justJENN recipes

Inspired by the book ‘Hello, Cupcake!’ I took their slumber party kids cupcakes and made sleepy babies instead.

ingredients:
cupcakes
frosting
mini nilla wafers
little heart sprinkles
melted chocolate or black frosting
marshmallows
starbursts

Bake cupcakes and frost them. I’d say a dozen is manageable. Don’t do 3 dozen like I did or you might go insane.

Then lay out the mini nilla wafers and put some frosting or melted chocolate in a bag with the end cut out, or in a piping bag and pipe the faces. You can also used the premade crap in the tube which worked out well for me - as I was under the gun, time wise. A tiny dollop of frosting will hold the heart sprinkle in place which will be the mouth.

I found that hair really made these stand out, so some babies were bald, some had hair. They all looked sleepy and happy.

Cut the marshmallow in half and lay them in a ‘T’ formation. One side will be the pillow for the head, the other will be the body under the blanket. Use another dollop of frosting to glue the nilla wafer ‘heads’ down.

Now the blanket, again, a dozen shouldn’t be that bad, but a mass quantity - and it was kind of a headache. Take two matching Starburst colors and melt them in the microwave for 5 seconds. Then between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap, roll out the Starburst into a square, cut to fit the size of a blankie for the baby. Use an alternate color to do the top of the blanket. You can use crafting scissors to make the nice blanket edges. Clean ones, of course.

Again use frosting to hold down the blanket. You can add even more decor on the blankets, or add teddy grahams as bedtime buddies. These things are really adaptable.

They are impressively cute at parties and surprisingly not that much work, just some assembly time. I am trying to think of other parties to make these for, just because they were so fun. Try it! If you do make them, I’d love to see yours!!

When I was 15 I worked in an architecture firm. One of the older architects took me under his wing and skooled me. I think he was bored with his job and was happy to not work and just talk to me all day. So one day he gave me this recipe and said, ‘When you are older and have children you should make them this recipe every week. It is easy and tasty and good for you.’ In some weird way it stuck with me and I carried that recipe with me all through college up and up til today. He was right. It is easy. And tasty.

ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms

16 large lettuce leaves

sauce ingredients:
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon sugar

Peel the carrots, then grate them. Wash lettuce leaves and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together ground turkey, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon minced garlic and 2 teaspoons ginger. Brown in a skillet over medium high heat, add carrots, green onions and mushrooms til turkey is cooked through, no longer pink.

Combine sauce ingredients.

Spoon the meat mixture into the lettuce leaves and serve, or you can have people assemble them themselves. Either way, add a little sauce just before eating.

This cake is a stunner. The layered lines are gorgeous inside, but man, it takes some dedication. I used a freakin’ teaspoon to make each one. Do you know how many teaspoons are in a cupcake? TOO DAMN MANY. Worth it though. If you have free time that is.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. milk, at room temperature
1 c. oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. baking powder
2 c. all-purpose flour

2 heaping Tbsp. valrhona cocoa powder

In an electric mixer, combine eggs and sugar. Beat well.

Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended. Then add vanilla and baking powder. Gradually add flour and beat well.

Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions in two separate bowls. Keep one the way it is, and in the second bowl add the cocoa powder. The Valrhona not only tastes better, but has a lovely natural dark color.

Prep a cupcake pan with liners. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Here comes the tough part. If you want a lot of lines, a nice complex interior when you cut into it, then do what I do and use a teaspoon. It’s tedious as hell, but the payoff is worth it. Put one teaspoonful of plain batter in the middle of the cup. Then one teaspoonful of the cocoa batter right in the center on top of the plain batter. Don’t jiggle or tilt the pan, just let the batter spread by itself. Keep doing this until you get ¾ of the way full. Believe me, it’ll take a while.

Bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. Do a toothpick check, and let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack. I like to frost this with a mocha frosting. When you cut into the cake you should get nice stripey stripes, if all went well. It’s quite pretty, definitely takes more effort than your average cupcake, but so worth it!

This is a quick and DELICIOUS frosting, great for cupcakes.

ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup strong coffee

With an electric mixer beat the butter and slowly add the sugar and cocoa. Careful - also don’t wear a black shirt. Trust me.

Add the vanilla and the coffee, you may need more or less coffee, depending on the consistency you want. This is not a thick frosting, it’s a nice spreadable one.

I needed something quick. And chocolatey. With coffee. This is a very good recipe for cupcakes.

ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup strong coffee

In an electric mixer beat the butter slowly adding the cocoa powder and sugar. Add the vanilla, and slowly add the coffee. You many need more or less coffee, but get it to the consistency you like. This is not a high fluffy frosting, but a nice spreadable one.

My MIL brought me some of these Hawaii Hershey’s kisses with macadamia nuts inside. Interesting. I thought they’d make great cookies. Instead of using Hershey’s cocoa powder, which I despise, I advise you to invest and use valrhona - you won’t regret it.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
About 40 HERSHEY’S KISSES (I used the mac nut ones)

Powdered sugar

Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. In a separate bowl, stir together flour and cocoa; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended.

You can refrigerate the dough if you need to, but I just use it right away. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Take a tablespoon or so of dough roll it into a ball. Flatten the ball in your hand and put and UNWRAPPED (hello, crazy) chocolate inside. Pull the dough up around the kiss, covering it completely. Roll into a ball again, and put on the cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar just before serving.

I make this recipe a lot, but I could never remember who gave it to me or where it came from. A quick search on the internet and good god. It’s a Rachael Ray recipe. What. I feel sickened and ashamed. I’ve changed it over time, but still. Depressed now.

This recipe always comes in handy when I don’t have eggs. It’s really easy for the kids to help out with as well.

ingredients:
3/4 packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2-1/4 cups flour
1 stick butter, softened
2 Tablespoons molasses
6 Tablespoons cold coffee

You can use any shape cutter you like, my kids went for the ‘transportation’ set that we had on hand.

In a mixer, slowly mix together all the dry ingredients. Then add the softened stick of butter. Be careful. My mixer likes to attack me at this point, but hold yer ground!!

Once combined, add the molasses and then the coffee, by the teaspoon. Checking to make sure you don’t add too much liquid, or too little. The dough should come together by itself. Take it out and wrap it in plastic wrap and chillax in the fridge.

Roll it out on a flour dusted surface, and use a cookie cutter - any shape - to cut your cookies. Transfer to a baking sheet and add sprinkles. Bake for 11 minutes, and move to a rack to cool. You can frost or use icing if you like, but I think these stand alone just fine.

I came home and do what I always do to relieve stress. Cook. A LOT. The Kid has been asking for Chicken Soup with Rice ever since my mom bought him the Really Rosie soundtrack. Hello, suddenly she thinks it’s 1975 again. So I made up a recipe - it’s SUPER quick. You have no excuse to not make it, that’s how quick it is.

ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
32 ounces chicken broth
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1-1/2 cups cooked rice

Chicken soups always start out with a mirepoix, that’s just carrots, celery and onions. Well I happened to see ready made mirepoix at Trader Joe’s and I thought, what the heck, I’ll give it a go. It was great. I just threw that sucker in there. Highly recommended.

So in a large pot, melt the butter and then add the carrot, onion and celery or toss in your readymade mirepoix and live in the future, baby! Cook until soft if you like, but I like mine to have a little bite. Then stir in flour until blended, and carefully pour in the broth.

Now as for chicken, same thing. You can buy frozen pre-cooked chicken or just grab a ready made rotisserie and chop that thing up. So add the chicken, salt, pepper and garlic and onion powders, then bring it to a boil.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes then turn the heat to low and pour in the milk and lemon juice. The lemon juice really brings out a lot of flavor. Let it simmer about 5 mins more, and you’re ready to serve! You’re probably wondering, where’s the rice in this chicken rice soup? Well, I cook mine beforehand, and put it in the bowls and spoon the soup on top. It’s much quicker than waiting for it to boil and soften. However while most recipes say to use long grain, I actually use a Japanese short grain rice. I like the texture and it seems to work well with the soup. It’s all up to you.

Super easy and great with cornbread muffins.

This is my take on Mexican Hot Chocolate. I love to drink it, and I thought why not in cupcake form? The key to these things isn’t the chocolate believe it or not, it’s the frosting. The frosting is sooo good. It is a vegan cupcake, with a very NOT vegan frosting. Yum, butter. The secret this whole thing is cinnamon, of course. Cinnamon makes everything better.

ingredients:
2-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup oil
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
14 ounces of water + 2 heaping teaspoons of instant coffee

~frosting recipe at the end~

Prep a cupcake pan - I like to use a mini cupcake pan, but you don’t have to - with liners. I prefer cute liners, but hey do what you want. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the coffee and the water thoroughly. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, then add everything else until well mixed. Just mixed enough - don’t beat it to death. This is a great recipe because you don’t need a mixer. Just a spoon and a bowl.

Pour into your liners. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes for minis, checking often cause you never know on the small ones, timing wise. Let cool on a wire rack, and start on your frosting.

Cinnamon frosting
ingredients:
1/2 C. butter , softened
3 C. powdered sugar
1/3 C. milk
1 Tbs. maple syrup
1 tsp.cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat the butter, adding the powdered sugar slowly. Add the milk slowly, then the syrup, cinnamon and vanilla. Speed up the mixer to a nice beat until fluffy. Frost the cupcakes and DEVOUR.

I love cornbread. But sometimes it can be too dry. These are so good they are delicious on their own, but with a dollop of honey - even better.

ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep a cupcake tin with liners.

In a bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour into cups, filling almost to the top.

bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Overcooking will result in a dry muffin per the usual, so I like to check them early. These are so great for breakfast but even BETTER when you eat them with ribs. And bbq chicken. And beans. And…