Strawberry Cupcakes

Pinterest is my new toy right now. Check email. Check facebook. Check pinterest. I used to just hit the bookmark button through my browser to save a recipe and read through the long list when I wanted to make something new. It's way more fun to look at the pictures now. I have to say, when I see those repins, it makes me want to bake more.

I'm in a cupcake phase right now. I was going to make vanilla bean cupcakes. I went to HEB to get vanilla beans to find out just one bean is $9 bucks and then went across the street to Walmart right after to get 2 for $9. But then I just decided to go with strawberry cupcakes for Naven's parent's iftar.

I was very excited about these because they come from My Baking Addiction, and the recipe looked so good. Well....

I ran into my usual cake problem. Muffins. Why do they always taste like muffins! 

As I was telling my sister how I didn't like how I could taste the oil in these cupcakes (they weren't greasy but I could really taste the vegetable oil) and how I followed the recipe exactly except for mixing the batter for only 30 seconds instead of 2 minutes like the recipe says to do, she said, "Duh, emulsification." And then she explained to me with her fingers interlocking (like I'm a baby who needs a visual), "You know how water and oil don't like to mix?" 

Okay, so I didn't think of that. I guess that explains this then. See all those holes? I don't like that texture. It doesn't make crumbs. So it seems I didn't properly mix my cake. I think it would be worth another try but to substitute the oil for butter and to maybe even add some sour cream. But that doesn't fix the taste...

As for the taste... muffins. Good, but, muffins. Sweet, but... muffins. 

I also used Chobani greek strawberry yogurt. It gave the "cupcakes" a jam flavor. As I said... muffins. 

On to the strawberry buttercream, salvation. My butter was the perfect temperature, softened but not slop. I didn't overmix it so it didn't curdle. The natural pureed strawberries (no jam flavor here) gives it that fresh berry sweetness. Finally, a buttercream with good flavor and texture.

Since I don't recommend the cupcake batter, I will just post the buttercream recipe, which I adapted slightly (added a bit more strawberry puree).

Strawberry Buttercream

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

about 8 medium fresh strawberries, pureed in your blender (you'll need 6-7 tablespoons of puree)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes. Don't skimp.

2. Turn the mixture down to low speed and gradually add in the confectioners' sugar until it is completely incorporated. Add in vanilla and 3 tablespoons of the strawberry puree, mix until incorporated. Gradually add in the last 3-4 tablespoons of strawberry puree until you reach the desired level of strawberry flavor. Please note that adding more than the recommended 5 tablespoons could result in a thinner frosting. Turn the mixer back up to medium-high speed and beat the mixture for about 3-4 minutes or until light and fluffy.

3. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and if desired, garnish with fresh strawberries.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I made these peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes last month and they were so easy that I made them again to share at my girls iftar last night. I love my friends.

As soon as you smell them in the oven, they are done. Don't over bake so that they stay soft. 

I didn't add any milk to the frosting, because my butter was already very soft. 

I remembered to get the chocolate sprinkles this time! 

The cake tastes like a chocolate chip cookie and even though the frosting has heavy peanut butter, it comes out light and fluffy. I think thanks to my kitchen-aid mixer.

I think a cream cheese peanut butter frosting would be delicious too.

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKES

Yield: 22 cupcakes

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup whole milk or heavy cream

2.5 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate sprinkles, optional

For Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. Beat butter and sugars in mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and blend until smooth. Slowly mix in peanut butter. Add half the flour mixture and blend slowly. When fully incorporated, add milk and vanilla. Continue to blend slowly. Add remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Add chocolate chips and fold in by hand. Scoop into lined baking cups and bake for about 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

For Frosting: Combine sugar and salt in a bowl. Beat butter and peanut utter in mixer until smooth and creamy. Slowly add sugar until fully incorporated. Add milk ONLY if needed for a softer consistency. You can also add additional powdered sugar if you need to make your frosting thicker. Frost on top of cooled cupcakes. Top with chocolate sprinkles.

Peanut Butter Pie

I found this pie last Ramadan. It is dreamy.

This is my second time making it. It's too good to eat only once a year but it definitely would be worth the wait! I feel the need to say I brought this to dinner at my brother's last night. My wonderful boss saw my blog and was wondering who eats all of these desserts!

The crust is so good. The oreos are soft and compliments the peanut butter filling perfectly. The melted chocolate becomes hard and adds just a little crunch. The peanuts make it salty sweet. 

The filling is quite sweet though! I bet you could use alittle less sweetened condensed milk and no added sugar.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

Serves 10 to 12

1 cup Oreo crumbs (about 15 cookies)

2 tablespoons peanut butter, melted 

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup creamy-style peanut butter

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (same as powdered sugar)

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Hershey's Symphony Chocolate bar, optional

Add the cookies to the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs.  Combine melted peanut butter and cookie crumbs in a small bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well.  Press mixture into the bottom and 1-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Pour over bottom of cookie crust and spread to the edges using an off-set spatula.  Sprinkle chopped peanuts over the melted chocolate. Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling. 

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.  Transfer to a small bowl and store in refrigerator until ready to use.  Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in a deep bowl.  Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar.  Add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Increase speed to medium and beat until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.

Beat in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture (helps lighten the batter, making it easier to fold in the remaining whipped cream).  Fold in the remaining whipped cream.  Pour the filling into the prepared springform pan.  

To garnish, use a vegetable peeler to make chocolate curls. 

Refrigerate for three hours or overnight before serving.

Tiramisu

Fail.

Pretty, but fail.

The first time I made tiramisu, I used Giada's recipe. It was pretty good. My second attempt at tiramisu, I screwed up Debi Mazar's recipe from Extra Virgin.

Before I get to that, I tried half with the soft lady fingers from HEB and the other half with hard lady fingers (savoiardi) that I have to get from World Market. If you use the soft ones, you have to brush them with the coffee. They get mushy if you dip them in the bowl of coffee. They taste fine, but I do prefer the hard lady fingers because they are denser, so it tastes more authentic. 

Everything was going fine until I added my mascarpone to the mixture. It became clumpy and curdled. The more I mixed, the more it became cottage cheese. This did not happen to me before. Puzzled, I read online that tiramisu can "break" if your mascarpone is cold and and the egg mixture is warm. All ingredients need to  start at room temperature. I waited 30 minutes for it to come to room temperature, mixed it again, and added alittle flour, but it still didn't come together.  

In the end, it was not fluffy or creamy. I'll have to try it again some time, but now I'm tired of tiramisu.

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Maryam sure can nag for some cookies. She found this recipe through pinterest, and now I have a new favorite baking website to check out for inspiration. I "finally" made them when Yusif and Naven came over yesterday. Baking is just more fun when you're going to share.

These cookies were fabulous because they are made with cake flour and bread flour. I highly recommend bread flour when making cookies. I added one cup of toffee bits just for that extra depth of flavor. If you do add toffee, use parchment paper on your pan, because as the cookies cool they can start to stick and it's harder to get them off in one piece.

I can't stress how important it is to "underbake" your cookies to get them chewy and soft on the inside. You should take them out of the oven when they still look like they need 2 more minutes to get golden brown. If they already look golden brown and perfect to eat, they will be overbaked. Because as they cool on the pan, they will still be cooking slightly.

The recipe says they need 48 hours to chill. I agree, if you want the best cookie, you have to wait. But you can speed the process by putting them in the freezer first and then the fridge.

This blogger's 8 secrets for baking the best cookie are all true. Very good read!

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate chips
Sea salt 

Directions
Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

Pillsbury Lemon Raspberry Pie

I made this recipe for the first time yesterday for some lovely ladies so I'm glad it turned out ok! The custard was creamy and not too rich. The cream cheese whipped cream was my favorite part, and really elevates this to a cream pie and not a tart, so don't just substitute it for regular whipped cream! 

I completely overlooked the recipe and didn't notice I was suppose to sprinkle pecans to bake into the crust. It was still delicious without them and actually I probably would have omitted them anyway because I wanted this to be as creamy as possible, not crunchy. 

So here's what failure looks like! I have a bad habit of not paying close attention to recipes. I put the pan on the stove to preheat and started adding the ingredients one by one as I fetched them from the pantry and fridge. But you are supposed to mix them first when everything is cold and then put it on the stove, and mix constantly.

That way you don't overheat your ingredients when you add the eggs so they don't scramble and get all gummy. So I had to do it over again. At least they weren't expensive ingredients. Above is what it should look like!

For the cream cheese whipped cream, I adapted the recipe slightly. I used 8 oz. of cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon extract, and no milk. I forgot the milk. But it came out with all the flavors balanced and the perfect texture. 

I didn't want to cover up all those beautiful raspberries with the cream like the recipe wanted to, so I spread half of the cream over the custard, layered the raspberries on top, and then piped the rest of the cream around the edges. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I like to think these cupcakes were for you my little nephew, Ibrahim. 

You are 28 weeks today, and I got to show your sweet little face to your parents, aunties, grandma, and cousin this fourth of July. Thank you for looking at the camera!

I found this recipe on pinterest! The cake is delicious. I added two more tablespoons butter (just to use a whole stick) and only 1/4 cup milk in the batter. Hopefully I am done messing up cake batters by making them too liquidy. I notice recipes usually ask for a bit too much. Cake batter should be thick! And always end the mixing process with flour! I also used light brown sugar instead of dark. They came out moist and tasting like a chocolate chip cookie. I got 22 cupcakes with this recipe. Be careful not to overbake, they will become less moist. When you smell them, they are done, and when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I baked them for 19 minutes at 350.

The peanut butter frosting was perfect for these. I used 1 cup powdered sugar and only 1/4 cup milk. 

I think chocolate sprinkles would have been so cute on top but I forgot to buy them!

Apple-Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Another one from America's Best Recipes. I was very excited about the cream cheese part of this cake. But it actually wasn't very creamy. It came out tasting like the rest of the cake. And the cake tasted kind of like a muffin. It wasn't too sweet or incredibly moist but something you'd like to eat in the morning. I think it has too much flour, which makes it a bit too bready. The raw batter was very thick! The Gala apples were a good choice for it though.

The praline frosting adds some more sweetness but I didn't really care for it. I didn't even add all the powdered sugar (maybe only half) and it was way too thick, so I had to thin it out with more milk.

Sweet Potato Cobbler

For the first month in years I didn't bake anything!! Between several graduation parties, three weddings, my vacation, and all the other things keeping me busy on the weekends, I now have an empty archive for May. There goes my streak, but I do wish I could be back on that Cali beach right now.

This recipe is, of course, brought to you by Maryam. 

I bought this America's Best Recipes magazine and she naturally picked out healthy sweet potatoes to bake. 

I admit it was gooey and tasty with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. 

But remember, it's potatoes. Not chocolate. ;)