Hygge? Gemütlichkeit? Fondue!

SO. It's March, that means random snow storms. Pretty little snow storms. But still snow when I'm ready for my spring flowers. 

On Monday, I decided to do something different with my weekend. The darling princess was with her dad and rather than spend the weekend doing something boring like trying to advance in Candy Crush, I decided to have a cocktail party. This was perhaps not the best plan because when you invite people on Monday to come over Saturday, generally people have stuff going on. And I haven't entertained in long enough that people have clearly forgotten how much fun my gatherings are! Well sort of. Most of my friends had really legitimate excuses why they couldn't come. 

As the week wore on, I started to think about the upcoming gathering and the concept of Hygge (as explained in this fun little book that I picked up). The book explained that I should have candles. Not a problem, I have tons of random candles. The book also explained that it would be more Hygge to have a sort of group potluck where the cooking is all done at the same time at someone's house than to have pitchers of cocktails and teeny tiny little hors d'oeuvres. So I called up my friends who were coming and told them I had changed my mind and we would be having fondue! It seemed more Hygge even though it's Swiss and not Danish. And I should probably call it Gemütlichkeit because my heritage is German and not Danish. They sort of mean the same thing although it's more of a cultural thing in Denmark, I guess.

It also should be noted, that I had received an electric fondue pot as a wedding present and I had never taken it out of the box! I also had my mother's fondue pot and a teeny little crockpot called the little dipper. And it made sense to me that if I had 3 possible fondue devices, that I should make three separate fondues. And I did!! I made an unbelievably delicious Toblerone fondue (found here) that my friends and I discovered that pretty much anything dipped into it came out delicious! Grapes, apples, bread, strawberries, Rice Krispy treats, donut holes, pineapples, gluten-free snickerdoodles, giant marshmallows and teeny little skewers of blueberries, just to name some of what got dipped. Unfortunately my first try at making cheese fondue was a total fail. It was definitely stringy and globby. I'm not sure that's a real word, but it's an accurate description of my cheese fondue. Although, it was pretty good reheated on some potatoes for breakfast the next day!

breakfast!

And finally I made a marscapone and Calvados fondue from The Everything Fondue Party Cookbook. Calvados is kind of hard to find and it's a brandy made from apples. I had bought it for some other recipe and had to go all the way to Columbus to get it. The fondue was good. It sort of tasted like eggnog. The good boozy kind.  It was tremendous when we dipped apples in it. But it just wasn't mind blowing enough to compete with the Toblerone fondue.

We enjoyed a delicious chilled Pinot Grigio and a sweet Moscato with our fondues as well as great conversations and hearty laughs.

What I learned: I learned that making a cheese fondue takes a lot of patience and I think some practice. I also learned that I will be making the Toblerone fondue again. I learned that 3 different fondues for 6 people is a ridiculous amount of food. I learned that Walmart sells little Sterno 3-packs under where the tinfoil pans are. And I learned that I think I will either need to go to Goodwill or some garage sales and try to find traditional fondue pots. The electric one and the little dipper worked really good when I could have them plugged in, but the cords are really short and that didn't work so well for me. I might have to go buy a multi plug extension cord.

Chocolate Pork Chops

Whoa! CHOCOLATE AND PORK!!! That sure gets your attention doesn't it?

The Brain and I have been playing a new "game". (Get your mind out of the gutter.) Every weekend he picks three packages of meat out of the freezer and I find some way of cooking them. We started this little ritual after he realized that I could take an entire evening to make my weekly meal plan. Yes, I like to know what I should be eating for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner every day. (Unfortunately, there sometimes appears something delicious like oatmeal cookies that throw a wrench in any meal planning and I eat them until they're gone.) It's been working out pretty good so far. I've been trying to loosen up and go with the flow at mealtime and we're slowly eating all of the meat in the freezers.

This week though, things really came into line. Monday night I was sitting around watching TV, wondering how bad the storm was going to be, wondering if school was going to be cancelled on Tuesday (it was), when I flicked to Paula Deen making these beautiful pork chops. I was stunned. I was hungry after watching. I had already made dinner. D'OH!

So at the earliest opportunity (the next day), I pulled the thawed pork chops out of the freezer and had at it. Fortunately I had most of the ingredients in the cupboard because we were snowed in. I kind of tweaked what I had to make do for the stuff I didn't have. I was sad to see my package of pork chops only had two in it. (All our meat is wrapped in butcher paper so it's like opening little presents.) But I'm saving the extra rub for next time the Brain pulls out a pork chop package. The dry rub is super easy to mix together and the pork chops cook really nice and quick. If I liked gravy, I might make a gravy out of what I'm sure are the delicious drippings still in the pan. Even the Brain, who eats whatever I make and doesn't really comment, remarked that these were some delicious pork chops.

I sure wish there were leftovers...

Chocolate Spiced Pork Chops
adapted from Paula Deen's recipe


2 Tbsp firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
4 (1 1/2 inch thick) bone in pork chops
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, Italian seasoning, onion flakes, cocoa powder, garlic salt, paprika, red pepper, cumin, and black pepper. Rub the mixture evenly over the pork chops.

Add the oil to a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add the pork chops and cook for 3 minutes per side. Put the skillet in oven and bake the pork chops until cooked through, about 8 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven, transfer the chops to a serving platter and serve.

Deep Dark Chocolate Sorbet

Hello. So much for frequent blogging.

I have finally returned from our annual "Family Vacation" with my husband's family. We left the unusually nice and cool summer up here in rural Ohio and headed for Hilton Head Island. There was a lot of golf, swimming in the ocean and the pool, happy kids running around, some wine, and general family enjoyment. Other than a minor jelly fish sting on my foot, and leaving my purse in a dive restaurant in West Virginia it was a really pleasant week. (The foot was just fine by the next day and we recovered the purse about 3 hours later after driving through West Virginia again to get it. Nothing was stolen and my credit cards were untouched. Whew!)

But now that we're back home, we've made the unhappy discovery that the lovely cool summer we were enjoying blossomed into a sweltering hot one. This is not fun. There's no ocean in rural Ohio. And we don't have a pool. I could drink wine, but that would be counterproductive. It's so hot that I've been cooking without turning on the heat in the house. Yeah for the grill! But before I get to any of those recipes (and really the camera needs new batteries so who knows how long that will take me!) let's enjoy a scoop of this rich, chocolaty sorbet. It's easy, delicious, and totally refreshing.

Deep Dark Chocolate Sorbet

from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir the cool mixture and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Daring Bakers Flourless Chocolate Hearts with Rose Ice Cream

Fortunately for me, and for my family, I made these tasty little cakes before I came down with the cold from Hell. Which then turned into bronchitis. You really don't want to know much more of the details.

But these little cakes were delicious! They were easy to make and super tasty. I made them in individual heart shaped silicon cupcake holders and got 15. The only problem was that I only had 12 little heart shaped cups. The last three ended up in my silicon cups with feet. I know. I should have taken a photo. But I was busy eating them.

I made Wendy's vanilla ice cream recipe, mostly because I got a little lazy and didn't feel like dealing with eggs. As a last minute addition I added a tablespoon of rosewater that I picked up last time I visited my mom. If you like the taste of eating roses this makes a pretty good ice cream too! I didn't want the ice cream to overpower the chocolate cakes so I molded little tiny ice cream hearts.

This was a fun one!

and here's the fine print!
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Now go check out the other Daring Bakers!

A Year of Daring Baker Challenges!

Perhaps I'm a complete dork, but sometimes marking special anniversaries make me a little loony. Okay, I am definitely a complete dork, but that may have more to do with telling every single family relative I've encountered over the holiday that my terrific husband bought me a Super Peel. It's a seriously cool thing.

So yes, anyway, I find anniversaries to be pretty cool. And this month will mark my one year anniversary of being a Daring Baker. My mom even made me this cute little cupcake pincushion. This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

Yeah, I had no idea what that was either. I thought we did it last December. But apparently the French have two logs and this one is more of a frozen dessert. Actually this one was WAY more complicated than the first one. There were six elements to my "log": A coconut daquoise, a dark chocolate ganache, a dark chocolate mousse, a white chocolate coconut crisp layer (that there was a teensy error in the recipe resulting in what is best described as white chocolate and coconut coated Special K), a vanilla creme brulee, and a dark chocolate glaze. Make sure you check out the rest of the Daring Bakers to see what flavors they came up with. Everything went really well except that I'm a rebel and just made the whole thing in a 9 inch springform pan. The glaze then didn't really cover the whole cake.

And I have to say, we taste tested today after spending the day celebrating Christmas with my dad and stepmom. So there we were. My sister M., Super G and the Tummy, me and the Brain, my mom and my stepdad. And really by this point in the holiday celebrations (I've already had 3 separate, but equal, Christmases) none of us really wanted to eat yet another sweet thing. So we were kind of dreading the cake. But it was REALLY REALLY tasty! I did leave it up at my mom's, but all of us tasted it and not one of us had anything negative to say about it. It was rich and chocolaty and the coconut was subtle. I will definitely make this one again. But probably not after a week of feasting on approximately 9 million Christmas cookies.

I'm not emotionally stable enough to get on the scale after the past week and a half.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

Um. I appear to have lost a week. Sorry about that. See, I had finals week. And I had a last minute meeting with the very pregnant teacher I'll be subbing for in January (unless baby comes sooner and I have to sub before Christmas break). And I met with my hairdresser and I'm not blond anymore. And there's some other stuff going on.

So, for the last day of class, my Effective Instruction class decided to mutiny and have a party instead. I brought cupcakes. I can pretty much be counted on to bring cupcakes.

When I was growing up, my dad always had the same birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake. And my mom would get one of those great big peppermint sticks and beat the living daylights out of it. She then would mix the crushed peppermint into the fudgey chocolate frosting in the middle layer and then frost the whole cake with just the chocolate frosting. I was thinking about that cake and decided to see if it would translate into cupcakes. Of course, then I got sidetracked (probably obsessing about my 8 page research paper analyzing my own adolescence for my psych class) and added mint extract. Shoot.

Being that I happen to love marshmallow frosting, I figured I'd try that on top and I already had the smashed up peppermints so I sprinkled them on too. All the while hollering Christmas carols at the top of my lungs.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting
an original Shazamer recipe.

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
2 large eggs
1 cup milk

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the mint extract and then eggs one at a time, making sure each is incorporated.
Alternate adding the flour and the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Beat for 30 seconds.
Fill 18 paper lined muffin cups and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 11 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely.

Marshmallow Frosting:
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
6 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
pinch of salt

Cream together all ingredients.

To assemble:
8 crushed peppermints
Frosting
Cupcakes

Spread each cupcake with frosting and sprinkle with crushed peppermints.

Hot Chocolate

Because when I woke up it looked like this outside...

and it hasn't melted.

I'm thinking I might have to declare the rosemary bush a loss, but I have some good ideas from Jennie at Straight From the Farm about how maybe to keep it going all winter. I'm also wondering how I'm going to get my bulbs in the ground. We don't usually get lake effect snow, so getting this much snow this early was a touch of a surprise. The nearest "big" city got 6 inches, but I'm thinking we got maybe 4.

I get to drive the 40 miles to school soon and I haven't wormed up yet. So I made myself this yummy hot cocoa and I should be warm in no time! And the nice thing about this particular recipe besides the hint of cinnamon is that I don't have to choose between enjoying a cup of hot cocoa OR eating. It's fairly low calorie so I can do both. Yay!


Hot Chocolate
adapted from Ellie Krieger
serves 1


1 cup milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp Hershey's Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp water
15 mini marshmallows


Heat the milk and the cinnamon stick in a small saucepan until just simmering. In a mug, combine the cocoa, sugar and water and stir to make a paste. Remove the cinnamon stick from the milk. Pour the milk into the mug and stir to mix well. Add the vanilla extract and stir. Place as many marshmallows as you like in the hot chocolate and eat the rest.

Walnut Gateau with Praline Buttercream

The Daring Bakers are at it again! (This time starring the lovely addition of my little sister Super G. Go check hers out. We talked on the phone the whole day we made it and her sounds amazing.)

This month, Chris over at Mele Cotte picked Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream, from Great Cakes by Carol Walter. I wasn't worried at first. I thought, actually, whew. A layer cake. This won't be so hard. I had to go and get cocky about it. I had some problems. The cake stuck to the pan. Bad.

See? So I had to bake the cake part again, the second time using a sheet of parchment paper to line the bottom of the pan. But that was the only real problem. Otherwise it just took forever and my kitchen was really hot.

Let me tell you how I made mine different. Instead of the hazelnuts in the original recipe, which can be found on Mele Cotte, I used walnuts. I had a giant bag of them in the freezer, so it wouldn't cost me anything and I'm not sure I can get hazelnuts here without traveling some distance to get to the big city. Then instead of the rum or orange flavored liquor, I used Crown Royal. We're whiskey people here and we were fresh out of bourbon. We had two bottles of Crown and believe me, the Brain was not too happy I was cooking with the good whiskey. And finally, instead of the apricot glaze I used blackberry.

After that white chocolate opera cake that was far too sweet for my taste buds, I was excited to see how this would taste. It was fantastic! I cut a small sliver after I let it chill and brought it to the Brain with two forks. We both sat there worried that I had spent the entire day baking this beautiful thing only to find out we didn't like it. In fact when the Brain came home and I was still working on it he said, "This isn't going to be like that cake you made we couldn't eat is it? Hey! Are you cooking with the Crown!?!?" But fortunately we loved it. It was light, it wasn't too sweet. It was rich, but not overpowering. The Brain ate the whole piece. The next morning when I had a slice for breakfast, I knew I was in trouble and gave it away before lunch. Whew! That could have been disastrous for my hips!

Make sure to check out all the other Daring Bakers and how they all made theirs different. And especially check out Super G's. Hers looks great too! And thank you Chris for such a memorably delicious challenge!

Marshmallow Walnut Chocolate Ice Cream

So I'm procrastinating on making my Daring Baker challenge for this month. I've cleaned the house some. Watched the Brain do some serious housework. Taken my Focus in to see what's wrong with it this month. Played on a parked Vespa, imagining myself to be scooting around Nowhere, Ohio in a kicky skirt while speaking fluent Italian. And learned about Ford Escapes. The Brain has left to run some all day errands and I really need to get my butt in gear and make this challenge.

But instead I decided to finish the ice cream that I made this week and tell you about it. Remember last month's cocoa Cupcake Hero? And how the theme ingredient was cocoa and we were supposed to highlight Askinosie cocoa and those lovely people at Askinosie Chocolate sent me some of the cocoa. Well, I decided that probably I should use it again because my habit of sneaking into the kitchen just to sniff it was starting to get a little weird. That and there's this ice cream blogging event going on at Mike's Table called You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream for Frozen Desserts.

The flavor of the Askinosie Cocoa comes out so clear and luscious in this ice cream. I had a hard time not just eating the custard before I even got started freezing it. That and I also learned that I can not be left alone with fresh mini marshmallows. I apparently love them. So yes, this recipe makes smooth and velvety chocolate ice cream studded with crunchy walnuts and springy marshmallows and over the course of the week I ate it all. And I'm not sorry that I didn't share.

I did tell the Brain that I will make him a milk-free sorbet this week though. I didn't tell him that I was going to use some of my donut frying money to order me some more of that cocoa powder. I'm not addicted or anything. I can quit whenever I want.

Marshmallow Walnut Chocolate Ice Cream

adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Place the sugar, eggs, and cocoa in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy medium saucepan. With the food processor running, slowly pour the hot milk into the food processor feed tube. Process until well blended. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly and reaches 170 degrees F. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the hot chocolate custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Allow the custard to cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. While the machine is running and the ice cream is semi-frozen, add the marshmallows and walnuts. Allow the machine to thoroughly mix them in. When finished, the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Lavender Cocoa Cupcakes with Blueberry Frosting

Have you ever seen that Planters nuts commercial where the not so pretty lady has all the men chasing her because she dabs a cashew behind her ears and in her decolletage? (It's a fancy word for cleavage, but as we're doing a post about some mighty upscale cupcakes here today we'll use the word decolletage.) I am very tempted to do that with the Askinosie cocoa powder that arrived in the mail yesterday. It smells unbelievable. Chocolaty and full bodied and Oh. My. God. I want to bathe in the stuff. Honest.

Seriously, for a brief moment in time I thought my nose was on overdrive. I've never opened a package of cocoa powder and thought oh boy that smells delicious. I had to go and smell my Hershey's in the pantry to see if I was just being weird (or weirder than normal). Both the regular and the special dark. They smell like a chocolate cake. vaguely. Nowhere close to what the Askinosie stuff smells like. The Askinosie cocoa powder makes you think of lush tropical rainforests and sex and love and everything good in the whole world. Forgive me, I've been sniffing it all day.

So yeah, it arrived yesterday in the mail. And for most of yesterday, I just looked at it. It's in some pretty cool packaging. Unfortunately, I can be a little clueless and I may have had a ridiculous time trying to figure out how to get to the cocoa powder. Fortunately I have a brilliant husband, the Brain, who's birthday it was yesterday, and he helped me open the container.

Today, I thought I'd make something standard, like a chocolate peanut butter cupcake to give this Askinosie cocoa a whirl. I didn't know how special it is. I mean, sure Tempered Woman has a kilo (so very jealous), and Laurie at Quirky Cupcake has been going on about it for a while, but I didn't get it. Now I do. This is not the cocoa you use to bake standard cupcakes for a bunch of preschoolers or hungry sports watching men. This is the cocoa you use for more refined affairs. Cupcakes for people who will taste the cupcake instead of just smearing it on their faces or inhaling it in one bite.
So mid cupcake I switched plans. The new cupcake, although WAY more complicated, is as refined and elegant as the cocoa powder. And yeah, I believe I mentioned before that Askinosie cocoa powder is the theme for this month's Cupcake Hero. Judged (in case you forgot) by the lovely TW, Laurie, Joy and Leigh. I know I already entered it here, but see I REALLY want that shirt. And oh, yeah, Askinosie is giving a prize too. And I want it. And I'm willing to get fierce over it. And if i have to make myself fat(ter) to get it I will. Oh yeah.

And although I'm sure the fair minded ladies, TW, Laurie, Joy and Leigh, will taste the Cocoa Cupcake with Marshmallow Frosting and realize that I have mad skills, I'm padding my chances (and my behind) with these decadent Lavender Cocoa Cupcakes with Blueberry Frosting. They're dark. They're luscious. They're in serious danger of being eaten solely by me. Good thing my mom and step dad and the Queen Geek (who now has a really cool blog, go check it out here) are coming into town tomorrow and more than likely will make me share.


Lavender Cocoa Cupcakes with Blueberry Frosting
an original Shazam recipe
makes 18

Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup Askinosie cocoa powder
1/2 tsp espresso powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp dried lavender flowers

In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to break up lumps and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the milk and lavender flowers to a simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for 5 minutes. Carefully, using an immersion blender, blend in pulses until most of the flowers have been chopped and milk is frothy. Let sit for another 5 minutes, then strain out the lavender solids and let cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes)

In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, making sure they're incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 4 parts alternating with the now room temperature milk. Beat briefly for 30 seconds to make sure the batter is completely homogeneous.

Split batter between 18 prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 22 minutes, or until tops are springy and a toothpick inserted into cupcakes comes out fairly clean.

Cool cupcakes completely.

Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries*

Simmer blueberries on stove until most of the berries burst and release their liquids. Mash gently with a wooden spoon and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until cold.

Cream butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract and chilled blueberries.

* I used frozen berries, but I'm sure fresh would also work. Depending on the amount of liquid derived from the berries, you may want to adjust the powdered sugar level to ensure that the frosting is of a spreadable consistency.

Assembly:
cocoa nibs
lavender flowers

Pipe Blueberry Frosting onto Lavender Cocoa cupcakes in decorative swirl. Sprinkle each cupcake with cocoa nibs and lavender flowers. Being careful not to overwhelm the cupcake with either nibs or flowers.

*UPDATE!- The brand of lavender I used was The Spice Hunter. If you check the website there's a handy way of searching by state to see where you can get it near you!*

Cocoa Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

It's that time. Yes, I am trying again to win that T-shirt. No, my beautiful wormy cupcakes didn't get picked for the April Cupcake Hero. Although thanks to that post I did learn a whole lot about how Nalgene bottles can kill you, Brita filters are not recyclable in the US (sign the petition here), and about saving the earth in general, so it wasn't a total waste. Well and my nephew thinks I'm awesome. As you can see by the round up the better cupcake won. So because I'm nothing if not tenacious, I'm trying again. For those of you who may be somehow unaware of what Cupcake Hero is, it's a monthly contest where several bloggers, including Steph of A Whisk and A Spoon, who's always turning in fantastic cupcakes, (in fact if you found someone who's taking bets, she'd be the one to put your money on) turn in a cupcake recipe based on the theme of the month. Cupcake Hero is the brainchild of Laurie at Quirky Cupcakes. She's been joined by the Cupcake Hero staff which includes the always lovely Tempered Woman, the talented Joy the Baker, and the fabulous Leigh of Lemon Tartlet. These beautiful women bake up a select few cupcakes and pick the winner. They're really great ladies and please check out their blogs. (note, I'm not above sending multiple links their way in hopes of swaying their judgment. I figure it's better than jumping up and down shouting "pick me! pick me! They wouldn't be able to see that.)

May's Cupcake Hero theme is cocoa powder. I'm not saying in my post which kind I used, but Laurie at Quirky Cupcake highly suggests Askinosie cocoa powder. Askinosie chocolate is a cool chocolate company started by a guy who was formerly a criminal defense attorney. If you go to his website here, you can check out all about the company and how they give back to the community (which is way cool). I would have liked to have ordered his cocoa powder, but my budget was stretched a little bit tight this month. We got the hospital bill for my surgery and saw just exactly how not fantastic our insurance is. Ouch.

I found cocoa powder to be a difficult ingredient this month. Because I usually try to capture the essence, if you will, of the Cupcake Hero theme of the month, cocoa powder had me stumped. How do you bring out the chocolaty-ness of cocoa powder without having it somehow make you think of some other form of chocolate. Really I have no idea. So I started thinking of things traditionally made with cocoa powder and the best I could come up with was hot cocoa. Hmmmmm with marshmallows.

So that's what I did. But then I started thinking that just a plain chocolate cupcake, albeit one made with cocoa powder, might be considered just a bit boring. And one thing of learned from the judging styles of Laurie, Tempered Woman, Joy, and Lemon Tartlet is that they don't really appreciate boring. So I made mine have a subtle little zing. I added ginger and black pepper. Blame it on a care package that arrived while I was stuck on the couch that had a multitude of chocolate bars in it, but I was feeling frisky with chocolate flavorings. Then I baked one in one of my coffee mugs (to make sure the cup was oven safe). I would have baked all of them in coffee mugs except then this recipe would only make about 3 cupcakes and it was almost too much to eat the one cup of cocoa cake with marshmallow frosting. Almost. So I baked the rest in the cool party cups that Clara sent me from I heart Cuppycakes because of these cupcakes and this contest. See I have won other cupcake contests. Clara has some fantastic looking cupcakes on her blog. Go check them out too.

I thought they were totally delicious. Yeah, they're all gone. And the marshmallow frosting is the first frosting in a long time that I licked the bowl. I was downright sticky when they were done. Now if I could only remember where I put my brace (that I'm supposed to wear all the time) so that I can go to the gym. It's not lost. I just don't remember where I put it. I'll find it. Or I'm really in trouble.

Cocoa Cupcakes with Marshmallow Frosting

original recipe by me

makes regular cupcakes

Cupcakes:

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder (preferably Askinosie cocoa powder)

3/8 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

large egg

1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, ginger and black pepper in a small bowl and set aside.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue beating for about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and egg and continue beating until smooth and incorporated. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Then add half the milk beating until smooth. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by the remainder of the milk. Again scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat for 30 seconds. Distribute the batter between 8 prepared cupcake cups. Bake for 22 minutes.

Frosting:

1 cup marshmallow fluff

4 Tbsp softened unsalted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp milk

pinch of salt

Mix together fluff, butter, extract, sugar, and salt. Add milk to create the right consistency frosting. You may need more or less depending on how thick you prefer your frosting. Do not leave out the salt in the frosting. I think it really makes the frosting go from good to great!

To Assemble:

Once cupcakes are cooled, pipe marshmallow frosting on top of cupcakes. Remember a little goes a long way with this particular frosting. Then dust lightly with cocoa powder (preferably Askinosie brand.)

Vermicompost cupcakes

Vermicompost cupcakes? Ewww. Not really. (It's not real vermicompost.)

Actually it's that time of the month again. Time for me to hopefully submit my cupcake to the Cupcake Hero contest to Laurie and TW et al and patiently wait for the results knowing that I have a consistently good cupcake, but that someone out there has made one better than me. And then I get sad and I drown my sorrows in leftover frosting. OK, that's not actually true. I make a point of getting leftover frosting under running water as soon as possible after frosting the cupcakes so I'm not standing in the kitchen at midnight eating frosting out of the freezer with a spoon. So here we go again.

This month's theme is Earth Day, picked by the lovely TW! Now that's an odd theme for a cupcake. But I was pretty excited about it. There's all sorts of little things we can do to help the environment. By now, most of us are bringing our own bags to the grocery. (If you can't find bags, I know that both Walmart and Meijers sell them for 99¢. I've bought them and they're pretty great. Nice and roomy and the Meijers one has a little pocket in front and inside wine holders.) And if you're not bringing your own bags, why not? They're a great and easy way to do something good for the environment. And they hold a lot more than regular plastic or paper bags. So you can end up with 2 bags instead of 17.

Another easy way to help the environment is to say goodbye to bottled water. I know. I know. Bottled water is an easy way to get healthy. Water is good for us. That's all true, but there's a better way. Roughly 40 million plastic water bottles find their way to the trash can every day or become litter. You could argue that you can refill plastic water bottles and reuse them. That's true only for the first 3 times. Each time you use a plastic water bottle little cracks form in the plastic and after 3 times they are a bacteria breeding ground. ick. So what's a person who wants to drink healthy water to do? Buy a cool reusable water bottle. I got mine from Dick's for less than $10 (it was on sale).

You can also order them online from a variety of sources. I like the Life is Good line myself. What if you have really undrinkable tap water like I did in Indianapolis? Then buy a faucet water filter like this one from Brita. They are easy to install, inexpensive and last for 100 gallons. I would even bet that the cost of the filter and the replacement filters as well as the reusable bottle over time, even end up being cheaper than buying all that bottled water. But I couldn't figure out how to make that into a cupcake so consider it a public service announcement.

*It has been brought to my attention that In Europe the filters are recyclable while here in the US they are not. There is grass roots movement to encourage Brita to create a recycling program. To sign the petition go here. For a much better explanation go to Fake Plastic Fish.

*Make sure you wash your water bottle by hand and don't store water in it for longer than a day to keep harmful chemicals from leaching from the plastic into the water bottle. Apparently the water bottles also need to be recycled once they get pretty old and beat up. I've also heard there are stainless steel water bottles out there.

So what cause that is good for the environment can I make into a cupcake? Vermicompost! Vermicompost is a system of breaking down food scraps, into a rich fertilizer for houseplants and your garden. OK, it's worm poop. But it's really good for plants and it keeps all that junk from going to landfills. And the fertilizer is a completely organic way to have your plants (and vegetables) grow big and healthy. I can't seem to convince the Brain we should do it either. But my parents have a vermicompost system in their basement. You can read about theirs here. It's pretty odorless really. Kinda cool. I've convinced them to come "help" me plant my vegetable garden this year and maybe they'll transport some of the compost down here too! If you're interested in vermicomposting I highly suggest the book, Worms Eat My Garbage. I got it out of the library. It's easy to read and has some nice illustrations. Also here's a video with Martha Stewart and David Hyde Pierce (aka Niles Craine from Frasier) demonstrating how to do it.

So yeah. Here's my Vermicompost cupcakes. They're a rich dark chocolate cake studded with caramel bits and walnuts because really dirt isn't smooth and homogeneous. Then they're topped with dark chocolate frosting and "vermicompost" with coconut "newspaper strips". The newspaper strips are very important for worm composting (as shown in the video). Then I carefully piped red wiggler worms on top. Red wiggler worms are actually the best worms for composting. I read the book. Also, if you'll notice, my little vermicompost systems are in they're very own little Rubbermaid tubs. OK here I'm totally lying. These are silicon cupcake holders that my mom bought me and are really fun. They also can be reused so they're pretty good for the environment too. (Well OK, I sent a dozen off to my nephews and those weren't in the silicone holders. You know how boys are. They like worms, but i didn't want my square cupcake cups to get lost.)

Vermicompost Cupcakes

makes approximately 20 with leftover vermicompost

cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup Kraft premium caramel bits

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place paper liners in wells (or silicon cups).

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine walnuts and caramel bits in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl with a hand mixer beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time making sure each egg is incorporated before moving on. Add the flour in 4 additions alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl and beat for an additional 30 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among the cups, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the tops spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes back clean.

Cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Frosting:

6 Tbsp butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa

4 Tbsp milk

Beat butter and sugar together with cocoa powder. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until spreading consistency. Set aside.

"Vermicompost" mix:

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup Kraft premium caramel bits

20 fudge sandwich cookies (I used the cheap kind, but fudge filled Oreos would work)

1 cup coconut

Pulse walnuts, caramel bits, and sandwich cookies in the food processor until crumbly looking. The caramel bits won't get chopped up hardly at all, but that's OK. Think of it as organic food waste particles. Stir in coconut to resemble newspaper strips. The leftovers of this would be great on vanilla ice cream.

Red Wiggler Worm Icing:

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp milk

1 cup powdered sugar

Wilton's Aster Mauve Concentrated Icing Coloring (or a combination of food colorings to achieve pinkish purplish worm color.)

Blend together butter and powdered sugar. Add milk to achieve very thick consistency. Add food coloring to achieve proper worm color.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

Transfer "vermicompost" mix to a wide shallow bowl. Frost cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting. Then turn cupcakes upside down into "Vermicompost" mix. Your frosting should be completely coated in "vermicompost". Transfer Red Wiggler Worm icing into a piping bag fitted with a #4 tip. (Or you could just stick it in a small Ziploc bag and cut one corner off to make a little hole.) Pipe worms onto cupcakes. These worms aren't going to want to stick to well, but that's OK it just adds to the randomness of what worms look like.

Cupcake Shipping part 3 and Success!

First let me point you in the direction of the lovely (and I really mean lovely) Marti of Standing Still. Marti is a fantastic potter and you can buy her stuff here. She also has a terrifically witty blog and great long red hair. She also has a really fun countdown until the current administration is over and we get to have a new president who can't possibly be as bad as the one we've got now.

The lovely Marti lives in Minnesota. And Minnesota has been pummeled with snow. Seriously it could still be snowing there now. Winter has an even firmer grip on Minnesota than on Northern Ohio. So one day when I was just doing nothing because it was too yucky to go outside, very cold rain or something like that, a feeble cry came out of Minnesota. Please. Send. Cupcakes. How could I resist?

Now Marti's son, who is really a cool kid, happens to be even pickier about fruit than I am, likes dark chocolate and doesn't like nuts and so on. So I made him my version of Mexican Chocolate cupcakes. I should say I was talking to Super G and she suggested it and she's lived in Mexico for a little bit, so I'm taking her word on what exactly Mexican Chocolate is. Basically it's dark chocolate with cinnamon and a little cayenne. At least that's what MY Mexican Chocolate is.

I topped those off with a matching dark chocolate ganache and put them in the newest version of the cupcake shipping prototype.

How did I update the old cupcake shipping system? Well instead of an 8oz clear plastic cup, I went with a 7oz paper cup. It's more Earth friendly, at least in my head it is. And the smaller cup meant that it would hit the slipless point quicker thus cutting down on the amount of movement of the frozen cupcake in the inverted cup. Like so. (I am a math geek, not an artist.)

The slipless point is important because once the cupcake hits the slipless point then the cupcake if inverted (the cup would then be right side up) would not be able to slip further into the cup, thus damaging the frosting. So through my shipping exploits, I have learned that a firmer cupcake works better for shipping. Freezing is imperative to maintain freshness and moisture in the cupcakes. The Ziploc bag definitely confines the cupcake to the cup, is more reliable than cling wrap for this purpose and helps to maintain freshness. Also the smaller paper cup protects the sides and the tops of the cupcake better. I also learned not to send cupcakes to family members. They don't take photos.

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1 cup milk at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 18 muffin tin cups with paper liners.

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne together in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and scraping down the bowl in between. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour. Beat briefly after each addition until incorporated. Scrape the bowl frequently. Once everything is combined beat for 1 minute on medium speed.

Evenly distribute among prepared muffin cups and bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center has only a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Cool completely.

Mexican Chocolate Ganache

1 cup heavy cream

1 (12oz) bag Special Dark chocolate chips

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch cayenne

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Put the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream until just barely simmering. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until all the chocolate chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the cinnamon and cayenne. Let the chocolate mixture cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and beat with a handheld mixer until it is at a spreadable consistency.

Frost the cupcakes and add some festive sprinkles.

So there you go.

Success at last.

Cupcake Shipping part 1

Maybe you have stopped by I Heart Cuppycakes blog before, if not, then shame on you. Go check it out. I'll wait. Really I can't get too far. dum de dum de dum de dum. Ok? You're back?

So you may have noticed Clara had been working a while on figuring out the best way to ship cupcakes to people. And she is brilliant! She figured out that if you let gravity work for you the cupcakes will stay lovely. The secret involves an inverted disposable plastic cup. Now I usually make far more cupcakes than I really need to eat and so I've been fearlessly handing them out around town. The new cupcake shipping method however opens a world of opportunities for me. SO I decided I would give it a try. I modified Clara's method some. She loosely wrapped her cupcakes in plastic wrap and had cardboard inserts in her box. You can read about her method here. I decided that if I put the cup in a tightly fitting Ziploc baggie that it would hold the cupcake in and I wouldn't have to worry about it escaping from the the cup. I also used a smaller cup I think. Like so...

I also froze the cupcakes before shipping and then packed them in a box that I stuffed with crosscut shredding from my shredder in the home office. I figure if the people on CSI and CSI Miami can't put cross cut shredding together again it would be a safe bet that no identity thieves out there will be able to. And really I know the people I send cupcakes to have much better things to do than put my shredding back together.

So, we are testing an effective and economical method of shipping cupcakes. I must say that my first attempt was a definite success. I mailed these chocolate orange cupcakes with chocolate orange ganache to my friend S, the Queen Geek. She says the were delicious and that there was very little damage to the frosting.

It occurred to me that these were a very sturdy cupcake and frosting and even though it was shipped with a small loaf of Julia's French Bread, (that bread is SO yummy!) that these had a very good shot at coming through unscathed. Tune in next time to see how a softer cupcake and frosting did.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

adapted from A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp orange extract

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in 18 cupcake pan wells.

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl beat butter until creamy about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually and continue beating for 3 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the orange extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition and allowing each egg to become completely incorporated. Add the flour in 4 additions, alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour. Beat briefly until smooth after each addition.

Divide the batter among the cupcake wells and bake in preheated oven for 22 minutes.

Chocolate Orange Ganache Frosting

adapted from A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes

2/3 cup heavy cream

10 ounces chocolate chips

1/2 tsp orange extract

1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the cream until just at a simmer. While cream is heating place chocolate chips in a medium mixing bowl. Pour hot cream over chips and let sit for 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is all melted and mixture is smooth. Add orange extract. Chill chocolate mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then using a handheld mixer beat in 1 cup of powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar as necessary to get frosting to spreading consistency.

Happy Pi Day! Have some Bourbon.

Yes I am a geek. I'll say it proudly. I have a bachelors in statistics and I know that Pi, π, commonly known as 3.14 is merely an approximation for a never ending, never repeating number. It is also one of the most important mathematical constants. It represents the ratio of any circle's circumference to it's diameter. It is also the ratio of a circle's area to the square of it's radius. It's where the pie are squared formula comes from. HAHAHAHAHAHA! math humor. You gotta love it.

So it's Pi Day. Get it? 3.14? March 14? Math geeks get ridiculously excited about silliness like this. Just like October 23rd is Mole Day. OK this one might be a little harder, but if you think of Avogadro and his constant, another of the most important mathematical constants, you should be able to get it.

So yeah. I'm a geek. And I tried to think what kind of pie geeks would eat. And I came up with a few ideas. The Statistics and Math geeks I hung out with in college tended to drink a lot, party hard, and stay up the entire night before an exam eating pizza, drinking beer and learning the concepts of multi-variable calculus from the smartest girl in class who happened to be stoned at the time. She's now a very good math professor, but I'm not telling where.
Geeks like to drink. My friend S has an aeronautical engineering degree and works on tertiary Internet systems. I don't even understand what that means, and she's explained it to me numerous times. She is the Queen Geek. And in the days were both single we could get plowed on some very nice wine or good quality beer.

My whole family seems to be engineers and they all like to drink. Seriously, Mom, Dad, Step dad, Uncle J., Uncle J., Uncle T., Grandpa, Papa, Great Uncle Bernard. These are a bunch of engineers who all like their booze. Heck some of them were deans of engineering at very good schools. I should point out here before Mom gets annoyed that to say they like their booze does NOT mean that they are all alcoholics.

My sister Super G is also a major geek. She actually graduated from college in 4 years (it took me 10- my geekdom didn't come easy) and she has a combined math and Spanish literature bachelors degree, and a master's degree in education. She teaches high schoolers in Brooklyn mathematical concepts like spacial geometry through quilting. She also likes her booze.

And the Brain. Yeah, he's a lawyer. But did you know he was a mechanical engineer before he became a lawyer? It's really funny coming from a family of engineers, because I can recognize that he THINKS like an engineer. He approaches problems logically and in a step by step fashion. Analyzing away. He, the love of my life, is a big geek. He also really likes his bourbon.
So today for Pi Day, I made a Bourbon Pie. Yes, you read that right. I didn't know it existed either. I happened to be leafing through the Joy of Cooking last night, wishing I was more prepared because a pot pie cannot be eaten on a Friday in Lent. And although I found a Fish Pie recipe, I wasn't quite that brave. So Bourbon it is.

The decision was cemented when I went to the doctor today and he surpassed my worst case scenario. My surgery is set for March 25th. The best case would be a little teeny surgery. But they measured me for a brace while I was in the office. And given what the doctor implied, most likely I'm looking at months on crutches.

Bourbon it is.

Bourbon Chocolate Pie
sort of from The Joy of Cooking

One 9 inch prebaked pie shell in pan.*

4 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup honey
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp bourbon
2 oz. dark chocolate chips
2 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
2 oz. white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, corn syrup, honey, butter, salt and bourbon. Mix in all of the chocolate. Pour into prepared pie shell. Bake for 35 minutes until the pie is set. Cool the pie until firmed. Slice and serve.

I topped mine with Black Walnut Ice Cream.

* I purchased my pie shell, so I'm not eligible for the Pi Day Pie Roundup at Kitchen Parade. Go check it out though. There are some really yummy pies listed.