Chocolate Maple Bacon Cupcakes

We are in the second day of this Hurricane Sandy madness. Thankfully, we have not lost power or had any damage done to our home, though I know many people in town have no power and downed trees, etc. I had thought about buying cupcakes supplies over the weekend so I could bake while the wind and rain went on outside, but I didn't. Today, the sun finally came out and I ran out and grabbed some supplies.

We just got a phone call from the superintendent telling us that the town officials/National Grid has given them no word on any updates in town since last night, and last night there were 27 lines down.

Let's go back to last year at this time. We had a freak ice/snow storm that left us out of school for a week. That same week, my cheerleading teams had their league competition, which although most schools competing had no school, and many had no power and weren't living in their homes, they still held the competition. Yeah well....our league competition is on Thursday. As in 2 days from now. As in if we don't have school tomorrow my girls can't practice before Thursday. Seriously, this is our curse apparently.

Anyways, I finally packaged up some cupcakes individually this time as a run through. Once competitions are over (you know, in about 3 weeks or so), I may devote my Sundays to baking 3 different kinds of cupcakes and possibly selling some. I say that now but who knows....

These cupcakes are pretty fabulous. I've been meaning to make them for quite some time, but for some reason never got around to it. They're not ones I would make for an event unless I had a request...not too many people are keen to trying bacon on/in a cupcake. I however will eat almost anything...except eel, plain mayo, and raw tomatoes...unless they're drenched in balsamic vinegar. The cupcake recipe is my go to recipe for chocolate cupcakes, from Annie's Eats. When I found this recipe I had decided that I was going to use my chocolate cupcake recipe, so I was thrilled to see that this blogger used the same one I had planned on using. Seriously though, if you're looking for a chocolate cake recipe, go with this one. It may seem a little more time consuming than a standard chocolate cake recipe (you know with the melting of the butter, etc), but it's consistent and it always gets rave reviews.

The only difference I made was I did not add the bacon into the batter, I just sprinkled some on top before baking. I also added a little more (maybe a tablespoon) of the syrup to the buttercream, and I added a few drops or LorAnn maple flavored oil to the frosting as well. It needed a little more maple flavor and too much syrup would've changed the texture of the frosting. I also candied some bacon (instructions below) to put on top as a garnish.

Chocolate Maple Bacon Cupcakes
adapted from The Novice Chef Blog

For cake:
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup bacon, cooked and chopped

For frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup pure maple syrup; plus more for drizzling as a garnish
1 teaspoon salt

4 drops of LorAnn maple flavored oil (can be found here) (optional)
candied bacon for garnish (See instructions below)

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined.
5. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.
6.  Remove from stand mixer and gently fold in bacon.
7. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.

For the frosting:
1. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric or stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, salt and pure maple syrup and combine well.
2. Begin adding in the sugar and mixing thoroughly after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added and mixed thoroughly, give it a taste and decide if you want to add in more maple syrup. For thicker frosting you can gradually add in a little more sugar. This is where I added in the maple oil.
Garnish with chopped bacon, candied bacon, and a drizzle of maple syrup if you wish.

Directions for candied bacon:

3 or 4 slices of thick cut bacon (I used Trader Joes uncured Applewood smoked bacon)
1/2 cup (or so) dark brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325. Cover a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. Place a cooling rack over the sheet to lay the bacon on.
2. Spread the brown sugar onto a plate.
3. Take each slice of bacon and toss it in the sugar, rubbing it on both sides to coat nicely. Place in cooling rack on cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
4. Move to wax paper to cool.

When I went to package my cupcakes I remembered that I had these little cocktail forks (that I've had for about 2 years). I thought they'd be cute to put in the cups with the cupcakes. I then decided to add some outside the cups, which looked better.

Cocktail forks!

Adorable!

White Russian Cupcakes

Life has been crazy. Between a sinus infection and cheerleading competition, I haven't had much time for some serious cooking. I did however, have time to squeeze in some cupcakes for my twin friends' birthday gathering Saturday night.

I gave them an option of five different cupcakes, and they chose White Russian. I was pretty pumped since the others required a little more time, and time was certainly short on Saturday. Unless I bring them to a large party, I always end up throwing away a couple of cupcakes after a few days, but not these. The 16 I brought to the party were gone in 5 minutes and the other 8 were eaten by Dan at home. Maybe that's the key to not wasting leftovers...make them with booze in them. The original recipe makes 12, my recipe makes 24.

White Russian Cupcakes
from Baked Perfection

For the White Russian cakes:

2.5 cups all purpose flour

2.5 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1.5 cup sugar

12 tablespoons butter, softened

2 large egg and 2 egg white

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1cup milk

1/4 cup Vodka

1/4 cup Kahlua

 

For the Kahlua Buttercream:

2 stick of butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

3 - 4 tablespoons Kahlua

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl or in a stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until combined. Add eggs and egg whites, one at a time. Then add the vanilla, Vodka, and Kahlua. Gradually add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions, ending with the flour mixture.

3.Bake 17 -20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcakes comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

4. For the frosting: Beat butter until creamy. Add salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add Kahlua 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.

 

 

Pumpkin Bars

I've been meaning to make these bars for almost two weeks. Last week, I was exhausted and had headaches every day. Turns out, I have a sinus infection. I suspected once I had a migraine for 6 straight days that it might be a sinus infection, and then the seventh day, every part of my face hurt. I finally got to doc and got some meds, so I am on the mend. Though I still have headaches and some sinus pain. I've been lucky enough to have a boyfriend who knows I'm miserable when I'm sick and takes care of me as much as he can.
I made my shepherd's pie today, and tried a milk stout in the gravy this time. It came out just as fantastic as it always does. That gravy recipe is seriously fool-proof, any stout or porter you use still tastes great.

Funny thing is, when I went to go to the grocery store today, I asked my mom if she needed me to grab anything for her. She asked me to grab some cream cheese frosting for pumpkin bars she was currently baking. Seriously?! On the day I'm going to make pumpkin bars she beats me to it. I decided I would compare my bars to hers since hers were from a basic box mix. Hers came out firmer (which seems more like a "bar" to me), almost brownie-like. Mine came out super moist and cake-like, which almost makes me want to call these pumpkin cake squares, not bars. I think of bars as being firmer.

Anyways, if you decide to make these, follow my frosting recipe, not the original. The original calls for 4 cups of powdered sugar, which is wayyyyyyyyy too much sugar. My bars had a very thick layer of frosting and I threw a lot of leftover away.

Pumpkin Bars
from The Breadman's Wife

 Cake
2 cups of flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1. tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix!)

Frosting
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1/3 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. milk

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix all dry ingredients (flour to baking soda) in a bowl.
3. Mix eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin together until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients gradually and mix until well combined.
4. Spread mix into a greased baking dish (I used a 13 x 9 inch dish). Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. It took me about 35 minutes.
5. Let cool completely.
6. To make the frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Mix in the sugar, vanilla and milk.
7. Frost the cake and serve.

There's no fancy pic to go with this. I frosted the cake, cut it immediately, put it on a paper towel and straight into my mouth. No time for plating, just time for eating.

Butternut Squash and Corn Soup

Fall is easily my favorite season. The temperature is better, the foliage is prettier, and the food is yummier. You can start making things like soups/stews, chili, pot roast, things with pumpkin and apple...

I randomly came home a butternut squash on my counter and my immediately thought:

Roasted Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Rigatoni with Butternut-Gruyere Sauce

Butternut Squash Lasagna

But we all know I always want to try something new, and I only had a small bit of squash, so I decided to try my hand at soup. This soup didn't come out how I wanted it to. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't what I wanted it to be (which was something similar to what Trader Joe's sells).

I veered off the recipe a bit, so maybe the original would be a little better? Also, my hand me down immersion blender did not work.

Butternut Squash and Corn Soup
adapted from Ezra Poundcake

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes (about 5 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can sweet corn kernels, drained
1.5 tsp curry powder
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 cup milk or heavy cream (I used 2% milk)
pinch of chili powder
pinch of paprika

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large stock pot over med-high heat. Add the squash, onions and garlic. Cook for 6 minutes until onions start to become tender.
2. Add corn and curry. Cook for 2 minutes until the scent of curry becomes fragrant. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add broth and simmer for 25 minutes until squash is tender.
4. Blend half of the soup with a food processor, blender or immersion blender.(I blended all of it because I didn't want any chunks of corn or squash in my soup). Return to pot.
5. Add milk or cream and stir until soup is warmed. Do not boil.
6. Serve with chives, greek yogurt, or bacon on top.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

It's pumpkin season! Now, I could've made pumpkin things all year long since I stocked up on pumpkin last year. After stores began running out of pumpkin, once I found some I kept it at home just in case. I'm glad I did, because now I have plenty and can make all the pumpkin goodies I want. I also want to roast my own pumpkin....we'll see if that happens.

I had planned on making these a few days ago for Dan's sister's birthday, but we ended up going out for her birthday. I now have an abundance of cupcakes in my kitchen....

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
from Taste of Home

 For the cupcakes:
3/4 cup butter, softened 
2-1/2 cups sugar  
3 eggs 
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin 
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour 
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
3/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 
1 cup buttermilk 

For the frosting: 
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 
1/2 cup butter, softened 
4 cups confectioners' sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin. Combine the flour, pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and ginger; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.  
3. Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. 
4. For frosting, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and cinnamon; beat until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 2 dozen.

This is how I like them, without those god awful Brachs pumpkin candies. Those are completely gross. But they're cute decorations, therefore I used them.
 

 

All decorated.

Some of the reviews of the original recipe claimed they thought they were too sweet. You could cut the sugar down to 2 cups instead of 2 and half. Also, some people added a 1/2 cup of apple sauce to keep them moist, but mine were super moist as is.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I don't know why I don't make cupcakes more often. I always feel very accomplished when I make them. I almost didn't make them. Friday I asked my brother what kind he'd rather have, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough or White Russian. He chose the cookie dough. I had planned on baking the cupcakes yesterday, then filling and frosting them today. However, my mum, Colleen (brother's girlfriend), and I spent the day antique hunting. I had a headache that wouldn't quit, so I took a nap after. By that time, it was dinner time and we went out for the night. So, that put all of the work into today before the BBQ. The steps are all very easy, they just take some time. The only changes I made to the recipe was using mini chocolate chips in the cupcakes, and only 1/4 cup of them, like in the filling. I also didn't sprinkle chocolate chips on top to decorate. They are super sweet and super delicious. There's also an absurd amount of butter in everything.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
from Blissful Tastes

For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips 

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract 

For decoration:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips


Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.

Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total).  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir together to blend.  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla.  Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners.   Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake.  Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture. 

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy.  Mix in the confectioners' sugar until smooth.  Beat in the flour and salt.  Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Artsy photo

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

My brother and his girlfriend flew in from California on Friday. We had a family BBQ today for everyone to get together and visit. That meant I had an opportunity to cook. I knew I wanted to make cupcakes (that recipe is coming soon) and I wanted to make some sort of finger food. At first, I was going to go with deviled eggs since that's where my taste buds were taking me, but I knew the cupcakes would be time intensive, so I didn't want to spend all that time to boil the eggs and peel all of them (I hate peeling eggs!), then filling them.

I decided to make the pizza puff recipe that I've had stockpiled in my 'need to make these soon' list. Everyone really liked them. The one thing I didn't do was put out marinara sauce to serve them with. I completely forgot. I think that would've make them better. They are good, but the pepperoni is the only thing that stands out, the batter was kind of bland I thought.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
from The Way to His Heart...


3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
pinch of salt 
pinch of red pepper flakes 
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup cubed pepperoni
1/2 cup marinara sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24 cup mini-muffin pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, salt, and red pepper flakes. Whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan, and pepperoni and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, about 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Serve the puffs with marinara sauce for dipping.