Archive | September, 2011

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

28 Sep

Although the weather isn’t agreeing too much to the change of seasons, the pumpkins are on the stands and the apples are ready to be picked from the trees. This is one of my favorite seasons for baking because it’s the time of year where I get to include all the warm spices into my baking. It’s the season of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and so much more! All those spices that make you want to curl up in front of the fire-place and watch an old movie. I’ve been on a pumpkin kick lately and whats better than pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg with a dollop of maple flavored frosting on top?

Now, you may look at what you’ll need and think “wow! That’s a lot of stuff”, but I promise it’s an easy recipe to follow and all the ingredients can be found in your local supermarket. So have fun with it and play with the flavorings, that’s the best part of fall!

What You’ll Need:

For the Cupcakes:

  • 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tsp of Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp of Salt
  • 1 tsp of Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp of Ground Ginger
  • 1/2 tsp of Ground Nutmeg
  • 2 Extra-Large eggs – Room Temperature
  • 1 Cup of Canned Pumpkin Puree (8 ounces)
  • 1/2 Cup of Granulated Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup of Light Brown Sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/2 Cup of vegetable Oil

For the Frosting:

  • 6 Ounces of Cream Cheese – Room Temperature
  • 3 tbs of Unsalted Butter – Room Temperature
  • 1/4 tsp of Natural Maple Flavor
  • 1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
  • 2 Cups of sifted Confectioners’ Sugar

To Prepare:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
  • Brush or spray the top of the muffin tins with vegetable oil and line them with paper liners

Directions:

In a medium bowl, sift together  the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vegetable oil.

Add the flour mixture into the liquid and stir until combined. You’ll notice that the batter will begin to lighten a bit.

Divide the batter between the prepared tins. I used an ice cream scoop to make insure and even amount of batter in each cup and fill about 3/4 of the way up. Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside and let them cool completely.

Now for the frosting! As the cupcakes are cooling you can start preparing the maple frosting. In a large bowl, use a rubber spatula to cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Stir in the maple flavoring and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, spread the maple frosting over the top and enjoy!!

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Baking School: Week 1

21 Sep

Saturday was the start of my first official baking class! Those who know me know I’m not quite a “morning person”, but I kicked myself out of bed and went to class on Saturday. Needless to say, I had a blast!!

The first class was a lot of registration, learning the kitchen and making sure everyone was set up with everything they needed. As part of the class, each student is given a binder with all of the recipes, definitions and tips we will use during the semester, The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts text-book and a full set of baking utensils (probably my favorite part!)

   

Once we all got settled our Chefs performed a demo of what we’d be baking for the day. Since it was our first class we started the beginnings of an apple tart. We made Sucree Dough and Apple Compote.

Things I Learned:

  • Emulsify – Combining 2 liquids that don’t combine easily – When you add an egg 1 at a time into the recipe like we did in the New York Crumb Cake
  • You can freeze dough for up to a month
  • Best way to have room temperature eggs is to submerge them in warm water for 5 minutes
  • The greater the fat content in butter, the better the butter is (Go figure!). In the class we use butter with 82% fat
  • One of the biggest differences in the types of flour is the amount of protein. Bread Flour has the most protein, then All-Purpose and Cake Flour has the least amount.
  • Gluten: Flour in contact with water – The more you work the dough the more gluten is released. When you overwork pastry it becomes bread because you’re releasing too much gluten into the dough.
  • Lemon juice prohibits apples from turning brown when you chop them

I’m really looking forward to the coming weeks of the class. Keep checking back for more pictures, updates, tips and recipes!

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Chocolate Fudge Cookies

15 Sep

Well, it’s officially (sadly) turning seasons from summer to fall. I’ve started sleeping with the windows open, wearing light sweaters outside and cuddling under blankets in my apartment. I have a love/hate relationship with the fall. I hate it because it signals the end of summer which means no more beach days, no more flip-flops and no more summer dresses. It also signals the end of my fabulous summer of concerts/tailgates, rooftops, BBQs and much more. I love it though because fall is the season of fireplaces (even though I don’t have one), sweatshirts, football (I’m going to my first NFL game on Monday!) and the start of my Techniques of Baking class at the French Culinary Institute.

I’m very excited about the class! It starts this Saturday and goes until March. So you’ll have to check back soon so I can share with you what I’ve learned (and of course see the delicious treats that come out of it!). So in preparation of my weekend, I gave myself a little practice last night with these fabulous and easy Chocolate Fudge Cookies!


What You’ll Need


  • 8 Ounces of Bittersweet Chocolate
  • 3 Tbs of Unsalted Butter
  • 1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
  • 3 Large Eggs
  • 1 Tsp of Espresso Powder
  • 1 Tsp of Vanilla
  • 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 Tsp of Baking Powder
  • 1/4 Tsp of Salt
  • 1 Cup (6 ounces) of Chocolate Chips

To Prepare

  • Only AFTER the batter is made: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F
  • Line 2-3 baking sheets with Parchment Paper (or lightly grease)

Directions

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, melt together the chocolate and the butter. I find that the easiest way to do this, so that you don’t burn the chocolate, is to melt the butter first then add in the chocolate so that the heat of the butter already partially melts the chocolate. If you’re using a microwave, only heat at 30 second intervals. Stir until all of the chocolate is melted.


In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs until they’re fully combined. Add in the hot melted chocolate and then stir in the remainder of the ingredients (It’s that easy!). The batter will get pretty thick, so I found that the easiest way to stir was using a rubber spatula. Don’t forget the bottom of the bowl either! Make sure everything is fully combined. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour to make it easier to handle

This is the point where you’re going to preheat the oven and prepare the baking sheets if you didn’t already do so.

Take the batter out of the fridge and using tablespoon size amounts, scoop the batter onto the baking sheet. Make sure to leave about 2″ between the balls because they will spread as they bake.

Bake the cookies for about 12-14 minutes. If you’re baking more than 1 sheet at a time, make sure to rotate the pans half way through to get even baking. Keep an eye on the cookies in the last 2 minutes because when they’re done you’ll notice the tops start to crack across the top surface. Remember, the cookies will continue to bake even when you take them out of the oven.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

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