Recipes can tell you a lot about the time period in which they were written. I have always been interested in how recipes change over time to meet tastes, availability and personal income. A few months ago, I went to an event at the Historical Society of Philadelphia about a Civil War era cookbook they found within their documents. The cookbook, written by Ellen Emlenwas written around 1865 and is really well organized, especially for the time. Mrs. Emlen, a Philadelphia housewife, put a lot of time into the cookbook, organizing it into thirteen categories including over 200 recipes.
Some of the fun facts that I learned:
If you think Americans have a sugar problem now, you should see some of the amounts of sugar that used to go into recipes! Most recipes would have to be altered to include less sugar to make palatable to us today.
Despite their not so wallet-friendly prices now, oysters used to be “poor man’s food” in nineteenth century Philadelphia. The Delaware River used to be teeming with them! Because of that, there are some ridiculous-sounding recipes for things like “how to pickle 1,000 oysters”
It’s quite amazing how some things haven’t really changed. There is a recipe for eggnog in the book that is comparable to today’s recipe.
The affluent families of Philadelphia (Mrs. Emlen included) really had a thing for saffron. So many dishes include it in the ingredients!
The event was really interesting and we all were given a copy to take home with us! (Expect some posts including adaptations of her recipes in the future).I also picked up another book while I was there, 35 Recipes from “The Larder Invaded”, which also included historical recipes from local Philadelphians. I used a recipe from that book for this Blackberry Pudding, with a few slight changes.
I’m sure some of you just looked at that photo and thought to yourself “that is NOT pudding.” It’s actually an English pudding. Although in the U.S., pudding is usually a milk-based custard type dessert, pudding in the United Kingdom can be used for any sweet dish after dinner (think: Christmas pudding or “figgy pudding”).So, this recipe is actually more of a bread or cake.
Ingredients:
1 pint almond milk, plus more for glaze
3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1 pint blackberries
powdered sugar
To make this recipe a bit more my own, and bring it into the 21st century, I decided to try this with Vanilla Almond Milk. I thought it might add a nice extra flavor to the whole dessert. Feel free to use normal milk.
Beat the eggs together until light.
Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine. Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.
Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.
Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.
The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours. Yep. Not happening.
Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.
Because I have a ridiculous sweet tooth, I decided to add a little bit of a glaze to the top of the dessert. Combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk. (I made 1 tablespoon powdered sugar to 1.5 teaspoons almond milk).
So how was it? Delicious of course! Look at that beauty!
I was a bit afraid of how this would turn out because I messed with the method of preparation. But it looks fine to me! I enjoyed the glaze on top to give it an extra pop of sugary goodness. The blackberries were nice and tart, so it was a good contrast. I was really happy with the almond milk in it as well!
Best thing about this recipe is that it can easily be adapted to include any kind of berry you choose. It’s a wonderful base recipe to let your creativity run wild.
I actually had a really hard time taking these photos; I kept trying to eat the pudding!
3 1/2cupsflourplus more for dredging the blackberries
1/2teaspoonsalt
3eggs
1tablespoonmelted butter or margarine to make dairy free
2heaping teaspoons baking powder
1pintblackberries
powdered sugar
Instructions
Beat the eggs together until light.
Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine.
Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.
Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.
Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.
The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours.
Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.
Let cool.
To make the glaze, combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk and drizzle over the pudding while it cools.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with store-bought pancake mix. However, are you aware of how easy it is to make your own at home? This recipe makes 16 pancakes; you can store the dry mix in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.
I am always so excited to make sugar cookies. To be more precise, I’m actually really excited to decorate the cookies. (Mind you, I’m awful at it. A 6 year old would beat me by a mile in a cookie decorating contest). But it is so fun to see the cookies transform from flour, sugar, and butter into cute little Christmas trees, snowmen, and candy canes. I used a traditional sugar cookie recipe from Cooking Light.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl, stir with a whisk.
Add sugar and butter in a large bowl, beating with a mixer until combined.
Add vanilla and eggs.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mine looked very very crumbly. So if yours looks like this, don’t panic.
Add the mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.
Refrigerate for an hour. Unwrap the ball after an hour. Preheat the over to 375. Split the dough in half, rolling out out half of the dough on a floured surface.
Using any cookie cutter you have, cut out shapes and place on a cookie sheet two inches apart lined with parchment paper.
Repeat with remaining dough. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until lightly browned along the edges. Cool on pans for 5 minutes then remove and place on wire racks.
When completely cooled, prepare the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk stirring until smooth. I added the icing to a squeeze bottle (like a ketchup bottle) but you can also add it to a ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to make piping easier. Decorate the cookies however you like.
Allow to dry overnight.
Hehe. Aren’t they fun? You can use whatever you want. I happened to be a bit, well, sprinkle happy.
As I’ve mentioned before, I cannot help myself from making a million desserts in December. There is something about the last month of the year that makes me want to bake my little heart out. Oxo has decided to help my cause by asking me to check out their new and improved Egg Beater. I am a huge fan of Oxo products (bowls, containers, apple corers; you name it, I have it). So I knew that their egg beater would find a happy home in my kitchen. Oxo also sent me an extra egg beater to give away to one of lucky reader. Details will be below!
The egg beater has a non-slip grip handle for ease of use. The beaters are removable and then entire base can be detached and is dishwasher-safe (a must in my kitchen. I’m way too lazy to clean dishes after cooking). The beater itself has managed to improve upon its predecessors by adding a steel bridge at the bottom that can rest on the bottom of the bowl. This allows the beaters to be slightly in the air without causing arm strain.Note: This contest is now closed. Congratulations to Jill J;you have won! Check your e-mail 🙂
Photo courtesy of oxo.com
Their website had a great video that shows all the features so I wanted to include that hereas well.
So I really wanted to test this bad boy. I decided to not only test it’s ease of use, but it’s ease of cleaning by making a recipe that uses the egg beater in more than one step of the process. How about a chocolate souffle topped with a warm fudge sauce and some freshly made whipped cream? (Not going to lie, the whipped cream was an afterthought because my souffle collapsed. Sigh. Still learning…)
Ingredients:
Souffle:
Cooking spray
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
6 large egg whites
Sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fat-free milk
1/2 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Whipped cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon powered sugar
This recipe requires a bit of oven preparation. Take out the top rack of your oven. Position the other rack as low as possible. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Spray six 8-ounce souffle dishes (or ramekins) with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 2 tablespoons (or 1 teaspoon per ramekin) of sugar and set aside.
In a large saute pan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons cocoa, and the salt over medium-high heat, stirring with a whisk or the Oxo egg beater. Add 1 1/4 cups milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes or until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and add 3 ounces chocolate, stirring until smooth. Add to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
In a medium bowl, add the egg whites (reserve one egg yolk!) and beat using your egg beater until stiff peaks form. This took a good 5 minutes for me.
Once the egg whites are beaten, the chocolate mixture should have cooled. Add the vanilla and egg yolk to the chocolate mixture and stir.Fold in 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture.
Once combined, gently fold in the remaining egg whites.
Spoon the mixture into the ramekins. Sharply tap the dishes two or three times on counter to even out each mixture in the ramekin. You want them to be about 3/4 full so that they can puff over the top of the ramekin. If you are making these ahead of time, you can cover the ramekins at this stage and freeze until you’re ready to bake them.
When ready to bake, place them on a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven (which is at 425) on the bottom rack. Immediately reduce the temperature to 350 degrees (keep the souffles in the oven and don’t open the door, the temperature will slowly lower over time). Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the side comes out clean.
The sauce can also be made ahead of time if you so wish. Melt the butter in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, and 1 tablespoon flour, stirring well with a whisk.
Gradually add 1/2 cup milk stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute, continuing to stir. Remove from heat, add 1/2 ounce chocolate and stir until smooth. Spoon over warm souffles.
To make the whipped cream, add the heavy cream to a bowl. Using the egg beater, beat the cream until peaks are just about to form. Add the vanilla and the powdered sugar and beat until peaks form. Add a dollop of the fresh whipped cream to the souffle and serve.
So my souffle came out puffy and happy and I was so excited!
But as I started adding the chocolate sauce, it began to deflate. Sigh.
So I topped it off with the fresh whipped cream and called it even.
Souffles are notoriously difficult to make, but I wanted to at least give it a shot. Who honestly cares if it deflated though? It still tasted wonderful! I think even a collapsed souffle still looks pretty darn nice as well, no?
So if you’re still with me, you can win your very own Oxo egg beater to beat and whip until your heart’s content.
Good luck, and feel free to leave me a comment below with any questions, comments, or complaints 🙂
Note: I received both a free egg beater for myself and for the giveaway through Oxo’s Blogger outreach program. All opinions and photos with the exception of the egg beater photo are mine.
There is something so comforting and delicious about fish and chips. Traditionally a big take-away (take out/ to go) meal, cod, halibut, tilapia or another firm whitefish is typically battered, fried, and served with chips, or to us Americans, fries. I absolutely love fish and chips, but I don’t exactly love the whole frying component (I mean, I do. It’s delicious. But it kind of negates the point of eating fish). I wanted to try to make a baked version that would hopefully keep its crunch. I decided to give it some slight American flair and added Old Bay seasoning to the batter and on the fries.
My little sister loves deviled eggs. She loves them to such an extreme, that we chose a restaurant (Supper in Philadelphia) during Restaurant Week solely because they were known for their amazing deviled eggs of the day. (The rest of their food is awesome too, definitely worth checking out). During Restaurant Week, they were offering their Sriracha Deviled Eggs, which my sister devoured. So when I was offered to try Land O’Lakes eggs through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I knew I wanted to make them for her. Luckily, Supper took the guesswork out for me and shared their recipe with Meal Ticket a few years back.
Land O’Lakes eggs come from hens that are fed an all-vegetable, whole-grain diet with no animal by-products.
Courtesy of Land O’Lakes
Although I primarily use eggs for baking or as an ingredient in a larger dish, I wanted to highlight the eggs for this recipe.
Ingredients:
6 Land O’Lakes eggs, hard boiled and halved
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon
2 teaspoons Sriracha
The juice from 1/2 a lime
The zest from 1/2 a lime
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
Fill a large bowl with ice water. To hard-boil the eggs, add 6 eggs to a large pasta pot. Cover with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes uncovered. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the iced water for 30 seconds and remove. To crack the eggs, roll back and forth on the counter and peel the shell off of the egg.
Halve the eggs.
Scoop out the yolks and transfer them to a bowl. I used a half teaspoon so that the spoon was smaller than the yolks. They are pretty easy to kind of pop out.
Use a fork to mash the yolks. Add the mayo, Dijon, Sriracha, lime juice, zest, and cilantro to the yolks.
Mix to combine, try to work out any chunks that may remain, you want it as smooth as possible. Add the mixture to a ziplock bag. If you have a pastry tip, feel free to use it. If not, just cut off one of the corners and squeeze the mixture into each egg white.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of paprika.
I’m not a huge fan of hard-boiled eggs, so I let my sister and friends be the judge of these eggs. When I asked my sister what needed to be changed, she told me nothing, she loved them just the way they were.
My friends managed to eat a dozen deviled eggs within minutes! Some even said they were some of the best deviled eggs they’ve had –they clearly haven’t been to Supper yet. 🙂
The Sriracha adds some heat to the eggs but is not too spicy. The lime flavor does shine through, so if you are not a fan of lime, cut out the zest (the original recipe did not have zest in it).
Fill a large bowl with ice water. To hard-boil the eggs, add 6 eggs to a large pasta pot. Cover with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 8 minutes uncovered. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the iced water for 30 seconds and remove. To crack the eggs, roll back and forth on the counter and peel the shell off of the egg.
Halve the eggs.
Scoop out the yolks and transfer them to a bowl. I used a half teaspoon so that the spoon was smaller than the yolks. They are pretty easy to kind of pop out.
Use a fork to mash the yolks. Add the mayo, Dijon, Sriracha, lime juice, zest, and cilantro to the yolks.
Mix to combine, try to work out any chunks that may remain, you want it as smooth as possible. Add the mixture to a ziplock bag. If you have a pastry tip, feel free to use it. If not, just cut off one of the corners and squeeze the mixture into each egg white.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of paprika.
I thought I’d step away from cookies and cupcakes for the moment to make… pound cake. I don’t know why I am on such a baking kick, but at least I have the chance to try a bunch of different new recipes! I found this recipe through MyRecipes.com, originally from Southern Living. The recipe sounded absolutely fantastic so I stuck to it for the most part, but I added blueberries because, well, I like blueberries!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, divided
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 (12-ounce) jar lemon curd
1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
1 pint fresh blueberries
I promise I’ll stop my cookie binge after this post. I was looking for a somewhat “adult” cookie for a bake sale at work and I came across this recipe for Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies. Ginger and lemon cookies? Hmm. This recipe takes a long time (a lot of refrigerating, freezing, etc.) so if you plan on making these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, make sure you have a good chunk of time, around 2 hours.
but they are so pretty it’s worth it!
Ingredients
Ginger dough:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice
Lemon dough:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
To make the Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.
Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.
You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.
Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.
Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.
Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.
Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.
Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices (I got 39 out of mine, so close!)
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
So I can’t lie, this Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies recipe has to be one of the most time consuming and difficult cookie recipes I’ve ever made. But the result is pretty awesome. I was so proud of myself when they turned out looking like pinwheels!
You primarily taste the gingerbread, but the aftertaste is a light lemony flavor.
I thought these two flavors might compete with each other, but they end up being quite complimentary. Who knew?
Also, these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are pretty snazzy looking aren’t they? 🙂
These Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are not soft chewy cookies (like a chocolate chip), they are more firm than that. They would probably be awesome dipped into some tea. Yum!
Two cookie recipes rolled together to create these yummy ginger and lemon pinwheel cookies!
Course Dessert
Keyword Cookies, Ginger, Lemon, Pinwheel
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Chill Time 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours
Servings 40cookies
Ingredients
Ginger dough:
1/4cupunsalted buttersoftened
1/3cuppacked dark brown sugar
1/4cupmolasses
1large egg yolk
1 1/3cupsall-purpose flour
3/4teaspoonground ginger
3/4teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4teaspoonsalt
1/8teaspoonground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice
Lemon dough:
5tablespoonsunsalted buttersoftened
2/3cupgranulated sugar
1large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2teaspoonlemon juice
3/4teaspoonvanilla extract
1 1/3cupsall-purpose flour
1/4teaspoonsalt
Instructions
Begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.
Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.
You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.
Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.
Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.
Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.
Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.
Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices.
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Notes
If you make this recipe, share a photo on Instagram and tag me @icancookthat!
My work is hosting a bake sale this week, so I am using it as the perfect opportunity to try out these cupcakes from Cooking Light that caught my eye a while back. How fantastic do Lemon Scented Blueberry Cupcakes sound?
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups (about 6 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
10 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
Frosting:
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners into the muffin cups. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium low heat. Zest the lemon.
Add 1 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon to a medium sized bowl. (I suggest springing for cake flour if you can find it, if not all purpose flour works just fine). Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
Add melted butter and egg to a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine.
Add buttermilk, milk, and 1 teaspoon lemon rind to butter mixture (I used zest from 1 lemon), stirring with a whisk to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined.
In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour.
Add the blueberries to the batter, stirring until just combined.
Spoon batter into the muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to get evenly portioned cupcakes.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until just blended.
Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until just combined. Stir in lemon juice.
Add the frosting to a ziplock bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners.
Squeeze the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.
I absolutely loved these cupcakes. The lemon zest added great flavor to the sweet blueberry cupcake.
I am having a bit of a problem with the idea of giving these away. I want to keep them all for myself! But that is terribly selfish of me so I guess I should share their deliciousness.
Remember to refrigerate the cupcakes, the icing is part cream cheese.
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners into the muffin cups. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium low heat. Zest the lemon.
Add 1 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon to a medium sized bowl. (I suggest springing for cake flour if you can find it, if not all purpose flour works just fine). Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
Add melted butter and egg to a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine.
Add buttermilk, milk, and 1 teaspoon lemon rind to butter mixture (I used zest from 1 lemon), stirring with a whisk to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined.
In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour.
Add the blueberries to the batter, stirring until just combined.
Spoon batter into the muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to get evenly portioned cupcakes.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until just blended.
Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until just combined. Stir in lemon juice.
Add the frosting to a ziplock bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners.
Squeeze the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.
I am on a bit of a cookie kick at the moment. I’m blaming the particularly brisk weather. I also realized that Christmas is only 7 weeks away so it’s time to test out cookies that I can give away near the holidays. Cooking Light always has really delicious sounding recipes, and this one was no exception. The original used peanuts instead of walnuts, but I happened to have walnuts on hand.
Ingredients
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Parchment paper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium sized bowl. Stir to combine.
Add sugar, brown sugar, and butter to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer until well blended (about 2 minutes)
Add vanilla and egg and beat until well combined.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Beat on low until blended. Stir in the walnuts, salt and chocolate chips.
Add the dough to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, about one teaspoon per cookie. Keep them 2 inches apart so they don’t run together while baking.
Bake for 12 minutes and cool on pan for 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.
I cooked mine for 14 minutes, and I found them to be a tad too cooked, so I suggest trying 12 minutes. You can always pop them in for a minute or two longer if need be.
I loved the random burst of salt that just enhanced the chocolate chip flavor.
I wanted a bit more walnuts though, so I’d suggest bumping the walnuts from 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup.
I never seem to eat all my bananas before they get too ripe. I know the go-to saver for over ripe bananas is banana bread, but I wanted to use them for something a little different. Cooking Light had a great cookie recipe that used ripe bananas, so I tried it out.
If you’re like every other American adult the day after Halloween, you have a whole lot of random candy sitting in your house. My guess is you either 1. want to get rid of it ASAP or 2. consume it all in one sitting. Well friends, I have a recipe to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. Two Peas and Their Pod had a wonderful Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies recipe on their site that got me thinking. Any chocolately goodness could be thrown in these brownies to make a yummy dessert! So I used Dark Chocolate Reese’s and Peanut Butter M&M’s to make these Day After Halloween Brownies! Past that, the recipe is the same as Two Peas and Their Pod, so thank you very much for posting this great idea!
Feel free to use whatever chocolate you have lying around the house. Just be sure to end up with about 1 1/2 cups of candy to make the recipe consistent.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped candy (I used about a dozen Reese’s Cups and a bag of Peanut M&Ms)
I spent most of Saturday in the car driving to/from North Jersey in a freak Nor’easter snowfall that really made the ride quite an experience. After yesterday, it is clear that winter is (sadly) not too far away, so I better get started on some of my favorite cold weather foods. First up, chili.
I just joined a new farm club called Arganica, that just started delivering to Philadelphia. I actually joined it because my CSA share is ending and I still wanted to receive different vegetables during the winter months. However, as I was looking over their offerings, their meat and fish section is what really caught my eye. I decided to take a chance on a new type of meat I’ve never cooked with before: venison. When I mentioned I was planning on making venison chili to my boyfriend, his eyes lit up. Here’s hoping my chili can live up to whatever high expectation he has for this meal! To go along with the chili, I also made pepper Jack corn bread muffins.
For those a bit wary about venison, the meat is actually quite lean; venison is lower in fat, calories and cholesterol than beef, pork, or lamb.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
2 lbs ground venison
4 strips of bacon
2 cans red kidney beans, drained
1 can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon ground chili
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 jalapeno (or similar) pepper, seeds removed and chopped
I came across this Martha Stewart recipe this week and was kind of mad at myself for not thinking of it first. It’s brilliant. I love the idea of an entire breakfast within one little “muffin”. This would be a wonderful idea for a breakfast with guests: they look wonderful and really don’t take much time or preparation at all.
Ingredients: (makes 4)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 slices sandwich bread (I strongly suggest the Rye-Pumpernickel Swirl bread)