Buried Cherry Almond Cupcakes

Hello Spring!  We've missed you!  How about a cheery cherry cupcake to celebrate?

Cherries and almond extract blend together beautifully in this wonderfully, but not overwhelmingly sweet cupcake.  And as I'm a sucker for good frosting, and lots of it, I halved the cake recipe, but kept the frosting proportion the same.  Twelve cupcakes is really more than enough for a small dinner party anyway...the full 24 would have just gone to waste.

adapted from BHG

yields 12 cupcakes

The Ingredients:
for the batter:
1/4 cup butter
2 egg whites
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz buttermilk
2 1/2 Tbsp maraschino cherry juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
12 maraschino cherries

for the frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp maraschino cherry juice
1/2 tsp almond extract
1-3 Tbsp milk

12 maraschino cherries with stems

 The Process:
Allow butter and egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with paper liners.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. In a small bowl combine buttermilk and cherry juice; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, vanilla, and almond extract and beat until combined. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to batter, mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about half full.  Gently press a cherry into the center of each cup.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in muffin cups on wire racks for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, for the frosting:

Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in maraschino cherry juice and almond extract. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar. If necessary, beat in additional juice or milk, a little at a time until frosting reaches spreadable consistency.

Pipe or spread the frosting on to the cooled cupcakes.  Top with a stemmed cherry.

Boozy Vanilla French Toast

This recipe is so stellar I've tried it twice over all ready.  

You can thank Jackie at the Beeroness.  I adore her so....

As per usual, I attempted to track down her beer recommendation, but only with moderate success.  She based the French toast on Stone's Vanilla bean Smoked Porter. 

 Ross and I hit up our favorite local liquor store and their stellar craft brew selection.  We were mildly let down.  On hand was a bottle of Stone's Smoked Porter, but not the vanilla bean edition.  (after poking around a little more I discovered this same porter was also brewed with chipotle...oh the fiesta we could have!)

I grabbed the bottle, my mind a whirl about how to up the vanilla essence without detracting from the smoky beer notes.  Lost in thought, I almost passed up the vanilla imbided beer sitting next to the porter...Abita's Vanilla Doubledog...a 25th anniversary beer based on their Turbo dog.  I almost squirreled the beer away to enjoy by myself, french toast be damned!

I'm glad I didn't

Each beer offered a unique taste, and I am wary to pick a favorite.  You'll have to decide for yourself. The Stone offered a deeper more rounded flavor...calling to mind campfires and toasted marshmallow.  The Abita was a sweeter variation.

adapted from the Beeroness

serves 6-8

The Ingredients

1 cup milk
2/3 cup porter or dark ale with caramel notes
1/2 cup vanilla sugar*
3 eggs
1 1/2  tsp vanilla extract**
2 tbs butter (plus additional as needed)
1 large loaf of crusty Italian bread, cut into 1 inch thick slices

*vanilla sugar is simply sugar that has shared a container with a vanilla bean or two.  cooking with vanilla pods, instead of tossing the spent pod, I allow it to dry and then stick into an mason jar full of sugar.  Within a few days the sugars takes on a wonderfully rich vanilla flavor

**if you do happen to find a beer with vanilla essence, reduce the extract to 1 tsp.  

The Process

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, and add enough oil or butter to well coat the surface.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, beer, sugar, eggs and vanilla.

One at a time, dip the bread into the batter, thoroughly coating both sides.  Add to the skillet and fry, flipping once,  until golden brown, (2-3 minutes per side).  Keep warm in a pre-heated oven and repeat with remaining bread.  Serve warm.   With Bacon.

Eggless Blackberry Boy Bait

I love alliteration, don't you?

I know. I know...egg-less doesn't fit in with the beautiful bounty of b's.  But it is the reason I first came upon the recipe.  You see, I had an itty-bitty box of breathtaking blackberries and nary a use for them.  They had been glowing, at their peak of ripeness.  I couldn't let these beauties go to waste.

Only, I didn't have any eggs.  Nada.  Zilch.  Ross made frequent offers to run to the store at 9 pm to gather what I lacked, but I vehemently refused.  We had planned our grocery shopping for the next day and I refused to let him make the extra trip for one ingredient.  I was determined to find an egg-less dessert. 

And I had wonderful success courtesy of the husband and wife team at Chef In You.

So what is a boy bait?  From what I've gathered among various sources, a 15 year-old girl submitted a butter-loaded blueberry cake a Pillsbury bake-off in 1954.  She dubbed it boy bait for its ability to lure in the opposite sex.  I'd go so far as to say this cake could lure in almost anyone.  It won second place.  To what?  I'm not sure.  Pillsbury's website is sadly lacking any reference to boy bait..

The treat is reminiscent of blueberry muffins--indeed it is traditional made with blueberries--but baked up in a single layer, allowed to cool and cut into squares.  This version earns its egglessness thanks to the addition of yogurt.  But all of the buttery goodness remains...

adapted from recipes at the Chef In You and Smitten Kitchen

serves 12+

The Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 tsp
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blackberries
1/4 cup cinnamon-sugar

The Process:
Preheat the oven to 350.  Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and dust with flour.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars, beating until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Beat in 1/2 cup of the yogurt, 1/4 cup of the milk and the vanilla.  Fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Add the remaining yogurt and mix well.  Fold in another third of the flour, followed by the remaining milk.  Add the remaining flour and mix until just combined.

Toss 1/2 cup of the blackberries with 1Tbsp of flour. Gently fold the berries into the batter.  Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Distribute the remaining berries over the batter.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for at least twenty minutes.  Remove the cake from the pan to a serving tray and allow to cool completely (if you can!)  The cake will be far easier to slice once cool. 

The Review:
My first attempt at this recipe was incredibly tasty.  But I did a very stupid thing.  Instead of using the 9x13 pan recommended, I reached for my 9-inch cake pan.  The batter filled the pan almost to the brim.  I feared an overflow and placed a cookie sheet on the rack below, lest the cake ooze all over the bottom of my oven.  I had to add nearly 15 minutes to the bake time.  The toothpick came out clean. 

The toothpick test deceived me.

The center of the cake quickly collapsed into a pile of nearly raw batter.  You can barely tell from the photos.  We still enjoyed it.  Well...most of it...

Attempt no. 2 was a much bigger success. My husband insists this treat is laced with crack...

Classic Vanilla Ice Cream

Happy birthday to me!  My man is a smart one.  When I birthday rolled around a while back, not only had he been paying attention to my endless wish list of kitchen gadgets, he chose the ones that would benefit him and our friends the most.  Well, truth be told, any kitchen gadget is the gift that keeps on giving in our household.  If you show up, you are likely to be fed...

Enter the ice cream maker.

I pondered for quite some time about which concoction to tackle first.  So many wonderful ice creams, sorbets, gelatos and yogurts danced in my head.  And with our weather turning to summer in no time flat, chilly treats are certainly called for.

It seems only proper that the inaugural scoop be a classic vanilla.

David Lebovitz has many a wonderful recipe.  I felt confident heading to him for advice after perusing the little recipe book that came with the maker.  But I was stymied to see so much egg added to what he called an ice cream.  Call me a purist.  Call me a snob.  I adore custards and ice creams equally, but I was raised by a woman who took great pride in being a car hop at Zarder's in Milwaukee.  We had the differences between custard and ice cream drilled into us at a very young age...

So no egg.  Just cream, whole milk, sugar and vanilla.  I did follow Lebovitz's advice about using both vanilla bean and vanilla extract.

adapted from the Cuisinart recipe book included with the maker
 and David Lebovitz's classic vanilla ice cream recipe (sans egg)

yields about 5 cups

The Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup  sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

The Process:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine the whole milk, salt and sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Bring to a simmer, cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

After one hour, remove the vanilla pods* from the steeped milk.  Whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours, or preferably overnight.

To make the ice cream, set up the ice cream maker, add the cream mixture and prepare according to the manufacturers instructions.  Once the ice cream reaches a soft serve consistency (about 20-30 minutes in my ice cream maker) transfer the mixture to a 5-6 cup container and freeze for an additional 2 hours. 

*keep the pods for other uses.  Rinse the pods of the cream mixture and allow them to dry out completely. Store in an air tight container to use in other recipe later on.  Or bury the pods in a jar of granulated sugar to impart a wonderful vanilla essence to the sugar.  Use the sugar in future baking to add an extra hint of vanilla to cookies, cakes and more.   They may also be submerged in a high proof flavorless alcohol (a high quality vodka or everclear) to create a vanilla extract.  The flavor will not be as potent as that of a whole bean, seeds still intact...but even the pod will impart a large amount of flavor to the alcohol.  Allow to sit for at least two weeks, shaking every few days, before use.  Use as you would regular vanilla extract.

The Review:
Breyer's has long been my favorite provider of classic ice cream flavors.  This was incredibly close to that pure ice cream ideal.  It was not as rich, creamy or heavy as the various custard varieties out there.  Nor was this ice cream lighter than air as some of the more adulterated varieties of ice cream (but I'm also not keen on adding hfcs, guar gun, carrageenan, mono and diglycerides or any other number of unpronounceable additive to my ice cream to achieve that artificially creamy quality...)

But pure simple vanilla flavor with a wonderfully smooth texture was dished up.  The vanilla flavor was beyond compare to other vanilla ice creams I've tried.  David Lebovitz has something going with the use of vanilla bean AND extract.  I did splurge and use Mexican vanilla extract.  Though I know the run of the mill McCormick vanilla beans I used were not the best quality out there.

Still amazing.  I look forward the other more involved ice cream concoctions that will come out of this birthday present!