Strawberry Cupcakes

I've made strawberry cupcakes before using a "Sprinkles" Cupcake recipe I found on the internet. It's turned out pretty good, just a bit of a denser cake..I wanted something fluffier and lighter. Then I saw a different strawberry cupcake recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. The picture looks so good I decided to try this recipe, since there are a few differences between the two recipes.

Martha uses cake flour in addition to all purpose. The Sprinkle's recipe uses fresh strawberry puree while Martha uses finely chopped fresh strawberries.

I made these this morning, however, didn't like the way they turned out. I didn't put enough batter into the cupcake liners because these don't rise much at all, so they looked a bit empty.

:( and the cupcake did taste like the Sprinkle's recipe, maybe not as much strawberry flavor since it was just chunks. Call me crazy, but when I'm not content, I right the wrong. :) so I made more strawberry cupcakes, this second time from the Sprinkle's recipe. I've scoured the internet for a different one, but I guess this one is the best thus far!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. set aside.

Place strawberries in a small food processor and puree.

You should have 1/3 cup of puree. Save extra for frosting. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla and strawberry puree. set aside.

In mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With mixer on low, slowly add half of the flour mixture, mix until blended. Add milk mixture, mix until blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture. Mix until blended.

Divide batter evenly among cupcake liners. Bake until tops are dry to touch approx 22-25 mins. Transfer cupcake pan to wire rack and let cupcakes cook completely before frosting.

Much better! :) Makes a dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients for Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes
-2/3 cups whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
-1 1/2 cup all purpose flour, sift
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp coarse salt
-1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
-1 tsp pure vanilla extract
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 cup sugar
-1 large egg, room temperature
-2 large egg whites, room temperature

I used a strawberry buttercream:
-1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
-pinch of coarse salt
-3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Puree the strawberries. (I actually used fresh strawberries). In a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed and slowly add sugar, beat well until combined. Add vanilla and 3 tbsps strawberry puree, mix until just blended. Do no overmix. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

Here it is! Enjoy! :)

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

My dad left for Taiwan today. I am so jealous..wish I was there. Few days before, I called and spoke with my cousin, his wife and 9 year old girl to ask if they needed/wanted anything from here for my dad to bring. The girl wanted cake pops and cookies..because she sees all the photos I post on FB. haha. So before I had to take my dad to the airport today, I baked some double chocolate chip cookies for them. I've baked these a million times before, and everybody loves them. They're filled with chocolate cups and pecans and very chocolatey. :)

To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the cocoa, then the egg. Scrape down bowl if needed.

In small bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mix on low speed until combined. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts into the dough.

I buy whole pecans and chop them up to save a lil bit of money. :)

Use a 1.5 inch scoop for uniform cookies, leveling off the dough before dropping them on parchment lined baking sheets, 3 inches apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy! :)

Ingredients for Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
-4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (preferably Dutch processed)
-1 egg
-1 cup all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips
-1 cup large pecan pieces

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

One of my favorite people is getting married this Saturday. :) Yesterday we had the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I wanted to make something for her so I decided to make some sugar cookies. I've only made these once before, just a few weeks ago, and they turn out yummy. The most frustrating part is the decorating the cookies part. I'm still trying to figure that out.

This recipe is from the Martha Stewart Cookie Book. To make the cookies, sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll about ten minutes. Roll out dough to just under 1/4 inch thick, using flour to sprinkle on work surface to keep doughs from sticking. The recipe says to use 4-5 inch cookie cutter, but I used these little alphabet cutters that I've had since forever and never used.

I thought these would be perfect!

Put the cut outs on parchment lined baking sheets. Roll out scraps and repeat, with the remaining disk of dough.

Chill cookies in freezer until very firm. about 15 minutes.

Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Since my cutouts were smaller, about 10 minutes was enough. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts Recipe.
-4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
-2 cups sugar
-2 large eggs
-2 tsps pure vanilla extract

The royal icing is what's been frustrating me. It's messy, it's time consuming, it's ridiculous. I've been using gel paste coloring to try to color my royal icing, but my red turned out hot pink and the orange was not very orange. Perhaps the gel dries out the icing and I need to use food coloring drops. I haven't really started to pipe decorations yet..I guess I cna get to that when I'm more comfortable mixing the icing.

The royal icing in Martha Stewart's Cookie Book calls for 1 pound confectioners sugar (which equals to 3 3/4 cups, I measured it out of a 2 pound bag up by cup), sifted, 5 tbsp meringue powder and scant 1/2 cup water. I used this recipe the first time and I found that the amount of meringue powder made the icing taste a bit funny. Usually Royal icing uses raw egg whites, but some people (like me) are scared of salmonella (rather not risk it) so meringue powder is used as a substitute. So I looked up on the internet alternatives for royal icing recipe and found one that calls for 4 cups confectioners sugar, 3 tbsp meringue powder, 1/2 tsp extract (vanilla, lemon or almond) and 1/2-3/4 cup warm water. Which tastes a lot better! :) So after alllll that, trying to pipe outlines then scrapping it, here's the final product:

CONGRATS JANET AND THOMAS!!! :)

White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

So, my friend has been bugging me to make her cookies with lots of nuts, since forever. But I hate nuts, so I haven't made them yet. I have a surprise gift to give her tomorrow and she asked if they were cookies. It wasn't, so I guess I can make them for her now. :) I consulted my new Martha Stewart cookie book:

There's also a Martha Stewart Pies and Tarts book and a Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. Since I think Martha Stewart is a genius, I bought all of them. :)

This recipe wasn't too nutty, with some different things mixed in and I thought it would be interesting. To start, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix butter and sugars in a mixer bowl on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Mix in eggs one at a time until combined, Stir in vanilla.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl. Gradually add dry mixture into the mixer until combined. Stir in oats, chocolate, coconut, raisins and walnuts.

Drop batter by using 1.5 scoop, leveling off the top, 2 inches apart, into parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Since this recipe is full of additions, the additions in ratio to the batter is greater so when the cookie bakes, it doesn't spread out much. By flattening it, it gives you the shape of the cookie, instead of a pile mound of a cookie. Unless..you like that look. :)

(preflattening..)

Bake cookies until golden, 14-18 minutes, depending on your oven. Mine browned pretty good on the bottom at 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

chock full of goodies!

I don't like raisins or walnuts and combined that with coconut and oats, it all just sounded so weird to me but..It was actually surprisingly good, every bite came with a mouthful of everything, and it went well together! It was a tad bit sweeter than I anticipated. To cut back some sweetness, you can use unsweetened coconut flakes instead. Enjoy!

Ingredients for White Chocolate-Chunk Cookies
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
-1/2 granulated sugar
-1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
-2 large eggs
-1 tsp pure vanilla extract
-2 cups all purpose flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp coarse salt
-2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
-2 cups white chocolate chunks
-1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
-1 cup golden raisins
-1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 4 ounces)

Peanut Butter Crosshatch cookies

Although I'm not a fan of peanut butter, I do like them in certain instances. Like in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And..these cookies. :) This recipe is from "the cookie book" as well, and I've baked these before, but not for awhile.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In mixer, beat the butter, sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter. Don't forget to scrape down the bowl.

Beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Add to the mixture in mixer, mixing on low speed until the dry ingredients are absorbed. Add nuts, chocolate chunks or whatever you like. I like them just the way they are :)

Use a 1.5 inch scoop, leveling off the dough across the top before dropping them onto parchment lined baking sheets.

Flatten each cookie with a fork, once horizontal, once vertical.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies just begin to color. Let sit for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Enjoy the sugar rush :)

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Crosshatch cookies
-4 ounces, 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1/2 dark brown sugar
-1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
-1 egg
-3/4 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 cup optional peanuts, chocolate chunks, etc..

I made 23 cookies. Super easy recipe and delicious!!

Black and White cookies

I have this book called the cookie book that I've had since forever.

I don't really remember when I even bought it..I just remember that I've had it since I was living at home..maybe in college? There's a few recipes that I've tried and really liked, and this was one of them. I first saw a black and white cookie in New York City at a random bakery. I liked that it was frosted black and white-two of my favorite "colors." haha. I actually haven't made these since back at my parents house. I love the cakey texture of these cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper:

oh by the way, I got two new baking sheets finally!!! real aluminum, no rust..I used to use non stick cookie sheets and silpats and all that fancy stuff, but the cookies I baked, including this recipe, would spread too much in the oven and nothing would keep it's shape. These are great!! (thanks for the tip W!!)

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Don't forget to scrape the bowl.

Beat in the eggs and egg yolks one at a time. Add yolk. In small bowl, sift the cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. On low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combine to a smooth consistency.

Scoop the batter using 1.5 inch ice cream scoop, leveling off the top before dropping mounds onto the baking sheets, about two inches apart.

I ended up with twelve cookies on one sheet. twenty four cookies total. Bake one tray at a time for about 15 minutes or until the centers spring back when lightly touched. Let sit for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Be careful not to overbake!

Melt the chocolate and frost half of the cookie (bake sure you turn the cookie around and frost the flat side). Mix together the hot water, confectioners sugar and vanilla. Adjust consistency by adding more sugar (for thicker) or more water
(to thin out), then frost the other half. There you have your black and whites!!!

Ingredients:

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalked butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 tsp milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salk

For frosting
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
5 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Hello Kitty cake pops

I've been making cake pops...lots of round cake pops. I've been wanting to start making shaped cake pop, but haven't gotten around to it. Last week my sister's friend asked me if I could make Hello Kitty cake pops. Sure, I can most certainly try!!! So this is my attempt. Not too successful, a bit frustrating at the failure, a few lessons learned, but definitely great practice for perfect Kitty cake pops next time! :D

I used red velvet for the cake, as requested..throw the baked cake into the mixer with a bit of frosting,

then shape into Hello Kitty's head, a semi oval shape:

Then you're supposed to stick the sticks in the head (dip stick in some melted chocolate first), then stick on the ears, but I put on the ears first as the heads were still laying on the cookie sheet. Mistake one-this gave me a skewed perception and made me stick the ears on closer to the forehead than on top of the head.

Mistake number two, I used chocolate chips for the ears, but use white chocolate chips. When you dip it in white chocolate, you can see the regular chocolate chips. White blends much better.

Here are some things you need for decorating Kitty:
Yellow rainbow chips for her nose,

mini Red M&M's for the center of the bows,

large Red hearts for the bows,

and an edible pen to draw on the eyes and whiskers,

However, the Wilton pen did not work very well and refused to draw on my chocolate. ugh. It's not a Hello Kitty without her face!! I definitely have to find a better edible pen.

Here is the end product!

Hahah.