Adventures in Baking: Blueberry & Peach Streusel Muffins

One of my favorite parts of summer is picking blueberries.

Picture by my lovely friend, @the_ash_factor

...and after eating them to the point of self-loathing, turning them into something else delicious:

Like muffins! These were actually extremely delicious and tasted like bakery muffins, if I do say so myself ;-)

Blueberry & Peach Streusel Muffins w/ Cream Cheese Glaze

(muffin recipe adapted from here, glaze recipe from here.)

Makes 16 muffins

Ingredients:

For the streusel topping:

• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. white sugar
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar, packed
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted

For the muffins:

• 1-3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 1-1/4 c. white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. buttermilk (or 1/2 tbsp. white vinegar + enough milk to make the volume 1/2 c., left sitting for a few minutes)
• 1 heaping c. blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 heaping c. diced, canned peaches

For the glaze:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

Make the streusel topping:

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, sugars and salt.
2. Add in the butter and mix completely. Set aside.

Make the muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F and line 16 muffin-holes with liners.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla with a mixer until smooth.
4. Beat one egg into batter and mix completely; add second.
5. Alternately mix in flour mixture with buttermilk until combined completely.
6. Toss the blueberries with the remaining 1/4 c. flour. Fold into the batter along with the peaches.
7. Scoop batter into muffin tins; sprinkle with streusel topping.
8. Bake until golden brown and tops spring back when touched, about 25 minutes.

Make the glaze:

1. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until combined and fluffy.
2. Add in in powdered sugar; beat until combined.
3. Mix in vanilla completely.
4. Scrape glaze into piping bag and squeeze over tops of muffins.

Yummy!

Awesome!

Cool!

Adventures in Baking: The Best Brownie Recipe and a Stencil How-To!

I was never really a giant fan of baking brownies... To me, they were the lazy person's chocolate cake, since you just mix ingredients and pour them into a pan. And how could someone mess up chocolate and butter? But then one fateful day...

Out of all of the recipes I cut out from the backs of flour bags, extract boxes, etc., I decided to make this recipe and was completely amazed. I think the trick is to cook them for less time the original recipe calls for. This makes for a crunchy, yet gooey brownie that tastes like true love and happiness. And also, if you're thinking about omitting the chocolate chips...Don't do it. The chocolate chips make this recipe extra tasty.

These brownies were so good that I made them three times in one week. THREE TIMES.

Super Yummy Brownies

(recipe adapted from here.)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2/3 c. butter, melted
• 1/2 c. boiling water
• 2 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/3 c. flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9 x 13" pan.
2. Stir together cocoa and baking soda in a large bowl.
3. Stir in half the butter.
4. Add boiling water and stir until thickened.
5. Stir in sugar, eggs and remaining butter, until completely combined and smooth.
6. Add flour, vanilla and salt; blend completely.
7. Fold in chocolate chips; pour batter into prepared pan.
8. Bake for 30-35 mins, or until brownies pull away from the sides of the pan.

Stencil How-To:

1. Trace the base of the pan onto parchment paper; cut out.
2. Trace shapes onto the paper (I used the two smaller heart Wilton fondant cutters)
3. Cut out with a (clean) craft knife.
4. Place over still-warm brownies and dust with powdered sugar.

Seriously, one of the easiest recipes to make. AND, it uses cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate, which is a plus for me since I go through 2 pounds of chocolate chips in like a week.

MAKE IT!

Pin-Spiration #2: Sugar Donut Muffins

Once upon a time, I needed something quick and tasty to bake because it was already past 11:00 pm and I needed to bring said "quick and tasty something" to church, bright and early in the morning.

And then I found this pin on Pinterest.

New favorite muffin recipe!

Sugar Donut Muffins

(recipe from here)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 c. veggie oil
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 tsp, vanilla
• 2 tsbp. butter, melted
• extra sugar, for rolling

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F and spray 2-12 cavity mini muffin pans with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and egg until pale in color.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
4. Pour flour mixture into egg mixture and stir to combine.
5. Pour in oil, milk and vanilla, and stir to combine completely.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins (~2/3 full)
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a wooden tested inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8. Once the muffins are cool enough, remove from the muffin pans.
9. Brush the top of each with melted butter, and then roll into sugar.

I followed this recipe to a T and am so glad I did! I want to experiment with baking them in my Babycakes cake pop maker to make donut holes! Or maybe adjusting the recipe to use yeast to be like a raised donut! Baking is fun; I donut understand people who dislike it (it's okay, that pun wasn't funny in my head, either).

Adventures in Baking #9: Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies w/ Chocolate Buttercream!

A while ago, I had to bake something to bring to a car wash to benefit my class...

...and then it rained, the car wash was canceled, and I was left with 40 whoopie pies.

Oh, well. At least they were tasty!

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Buttercream

(cookie recipe adapted from here)

Cookie: 

Ingredients:

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. vinegar + enough milk to measure 2/3 c. (or 2/3 c. buttermilk)
• 85 g semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined.
4. Beat in half the flour mixture, followed by the milk. Add the second half of the flour mixture and beat until combined.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Preheat an oven to 350° F.
7. On baking sheets lined with parchment paper, pipe 1+1/2 inch circles.
8. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.
9. Let cool for 5 minutes, and then place onto a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Fill with:

Chocolate Buttercream:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. (180 g) powdered sugar
• 5 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 4 1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp. milk, as needed

Method:

1. Beat the sugar, butter, salt and cocoa powder until combined.
2. Add the vanilla extract and beat together.
3. Add milk until the right consistency is reached.

Mmmmmm! SO good. Even non-whoopie pie eaters liked them because of the buttercream instead  of the usual marshmallow fluff-based filling.

Happy July!

Macaron Love: Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

It's almost officially summer! And I'm getting super excited, too. So for this month's macarons, I was inspired by one of my favorite things...Mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

(makes about 2 dozen, depending on size)

Macaron Shells:

Ingredients:

• 80 g ground almonds, sieved to remove large particles
• 130 g powdered sugar
• 1 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• Splash of vinegar
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature (~66-70 g)
• 20 g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• Green food coloring

Method:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Grind the chocolate chips in a food processor or coffee grinder.
3. Sieve the ground chocolate and separate large pieces from small pieces. Set aside.
4. Sift the powdered sugar into the almonds. Stir to combine.
5. Wipe a large, clean bowl with a paper towel covered in vinegar.
6. Put in the egg whites, and whip until bubblebath-y.
7. Add the cream of tartar, and whip until doubled in volume.
8. Sprinkle in the granulated sugar, in 3-4 batches, and whip until stiffened (like shaving cream. Not quite stiff peaks, but stiff enough that if you held the bowl upside down, it wouldn't come out. Also, still moist and shiny and the peak will curl down a little)
9. Add in a few drops of food coloring to egg whites and gently stir in (make it a little darker than desired in the finished cookies, as the color fades after baking).
10. Fold in the almond mixture in about 4 batches.
11. Fold until completely combined and the batter flows in a thick, slow ribbon.
12. Put into a piping bag, and pipe small, 1-inch circles on the baking sheets.
13. Poke down any points with a dampened finger.
14. Hit against a table, counter top, your knees, etc. so that the piped circles flatten a bit.
15. Sprinkle the tops of half of the piped macarons with the large pieces of ground chocolate.
16. Let rest for 30-45 minutes.
17. In the last few minutes, preheat the oven to 300° F.
18. Place the baking sheets upon a larger one and place in the center of the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 8-9 minutes.
19. Turn down the over temperature to 290° F and bake for another 4-5 minutes, depending on size (take out when the shells are hard and dry).
20. Let cool completely and remove from parchment paper.
21. Pipe the cookies without chocolate sprinkled on top with honey mint chocolate chip buttercream and sandwich a cookie with chocolate chunks on top.
22. Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
• Green food coloring
• Reserved finely ground chocolate chips (from earlier)

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar together. Mixture will be dry and loose.
2. Add in the milk, extract and food coloring (to desired color), and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Mix in the ground chocolate to give the desired speckle-y effect.
4. Pipe into macaron shells.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Doing Dinner #3: Linguine + White Clam Sauce

One of the things I enjoy most is making dinner with my mom to make Sunday nights happier...

Tonight, we made linguine with clam sauce!

Linguine with White Clam Sauce

(adapted from here)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
• 1 bunch of garlic, minced
• 2-6.5 oz. cans chopped clams
• 1-10 oz. can whole baby clams
• 1 tsbp. oregano, chopped
• 1 bunch parsley, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. salt, to taste
• 2-12 oz. boxes whole wheat linguine
• Grated Parmesan

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter in the olive oil.
2. Add the garlic and cook until golden (DO NOT burn!)
3. Add the clam juice, oregano and parsley; simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add the clams, pepper flakes and salt, and cook until heated through.
5. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.
6. Return pasta to pot and combine with clam sauce.
7. Serve and top with Parmesan!

NOTE: My mom and I have a tendency to automatically add more red pepper and garlic than what the original recipe calls for, so adjust accordingly. We like our garlic!

YUM.

I hope everyone's weekend was as good as mine!

Macaron Love: Earl Grey Macarons + Honey Buttercream

My absolute favorite tea is Earl Grey. And one of my absolute favorite things to eat straight from the jar is honey.

I'm also quite fond of macarons, so this is definitely one of my new favorite things to make. It tastes like a cup of Earl Grey with honey in it :-)

Earl Grey Macarons + Honey Buttercream

(Macaron recipe adapted from here)

Makes 14-15 Macarons

Earl Grey Macaron shells:

Ingredients:

• 80 g ground almonds, sieved to remove large particles
• 130 g powdered sugar
• 2 satchels of Earl Grey tea, ground to a fine powder
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature (~66-70 g)
• 20 g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• Splash of vinegar

Method:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the powdered sugar and tea powder into the almonds. Stir to combine.
3. Wipe a large, clean bowl with a paper towel covered in vinegar.
4. Put in the egg whites, and whip until bubblebath-y.
5. Add the cream of tartar, and whip until doubled in volume.
6. Sprinkle in the granulated sugar, in 3-4 batches, and whip until stiffened (like shaving cream. Not quite stiff peaks, but stiff enough that if you held the bowl upside down, it wouldn't come out. Also, still moist and shiny and the peak will curl down a little)
7. Fold in the almond mixture in about 4 batches.
8. Fold until completely combined and the batter flows in a thick, slow ribbon.
9. Put into a piping bag, and pipe small, 1-inch circles on the baking sheets.
10. Poke down any points with a dampened finger.
11. Hit against a table, counter top, your knees, etc. so that the piped circles flatten a bit.
12. Let rest for 30-45 minutes.
13. In the last few minutes, preheat the oven to 300° F.
14. Place the baking sheets upon a larger one and place in the center of the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 8-9 minutes.
15. Turn down the over temperature to 290° F and bake for another 4-5 minutes, depending on size (take out when the shells are hard and dry).
16. Let cool completely and remove from parchment paper.
17. Pipe half of the cookies with honey buttercream and sandwich a plain cookie on top.
18. Enjoy!

Honey Buttercream

(adapted slightly from here)

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 c. white granulated sugar
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1+1/3 sticks butter

Method:

1. In a medium sized bowl, beat the egg yolks with a mixer until they become pale in color.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, honey and water.
3. Without stirring, let the mixture reach ~230° F.
4. While mixing the eggs, slowly pour the sugar mixture into a thin steam.
5. Once all of the sugar mixture is added, turn the mixture to high speed and beat the mixture until it reaches room temperature (~15 minutes).
6. Turn down the mixer to low, and add in the vanilla.
7. Once combined, add in the butter, 1 tbsp. at a time, slowly. Mix to combine after every addition of butter.
8. Pipe into macaron shells, sandwich with a plain cookie, and enjoy with a cup of Earl Grey!

TA-DA!

Macaron Love: Chocolate Macarons on My Birthday!

Today, I am...old. I can get a tattoo without parental consent. I can finally volunteer at the soup kitchen. I'm old enough to vote. I can drive around at 2 in the morning, if I so desire. And my parents can even kick me out of the house if they want to! Yay, adulthood!

Yesterday (since today will be spent studying....), my mom said she would take me anywhere in the world, time permitting, and I the only thing I wanted to do was...make macarons. And so I did...

Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Buttercream

(recipe adapted from here)

Makes 14-15 Macarons

Macaron shells:

Ingredients:

• 80 g ground almonds, sieved to remove large particles
• 130 g powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature (~66-70 g)
• 20 g granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• Splash of vinegar

Method:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into the almonds. Stir to combine.
3. Wipe a large, clean bowl with a paper towel covered in vinegar.
4. Put in the egg whites, and whip until bubblebath-y.
5. Add the cream of tartar, and whip until doubled in volume.
6. Sprinkle in the granulated sugar, in 3-4 batches, and whip until stiffened (like shaving cream. Not quite stiff peaks, but stiff enough that if you held the bowl upside down, it wouldn't come out. Also, still moist and shiny and the peak will curl down a little)
7. Fold in the almond mixture in about 4 batches.
8. Fold until completely combined and the batter flows in a thick, slow ribbon.
9. Put into a piping bag, and pipe small, 1-inch circles on the baking sheets.
10. Poke down any points with a dampened finger.
11. Hit against a table, counter top, your knees, etc. so that the piped circles flatten a bit.
12. Let rest for 30-45 minutes.
13. In the last few minutes, preheat the oven to 300° F.
14. Place the baking sheets upon a larger one and place in the center of the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 8-9 minutes.
15. Turn down the over temperature to 290° F and bake for another 4-5 minutes, depending on size (take out when the shells are hard and dry).
16. Let cool completely and remove from parchment paper.
17. Pipe half the cookies with whatever you love and top with another cookie half.

Chocolate Buttercream:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. (180 g) powdered sugar
• 5 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 4 1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp. milk, as needed

Method:

1. Beat the sugar, butter, salt and cocoa powder until combined.
2. Add the vanilla extract and beat together.
3. Add milk until the right consistency is reached.

...and that's all I really wanted.