Pretty Girl Makes Cupcakes

Hi everyone. Good news, I’m neither dead, nor retired from blogging. It’s just been a busy few months, and I haven’t had the time / energy to do much baking, and even less to do posting. Since my last post I’ve graduated from law school (hooray), started studying for the bar exam (boooo), and have started packing for a move to DC at the end of the summer. All in all, a busy time. Because of the bar don't expect many, or even any, new posts for awhile, but I thought I'd try for at least this one update.

This weekend though, I was fortunate enough to have a pretty girl help me make cupcakes (hence the title of the post). Hattie (the aforementioned pretty girl) and I made Chocolate-Banana-Peanut butter cupcakes for a Fourth of July party. These aren’t exactly new for me, as I’ve done a pretty fair number of chocolate peanut butter desserts, but I thought the addition of banana made these excellent. The cake is my basic chocolate, filled with a chocolate banana ganache, and frosted with a peanut butter frosting. The combination was excellent, if I can say so, and the banana really came through as a flavor in the ganache, even though you wouldn't suspect it (it just has the texture and appearance of regular whipped ganache).

Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes ~26

2 sticks unsalted butter

½ cup cocoa-powder

¾ cup water

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

½ cup well-shaken buttermilk

1 T vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 t cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

2. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over low heat. Add in the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Then add the water and mix until smooth again. Remove from heat

3. One at a time mix in the sugar, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla

4. Sift the dry ingredients over the wet, and whisk until well combined.

5. Fill cupcakes using a ¼ cup measure. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let them cool thoroughly before frosting.

Chocolate-banana ganache

8 oz. dark chocolate

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup banana puree

1. Chop the chocolate, and place it in a heat proof bowl.

2. Bring the cream to a simmer, pour over the chocolate, allow to sit for a minute, then stir until fully combined.

3. Stir in the banana puree. Allow to cool until set.

4. Pour cooled ganache into the bowl of a mixer, beat with whisk attachment until light in color and fluffy

Peanut Butter frosting

1 cup peanut butter

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 ½ cups whipped cream (from about 1 cup cream)

1 cup powdered sugar

½ cup banana puree

1. Beat together the peanut butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth.

2. Add the whipped cream and beat to combine. Beat in the banana puree.

Assembly

Use the cone method to fill the cupcakes with the whipped ganache. Top with the peanut butter frosting.

Bread Pudding Cupcakes

I’m not entirely sure whether or not to call these cupcakes. In one sense, they are cupcakes, since they were made in cupcake pans (although they lack liners). On the other hand, it’s really just a bread pudding recipe that I baked in cupcake pans, there’s nothing particularly “cupcakey” about the recipe, other than the pan used. Really, it is a question better left to philosophers. What is important is that these were REALLY good. I brought these bread puddings to a potluck with work folks, and they were very well received, with multiple people asking for the recipe. The original recipe came from an epicurious recipe for Chocolate-Dulce de Leche bread pudding. I made a few modifications though. I used a loaf of challah bread, plus one croissant as the bread for this recipe. The only change I would make is that I would add some Cinnamon, maybe a tablespoon or so.

For the dulce de leche I used the sweetened condensed milk method. Take two cans of sweetened condensed milk; peel the labels and all of the glue off. Place the cans in boiling water, and boil for two hours. Make sure the cans stay covered in water, or they might explode. After two hours, remove the cans and let them cool completely. Make sure to have extra on hand to serve on top of the cakes. I also used 1 cup heavy cream, and ½ cup fat free half-and-half. The original recipe calls for all heavy cream, but I wanted to cut it down just a little.

·         Chocolate and Dulce-de-Leche Bread Pudding Cupcakes

·         Makes 19

·         1 loaf egg bread, plus one croissant, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (about 4 x 5 inches), cut into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes

·         4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, divided

·         1 cup heavy whipping cream

·         ½ cup half-half

·         2 cups dulce de leche, divided

·         2 large egg yolks

·         2 tablespoons dark rum

·         1 overripe banana, mashed

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         Pinch of salt

·         1 cup (about 3 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chips

·         1 cup chopped pecans

·         2 tablespoons sugar

·         Powdered sugar

·       

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place bread in large bowl. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons melted butter and toss. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and Bake until bread begins to color, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

2. Butter the individual cupcake cups. I used non-stick pans, and it was still important that I butter them

3. Stir whipping cream, half-and-half, and 1 ½ cup dulce de leche in medium saucepan over medium heat until blended and bubbling. Remove from heat.

4. Whisk eggs and yolks in large bowl. Add rum, vanilla, banana and salt; gradually whisk in warm dulce de leche mixture.

5. Stir in bread cubes. Let soak 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Mix chocolate chips and pecans into the custard mixture. Scoop into cupcake pans, try not to press down on the puddings too hard. Sprinkle the tops of the cupcakes with sugar.

7. Bake pudding until puffed and set in center, about 20 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes. Use a butter knife to gently cut around the edges of the puddings. For the most part the knife should be able to push the puddings away from the pans, rather than having to cut. Invert the pan onto a cookie sheet, and tap the bottoms of the pans. The puddings should fall out easily.

8. Serve the puddings with the extra dulce de leche.

·         

Chestnut and Banana Pancakes

A month or so ago I ordered some chestnut flour on a whim from L’Epicerie, largely because they were selling it pretty cheaply. However, I didn’t know what to do with it (although The Cake Bible does have a recipe for a chestnut flour genoise). This morning I decided to make pancakes using it. Aiming for an Italian theme, I used Ricotta as the dairy in the batter and honey as the sweetener. I also added a banana. I thought these pancakes were really good. The batter was very thick because of the ricotta and mashed banana, the ricotta kept the pancakes nice and moist (which is how I like my pancakes), and I thought the chestnut was subtle but present. The recipe is based on my old favorite pancake recipe, which originates from the Tasajara Bread Book.

Chestnut and Banana Pancakes

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour 

2/3 cups chestnut flour 

3 tsp baking powder  

1 tsp salt  

2 T honey 

3 eggs 

1 banana mashed with enough low-fat ricotta to make 1 ½ cups total ½ cup vegetable oil 

Butter for the pan

1. Whisk together the flours, the baking powder, and the salt, set aside

2. Whisk the eggs, add the honey, banana-ricotta mixture, and oil and whisk to combine.

3. Put your pan over medium-high heat and melt the butter. Once the butter is melted quickly fold the dry ingredients into the wet

4. Spoon out pancake batter to make pancakes of whatever size you like. Remember the batter is thick, you may need two spoons.

5. Cook the pancakes 3-4 minutes a side, or until both sides are brown and the pancakes are cooked through. Serve Warm with maple syrup.

Done with 1L Year!!

It’s done! Yesterday I took my last final of the semester and finished my first year of law school. Over the next day or so most of my friends will finish up as well. But in the meantime, while they’re all still studying, I need something to do. So this morning I decided to make banana bread. I think the recipe I made turned out pretty well, although it could stand to be a little more banana-y. The recipe I used also called for an 8 x 4.5 inch loaf pan, which I don’t have, so I used a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan instead. The result was that the loaf was sort of low and wide, but it still came out just fine.

Banana Bread with Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chips

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 tsp Baking powder

½ tsp Baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 medium, well ripened bananas

¾ Cup packed brown sugar

1/3 Cup peanut butter, crunchy or creamy depending on preference (I used crunchy)

¼ Cup plain, nonfat yogurt

1 Large egg

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil

½ Cup milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl

2. In a large bowl, mash the two bananas, mix with the sugar, peanut butter, yogurt, egg, and vegetable oil. Mix until smooth.

3. Mix the dry with the wet ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into a greased 8 x 4.5 inch loaf pan. Bake for between 40-50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

4. Let the loaf cool on a cooling rack in its pan for 15 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan and continue allowing it to cool. Enjoy.