Made these (relatively) low-sugar muffins for a playdate last Saturday, and happily, there were a few left over for breakfast early this week. I used frozen mangoes (a smoothie staple in our house), and coarsely-shaved sweetened coconut.
Archive for the ‘In the kitchen’ Category
9 Feb
Girls’ Night In
About once a month (or, occasionally, a bit more frequently…), a group of my girlfriends hold a “Girls’ Night Out.” Last week, I hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed “Girls’ Night In.” About 25 women came together for conversation, cake-tinis, cupcakes and other sweets, and I was left feeling pretty darn fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people.
Here are a few photos (and recipes) from the night.
Glasses awaiting pink cake-tinis…
Dawn and Terri:
Chocolate covered pretzels with candy sprinkles, and a few other treats:
Red wine lollipops:
Jen, Elspeth, Monica, Erin, Tami and Jill:
Carly and Molly:
Made especially for Monica–Dark chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel filling and topped with fleur de sel:
Jill, Sarah and Jen:
Mini almond frangipane pies:
Michelle, Jill, Tami, Jen and Erin:
19 Jan
Onion and bacon tart
Saveur has a fantastic social media presence—I especially love their Facebook page. They regularly share interesting articles, great kitchen tips and incredible recipes, like the one for this easy Onion and Bacon Tart. I made this for my family over the holidays, and based on their feedback, I’d consider doubling the salt if (when!) I make this again. Other than that, it seems darn near perfect.
12 Jan
Chocolate Layer Cake
Two notes about this very traditional chocolate layer cake, made from Martha Stewart’s super easy, one-bowl chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes: First, layer cakes are apparently the hip, new thing, and second, they always remind me of a sentiment I share with my girls — “I love you more than cake.”
When Ava hears this, she rolls her eyes, and says, “MOM. You should say, ‘I love you more than the earth,’ because without the earth, you wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be here, and there CERTAINLY wouldn’t be cake.”
When I say this to Olivia, the look on her face tells me that she loves cake enough to truly understand and appreciate just how I feel about her.
24 Dec
Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes with Homemade Irish Cream
This year, I decided to do individually-packaged cupcakes for coworkers and friends—26 in all. I found a Peppermint Mocha Cupcake recipe on Bakers Royale, which served as the base for the project. I used the foolproof One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart, adding in espresso powder—I wish I had thought to substitute coffee for the warm water. I used Martha’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream (with a bit of peppermint flavor) to top the cakes.
I was a little concerned about the pouring chocolate—I was worried it wouldn’t harden (and therefore be difficult to transport). But the suggestion to freeze the cupcakes before pouring the chocolate worked very well. I added peppermints (and peppermint pieces) to the tops:
We have a fantastic new baking shop downtown where I found these cupcake boxes.
The supplier has stopped making inserts that keep the cupcake stable, so I hot glued a fluted cupcake liner to the bottom, and set the cupcakes inside. It wasn’t the most reliable solution, but with some very careful transportation, the cupcakes seemed remain mostly upright inside the boxes.
We packaged the boxes into sacks, adding a little bottle of homemade Irish Cream with each one.
23 Dec
Holiday baking
My friend Erin hosted a holiday baking party last weekend, and anticipating a rather crowded kitchen, I opted to roll truffles. Working in a kitchenful of close friends made an otherwise tedious task fly by.
We packaged the truffles by nine, and shared with them friends, teachers and neighbors.
A couple of weeks ago, my friend Dawn and I met for an afternoon of baking—together, we knocked off eight double-batches of cookies and froze the dough. Earlier this week, I spent several hours baking…
In addition to the Oatmeal Scones, Lemon-Sour Cream Cookies, Monster Marshmallow Cookies, Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies, Chocolate-Espresso Snowcaps, Molasses-Spice Cookies, Lemon-Pistachio Wreaths I made with Dawn, I also made Peanut Butter Blossoms, a chocolate-cinnamon cookie with cayenne pepper, and these gorgeous Sprinkle Cookies from Saveur:
This was my first attempt at freezing cookie dough, and it worked out beautifully (just as Dawn assured me it would). Now, I have several boxes packaged up and ready to share with friends and family.
16 Dec
Eggnog Cupcakes
I love everything about this Starbucks-inspired recipe—the quick steps produce 24 generous cupcakes, the flavors seem to meld well, and I like any excuse for shiny gold sparkles.
I will note the cake may have been a bit dry, perhaps due to over baking. However, there’s booze in the frosting, so I think it all evens out.
6 Nov
Caramel Apple Cake
I love everything about this recipe, which I found through my new favorite procrastination tool, Pinterest. I can assure you, however, that I did not make my own homemade applesauce. Nevertheless, this cake had a moist crumb, and the caramel and old-fashioned cooked buttercream both came together beautifully.
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