Gingerbread Cupcakes

What is it about the Christmas holidays that make us want to bake and bake? I think the lights on the Christmas tree must send out signals to our brain putting us in the baking mode. I'm seeing lots of social media posts where my friends are baking away so I know I'm not the only one under the spell!

 

It was a gingerbread weekend for me. I spent one evening with my granddaughter decorating gingerbread cookies. I sent her home with most of our masterpieces and found myself craving some by Sunday. So I made some more cookies and these cupcakes. I took most of them over to my parents, my dad has a real sweet tooth.  In fact he said, "you sure know how to make a man happy". Well, I try, dad!

 

 These are full of all the great ingredients that make up gingerbread and are especially spicy with a little extra ginger. I topped them with a basic cream cheese frosting and a small gingerbread cookie cutout.

 I think this weekend satisfied my gingerbread craving.  Now I have peppermint on the brain! This little one and I have a peppermint bark project planned!

 

Gingerbread Cupcakes

 

2 ¾ C flour

3 T ground ginger

2 t baking soda

1 ½ t ground cinnamon

½ t ground cloves

½ t ground nutmeg

¼ t salt

10 T unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 C packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 ¼ C molasses

1 C hot water

 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard cupcake tins with 24 paper baking cups.

 

Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

 

Cream together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand-held mixer) on high speed, about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating slowly after each addition.  Add the molasses, mixing until well incorporated.

 

Add one third of the dry ingredients and one third of the water and mix thoroughly.  Repeat, stopping to scrape down bowl, as needed.  Add the last third of the dry ingredients and the water and mix thoroughly.

 

Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners (I use an ice cream scoop), filling about 2/3 full.

 

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

To make the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. After it has been incorporated turn the mixer onto the highest setting for about 10 seconds to lighten the frosting.  Add more powdered sugar, if needed, to get a thick consistency. Add in the vanilla and beat until well-blended, light and fluffy.

A Mermaid Party!

My girlfriends and I were supposed to have a Girls' Weekend at the beach.  My Hubbers is still recovering from a stroke and Rheumatoid Arthritis issues and we've had family drama that has emotionally drained us.  I thought it best I stay home with him so I cancelled on going with the girls (we are trying to reschedule something!) My daughter asked if my granddaughter's birthday party could be held here, she wanted a Mermaid-themed swimming party.  Being that I was now staying home, I said yes.

Well, if you know me, you know I can't have a party here and not get creatively involved! Off to Pinterest I went, looking for inspiration.  First up was a banner.  Using my Silhouette Cameo machine I cut some mermaid tails.  I then punched umpteen-million circles.  Ugh, that was a drag! With the assistance of my granddaughter, we glued all those circles to make the tails look like they had fins. I glittered the fins.  I should've known better than to do this in my craft room as I had glitter everywhere!  Eventually, I wisened up and finished the task on the back patio! The banner served as the backdrop to the candy/snacks table that my daughter set up (and I neglected to get a picture of the finished table, only one while it was in process!)

Next up was sugar cookies.  It's become my trademark to make sugar cookies for family parties.  I already had a mermaid cookie cutter from another granddaughter's birthday a few years ago.  It took me all day to decorate the cookies as each design element had to be done in steps. I'm slow and not the best decorator but they looked like mermaids! The birthday girl loved them and each of her guests got to take one home.

Finally, I made cupcakes. They turned out just how I envisioned them! I used a fondant mold to form the melted chocolate into the mermaid tails, then dusted them with edible glitter.  A buttercream frosting and lots of sprinkles completed them. They were a hit!

My daughter found this clamshell pool float on Amazon.  She set up a photo booth area with a lot of little props.  The kids did that for a while but eventually the float ended up in the pool where it was used by all. We also set up an inflatable pool slide, which got a lot of action, too.  There was so much laughter and yelling in that pool, I'm sure my neighbors were glad when the party was over!  But, what fun to hear the laughter of children!

Before the party, while she was waiting for the guests to arrive, my granddaughter looked around and said "I'm going to have the most awesome party!" I think she did!

Hi-Hat Cupcakes

My oldest granddaughter has expressed an interest in baking, especially cupcakes.  A few months ago I rounded up all my cupcake cookbooks and gave them to her. Her Mom doesn't do much baking so I knew she needed a little guidance from Nana to get started.  An opportunity to bake together came up recently when her Mom had a hair appointment. Together with her little sister, we rounded up all the baking supplies we needed for these cupcakes and gathered in my kitchen for our first baking lesson.

These cupcakes look a lot harder to make than they are.  There is cake, frosting, and chocolate coating, but all are easy to make.  We mixed and baked the cupcakes.  While they were cooling, we made the frosting.  After piping the frosting they needed to be refrigerated for a while.  That gave us the time to make the chocolate dip and start on washing the dishes (learning how to clean up is an essential part of baking!) We were in and out of the kitchen in about 2 hours. 

Of course, the girls loved the cupcakes!  What child wouldn't?  Chocolate cake, marshmallow-type frosting, dipped in melted chocolate, what's not to like about that?  I enjoyed teaching them and listening to their chatter.  You learn so much about a child when you have the opportunity to just let the conversation flow, rather than asking them direct questions. They were very proud of their creations and couldn't wait to take them on their trip to the mountains later that day. I look forward to our next baking day!

The recipe comes from Martha Stewart.  There was a video showing how she made these so the girls watched this before we got started.  I'm not sure that was a good idea. They were a little disappointed that their creations weren't as high and pretty as Martha's.  Some of our frosting fell off in the chocolate, which was frustrating them. My youngest granddaughter said, "that Martha must make these a lot because hers are perfect!" We'll get there, girls!

Learning how to use a piping bag.

Dipping into the chocolate.

The recipe can be found here.

The frosting must be really stiff in order to hold its shape!

The Sweetness of Forgetting - Book Review & Cupcakes

I love to read or live to read, not sure which one it is. My day is not complete if I don't have at least a few minutes of reading time. Ideally, this reading time is with a good book, but a magazine or blog will work. Reading relaxes me.

I recently finished reading The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel.  The main character, Hope, owns a bakery in Cape Cod. The bakery had once belonged to her Grandmother who is now suffering from Alzheimer's disease.  With urging by her Grandmother, Hope travels to Paris and begins to uncover secrets her Grandmother has carried for over 70 years.  It's a story of lost and found love, the Holocaust, new relationships.  I really enjoyed it. 

Interspersed throughout the book were recipes from the fictional bakery.  Most of the recipes have a Jewish or Muslim background, so they are a little unusual, not things I would be inclined to make. My Granddaughter spent the night and, as usual, asked if we could bake something. I remembered that the book had a recipe for simple vanilla cupcakes.  I had a full day of plans and chores ahead of me so this recipe allowed me to play in the kitchen with her but not spend all day baking. The bakery makes the cupcakes with pink frosting, my Granddaughter wanted purple, so purple is what she did!  

My Granddaughter is four.  Anytime we bake I try to incorporate numbers, counting and measuring into our baking time.  She doesn't realize that I'm schooling her and I can see results.  Today, as we were using the Kitchenaid mixer, I told her to turn the mixer to number 4.  She did and I was impressed.  We turned the mixer off and I added the flour.  Before I could tell her we would start with number 2, she had turned on the mixer to 4 and we had a flour explosion! This was her face after she turned the mixer off.  We had a good laugh and then I taught her how to clean up! There are all sorts of life lessons to be learned in a kitchen!

The cupcakes have a nice vanilla flavor and use common ingredients. No running to the store for a special ingredient to make these! We only used half a recipe of the frosting as we didn't need all that sugar. More frosting would have made a prettier-looking cupcake but we had enough mess in my kitchen for one day, anyway!

I sent the cupcakes home with her, to give to her Mommy & Daddy.  She was so proud of them!

North Star Vanilla Cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar using an electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs one at a time.  Beat in vanilla extract and mix well.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, and add to the butter mixture, about a cup a time, alternating with milk.

Fill muffin cups about halfway.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or just until a skewer inserted through the top of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then move to wire rack to cool completely.  Once cool, frost with pink icing.

Pink Icing
1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon milk
1-3 drops red food coloring

Beat the butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Gradually add the sugar and beat until well blended.

Add the vanilla and milk and continue to beat until well-blended.

Add one drop of red food coloring and beat well to incorporate.  If you'd like the icing to be a deeper pink, add one or two drops more, and  beat after each drop to incorporate.

Cupcakes for Carly

My step-daughter is a busy mother of two young girls and a speech therapist for a local school district.  She called me a few weeks ago needing assistance in making cupcakes for a bridal shower she is co-hostessing.  I remember the days of juggling children, homework, work, taking care of the home and trying to fit in extra-curricular activities.  I don't work on Fridays this time of year so I volunteered to make them for her.

The colors for the shower are purple & green.  A trip to our local cake supply store and I had ample supplies for the task!  Pearls, sprinkles, royal icing flowers, colored cupcake liners!

 I always feel so thrifty when I'm able to re-purpose an item that I already have.  An embossing folder, that I use for paper crafting, makes a nifty little design maker for fondant.  I colored the fondant, rolled out and pressed in the folder, using a rolling pin to get the design into fondant.  I then cut out my embossed fondant with a tiny cookie cutter.  Voila!  An embossed heart!

I drool at pictures of decorated cupcakes on various blogs and Pinterest.  Mine never look quite as good.  At first I get disappointed but then I think of the things I can do that those wonderful decorators can't (can they drive a race car?) and then I don't feel so bad.  Decorating cupcakes & cookies is not a regular activity for me so what we end up with is what we get! I think they turned out cute and I hope Carly likes them! I enjoyed the creative activity and helping her out!