Thursday, November 10, 2011


From Linda Cicero’s Cook’s Column
Perfect Pumpkin Cupcake with Vanilla Bean Butter Cream

For the cupcakes:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Seeds from 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

For the vanilla bean butter cream:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
Seeds from 2 vanilla beans, split and scraped
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups confectioners’ sugar


Note:

After you scrape the seeds from the split vanilla beans, you can put the empty pods into a
container of sugar to make vanilla sugar for another use.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two cupcake tins with paper liners In a saucepan, melt the
butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns
golden brown. Skim foam from top. Remove butter from heat, pour into bowl and let cool.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl,
whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, vanilla seeds, vanilla and
brown-butter mixture, Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined. Divide batter
evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through,
until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire
racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Frost with Vanilla Bean Buttercream.
Makes 24 cupcakes.

To make frosting: Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add vanilla seeds and vanilla
and mix thoroughly. Add confectioners’ sugar one cup at a time and whisk until fluffy.

Per serving: 288 calories (47 percent from fat), 15.3 g fat, (9.3 g saturated fat, 3.9 g monounsaturated fat), 56 mg cholesterol, 2.4 g protein, 36 g carbohydrates, 0.6 g fiber, 130 mg sodium.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/10/2493945/perfect-pumpkin-cupcake-with-vanilla.html#ixzz1dM5NBjzq
 
I made these today and they are soo good.
If you like pumpkin try out Linda's Recipe

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Flower card

What to do with all that extra paper this winter
Here is a wonderful idea and link

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Tiny Pies

This is a "new" dessert floating through the web the last month or so.
Strange I have made these the last 40 years .
They were always in my daughters lunch box and made with sweet preserves with left over pie crust.
My tiny pies are made with left over fruit or any jar of sweet preserves is in the cupboard on any given day.
Try out this common recipe.
Kids and friends love this sweet or savory tiny pies.

Ingredients

2 cups blackberries (3/4 pound)
1 large Golden Delicious apple, peeled and coarsely grated
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
9 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons milk
Pastry dough for a double-crust pie

Special equipment:

2 large (17- by 12-inch) baking sheets; parchment paper

Preparation
Cook blackberries, apple, semolina flour, cinnamon and 6 tablespoons sugar in a 2-quart heavy saucepan
over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until mixture just boils and is thickened, about 5 minutes.
Transfer to a shallow bowl to cool.
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F.
Line baking sheets with parchment.
Roll out half of dough 3/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a
16- by 11-inch rectangle, then trim into a 15- by 10-inch rectangle, reserving scraps. Cut into 6 (5-inch) squares.
Place a heaping tablespoon of fruit filling in center of 1 square.
Moisten edges of square with milk and fold into a triangle, pressing edges to seal.
Transfer to a lined baking sheet and press tines of a fork around edges of triangle.
Make 5 more triangles in same manner, arranging them 1 inch apart on baking sheet.
Repeat with remaining dough and filling, rerolling all of the scraps together once to make 12 triangles total.
Brush triangles with milk and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake, switching position of pans
halfway through baking, until pies are golden, about 30 minutes total. Transfer pies to racks to cool.

Makes 12 small pies
active time: 40 min


Make your own dough
Hand Pie Pastry Dough
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold, cut in small cubes
2 tablespoons shortening
pinch salt
3-4 tablespoons ice water

1. In food processor or by hand, blend flour, butter, shortening and salt until the mixture resembles a coarse meal and has some pea sized pieces of butter left in it.
2. While pulsing add water a little at a time until dough comes together when pinched in your hand. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 1 day.
1. Roll chilled pastry out on a lightly floured surface into a 1/8 inch thick rectangle.
Place the circle in your hand and fill with about a mounded tablespoon of filling.
Seal shut pressing the edges well with your fingers. Fold edges over in a decorative shape or seal with the tines of a fork.
Re-roll dough scraps to make up to eight circles or squares, allowing it to rest about 10 minutes between rolling.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Keeping Ice off the Car


Winter in Alaska where we live can be so harsh! No matter where you live, though, scraping ice off of your car in the early morning is just no one's idea of fun. This is the BEST WAY to keep your windshield frost free.
Wipe the windows and windshield of your vehicle down with white vinegar, undiluted, after you park your car for the night. This will prevent frost from building on your car, and who doesn't LOVE that?

By AlaskanAurora from Dutch Harbor, AK