custardy on the bottom; don’t worry about it.)


Lydia & Chris’ Wedding Cake(s)

10 Oct

10/9/10

[Red Velvet, Maple Bacon, Vanilla and Espresso flavors]

click to zoom

 

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