Tuesday, October 4, 2011

My love letter to fall.....

     HELLO FALL! All my fellow foodies and bloggers! FALL! It is finally here! October 3rd to be exact, and I have been on a long soul-searching, life-changing, finding myself and making some alterations in my life kinda hiatus! So I apologize for neglecting my dear blog and all of you followers! But on the flip side of it all, I have managed to come up with some amazing recipes, along with a career move that will in turn help me bring my delicious desserts to your tables, and some much needed revamping to my baking pantry and kitchen. I re-promise(if that's even a word) to update my "food quest" and take you on an delicious foodie journey, one bite @ a time! So hear we go...
   
     Nothing screams fall like the blooming of a pumpkin! They come in all shapes, colors, and sizes. And even better, they have found a way to be conveniently pureed and packaged in small cans for your daily pumpkin fix! So I have decided to be amongst the many to fall into this "pumpkin craze" and dabble around in an assorted mesh of recipes. The first of many recipes I rustle up, is that of my sweet, spiced and surprisingly fluffy pumpkin spiced cupcakes. Not just any old boring pumpkin muffin, but filled with a homemade brown& smoked bourbon sugar orange marmalade and dressed up with a cinnamon and Chinese 5-spiced buttercream frosting swirl! Now if you are familiar with my other cupcake recipes, you know that I always start with my perfectly calculated base for a light and fluffy vanilla cupcake! And for those of you who aren't, well here's the recipe as follows:

                LIGHT AND FLUFFY VANILLA CUPCAKE

DRY
1 1/2 c of all-purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp of baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 of baking soda
1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
1 c of sugar
1 pinch of salt (kosher or sea salt)
1 vanilla bean (optional)

WET
2 eggs (room temp with yolks and whites separated)
1/2 c of softened unsalted butter
1/2 c of milk
1-2 tsp of vanilla extract

     OK, so I take my light and fluffy cake recipe and tweak it just a smidgen for my pumpkin spiced cupcakes! For the spices, I use pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, curry powder, and cayenne pepper for a little kick! I replace the vanilla bean and use fresh orange zest. And how could we forget the most important ingredient, PUMPKIN! For this, I go to my favorite local grocery store and find organic pumpkin puree in a can! Cuts down on time with actually baking a pumpkin from its raw state, since that takes almost forever. For this recipe you only need half of the amount that's in the can.
    
                                         So any who, I first sift together all of my dry ingredients minus the sugar and cream of tartar but include my spices, so that I get equal distribution of everything and it also makes it lump free! Setting that to the side, I work on my wet ingredients. I take the separated egg whites, cream of tartar and whip them until they form nice stiff peaks. Since we kept the eggs and room temp, the peaks will take less time to form. The cream of tartar is used to stabilize the peaks so they keep their shape and stay fluffy. I set my fluffed whites to the side and begin to cream my softened butter and sugar together. Adding the yolks to the mixture, one at a time,  I start in with my pumpkin puree! A 1/2 cup is blended in while air is being whipped into my batter(this is where the magic begins). Dry ingredients go in next, the paddle to my standing mixture is moving in a frenzy when a spice cloud suddenly forms around my head! Once all of my flour/spice mixture is added, I spoon in another 1/2 c of the pumpkin. We're almost in the home stretch! A 1/2 c of milk,vanilla extract, and the orange zest are the finishing touches to that of a wonderful smelling and even more promising tasty batter! O yes and our egg whites! Take them and carefully fold them into the batter! Being mindful of not over mixing so they don't deflate!
     
         Once everything, the wet and the dry are fully incorporated, I fill my muffin pan. Depending on the size of your muffin pan, will determine who much you need in each little pocket. Since I use a mini pan, I have found it rather helpful to use a mini ice cream scoop with the trigger on the side or as the handle. This gets all of the batter out of the scoop and gives you an even amount for each one. With my oven pre-heated at 400 degrees, in go the little cakes! I decrease the temprature to 350 degrees so that the tops and bottoms don't over cook before the middle. No one likes a doughy cake! Now that my little cakes are nestled away in the oven for approximetly 15 minutes, I start on my orange marmalade. 

SMOKED BOURBON AND BROWN SUGAR ORANGE MARMALADE

1 navel orange peeled,segmented, and chopped
1 Tbs of fresh orange zest
1 Tbs of unsalted butter
2 Tbs of brown sugar
1 Tbs of smoked bourbon sugar
a dash of cinnamon
2 Tbs of water 
1/4 tsp of corn starch
1/2 pinch of salt(kosher)

      First, I zest my orange and place that to the side. Then, taking my handy chef's knife, I remove the peel exposing the flesh so there is no white biter peel left. I then go in and remove each pulpy segment by placing my knife on each side of the individual wedges, and removing it from the core. Once all of the segments are removed, I chop them all up, not to small but all the same size and place them in a small sauce sauce pan on medium heat. Next I add butter, sugar, cinnamon, zest, corn starch, water and bring it all to a boil until it becomes thick. I remove it from the heat and refridgerate immediately so that the marmalade can set. Now it won't be the gelled consistency that we are used to since I didn't add any pectin to it. But the butter and corn starch will give a nice thickness, good enough to fill the cupcakes with. 
      DING! Mon petite gateau or "little cakes" are ready and smell like a spiced heaven! I place them on a cooling rack and start on my cinnamon and chinese five-spiced buttercream.   








                                                                                  


                                   CINNAMON & CHINESE 5-SPICE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

1 c sifted powdered sugar
1 c softened unsalted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice
1 Tbs of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt(kosher)
    

      I cream together softened butter. Add powdered sugar, cinnamon, and 5-spice sifted together into creamed butter. Blend at medium speed, trying not to over whip! We don't want the butter to curdle. Slowly pour in heavy cream,vanilla extract and toss in pinch of salt. Taste for quality control, and VIOLA! Buttercream is finished. place in pastry bag with a fun star tip and its placed in the fridge for 2-3 minutes to stiffen up just a tad. You can find Chinese 5-spice at most specialty stores. This is a spice used in most Asian cooking for sweet and savory dishes! It consist of cinnamon, ground star anise, fennel,ginger,cloves, white pepper, and licorice root. The over all taste and smell is that of black licorice. I personally don't care for black licorice but since I've used such a small amount, it doesn't over power the taste and complements the cinnamon and pumpkin quite nicely. It also gives some depth to the buttercream.

      Well it's all ready to be assembled, dressed and photographed for your viewing pleasure! Don't you wish you had "Wonka Vision" then you could just grab these tasty little morsels right out of your screen like in the movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", minus the little bratty boy of course! 
     First, the orange marmalade filling gets placed in a pastry bag and I cut about 1/2 inch off the tip of the bag. No metal tip needed for this since you are piping a fruit filling, but make sure it is big enough so that you can squeeze the fruit chunks through. I've filled my cakes with marmalade enough for a nice orange bite, and now time for buttercream! For a little bit of nutty crunch, I've crushed some fresh hazelnuts and sprinkled them on top! This is optional of course and topped it off with a little bit more orange zest to carry the orange flavor all the way through! Wheww! Seems like a lot of work but definitely worth it! Now to kick back, relax, enjoy my masterpiece with a nice cup of coffee, and try my best to keep my boyfriend from gobbling them all up while I'm not looking! 

"As the colorful turning of the leaves commence,so comes the transition into fall. The lush red-oranges and rich golden browns cover the once bright green leaves, like a finely crafted wool coat. The heavy humid air of summer lifts and turns light,brisk, and breezy. And a giddy& easy-going feeling wafts through the breeze, kissing you ever so lightly on the cheek, letting you know that fall is here."-K.M.H. 




Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Simple Sweet Strawberry Cupcakes! Happy Birthday Nevaeh!

      It's a beautiful sunny Monday morning and I'm up with coffee in tow baking cupcakes for my little cousin Nevaeh! She's turning 3 and theme for today "Princess and the Frog Party" with a little bit of Dora and Tinkerbell thrown in there! So I've decided to make little mini bites of simple strawberry cake with a strawberry filling and sweet vanilla, strawberry buttercream frosting piped on top. These actually will be intended more for the adults seeing that Nevaeh already has a cake adorned with "Princess and the Frog" trinkets and cupcakes to match via Publix bakery! Of course she will get to enjoy a strawberry mini bite as well, it's her birthday after all! So enough jibber jabber and on to the food!

        I start with my handy base recipe for cupcakes, which can be found on my previous post titled "Month of Dave", and just add a strawberry like jam that I concocted from frozen strawberries. I add them to a sauce pan on med heat with a cup of sugar , a tsp of vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp of lemon zest, and a bit of lemon juice. The citric acid from the  lemon will help draw out the natural juices of the berries. After it all comes to a boil, I lower the heat and let it reduce and thicken, mashing up some of the bigger chunks. After it reaches the desired consistency, I divided half of my strawberry mixture and add one half  to the 1/2 of milk added at the end of making my batter. This will help cool the berries down and make it easier to work into the batter, distributing that yummy strawberry taste throughout! Once my batter is complete, I'm ready to spoon into my mini muffin tin with mini cupcake liners! "In the oven you go" I say and carry on to my butter cream! 


     Now for my sweet vanilla and strawberry buttercream, I have already taken out 1/2 c of butter to let soften. I'm using a basic buttercream recipe and splitting it in half since I won't need much. The 1/2 c of butter goes into the mixture on low speed, along with 1 1/4 c of powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract, and 1 Tbs of heavy cream. I increase the speed for 1 minute after adding the cream until it's a smooth creamy consistency. Over mixing will cause your buttercream to curdle and break up and at that point its kind of hard to save it, trust me I've done the leg work, so try to make sure your butter is soft and room temp, and keep a watchful eye on your mix. Once my buttercream is complete, I fold in the remaining cooled strawberries, trying not to over work the buttercream but making sure its fully incorporated. 












   My cupcakes are complete!I was able to get two pans full of mini cupcakes out of the batter, the more the merrier I say! I place them all on my cake stand to cool, core out some and add what strawberry mix I have left over. The rest I leave plain and then begin to pipe on some delicious sweet vanilla and strawberry buttercream. MMMMMM, yep these will be perfect little bite-size treats, I smile to myself and pack them up before managing to gobble up one or two. On to the party! 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

'The Month of DAVE" birthday cupcakes part 1!

    Good morning world! I've been up since 5 a.m.! With the help of some much needed coffee of course, I am fulfilling a request via Mr. Dave Cunningham a.k.a "My Boss", to produce some cupcakes celebrating his birthday June 30th ! Actually, he has deemed it the "Month of DAVE", and has requested that I conjure up some sweet treats including strawberries, bananas, chocolate, and vanilla! Of course I had to talk him into splitting up the request and bring him one batch for pre-celebration and the second for his actual birthday! So to the good stuff! I've decided to do a light and fluffy vanilla cake topped with a rich chocolate ganache frosting with a surprise bananas fosters center! MMMMMM, yes my kitchen smells divine, and the coffee has kicked in full force!

         To start, I took two eggs that I stored at room temperature, this helps incorporate ingredients better, I separate the egg whites from the yolks. I take my egg whites and beat them to stiff peaks and save for later. I creamed 1/2 c of softened unsalted butter with a cup of sugar (by the way all of my ingredients listed are organic but you can use regular if you like!). Continuing, I add one egg yolk at a time, making sure they are mixed in well , I add 2 tsp of vanilla extract. In a separate container, I sift 1 1/2 cup of flour and 1 3/4 tsp of baking powder together in a bowl. I add this to my wet mixture on medium speed. Once all is mixed in, I add 1/2 cup of Almond milk (again you can use regular milk), till moist and to help the batter remain light and fluffy, I fold in my egg whites a little at a time. This is done by dividing your egg whites into thirds, taking a silicon spatula and making a line through your cake batter. Add a third of your whites to the center line and fold the batter over the whites. Sip more coffee & repeat this step until whites are fully incorporated. (Try not to over whip to prevent your whites from deflating to much!) Then once batter is ready, I spoon it into a green and orange stripe liner hand-picked for Dave, seeing that is was more manly than pink with glitter! Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min!
      Now for the filling, take about 2-3 Tbs of butter and add to a medium size sauce pan. Set temp on med-low to brown, once I  hear the sizzle noises I know its ready! I take about 1-2 Tbs of light brown sugar, to chopped bananas, a dash of cinnamon, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper , and saute in the browned butter! Once I get the consistency I want, I add a little light rum, you can use dark rum or no rum at all, to the mixture to kick it up a bit! And VIOLA, bananas foster! I set that to the side and start on my ganache!
  
      I take a small sauce pan and place on low heat! Ghirardelli is my baking chocolate of choice! Using a mixture if bitter dark and semi-sweet chocolate with a little bit of french pressed coffee and a splash of almond milk, I melt it all down! The coffee helps add depth to the chocolate bringing out a silky richness no one can resist! Once my ganache is fully melted, I add 1 Tbs of cubed frozen butter(you can use room temp) to the chocolate, this helps thicken the ganache just a tad and creates more of a frosting like consistency versus a thin layer. I set it in the fridge to set up a bit more before piping onto the cupcakes.
 



          "DING", the timer has sounded off and my cupcakes are ready! I let them cool before coring out the centers. Saving the tops and the middle in a separate container. I spoon in the banana mixture, replace the tops, and decorate! Wheww! Sneak on off the plate and test, quality control is my excuse, and cross my fingers that he enjoys! Time to jump and the shower and shuffle off to work before I"M LATE! And if you thought this was good just wait for part 2......


Friday, June 3, 2011

Ok so I'm pretty new at this....

     Hello "BLOG WORLD" ! So, o k I'm pretty new at this blog thing and trying to figure out what topic to choose for my first post is a little intimidating! And I figure the best thing to write about, to make that good "first impression", is to share something very near and dear to my heart! My inspiration for cooking.I would say my first memory of learning and loving to cook stemmed from my childhood years. The two major players in that role were my dad and granny Betty. 
       I first got my culinary training at the GBCI or the "Granny Betty Culinary Institute". We'd visit for holidays or just because,I'd stand mindlessly in the kitchen observing,taste testing and cutting up with my mom and aunts. As far as the holidays go, granny Betty had her mini repertoire of goods that she'd whip up! Such as her addicting sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping and her "top secret" recipe for cornbread dressing. As well as her buttery homemade yeast rolls, with at least one pan burnt from lack of paying attention ,but the rest were always amazing. We've excepted it now as a yearly tradition, holidays wouldn't be right without it. 
     At the end of the day we'd settle in for the sweet treats. When it came to desserts, her most praised recipe was a delicious layered yellow cake dressed in homemade caramel frosting! Now I know what you're probably thinking,"everyone has a grandma with a great caramel cake recipe" and blah blah blah but no one, not even the most professional pastry chef or baker in the world, can top my granny Betty's caramel cake. It's so simple yet the flavors of the caramel are so complex. Light, fluffy, yellow cake with oooey gooey rich caramel spread in between each layer and poured on top. Of course the caramel frosting took forever in the day to make, with all the mixing, boiling, stirring, and then some, but the reward was well worth the wait. It wasn't until I got older, that I truly appreciated the time that went into making the caramel, did I mention upper body strength too?I finally got to make the prized frosting with a slight twist of my own(lavender) for my mother's birthday cupcakes. They turned out just as delectable as I would have imagined! 

     Guess I never realized the enormous impact she has made on me in the foodie world, not only with the enjoyment of food but the preparation and skill it takes to create really GREAT food. Time, effort, and LOVE for what you do! That's it! Those are the key ingredients you need! I was inspired at a young age and thus my skills have developed overtime! And so I figure the only way I'll truly be able to measure success, is if I can inspire others. Inspire them like my granny and dad have inspired me. To seek, develop, and grow in the natural talents that you've been given or find something out there that you at least want to try and maybe you can be an inspiration to others! Now I see that my first blog is a little "lengthy" and I promise to cut it a little short for the next one! But in the mean time here's a little reward for giving me your undivided attention!
                 
                                Granny Betty's Caramel Frosting 


-1 stick of butter
-2 cups of sugar
-1 cup of milk
-1/4 tsp of baking soda
-3 Tbsp of corn syrup
-1 Tbsp of vanilla
-pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)

Add all in one large pot at medium-high heat until it comes to a boil
reduce to medium heat
Stir with a wooden spoon until your arm feels like its about to detach itself from the 
rest of your body or for about 10-15 min
Let cool briefly for 1-2 min then spread immediately
ENJOY!
(And for my Lavender Caramel, just  add 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup dried lavender buds
into milk and steep for 5 minutes and strain into rest of mixture)