Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes
This is a good base cupcake. I had leftover buttermilk which is what makes it just so soft and perfect. Despite the melted chocolate incorporated into the batter I promise the cupcake is NOT overly sweet. What DOES push it over the top is the chocolate frosting and the cookie topper…
O.G. said chocolate causes depression. No way. This cupcake couldn’t make me happier.
ingredients:
1/2 cup melted chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1-1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Valrhona cocoa powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon vinegar
Chocolate frosting
mini Espresso Chip Cookies (recipe, here)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep cupcake pans with liners.
In a medium bowl whisk together the salt, baking powder, flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the melted chocolate, butter and sugar. Add the eggs and the vanilla.
Alternate the flour mixture and the buttermilk until combined.
In a small bowl mix together the baking soda and the vinegar, pour into the batter and mix until thoroughly incorporated. This will give the cake a nice soft crumb.
Fill your liners halfway to 2/3 full and bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
I topped these with a chocolate frosting…then of course, mini Espresso Chip Cookies! Chocolate+chocolate+more chocolate. You’re cool with that, right?
mini Espresso chip cookies
I did this whole recipe by hand in a bowl – no electric mixer. It’s that easy, honest! But making these mini was a BAD idea. It just meant I ate about 10 times as many. sigh.
ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup melted chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon coffee
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl combine the melted chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs. Add in the coffee. Add the flour mixture until combined, then stir in the chocolate chips.
Using a Size 100
Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven – then let cool on a wire rack.
These are highly addictive and I don’t think it has anything to do with the espresso…mini is just SO GOOD!
POM-OCADO…MOLE
Over the weekend Darlene (of My Burning Kitchen) and I went to a California Avocado event at Ciudad, hosted by two of my favorite chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the Too Hot Tamales. I remember watching them on tv back before there was even a Food Network!
At the event they made us do a Top Chef style Quick-Fire challenge, sort of an homage to the fact that Susan is on the current season of Top Chef Masters. Darlene and I and other pairs had to come up with our ‘signature’ guacamole in exactly FIVE minutes using a large buffet of ingredients…
Squid ink, anyone? Darlene and I quickly scanned the foods and decided to come up with a guacamole using fresh fruit focusing on pomegrante.
I am now even MORE of a fan of Top Chef, because developing a recipe on the fly AND making it in just under 5 minutes is ridiculous! We were chopping ingredients, running around like crazy – it was insanity. Cooking under pressure is no fun.
We were judged on the best guacamole and the best named guacamole and believe it or not…we won!…best name. Ha! Good enough for me. Our guac incorporated fresh fruit with a sprinkling of pomegrantes so we named it POM-OCADO…MOLE! Catchy, right? Hey, whatever, we won.
So here’s our recipe…
ingredients:
2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
1 banana
zest of half an orange
juice of half a lime
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 cup pomegrante seeds
salt
pepper
In a large bowl mash together the avocados and the banana. The banana will mix together nicely and the the guac a bit of subtle texture.
Add the orange zest, lime juice, red onion and tomato. Stir to combine.
Add in the pomegrante seeds, season generously with salt and pepper.
It was a fantastic event and I hope Susan wins it ALL on Top Chef Masters – go Susan!!
mini DOMO meatloaves
DOMO is my muse.
I first made him as a cupcake (recipe here), followed by a cookie, a chocolate – and I’ve been sketching out ideas for something else ever since…
Yes you read that right…he makes a perfectly deliciously cute little meatloaf!
ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup bread crumbs
2 TB brown sugar
red bell pepper
one slice white cheddar cheese
sliced olives (just the ends)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a baking sheet lined with foil on the bottom and then a wire rack on top. This will let the fat drip off the meatloaves. Ew, I know.
In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic and bread crumbs.
Form little loaves, squarish, and flat. Remember this is going to be a Domo…
Place them on the wire rack on the baking sheet. You should get four nice sized rectangles. Rub the tops of each with the brown sugar. Bake 40 minutes or until juices are clear.
While the meatloaves are cooking, start making the DOMO mouths. Cut a piece of red bell pepper into a square shape. Try to find a flat ‘side’ of the pepper, pressing it down a bit to get is really flat.
For the teeth, cut a 1/4″ strip of the white cheese, then cut out triangles to form the ‘teeth’ – try to keep it joined at the top…
…so that way you can just lay it on the bell pepper!
When you take the meatloaves out of the oven, use a paring knife and cut out a small rectangle in the middle of the loaf. You are trying to make a space for the bell pepper ‘mouth’ to fit into nicely. (It looks better than just laying the ‘mouth’ on top, trust me.)
Once you have your opening, slide the bell pepper into the cut out rectangle.
Finally, use the ends of sliced olives for eyes.
There you have it, Domo Meatloaves! The kids thought these were hilarious and they were a lot of fun to make.
I even posed the DOMO meatloaf with his DOMO family, though I don’t know why he looks like the drunk cousin in a family picture….
Caramel Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes
Ok, really – is this too over the top? Don’t answer that.
ingredients:
Whipped Cream Cupcakes (recipe, here)
Brown Sugar Ice Cream (recipe, here)
Homemade Caramel Sauce (recipe here)
All I’m doing is assembling here:
Make the caramel sauce – set it aside.
Make the ice cream – chill it in the freezer.
Bake the cupcakes – let them cool.
Cupcakes+Ice Cream+Caramel Sauce.
No, there’s no whipped cream – good lord I have SOME self control!
(I thought about it, trust me.)
Caramel Sauce
Caramel Sauce is the best thing in the universe,and so easy to make.
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup heavy cream
In a saucepan on low heat, stir together the sugar and water. Turn the heat to medium high and boil until the sugar turns a lovely shade of brown, I’d say just about 5 minutes.
Carefully – you look away for one second and you’ve got Burnt City on your hands.
Now carefully (can I say that enough) add the cream and the butter. It will bubble so watch yourself.
Let simmer on low, then add the vanilla and the 1/4 cup of heavy cream to smooth it all out and wait for it to get nice and thick.
I didn’t take any pictures of this – I think I was too busy trying not to kill myself with sizzling sugar. Next time, I promise.
Cinnamon Sugar Cupcakes
Don’t let the name fool you, these aren’t overly sweet – just perfectly delicious. The secret is I added applesauce. You can’t even taste it, it just adds this nice texture and moistness to the cupcake. Also this is a one bowl cupcake because I hate washing dishes. End of story.
ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup applesauce
Mascarpone frosting (recipe, here)
cinnamon crisps (recipe, here)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar, and brown sugar.
Then add the butter, eggs and applesauce. Stir until well combined. See? One bowl, told you!!
Fill the liners about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven. Test with a toothpick. Let cool on a wire rack.
I topped these with a delicious Mascarpone frosting and the best chips in the West – bunuelos from El Indio in San Diego. DELICIOUS. Of course you can make your own too, not a problem.
mascarpone frosting
I don’t like cream cheese (yes, I realize I am the only one) something about that tangy–ness. So this is my go to alternative for frosting. Mascarpone is like an Italian cream cheese – it’s smoother, richer. Rico sauve.
ingredients:
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
In a medium bowl combine mascarpone cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir together until smooth, and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form – don’t overdo it, the last thing you want is for it to curdle. Then fold the whipped cream, into the mascarpone mixture until combined. If you get it just right, you will get a nice sweet fluffy frosting.
Sooo much better than cream cheese, who’s with me?!
mini Meat Hand-pies
These are LITTLE. I made them for kid’s sized hands, so you know they are small. But they were just enough for a meal or possibly and hors d’ouvres for a normal sized person.
ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
salt
pepper
pie dough (recipe, here)
1 egg
water
salt
pepper
If you’ve made your pie dough ahead like I do, bring it out to defrost a little while you make the filling.
In a skillet, heat the olive oil and saute the onion and the garlic until soft. Add the ground beef and cook until just no longer pink.
Add the paprika, worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the flavors are combined. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prep a baking sheet with a silpat.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out your pie dough. I like to make it about 1/4 inch thick, thin enough so it’s not so dough-y but thick enough to hold in the filling. Using a 3″ biscuit cutter, cut out rounds and place on a silpat lined baking sheet. For every one – cut another one – that will become the top part of the pie.
On the bottom cut out use a Tablespoon+ and put the filling down in the middle. Add a second cut out on top and use your fingers to press the seams together. You can also use a fork to put tine marks along the sides.
I like to decorate the tops for kicks, too. For these I cut out teeny little dough hearts and placed one on top of each of the hand pies.
Now in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and about one tablespoon of water. Brush the tops of the hand pies with the egg wash to give it a nice brown when it’s baking. Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of salt and pepper.
Once you have them all assembled, bake for 12-15 minutes. Let them cool a bit on wire racks, about a minute, you just don’t want steaming hot filling to come out and burn your mouth. Then plate and serve warm.
The kids liked that these were ‘their size’ and of course the Kid devoured the pastry first, while the Baby gutted the pie of all the meat filling. At least they both agreed it was cute and tasty!
pastry dough
I use variations of this for pies, sweet or savory. I like it because I have an aversion to shortening. Yes, everyone knows shortening will give you the best pie crust ever, however I do my best to not use it.
ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
4 – 6 tablespoons ice water
Now if you are using a food processor, this is how you do it: pulse the flour, sugar and salt then add in the butter, and pulse until crumbly.Add the water and in the tube while the processor is running, pour it in and keep pulsing until it is combined.
I have a food processor. I never use it. I’m Amish-like-that, yo. I don’t know, I just prefer to do things by hand. You can do this exactly the same way with a bowl and a pastry cutter and a whole lotta time. It takes time. But at the end you will have arms of steel.
You can use this immediately or wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it for later.
