Sushi Cupcakes

by Anne

One of these days I’ll run out of photos from my baking days in Chicago. Until then, here’s a batch of Sushi Cupcakes I made last May! (I should probably tell you right away that these guys contain no fish- raw or otherwise…they’re just pure sugar, baby.)

As I recall, these went over quite well with my friends- who were probably just as giddy about our newfound done-with-graduate-school status as they were about these sugar packed desserts. Meh. I’ll pretend all the smiles were about these little 'cakes.

Why sushi cupcakes you might ask? Well, my friend was throwing a “roll your own sushi” party, and while, I LOVE a good theme, I also wanted to try Bakerella’s Cake Pops method.  While these are technically pop-less (read: no sticks), I think I got the gist of the technique, and gained a profound amount of respect for her mad decorating skills.

Want to make ‘em? Just whip up a batch of cake pop “batter”, and form into your favorite sushi shapes. That’s right, sushi shapes. That’s about as technical and this non-sushi eater is going to get. Sorry folks.

Once you have your sushi-shaped ‘cakes, stick them in a refrigerator or freezer for a while, maybe 30 minutes, or until they’re quite firm. While the ‘cakes are chilling, melt chocolate. I’m sure there are lots of fancy melting chocolates you can buy for this task, but I just used chocolate bark for the brown, and almond bark for the white.

Melt the chocolates (do one flavor at a time so you don’t have to keep reheating everything) in a double boiler or via the bowl-over-boiling water method. Not familiar with that method? It’s pretty self-explanatory. Boil water in a small saucepot. Place a heat-proof bowl over the boiling water. Make sure the bowl is larger than the pot- you want the steam from the boiling water to heat the chocolate, not the water. Place chocolate in the bowl and stir until melted.

When the ‘cakes are firm and the chocolate is melted, dip each cake into the chocolate. Depending on what kind of sushi you want to make (California-roll-esque or those little cubes of white rice with fish on top- “nigiri,” or so I’m told), dip the ‘cake into the melted white or chocolate bark. If you want a rice-like texture, roll the ‘cake into coconut or decorator’s sugar before the chocolate hardens.

I topped the rolls with a little bit of vanilla frosting and lots of chopped up gummy worms.

The nigiri are made with a ‘cake, dipped in white chocolate, rolled in coconut, and topped with a “fish” made of starburst candy.

The fish are easy to make, and, I think, look pretty authentic. Just pop a couple of (unwrapped) starburst into the microwave for about 8 seconds. The heat should soften the starburst enough so that you can mold them, but not so much that they melt. Mold them into fishy shapes and use a butter knife to add a little texture. Use a little frosting to stick the fish to the coconut-covered "rice" patties and you're done!

In all, these little sushis are a bit tedious, with all the melting, cooling, and sprinkling... but they're lots of fun! Oh, and they're ridiculously sweet. So consider yourself warned.

Squishing Together Twos

by Terese

For some reason, I love to worry about things. I will plan them out, worry about them getting done on time days before they are due but never actually start them until the last possible moment. A perfect example would be the cake tasting that I had arranged for this Monday evening.

Many moons ago, at a dinner with Aaron's family I was explaining (ok fine...bragging) about the wedding cupcakes (that you all have yet to see) from Christopher and Anne's wedding. I am very, very proud of them and definitely feel up to many more challenges after that feat. SO... I offered Aaron's newly engaged cousin my services for their upcoming May wedding. Not really thinking too much of it, I received a Facebook message a couple weeks later to find out if I was serious. I was and am so we started to plan their 4 tiered tiramisu layer wedding cake together.

This is where the procrastination comes in. I knew they were going to come over for dinner this past Monday almost 2 weeks in advance. I knew I worked everyday of the week leading up to the dinner. And yet I put off making all THREE 4-layer cakes until that very Monday.

So not only did I spend a whole week worrying about the cakes and planning my weekend around getting them together, but I just ignored all my inner urging to get started and waited until Monday at 7:30 am to get my mixer going. It all worked out fine though after 8 hours in the kitchen. Well, almost fine. The last cake became very unimpressive cupcakes and was quickly vetoed from the running.

See them in the back-ground there...

The two cakes we ended up debating between could not have turned out better. Both were beautiful, delicious and offered a great tiramisu flavor. As one would expect, he liked one better and she simply said no, not that one. Haha. Final recipe for the wedding cake squishes the two cakes together as a compromise, a great practice step for their marriage.

The first recipe was found on epicurious.com and has amazing reviews! The moment I read it I knew it was going to be the winner. The tiramisu flavor of this cake is spot on, very coffee-y and chocolate-y with a hint of marsala wine in the frosting. The second can be found on love & olive oil and is the most refined and elegant cake I have ever made. The layers and lines inside were so clean, but the tiramisu flavor was more subdued.

The final wedding cake will combine the cake, filling and soaking syrup of the epicurious cake, with the soft, almost velvety swiss buttercream from the love & olive oil cake. It's kinda funny...we're squishing together two cakes and their squishing together two lives, its very symbolic don't 'cha think? I'm so excited for the cousin and his bride-to-be and am happy to be an important part of their very special day!

Blueberry Cobblercakes

by Anne

Before I even knew I was moving back to Minnesota, a friend of mine in Chicago threw a Minnesota hot dish party. And while my friend is technically not a Minnesooooota native, she’s definitely one of the state’s biggest fans, so Christopher and I knew we had to “bring the goods,” as it were.  

So even though it was June, in Chicago, we fired up the oven. Christopher whipped up a couple of batches of his family’s New York Spaghetti Pie recipe (yes, it IS a Minnesota hot dish despite the name), and I made a couple of desserts- Minnesota-shaped cookies (sorry, no pictures!) and blueberry cobblercakes. Yum! 

These cobbler cupcakes couldn’t be easier to make… or harder to eat! Be sure you use the foil muffin cups - and serve with a spoon- ‘cuz you really don’t want to unwrap these guys, trust me.

Blueberry Cobblercakes
•    1 box of cake mix. Vanilla, white, yellow- whatever you prefer!
•    Butter
•    Blueberry filling. You can buy it canned or make your own!

Fill each muffin cup about halfway with blueberry filling. Top each ‘cake with a generous spoonful of dry cake mix. Remember, since you’re not actually turning the mix into a batter, nothing will rise- so don’t worry about filling close to the rim. Place a small, thin pat of butter on the top of each cobbler. Don’t be too skimpy here, the butter needs to melt into the cake mix and form a warm, golden crust. But, don’t OVERindulge either, unless you just want to taste butter. Ew.
 

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden. The filling will probably bubble up a bit. Don’t worry, that’s a good thing.

A Perfect Baker's Dozen

by Terese
 

Pretty late Tuesday night I got a special request for chocolate cupcakes for the following evening. Seeing as I teach and work on Wednesday's, I knew fitting in a complicated chocolate cake recipe in an hour and then decorating them in a manner that won't embarrass myself was kinda out of the question. PLUS I was out of butter. F***. What to do?! What to make?!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake of course. The recipe has the shortest list of ingredients possible, only uses one bowl and tastes better than any mix would. And it would leave me enough time to throw together a frosting  and make these little babies beautiful. Or as beautiful as could be expected after a 10 hour day and with only 20 min. Mission accomplished.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup Kahlua or coffee (optional, if not gonna use then just do 3/4 cup milkie)

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, powder and salt in an electric mixing bowl. 
• Add the milk, Kahlua (if using), egg, oil and vanilla. 
• Beat on medium speed for 2 min. 
• Scrape down bowl, then beat for another 2 min. 
• Pour into 12 paper-lined muffin tins. The recipe filled them up perfectly, hence the perfect this baker's dozen. 
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min. 
• Allow to cool, then frost. 

I used the Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Frosting recipe off that back of the box because I needed something that didn't use too much butter. (Aaron stole me one single stick from his mom, don't tell anyone.)  

That's it. Maybe not the most exciting thing I've ever made, but they took me all of 1 hr total and they looked pretty... pretty... pretty... nice.  

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

by Anne

Feeding my fascination* for all things Amish,** my mom gave me this Amish Cooking book as a wedding gift.  While these Pumpkin Streusel Muffins were the first recipe I tried from the book, they certainly won’t be the last. In fact, I can honestly say that I’ve never made a better batch of homemade muffins. They were dense but not dry, and full of flavor.

The original recipe called for a loaf but... it was already 10:30 am on Saturday and I didn’t want to wait 50 minutes for a darn loaf of pumpkin bread when I knew muffins would only take 20 minutes. And I like muffins. ‘Cuz they’re like breakfast cupcakes.

The muffins will keep for a few days. I baked these guys on Saturday and we brought a batch over to my mother-in-law on Valentine’s Day. And, they still tasted amazingly fresh!  None of that day-old-and-already-dry nastiness that so often plagues my homemade baked goods. Sigh.

Some tips… 

• Line your muffin tin with liners and spray the liners with baking spray. Don’t over-spray or the muffins will separate from the liners and you won’t be able to take cute pictures. A light misting should do. 
• Use an ice cream scoop like this one to scoop batter into the muffin cups. It’s easy. It’s clean. And it results in well-portioned little muffins.
• Apply the streusel generously, please. It adds a nice texture and flavor –and really, who doesn’t want a muffin covered in warm, gooey brown sugar?

I definitely plan to bake these again- but maybe I’ll plan ahead and actually make it in loaf-form. Or, if I’m feeling really adventurous, I’ll make a pumpkin bundt. I’m not quite sure how to streusel a bundt, but you better believe I’m gonna learn. So stay tuned...

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Muffins:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin (from the can, but the real stuff not the pie filling)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup almonds 

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare your muffin tins (or, if you want to make a loaf, grease and flour a loaf pan).

For the muffins...

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Beat butter and granulated sugar in mixer until fluffly. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla extract. Gradually add the flour mixture.


For the streusel...

Combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender (two knives, or even a food processor will do), until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in nuts.

Scoop batter into muffin cups and sprinkle streusel topping over each muffin. If you're making a loaf, the recipe suggests you layer the streusel (spoon half of the batter into the loaf pan, add half of the streusel, then spoon the remaining batter into the pan and top with the rest of the streusel)- but this seemed WAY too tedious for muffins. And, c'mon... if it's 10:30 on a Saturday and I haven't made breakfast yet... I'm obviously feeling too lazy to do something like this.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. If you want to make a loaf, bake for 45-50 minutes.

So, what do y’all think? Would you give these guys a whirl or are you the kind of person who prefers a granola bar or banana bread for breakfast?

*Pun intended. Obviously.
** Sorry, Claire.

Cake Mix Snickerdoodles

by Anne

As promised, here’s the final post of the “farewell Chicago party/baking extravaganza” trilogy (don’t forget to check out Part 1: Blonde Brownies and Part 2: S’more Cupcakes). And now for Part 3: Snickerdoodles!

Cake mix snickerdoodles, to be exact. Fun stuff here, folks. And super easy to boot!

Mmmm. Aren’t they pretty? Can you tell these pictures were taken a while ago…in the soft lighting of the warm Chicago summer sun? Not like the latest batch of photos snapped in the ever-fleeting light of the Minnesota winter. Bah humbug. Or something like that.

Anyway, here’s the scoop…

Cake Mix Snickerdoodles (from this blog)

• 1 box cake mix (vanilla, white, yellow- whatever you prefer!) 
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• Cinnamon and sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients (except the cinnamon and sugar) in a medium bowl.  Chill batter for at least 30 minutes. Roll batter into balls and coat with cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Bake for about 10 minutes... or until they look done.

I made these little guys twice and while the flavor and texture was consistent from one batch to the next, the cookies remained small the first time 'round and spread out during round two. I’m not really sure why, since both were chilled and similarly-portioned on a cool baking sheet. Oh well, most of the chemistry behind baking remains a mystery to me.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal-Craisin-Chocolate-Almond Bliss

by Anne

I got this cookbook for my birthday last year and I have solid plans to bake my way through the entire thing. Seriously, not a single recipe has failed me. In fact, I’ve revisited multiple recipes multiple times- a rare occurrence for this somewhat restless baker.

These cookies are faaaaan-tastic. And while I didn’t follow the recipe exactly as it was written, I’ve had absolutely no complaints from the household cookie monster (his mom liked them too!). They’re great as-is or crumbled over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream.  And because they have oatmeal, nuts, and craisins, they kind of taste like a granola bar. So you can definitely justify having a few of them with your morning coffee, right? 

A couple of notes:

• The dough will be stiff. And I mean, STIFF.  That’s a good thing- it means the cookies will be nice and dense.
• Use whole, rolled oats. Not the instant kind. I’ve used both and the former have a far better texture and way more flavor.
• I use "Baking Spice" from Penzey's instead of straight cardamom. If you can get your hands on some of it, do. It’s amazing stuff.
• Let the dough chill. Seriously. I usually bake my cookies in small batches so that I don’t eat all of them in one sitting “overindulge.” The dough will keep in your refrigerator for up to a week or you can freeze it for up to two months.

 Oatmeal-Craisin-Chocolate-Almond Bliss

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking spice
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups oats
• 1 cup craisins
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars in an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Add half of this mixture to the butter mixture and beat for 15-30 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the oats and beat for another 15-30 seconds. Fold in the craisins, almonds, and chocolate chips. Cover the bowl and chill for 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Form the dough into balls and place an inch or so apart on a cookie sheet. If desired, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure to rotate the pan halfway through the baking time to ensure even heating.