Back to School

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, especially if you're in college. What's the point of getting up and going to class if you're just going to be exhausted and hungry by the middle of it?

To kick off the beginning of the Fall semester, I made gb some doughnut muffins, which covered both his love of doughnuts and my muffins. Also, they are easy for him to pop in his mouth as he runs out the door to drive to school.



After baking these, I melted the soy butter in a small glass bowl and dipped the tops of the muffins in the butter. I then dipped the buttery tops into a bowl of cinnamon sugar. This proved to be only slightly foolproof - I ended up with a lot of cinnamon sugar ground into the paper cups that I had lined the pan with. Oh well, more sugar means more energy, right?



I insisted that gb help me make these, just because it was nighttime and I like it when he bakes with me because he's pretty good at following directions. He mixed the dry ingredients while I combined the wet and he ate the first one after it was topped.



These turned out to have an dense texture, which was good for a while, but they dried out after a few days and, as this recipe makes such a large batch, this led to quite a bit of waste. However, if you are having a large breakfast/brunch get-together or if you halve this recipe, I think it will turn out perfect. And while they may not be a part of your complete breakfast, they're still pretty damn good.



Doughnut Muffins
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen muffins

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cups sugar, plus 1/8 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
½ tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup milk (I used soy)
¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup butter, more if needed (I used soy)
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin pan with muffin cups.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Combine the vanilla, milk and heavy cream.

With a spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't overmix.

Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, about 25 to 30 minutes.

To finish, melt the butter for the dipping mixture in a small bowl. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in another bowl. When the muffins are just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

Reverse Dominoes

I don't really eat very many chocolate-based baked goods - I tend to just put chocolate into my cookies and such as an accent. I had some white chocolate chips, though and decided that I would make the recipe on the back of the bag for the chocolate cookies.



These were also for my grandpa. He loved them. He is pretty easy to please and quite well-fed when it comes to cookies.



They turned out alright. It was hard to know when they were completely finished and I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate. It tastes kind of fake and oversweet to me.



Chocolate White Chip Cookies
Makes 4 dozen cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Milk-Free Birthday

I have always wanted to make milk-free icing for my boyfriend, but I don't usually make him frosted cakes and thus have never had a chance to do so. However, today is gb's 20th birthday and to celebrate, I made him a yellow cake with Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. Unfortunately, the original recipe was...somewhat off. It called for 1/8 cup of soy milk right off the bat and I just measured it out without questioning it; anyway, it turned out to be way too much and the frosting was much too wet; plus, I was afraid to add more powdered sugar because it was already extremely sweet. Even though the frosting was runny, gb loved it anyway and told everyone about the "awesome birthday cake" that I had made him.



Vegan Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Makes enough to frost two-layer cake

1 cup soy margarine, softened
1 to 3 tablespoons or more soy milk, rice milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
6 cups Veganized Powdered Sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla

Using an electric mixer or in a large bowl with a hand held mixer, place the soy margarine and soy milk, and cream them together. Add half of the sugar, and beat well to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and continue to beat the mixture until light and fluffy.

Nostalgic and Delicious

The recipe that started me baking at the ripe young age of 8 was one for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies out of a Betty Crocker Cookbook. They're my grandpa's favorite cookies and he always asks for them for trips, special occasions, and just in general.



While my dad likes the raisins in these cookies, I prefer them any other way, either with chocolate chips, nuts, or just plain. My grandpa just likes cookies in general and will eat pretty much whatever I bring him, because he loves me very much and is one of my biggest fans. When I get my bakery, I will make these cookies with walnuts and chocolate chips and call them Triple-B Cookies for my grandpa.



I made this particular version to use up some Reese's Pieces Baking Bits that I bought to try out in cookies. So, these cookies had both peanut butter candy and chocolate chips sprinkled throughout. I wasn't too blown away by the Reese's bits; I would probably make these again with peanut butter as well as chocolate chips.



Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Makes 3 dozen cookies

2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup raisins, chopped nuts or semisweet chocolate chips, if desired

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, beat all ingredients except oats, flour and raisins with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in oats, flour and raisins.

On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.

Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

Cinna-swirly

One day, Andrew happened to be looking over my shoulder as I scrolled through Gigi Cakes' blog when he saw something that he liked.



Apparently, Betty Crocker (the brand, not the lady) held some sort of recipe contest, and one Lynette S. won $5,000 with a cookie version of a cinnamon roll. Basically, instead of yeast and flour and such, you use the sugar cookie dough that you make from the Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix.



Anyway, Gigi Cakes had changed the directions to the recipe a little; instead of rolling each "Cinna-spin" separately, you roll a big sheet and cut it into slices. Then, she put hers into muffin liners and baked them. It was a twist on a twist on a twist, so to speak. (A twist in triplicate?) I changed the recipe by not rolling as evenly, leading to a much more unattractive end product, and using copious amounts of nonstick cooking spray as opposed to paper liners. Also, I substituted soy milk in place of regular milk in the icing recipe since they were for my lovebunny with the dairy allergy.



He enjoyed these a lot - the pictures in this post are actually from the second time he requested me to make them in two weeks. They really do taste like the cookie equivalent of a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon is in perfect proportion with the sweetness of the cookie and the icing. Plus, if I had taken more time and rolled out the sheet of dough more evenly, they would be supercute to boot.



Andrew reviewed these as the perfect combination of crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. He also liked them a lot because of their size; he refers to it as bite-size, but it usually takes me at least two or three bites. Either way, he likes them a lot.



Cinna-spin Cookies
Makes about 20 cookies

1 (1 lb 1.5 oz) pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons (soy)milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, mix cookie mix and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Stir in butter and egg until soft dough forms.

Roll dough out onto wax paper and pat or roll into a 12-by-7-inch rectangle; the dough will be a little less than 1/4-inch thick. Cover dough with another sheet of wax paper and chill for at least thirty minutes.

After dough is chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon cinnamon over the entirety of the dough, making sure to cover all of it. Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll the dough away from yourself. Be sure to work quickly - the dough will fall apart easily when warm.



Spray about twenty regular-sized muffin cups with non-stick spray or line with paper cups. Slice the cookie dough into twenty or so equal pieces and bake for 13 to 15 minutes. Cool the cookies in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to cool completely on a wire rack.

Mix glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cookies and enjoy!

Ants, Humidity, and Cupcakes

I have a couple of friends who are going to school in Berkeley, but come home to Arkansas in the summer and on holidays. Each summer, before they go back out west, we get together and eat food. This year, we had a picnic outside in 98-degree weather.



Cupcakes are a pretty good standby for picnics and potlucks and the like, so I volunteered to bring some. When I make something as simple as a cupcake, I like to try variations and new recipes. The actual cake recipe was from Martha Stewart, and the frosting was just the Quick Vanilla Buttercream that I used for the IHCC Birthday cake.



These cupcakes were very good straight out of the cooler. The cake part was quite different: it was very dense and had an interesting texture that I would guess would be enjoyed best cold. I think I piped a little too much frosting on some of them, but luckily the frosting is always my favorite part, so that aspect was perfect to me although it might have been too much for other people.



I dyed the frosting blue and yellow on a whim and secretly called them Ravenclaw cupcakes and felt clever. I spent way too much time decorating these, but I really liked how they all looked different. If anyone was impressed aside from gb, they didn't make it vocal. In fact, I think it was too hot for anyone to really do or say anything about food. I know they threw a drunken, raucous party that night and I was told that all of the cupcakes were eaten and enjoyed the following Sunday at Deadball.



Dense White Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat 1 stick butter and the granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Reduce speed. Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt, then milk. Dough will be extremely thick until milk is added in.



Spoon into cups. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool before frosting.