Cookies and cupcakes Archives - Page 7 of 15

Floral Cupcakes With Buttercream + Blog Birthday

24|02|2016

It was Sugar et al’s birthday this week and my blog turned 3. Such amazing 3 years and so much to look back and feel proud about. Sometimes, I feel I am not even the same person anymore. I have evolved in more than one way along with my blog. It’s like I was on a path to self-discovery all this while. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing this journey with me. For stopping by, listening to me and putting a big smile on my face.

This space is not only special to me because I get to do all my favourite things here but also because the journey is synonymous with my personal journey in a totally new country. I started the blog weeks after I came to live in Australia. It’s funny now when I look at my prop cupboards and all the things I managed to own in 3 years. Can you believe it? I came with a single baking pan and a few muffin liners.

Much like all my friends in blog world, I worked really hard to improve and grow. In the process, I’ve grown more critical of my own work and need to constantly remind myself to take it easy. Putting a blog post together involves many different activities. From researching to testing out recipes, styling, photography, writing and much more. If not already evident, the bit I enjoy the most is styling and plating up food. I’ve experimented quite a bit and eventually discovered my own personal style. There is nothing in this world that is not possible with hard work and determination.I am hoping to start a series on Styling for bloggers sometime soon to share ideas and tips I’ve picked up over the years. If you have any questions related to food styling or there is something you want me talk about in particular, please feel free to leave a comment below or email me. I’ve already compiled questions that some of you have asked me on social and will try to address them to the best of my ability.

Coming to these cupcakes, these are more about the look/piping than the actual cupcakes. I have enclosed the links to the video tutorials that will help you replicate them.
I’ve made blueberry cupcakes for the base and the frosting is vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. I know, there’s no cake this time! But cake is predictable and I like unpredictability for the excitement it brings:-)

How to pipe Chysanthemum flowers.
Buttercream Flowers

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream

2|02|2016

I simply love February! All that pink, red, mush, chocolate, wine.. I love it! As I am growing older, I seem to have a renewed liking for V day (though I expect it to be otherwise). Food is an integral part of any big day so the fact that some of the major celebrations like Christmas, Australia day and V day fall in summer for us, makes my liking go up by a few levels. Raspberries, cherries, plums in Feb…more reasons to love! Red inspiration is right there at the fresh produce markets. I’ll come to all of that soon. I have many romantic desserts coming up for you but today I’m sharing something every day…something lunchbox or you can call it an after school treat. Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes. Yes, the Mum in me has to think of nutrition and healthy lunches as well.

When did cupcakes become healthy…you might be wondering. The cupcakes are actually great! Minus the frosting you may call them muffins. They are tasty and make a delicious apple filled snack. This is where the pastry lover in me steps in and wants to frost them. A treat once in a while is fine, don’t you think? My boys love cupcakes so when they are at their best behaviour, I do reward them….the muffins graduate into cupcakes. I select a frosting, out comes the piping bag and a treat is in the making. I know. Funny. But it makes Mum and kids happy:-)

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream
Yields 12

2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 medium (about 375 g) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, chopped
125 g butter, melted, cooled
2 eggs, lightly whisked
3/4 cup milk

Honey Buttercream
250 g unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
4-5 cups icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (180 degrees C for fan forced). Grease or line a 12-hole muffin tray with paper liners.

Sift the plain flour, baking powder and cinnamon together into a large bowl. Stir in the brown sugar, apples and raisins until well combined. Whisk together the butter, eggs and milk until well combined.

Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. Do not over-mix or the resulting cupcakes will be dry. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pans.
Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. To test if they are cooked, insert a skewer into the centre of one – if it comes out clean, it is ready If not, cook for a little longer before testing again. When cooked, remove from oven and stand for 2-3 minutes before turning onto a wire rack. Once cool, frost them.

To make the Honey buttercream, in the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and honey. Add half the icing sugar.
Start on low speed on the mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. Use milk to thin out frosting to reach desired consistency.

Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes

21|12|2015

Guess what! I am having a white Christmas this year. Okay, there’s no snow, so technically it’s not white but it’s Christmas in the middle of winter. You don’t get it? Living in Australia, our Christmas is anything but cold. It is in the peak of summer and our produce is as colorful as can be. Instead of warm puddings, we celebrate with fruit loaded Pavlovas and Ice cream cakes. But this year I am sitting snug and cosy amidst family in the northern hemisphere enjoying every bit of the season. After all, that’s the true meaning of Christmas, isn’t it? Family and home!

I made these cupcakes before I left for my holiday. There are heaps of peppermint recipes doing the rounds. I have a few in my archives as well. So, this time I am breaking the norm, colouring them blue and adding chocolate sea shells. Actually, there’s been so much candy at home this year that it was easy to load the cupcakes with extra sugar. Nobody minds at this time!

The cupcakes are vanilla scented with a peppermint whipped cream. Sprinkles, crushed candy cane, chocolate sea shells and everything you desire. Yes, add whatever you like…load them with candies, sprinkles and make them look extra festive. I also realized after looking at the photos that these are great for a blue or sea themed party. My only regret is that I couldn’t carry them for my dear family!
Having said that, I have missed baking cookies this December immensely. There is very little opportunity to bake where I am. I guess, you cannot have it all. And there’s always a next time. Happy Holidays to you:-)

Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes (adapted with variation from Oprah)
Yields 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk , room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
115 g (1 stick) unsalted butter , room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg , room temperature
2 large egg whites , room temperature

Peppermint Whipped Cream
500 ml heavy cream, cold
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp peppermint extract
blue food coloring (optional)

To make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder; set aside.
In a small bowl, mix together milk and vanilla extracts; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.

With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Once cooled, frost with peppermint whipped cream. Decorate with sprinkles and chocolate sea shells.

To make the peppermint whipped cream : Place heavy cream in a mixing bowl (that has been kept in the freezer for 20 mins), mix starting with low speed, then gradually increase to medium speed until the cream starts getting thicker.
When the cream starts to thicken stop the mixer, add in the icing sugar and then resume mixing again starting with low speed and increase to medium speed up to high speed. The cream will thicken and start to peak. Stop the mixer and add in the peppermint extract and food color if using. Mix on high speed until the cream is thick and stiff.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

19|10|2015

There are a few food trends that I have come to embrace only after I started to write a blog. Pumpkin in October is one of them. I am generally a person who loves any and every fruit and vegetable at any point in the year. That does not mean I will buy them when they are not in season or overpriced (Berries are an exception) But with pumpkin, I have a feeling that the entire universe conspires for you to bring it into your kitchen. In the Northern Hemisphere, without a doubt! In our part of the world, I feel a little lonely writing about mangoes and lychees at this time. This is the time of the year when berries and stone fruits are close to season but not abundant…We are a little fed up with mandarins and apples…we’ve had enough of strawberries (we have two seasons remember?) So we end up buying pumpkin too. We don’t get the ready made puree here. I wonder why!

We make our own puree. This year I made a big batch and used it in sweet and savory recipes. These whoopie pies taste great. I think it’s the spices I like more than the pumpkin in it. And the creamy cheese filling that goes harmoniously with the soft cake like whoopie pies. My whoopies had a slight speckled look as the puree wasn’t quite as smooth as the canned version.

The recipe is from Joy of Baking. I’ve halved the recipe for the whoopie pies and they were a success, though the colour was a few shades lighter in my case. Possibly due to the home-made puree. If you are using canned, I think yours will look just like the original ones. For the filling, I’ve swapped the vanilla frosting for a cream cheese filling. You could use either one.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies With Cream Cheese Filling
Makes 12 sandwich Whoopie Pies

11/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered cloves
1/4 tsp salt
120 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
220 g pumpkin puree (canned or home made, no spices added)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees C for fan forced). Lightly grease two baking sheets and line them with baking paper.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.
In a different bowl, with an electric mixer or by hand beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin puree. Beat in the flour until just incorporated.
Scoop out 1 tbsp balls of the dough, roll them between the palms of your hand and place them on the baking sheets (5 cm apart). Smooth the tops and flatten them with moistened fingers or with the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed gently. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling
120 g cream cheese, room temperature
60 g unsalted butter, room temperature
11/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
a few drops vanilla extract

In a large bowl, with an electric or hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add icing sugar and vanilla extract, beat until blended.

To assemble : Take one cookie and spread (or pipe) a heaping tablespoon of the filling on the flat side of the cookie. Top with another cookie. The assembled cookies can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for several days. Enjoy cold or at room temperature.

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