Hello Kitty Cookie Cupcakes
People always ask me for quick ways to decorate cupcakes. Since I know not everyone has the time to roll out fondant and form perfect little figures, a trick I do a lot is using cookies as toppers. I took plain Hello Kitty cookies and fancied them up with sprinkles and icing. The decor is still cute and totally edible!
ingredients:
Hello Kitty Italian Cookies
large red heart quins
small red heart quins
yellow sprinkles
black frosting
frosted cupcakes
I happened to find these new Hello Kitty cookies imported from Italy of all places! They are almost like a biscuit, and have a really nice shape and profile.
All on their own they are adorable, but I thought I’d fancy ‘em up a bit using heart quins, sprinkles and piping. Turning large red heart quins on their side and placing a tinier heart quin in the center makes for a nice colorful bow. I used a yellow sprinkle for her distinctive nose (I tried to find the most oval-y shaped ones since I’m very particular about everything looking just so).
Using black frosting and a #2 tip, I carefully piped over Hello Kitty’s most prominent facial features: the eyes and whiskers.
I let these set overnight and then placed them on top of the cupcakes right before serving.
This is an easy way to make a distinctive, cute cupcake with minimal work!
Pulled BBQ Chicken
My goal with my recipes is to make things that are tasty and don’t take a lot of time. With all the kid’s classes, homework and activities – this is the kind of dinner we eat during the week – fast, simple and delicious.
ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
3/4 cup orange juice
juice of half a lime
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
pinch of cayenne
freshly ground pepper
6-8 pieces boneless chicken (thighs or breasts)
mini rolls (for sliders) or buns (for regular size)
Place the chicken in the crock pot.
Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl, then pour over the chicken. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
When chicken is cooked through, use two forks and ‘pull’ it.
I like this BIG on a bun with lettuce and tomato while the kids like it small like sliders.
Either way it’s tasty and an easy dinner in no time flat!
Yaki Manju
This is one of those old skool recipes you’d find in a Hawaii church cookbook. Yaki means ‘to cook’ and manju is a sweet Japanese confection, like mochi but it uses regular flour instead, so there’s no chew. It’s more cake or in this case, cookie-like.
This recipe comes in handy when you don’t have butter. It uses very few ingredients and comes together rather quickly. This is one of O.G.’s FAVES.
ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup an (sweetened red bean)
I prefer smooth red bean for these cookies. An aka red bean is sweet and can be found in Japanese markets in cans and bags.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, prep a baking sheet with a silpat.
In a the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt, adding the oil and water slowly.
Mix until combined and the dough starts to pull away.
Shape dough into small balls and then flatten it out. Add a Tablespoon of the an filling in the center.
To close, pinch the edges together, roll back into a ball and flatten slightly.
Place them on the prepped cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
A simple, crumbly-crisp cookie filled with delicious sweet an. Perfect with afternoon tea!
And the winner is…
Comic Con was AMAZING this year, totally the best one yet! Thanks to all the readers who stopped by – there were a lot of you! Comics + food blogs are definitely a good mix. And now for the big Hello Kitty+Star Wars prize pack!
Random Integer selector (and Batman) tells me that the big winner is…
Tara, email me with your mailing address and the prize will be mailed out.
Thanks to everyone for reading!
Strawberry Guava Hello Kitty Cupcakes
Strawberry Guava Jam on toast is the Baby’s favorite morning breakfast. It’s sweet and floral and reminds me of Hawaii. I thought it would be perfect in a jelly filled cupcake and swirled into a pretty, creamy frosting.
Topped with a Hello Kitty cookie, well – you’ll find no sweeter cupcake in all the land.
ingredients:
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups cake flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 cup whole milk
Strawberry Guava Jam
Strawberry Guava Cream Cheese frosting (recipe, here)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Carefully add the eggs one at a time until incorporated, then add the vanilla.
Alternate the milk with the dry ingredients until combined.
Hawaiian Sun jams and jellies
Spoon the batter into prepped liners, then take a Tablespoon of Strawberry Guava Jam and drop it in the center. Bake approx. 15 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
At one of my many wanderings in snack aisle of the Japanese market I found these cute Hello Kitty shaped cookies. They were small and adorable and I knew they’d be the perfect cupcake topper! I love cookies as toppers because you get cute decor with no hard work!
When you break the cupcakes open the jam might sink, but that’s ok – it’s still delicious, trust me.
When cool, frost with Strawberry Guava Cream Cheese Frosting and top with the cookie!
Strawberry Guava Cream Cheese Frosting
Mixing jam into frosting is an easy way to add flavor and color. Hawaiian jam is sweet and fragrant and adds a pretty swirl of color.
ingredients:
12 ounces cream cheese (1-1/2 packages)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 – 3/4 cup Strawberry Guava Jam
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese and the butter. Slowly add the powdered sugar, salt and the vanilla.
Once combined, fold in the Strawberry Guava Jam so it’s not totally incorporated, but just barely mixes in.
~GIVEAWAY!~
This week I will be down at San Diego Comic Con! If you’re going please stop by and say hi, I’ll be in Small Press table N-10! I’ll have lots of cards and buttons and some new things including the O.G. comic/cookbook.
I know I said there wouldn’t be any more giveaways this year but I thought this was a good one. I absolutely love this Hello Kitty for Japan tote and the money goes to a great cause. Japan still needs a lot of help, so what better way to support than with something TOTALLY adorable. This bag is sold out in a lot of places, so get it here for FREE while you can!
But what will it be filled with?
Hello Kitty Macaroni, Hello Kitty Baking Cups and Hello Kitty Pocky. These items are rare and hard to find in stores. If you don’t like Hello Kitty…well, I think you’ve come to the wrong blog, honestly. But what else do I love just as much as Hello Kitty?
That’s right. Star Wars. These stencils would have been a great addition to my Ultimate Star Wars Party! Minimal work in the kitchen?! Count me in! These stencils just came out and are super fun, imagine the possibilities!
TO WIN: tell me what recipe you’ve made from this blog that you’ve tried or want to try (list of recipes here). You have from now until July 24! Winner to be announced on Tuesday the 26. (Note: All prizes were purchased by ME with my own money.)
And don’t forget to stop by Small Press if you’re down at Comic Con. Good luck and thanks for reading!
Dulce de Leche Profiteroles
Vanilla ice cream for dessert? Please. Let’s kick it up and make it into a cream puff. Take that and and top it off with a dulce de leche sauce. I can’t take it. It’s too much happiness all at once.
ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
pinch of salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
vanilla ice cream (recipe, here)
dulce de leche
In a pot over high heat, bring the water, milk, butter and salt to a boil.
Carefully add the flour and stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides. Cook for another minute or so to cook the flour out a bit. Let cool for a minute, then pour into the bowl of an electric mixer.
On low speed beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Do not overbeat.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Using a mini ice cream scoop place about a Tablespoon of the dough onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Approx 12 per sheet.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, lower the oven temp to 350 bake for another 10 mins. Turn off the oven and let the puffs dry in the warm oven for yet another ten minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
Now you can make dulce de leche or buy it, totally up to you. I like to warm mine up and thin it down a bit so it looks a little more caramel-y rather than thick, but it’s all a matter of taste.
Slice the puffs in half and fill with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Top that off with a drizzle of sweet dulce de leche, and eat!
Mac ‘n’ Peas
This is an old French recipe called Macaroni ala Reine – “Macaroni for the Queen.” Since I’m the Queen around here, I proclaim this to be the tastiest dish ever.
A white mac ‘n’ cheese, studded with bits of rotisserie chicken and lovely peas that pop in your mouth. The perfect dinner. So says me, the Queen.
ingredients:
1 package (approx 14 oz) macaroni
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper
nutmeg
3/4 cup Swiss Cheese, shredded
3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
2 cups roast chicken, cooked
1 cup peas
salt
pepper
You know those rotisserie chickens that you can buy at Costco or your local market? They are easy to cut up and keep in the freezer, perfect for meals like this.
Boil the pasta according to the package. Drain – do not rinse! Set aside.
In a large pot melt the butter and stir in the flour. Cook down for about 2-3 minutes, then add the milk and the heavy cream.
Whisk continuously. Add the Swiss and the Parm cheeses and whisk until melted. The Swiss makes this a little stringy – I love the chees-i-ness of it. Simmer 5-8 minutes and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Stir in the pasta, roast chicken and peas. Toss until combined and season with salt and pepper.
This is a hearty meal all by itself!
Rainbow Bread Pudding
You know how it goes, the kids suddenly decide that ‘crusts’ are awful so all sandwiches must be crust-less. In the case of King’s Hawaiian Rainbow Bread the crusts just seemed too cute to throw away so I kept them, chopped them up and made the prettiest bread pudding this side of the islands.
ingredients:
approx. 8 cups of bread crusts, cubed
2-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
Rainbow Bread is crazy and fun multi-colored bread found at a lot of Hawaiian bakeries. Luckily it’s also available here in Los Angeles, made fresh daily at the King’s Hawaiian bakery in Torrance.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
You are going to make EIGHT tiny bread puddings, so grease 8 small single serving ramekins with melted butter. Equally portion out your cubed bread crusts into the buttered ramekins. Set these aside.
In a bowl, whisk the milk, heavy cream, eggs and vanilla. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet, this is only to catch possible spillage and to make it easy to transport to your oven. Carefully pour the custard over the bread in each ramekin. You’ll get more in there than you think, once the bread starts soaking it up.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, let cool slightly and serve.
Sometimes I cover the top of this with whipped cream, just so that the kids can uncover the ‘surprise’ burst of color underneath!
