Cupcakes

I've been on a cupcake craze as of late especially any cupcake that goes well with cream cheese frosting. I started with pumpkin cupcakes, recipe from King Arthur Flour's website then ventured into banana walnut cupcakes, red velvet (actually cake recipe but did well as a cupcake) again from King Arthur Flour's website then gingersnap cupcakes from Baking Bites. I forgot to take a pic of the gingersnap cupcakes but will definitely be making them again as they were wonderful. Will post a pic next time. The banana walnut cupcakes are from Greg Patent's Baking Across America cookbook. This was my first attempt and red velvet cupcakes and they were delicious. Recipe is very simple to follow and has a nice mild chocolaty taste. I only used half the amount of red food coloring as I only had a 2 oz bottle. 4 ozs is an awful lot of food coloring. The cupcakes came out just fine with 2 oz of food coloring.

Apple Butter Crumb Coffee Cake

Yippee!! I am on spring break. Finally some time to do some baking. I am only taking one class this semester but work has been incredibly busy. As of late, I've been on a big coffee cake kick. It's the strudel. I can't get enough of the stuff. Right before Christmas, scored a bunch of new cake baking books - The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, Great Cakes and Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins, and More by Carol Walter. As soon as I saw the butter crumb coffee cake recipe from Great Coffee Cakes, I knew I had to make this. Lots and lots of strudel. I added a grated granny smith apple for something extra. I think the coffee cake would be good as is but the grated apple adds a nice flavor. I don't have a 10 inch springfoam so ended up using a 9 inch stead. It came out just fine. I had to add an extra 25 mins to the baking time though. I absolutely love the streusel. I made it with the pecans which compliments the granny smith apple nicely. Next time, I may try the crumb cake with cinnamon chips.

Butter Crumb Coffee Cake
1 large recipe Carole's Favorite Streusel
2 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C. unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
2/3 C. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Large Streusl
2/3 C. unsalted butter
1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C. finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Streusel: Place the butter in a 3 quart heavy bottomed saucepan for and heat until almost melted, remove from heat and cool to tepid. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nuts. Add to the butter and stir with fork until blended and mixture begins to form crumbs. Gently squeeze the mixture with your hand to form large lumps, then break them apart with your fingertips. Set aside.

Coffee Cake: Heat oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 10-springform pan (or 9 inch springform pan), line the bottom with baking parchment then butter the parchment. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and work with fingertips until fine crumbs are formed. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the liquid. Gradually push the crumbs into the liquid, beat for about 1 minute or until batter is smooth. Spread the batter into prepared pan. Take a handful of the streusel crumbs and sprinkle on batter. Repeat until all streusel has been used. Press lightly into batter. Set pan on 12 in square of aluminum foil in the oven. Bake 40-45 min for 10 inch pan or 60-65 minutes for 9 inch pan. Cool on wire rack before serving.

Zucchini and Mint

It's been a long hiatus. July was an extremely busy month. Relatives over the 4th of July, visited parents twice, and tennis tournament another weekend. Plus, I finished my summer class! Now that I have a little down time before school starts, I've been cooking and baking a ton. As of late, I've been into summer vegetables and fruits. My mother gave me a huge bag of mint and a few very large zucchini so I've been working through these. With the mint, I made Vietnamese spring rolls (fresh, not fried), chicken street kebabs from Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Cookbook snag off of Amazon), and two rounds of Tzatziki sauce. The recipe for the Tzatziki sauce is from the Washington Times compliments of David who saves the food section for me every week. I love this sauce! It's a little thicker than what you would get in Greek restaurant but still tastes great. You can buy the Greek yogurt from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods but go to TJs if there is one near you. The Trader Joe's brand is just as good and cheaper than the Paage brand that both TJs and Whole Foods carry. Recipe says you can serve immediately or marinate for several hours. It taste that much better if you marinate it.

Tzatziki
2 cucumbers, seeded, peeled, and grated

Salt

2 C. Greek yogurt

2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp minced fresh mint

Place cucumber in a colander, sprinkle with salt and let drain for 20 minutes. In bowl, mix yogurt, garlic, and mint. Add drained cucumber to yogurt mixture, stir, marinate in the refrigerated for several hours or serve immediately. Season to taste with salt.

With the zucchini, I made a zucchini chocolate cake, zucchini bread, and zucchini corn bread. I was looking for something different to try with the zucchini. My main staples have been the zucchini chocolate cake and bread for years now (have both recipes since high school). The zucchini cornbread recipe is from Nicole at Baking Bites. Mine came out dark than hers but that is probably from the molasses, might have added too much. It still taste great though. I love the addition of molasses. Here is the recipe for the zucchini chocolate cake. I'll post the zucchini bread recipe another day. Making another batch!

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

2 1/2 C. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 C. butter

1 3/4 C. sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C. zucchini, unpeeled, grated

1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp salt

1/2 C. vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 C. buttermilk

1 C. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk into the creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini. Pour into greased 13 X 9 inch pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Baked for ~55 minutes or until inserted toothpick is clean. Cool completely pan on baking rack.

Book Bargain and Chocolate Loaf Cake

I scored a terrific book bargain during my trip in Orlando. I bought a copy of Home Baking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid at the Borders Outlet store near Walt Disney World for $7.99! I was so excited, I spent that evening combing through the book. I have already marked some of the recipes I want to try. What I love about the book is that most of the recipes are ethnic and there are a wide range of recipes from sweets to breads. The photos are also beautiful.

When I got home the next day I was dying to bake. I wanted to bake the Beirut Tahini Swirls (I have an unopened jar of tahini just wait to be used) but did not have enough time that evening. The swirls will have to wait! So, I settled for a chocolate loaf cake instead. This recipe is from Susan at Farmgirl Fare. It is entitled "Chocolate Cake Emergency". Very simple cake to make. I baked the cake in a Pampered Chef Stoneware Loaf pan which I find tends to take a longer baking time than a standard metallic pan. I had to bump up the baking time by 15 minutes. It is a terrific cake, very moist with a nice chocolaty taste that is not too overpowering. I doctored the recipe slightly and added a 1/4 C. of mini chocolate chips.