Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes

I saw Boston Creme cupcakes somewhere the other day and decided to day that I would make them. I didn’t want to use egg yolks in my creme filling so I found a recipe that used cornstarch as a thickener. Otherwise, I used the recipe from Martha Stewart’s website for the cupcakes and the chocolate ganache topping.

I have to say, the Vanilla Pudding mix is probably the best I have ever had. The first batch I made of it did not come out right because I didn’t use enough of the warm milk mixture to heat up the corn starch. It ended up really lumpy and didn’t set up right. I did it a second time and it came out pretty amazing.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes
Serves 18

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup 2% milk
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Cream
Chocolate-Ganache Glaze

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one and a half cupcake tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
3. Start warming milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat.
4. Whisk eggs and sugar with a mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes.
5. Beat in dry ingredients.
6. Once the milk and butter come to a boil, add milk mixture to batter with the mixer on low speed. Beat until smooth.
7. Add vanilla.
8. Divide batter among cupcake cups, filling each a little more than halfway. Bake cupcakes until light gold, about 15 minutes. Let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Let cool.
9. Using an apple corer, take the center out of each cupcake once they are room temperature.

While the cupcakes cool, make the vanilla pudding for the center of the cupcakes. I changed a few things in this recipe as well. The biggest difference is that I halved the recipe!

Vanilla Pudding
Adapted from TheKitchn’s D.I.Y. Pudding
makes 2 cups

2 cups 2% milk
1/4 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 vanilla bean pod, sliced in half
2.5 Tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

1. Whisk the sugar into the milk and warm over low heat, stirring constantly. i added a half a vanilla bean pod from the vanilla sugar when I whisked in the sugar. This allowed the vanilla bean to steep in the milk while it came to a boil.
2. When bubbles appear around the edges, ladle a cup of the milk into a bowl with the cornstarch and beat the whisk until smooth.
3. Add cornstarch mixture back into the saucepan of milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.
4. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and cover the pot loosely. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, uncover, and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract. Cool completely before filling the cupcakes.

While the pudding is cooling, make the chocolate ganache. The only thing I did differently was to use mini semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of chopping my own chocolate.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Chocolate-Ganache Glaze recipe
Makes 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients
2/3 cup heavy cream
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Directions
Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

I was low on corn syrup so I ended up putting half a tablespoon of it into the ganache. It still poured nicely and was awesome.

Once everything is cooled to room temperature, you can begin to build them. I filled each cupcake with a teaspoon or 2 of the pudding. (there was a LOT leftover to eat on its own!) Once that was done, I poured a fat tablespoon of the chocolate ganache on top. I put them onto a baking sheet with a piece of Glad Press n Seal wrap under them for quick clean up. As you pour the ganache onto each cupcake, it will spill over the side. This is good! They look pretty awesome when that happens!

OK time for pics!

 

Horchata!

In honor of Cinco de Mayo (in a couple of days) I decided to make horchata cupcakes. Carter and I both really love to drink horchata. Last year, I made the same cupcakes but didn’t get enough pictures to write it up. This year, I measured all the ingredients out and found their weights as well as took lots of pictures of my candy set up. They came out just as adorable as they did last year and I am really excited to share them with the guys at his office tomorrow

I got the recipe from my favorite cupcake website, as usual. Horchata Cupcakes were an experimental cupcake that Chockylit made. I didn’t go as far as she did with it because I used store bought horchata. (We like the Kern brand) Other than that, I followed her directions pretty exactly.

Horchata cupcakes
Adapted from Chockylit’s recipe: Horchata Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

1 stick butter
1-1/2 cups (294g) sugar
2 cups (278g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons (9g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2g) salt
1 teaspoon (4g) cinnamon
1 cup fresh horchata
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large egg whites

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. drizzle the sugar in with the butter and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes
3. sift flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together
4. mix the horchata and vanilla together
5. add the flour mixture and horchata mixture to the butter/sugar in 3 parts alternating between flour and horchata and beating well after each addition
6. set aside incorporated mixture
7. in a clean mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form
8. fold egg whites into cake batter until incorporated
9. scoop batter into the prepared cupcake pans
10. bake in the 350 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean

Frosting
2 sticks butter, soft
1/2 cup fresh horchata
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
7-8 cups confectioner’s sugar

1. soften butter in the mixer on high speed
2. sift confectioner’s sugar
3. add horchata, vanilla, and 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar to the sugar and beat until combined
4. add remainder sugar 1 cup at a time until desired consistency/sweetness is reached

I ended up using 7 cups of confectioner’s sugar and I didn’t bother to sift it. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I am too lazy to do it. I don’t know if it makes much of a difference or not but most of the time it works either way

The tacos on top of the cupcakes were a stroke of genius based upon the candies I had been using to do the fancy cupcakes from the Hello, Cupcake! book. I sat down one day and figured out what would work best for each component of a taco.

I used:
6 Kraft caramels (divided into 4)
2 Peach Guava Starburst fruit chews (From the Fiesta Pack)
2 Melon Berry Starburst fruit chews (From the Fiesta Pack)
1/2 cup Rice Krispies cereal
1/4 cup chocolate chips, melted
2 TBsp strawberry jam

Roll each piece of the divided caramel into a ball. Using a rolling pin, flatten the caramel quarters as thin as you can get them without sticking. I used a plastic, flexible cutting board for this because they were sticking to my wooden one as I was rolling them out. Try to keep them round when you do this step. (If you have trouble rolling out the caramels, you can nuke them in the microwave for 5 seconds. Any more than 5 seconds and they sort of melt into a puddle.) Don’t overlap the caramels once you roll them out because they will start to stick to each other!

For the cheese and lettuce, I cut the Starbursts into strips. For the lettuce, I flattened the pieces out and then sliced it to look like shredded lettuce. I started doing that for the cheese pieces but ended up cutting the strips into little squares because that resembled grated cheese better. I tried actually grating the cheese as well and that didn’t work out for me very well.

For the meat, melt the chocolate in the microwave until it is completely melted. Mix the cereal with the chocolate until it is coated evenly.

Everything is ready!

Caramels are done!

Lettuce and cheese!

To build the tacos you have to work a little quickly, otherwise the caramel starts to get soft and melt to your hands. Fold the caramel in half like a taco shell, and layer in the meat, cheese, then the lettuce. I did all of these placed them on top of the frosted cupcakes. I went back once they were all finished and topped each taco with a small amount of the strawberry jam.

OK Completed Pics!

I highly recommend these cupcakes and also making the tacos for the top. I think everyone is pretty excited when they see them.

 

St. Patrick’s Day Treats!

Yesterday, I made some chocolate Guinness cupcakes with a Bailey’s Irish Creme buttercream. I followed the recipe pretty closely. The recipe recommended making them in a jumbo size, but I did them regular cupcake sized. I didn’t know which Guinness to buy, so I asked a nice girl who was buying some which would taste best in a chocolate cupcake. She said that she makes them every year and uses the Guinness Draught. This was good news for me because it was available in a 4-pack! I also used Bailey’s in place of the Guinness in the original recipe for the frosting. I added a bit of milk to make the frosting soft enough to pipe onto the cupcakes with my new star tip. The cakes were very tasty with a light Guinness flavor. The frosting was WAY too strong for me personally but everyone else said it was awesome.

I got the recipe for both from Leite’s Culinaria: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from The Butch Bakery Cookbook by David Arrick

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes:
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup dark stout, such as Guinness, poured and settled before you measure
2 large eggs
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Vanilla Bailey’s Buttercream:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted or whisked.
3 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Creme liquor
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt

Make the cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and place a baking rack in the center of the oven. Line 24 regular sized cupcake pans with liners (Mine had a basket print on the outside! )
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat, add the cocoa powder, and stir until smooth. Then stir in the stout. Set the mixture and aside to cool for 10 minutes.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and the sour cream. Slowly add the cooled chocolate mixture, making sure to incorporate it well. Next, add the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, and whisk until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
4. Fill each prepared cup about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until the tops are just firm to the touch and a tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes. Leave the cupcakes in the pan on a rack to cool for 5 minutes or so, then transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely before frosting, about 1 hour.

Make the buttercream
5. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners’ sugar, Bailey’s, vanilla, and salt to the bowl, and continue to beat until very smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add a little green food coloring if you would like at this point too!

Construct the cupcakes
6. Frost each cupcake in a way that you like. I used my new star tip and a piping bag. The original recipe recommends sprinkling each cupcake with a tablespoon of the crushed pretzels but I just used some green sugar crystals I had here. The cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 3 days in an airtight container or frozen for up to 1 month. However, they were gone by the end of today. The rig crew sure did like them!

Today (St. Patrick’s Day) I made some chocolate cupcakes with a mint chocolate ganache filling and mint buttercream. These I got from The Cupcake Bakeshop website by Chockylit. I love her basic chocolate cupcake recipe so instead of the one she paired with the mint chocolate ganache and mint buttercream, I used the one that I like so much. I like using Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa because it is less expensive than Valhrona. It is pretty amazing with Hershey’s so I am sure it would be amazing with the high quality chocolate. I found that when I added the milk directly from the refrigerator, the mix would look like it was breaking. I think the milk made the butter cold enough to partially solidify so I am going to try taking it out of the fridge when I start making everything to let it warm up a touch next time.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe by Chockylit (I doubled her base recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
1 cup + 4 tablespoons sugar
1 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup + 4 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup milk, not fridge cold
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Beat butter until light in color. Add sugar and beat until it is fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add the eggs and beat until everything is well combined.
Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a small bowl and whisk to combine. (Whisking the mix aerates it so you don’t have to sift it together)
Measure out the milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mix and beat to combine. Add half of the milk/vanilla and mix well. Continue alternating between the dry mix and the wet once more, finishing with the last portion of the dry mix.
Scoop batter into cupcake cups about 2/3’s full. Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

The Mint Chocolate Ganache and Mint Buttercream were from a completely different recipe. I adapted it a little by accident. I forgot to add the butter and the teaspoon of mint after I mixed it all up but it ended up working out anyway!

Mint Chocolate Ganache
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
(1 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon chopped mint leaves)

Directions:
Chop the chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
Heat the cream and mint leaves in a small saucepan until small bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Pour the cream through a strainer, over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until the chocolate is completely melted. (If you add the butter and chopped mint from the original recipe, you add it here.)
Let the chocolate mixture cool then put it into the refrigerator to thicken for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Mint Buttercream Frosting
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon all natural peppermint extract

Directions:
Whisk the butter until creamy, scrape bowl.
Add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, and peppermint extract, and mix until combined. I tasted it after I added 1/8 tsp of the peppermint extract and ended up adding another 1/8 tsp. The consistency was perfect at this point but you can add more powdered sugar if it isn’t piping consistency for you. My frosting sort of looked like it was grainy to me but I think it was the fault of the milk being too cold again. I think it really makes a difference.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, you can fill them. I use an apple corer to take out the centers of each cupcake and snack on the middles while I am filling! I filled the cupcakes with one overfull teaspoon of the ganache and then piped on the frosting. (Tinted green for St. Patrick’s Day with a little food coloring while it was mixing.)

I topped mine with brown and green dark chocolate M&Ms

This batch was the second time I used the star tip. I really love the way the frosting looks on these cupcakes! It is bakery worthy I think

 

St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided to make Shepherd’s Pie tonight for dinner. I did a pretty traditional recipe from Alton Brown, except I substituted ground sirloin for ground lamb.  I also added a handful of shredded jack/cheddar cheese mix and a sprinkling of garlic to the potatoes because I like interesting potatoes.  I also put a good twist on the Shepherd’s pie by making it into cupcakes! I found some jumbo muffin size foil wrappers at the grocery store today and they made a much nicer serving size than the regular cupcake sized liners were. They were a little harder to fill and smooth the potatoes on because they are a bit flimsier than a real cup would be. I just picked them up in my hand and held them closed while I got the potatoes nicely spread on it.

Shepherd’s Pie
Adapted from Alton Brown’s Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Ingredients

For the potatoes:
1 1/2 pounds red potatoes
1/4 cup milk
2 ounces unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup shredded jack and cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

For the meat filling:
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tablespoon
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced small
1 12oz package button mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup frozen peas

Directions:

Wash the red potatoes and place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Put the pan on high heat with a lid, until it boils. Once it boils, uncover it, and turn it down to a simmer. Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl, in your microwave for about 30 seconds – just until it is heated through. Once the potatoes are ready, put them in the bowl of a standing mixer and add the milk/butter mixture plus the cheese and salt/pepper/garlic powder. Mix them until they are whipped nicely. If you don’t have a mixer, you can put them back into the saucepan with the other ingredients and mash them with a potato masher.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, carrots, and mushrooms and saute just until they start to brown. Add the lamb, salt and pepper, and garlic and cook until everything is nice and brown and cooked through. Sprinkle the flour around the pan and mix it well. Let it cook for another minute and then add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, and thyme. Stir it well. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook it until it is thick like a gravy. This took me around 5 minutes but it could take up to 10-12 depending on the heat of your pan.

Add the corn and peas to the meat mixture. Line a baking sheet with foil Jumbo muffin liners in a 3×4 grid. Using an ice cream scoop, fill the liners almost to the top with meat filling. The mixture should fill 12 liners. With a smaller scoop or tablespoon, put a spoonful of mashed potatoes on each one. Flatten and smooth with a spatula. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are nice and brown on top.

 

Lasagna Cupcakes

I was reading through my food blogs on Flipboard one night and I found a recipe for these lasagna cupcakes. I modified it a little bit because I have made lasagna quite a few times and I know what I like in it. The original recipe is from Tablespoon.com but I changed it so much that I am going to just re-write it in my own words here. I chose to use gyoza skins instead of wonton ones because they are already round. I liked the way they came out when I used them whole but they can also be cut to size to allow you to see the layers a bit better when you take the cupcake out of the liner to serve it. The gyoza skins end up being soft like regular noodles.  If you use a whole one, the top layer skin sticks out of the sauce just a little bit and becomes crunchy, just like the edges of a lasagna baked in a 9×13 pan!  I used my family’s classic ricotta mix from our lasagna recipe I have been making since I was a kid. The sauce, I kind of made up as I was going along but it is the basic meat sauce I always make really. I love these so much and I am currently dreaming up all the different recipes I can turn in to cupcakes now!

Lasagna Cupcakes
Makes 22 cupcakes

For the Sauce:
3 8oz cans no salt added tomato sauce
1/2 a large, yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp fresh basil
1 tsp fresh parsley
1 lb ground turkey, browned
salt and pepper to taste

For the Filling:
1 8oz container ricotta cheese
a handful of grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

44 gyoza wrappers
mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat the oven to 350F.

To begin, brown the onions and garlic in a little bit of olive oil. While they cook, put the sauce into a medium saucepan. Add the onions and garlic to the sauce and use the same pan to cook the ground turkey. I seasoned the turkey itself with salt and pepper and a little bit of garlic powder as well but you don’t HAVE to do that. Once the turkey is done cooking, add it to the sauce as well. Let the sauce cook while you mix up the ricotta cheese and until you are ready to assemble. I left it for a good hour while I made dessert tonight. The longer it cooks on low, the better it will be.

Mix the ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, garlic powder, and salt/pepper in a bowl. Taste it. If it needs more of anything, you can add it now.

To assemble the lasagna cupcakes, line your cupcake pan with foil cupcake liners. I found these to be much easier clean up than spraying the pan itself and building them that way. Spray the liners with a little bit of cooking spray. Place one gyoza skin in the bottom of each well. Add a tablespoon or so of the meat sauce, then about a teaspoon of ricotta, then a sprinkle of mozzarella. Place another gyoza skin on top of that, then another teaspoon ricotta cheese, a tablespoon of sauce and another sprinkling of mozzarella. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until they are golden on top and bubbly.

When I got to the last 4, I ran out of ricotta cheese. Instead of ricotta, I layered gyoza, meat sauce, pepperoni slice, mozzarella, gyoza, meat sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella. These were a touch smaller than the other ones but still just as tasty! Now for the pictures.

In the beginning…

First layer, complete:

Baked!

Close up!

Plated:

I can’t wait to make some more of these to freeze for lunches. It is such a great idea that can be applied to a bunch of different recipes! I might actually do this with shepherd’s pie for tomorrow night’s dinner. Hope you enjoy!

 

A nice dinner

My sister reminded me last night that I haven’t written a blog post since October so I thought I would throw one up tonight after I finished making dinner. I even have pictures!

I decided that since it was a beautiful day out today, I would open all the windows in the house and clean. Once I got started, I ended up wanting to cook a nice dinner as well. The spring air makes me so happy I made cheeseburgers with animal sauce, caramelized onions, pretzel rolls, and salt and vinegar chips. I was intending to grill the burgers and potatoes but the grill ran out of propane after the potatoes were done. I ended up making those in a cast iron skillet instead.

I didn’t really change the recipes that I used for each thing so there aren’t too many comments to make.

Adapted from Bobby Flay’s Salt and Vinegar Grilled Potato “Chips”

I saw Bobby Flay make these on a commercial for his grilling show the other day. They were pretty delicious. I made them with Golden Potatoes that were pretty small but I still cut them in coins before I put them on the grill. Pre-boiling them really does make them cook so much faster!

Ingredients
6 golden potatoes, scrubbed
Canola oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Red Wine vinegar (Malt would have been better)
Kosher salt

Heat the grill to medium.
Place potatoes in a pot of cold water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and cook for 10 minutes once it starts boiling. Drain, let cool more than I did and slice into 1/4-inch slices.

Toss the potato pieces in a little oil, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Place them on the grill until they are golden brown and cooked all the way through, about 10 minutes.
Take the slices off the grill and move them to a platter in an even layer and immediately drizzle with the vinegar and season with salt.

Pretzel Rolls I have made quite a few times and every time, they are amazing. This time was no exception. They don’t have a lot of ingredients and they are pretty easy. I use my mixer so my recipe varies a bit from what the original says to do. I got the recipe from Serious Eats, along with the ones for the animal style sauce AND the caramelized onions. I highly recommend Serious Eats whenever I can.

Pretzel Rolls

Ingredients
2 3/4 – 3 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup and 1 tablespoon hot water
1/3 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup cornmeal

Place the bread flour, instant yeast, kosher salt, and sugar into a mixing bowl and mix with the beater until it is well combined. Swap to the dough hook and stream the water in while the mixer is on low speed. Once all the water is mixed in, set the mixer on 3-4 and let it mix for a few minutes until the dough forms a ball. Put the dough ball into a greased bowl and let it double in size (30 minutes or more).

Once doubled in size, punch the dough down and separate it into 8 equal pieces (I ended up with 7 this time) and form each piece into a ball. Slash the tops with an X and let them rise for another 30 minutes.

During this time, fill a stock pot with water and let it come to a boil. Heat the oven to 375F. Once it starts to boil add the baking soda and sugar to the water. Do it slowly because the baking soda will make the water froth! Once 30 minutes are up, boil the pretzels for 30 seconds on each side. Place them on a baking sheet that has been greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle the rolls with Kosher salt while they are still wet from their bath. (The original recipe says to use egg whites but I didn’t want to waste an egg)

Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden brown and look like pretzels!

Next up, the caramelized onions! These are part of the Serious Eats spread on how to make an In-n-Out burger at home. I followed the directions for the onions and also for the animal sauce.
Serious Eats In-n-Out Burger Recipe

Ingredients
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1 large onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

To make the onions:
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt to skillet. Reduce heat to medium low, and cook, tossing and stirring occasionally until onions are well browned, about 15 minutes. Once onions begin to sizzle heavily and appear dry, add 1 tablespoon water to skillet and stir. Continue cooking until water evaporates and onions start sizzling again. Repeat process, adding 1 tablespoon of water with each iteration until onions are meltingly soft and dark brown, about 3 times total. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

To make the sauce:
Put the mayo, ketchup, relish, sugar and vinegar in a bowl and mix until it is combined.

Finally, I made a tomato mozzarella salad with basil, parsley, scallions and vinegar/oil for the dressing. It is something I make in the summer all the time so I thought it would go well with this dinner. This is the recipe I followed originally for it. Tomato Mozzarella Salad is based on a caprese salad. I use a pint of regular red grape tomatoes. Unfortunately, it is not the season for tomatoes so these were a little bit too tart.

The last photo is the best, I think! Everything all finished and ready to eat

 

Apple Butter

So, we decided to go apple picking on Friday in Tehachapi. Needless to say, we ended up with a huge amount of apples. So far, I have made an apple crumb cake (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/apple-coffee-cake-with-crumble-topping-and-brown-sugar-glaze-recipe/index.html) without its brown sugar glaze. I also made some apple butter that I plan on freezing. I might even make some more of it because it came out so delicious! Next time I will use a food processor though. Cutting all these apples took me 2.5 hours!

I followed a recipe on allrecipes.com that I found with a TON of awesome reviews. I changed some things based upon what the reviewers were saying and I think it came out amazing.

The original recipe is here: All Day Apple Butter

Here is mine, based upon this one.

5lbs of red and green apples, peeled, cored and diced into tiny squares (It was about 4 apples per pound, I think)
2 cups of white sugar
2 rounded teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all the apples into the insert for a slow cooker. In a smaller bowl, mix the sugar, spices and salt. Pour the spices over the apples and mix thoroughly. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours. Turn it down to low and cook for another 9-12 hours. The longer it cooks, the more concentrated it will taste. I cooked mine for a total of 14 hours. You can store it for at least 6 months in the fridge in an airtight container. It stays indefinitely in the freezer. I am storing mine in Ziploc Twist n Loc 2 cup containers. This recipe gave me 4 of these.

I hope some of you get to make this because it is super easy and super delicious. I have already had it on toast for breakfast this morning and also, on a turkey and mozzarella sandwich for lunch.

Apple Butter start!

Apple Butter finish!

 

Pulled Pork

Today I thought it would be good to make some pulled pork shoulder. If you make pork shoulder, you gotta have BBQ sauce and buns and coleslaw to go with it, so I made those too! After finding a plethora of recipes this morning, I went to the store and got my supplies.

When I got home, I started the bread rising. I used a recipe for hamburger buns that I will for sure make again. I found the recipe months ago when I was reading food blogs with Flipboard on my iPad. The buns were light and fluffy, even with whole wheat flour subbed for half the regular flour. The recipe can be found here: Hamburger Buns and I can’t say enough about how many things I have learned from this website. They have a lot of really helpful, basic recipes that I have been trying lately.

Homemade Hamburger Buns (Makes 8 buns)
From thekitchn.com
1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water
1/2 cup (4 oz) milk (2%)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl, if mixing by hand), stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit until dissolved. My mixer’s dough hook couldn’t reach the water/yeast mixture so I stirred it by hand.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Add all the flour and stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Knead at low speed (around 2 on my Kitchenaid), or by hand against the counter, for 10 minutes. The finished dough should be smooth, feel slightly tacky, and spring back when poked.

Cover and let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

Dust your work surface with a little flour and turn out the risen dough on top. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each into a tight ball. I ended up with 9 rolls because some of mine were a little smaller Transfer the balls to a baking sheet and let rise until they look puffy and hamburger-sized, roughly 30-40 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
Bake the buns until golden, 15-18 minutes.
Let the buns cool to room temperature before slicing and using. They are best if eaten within the next day or two, but will keep in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.
Additional Notes (from the original post):
• For Whole Wheat Buns – Substitute 1/2-1 cup of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and prepare the recipe as usual. The texture of the buns will be a bit more dense, but still very delicious and burger-worthy. – I followed this suggestion and they turned out awesome.
• Doubling the Recipe – Double all of the ingredients except for the yeast. To make even more buns, it’s best to prepare separate batches as the dough becomes too cumbersome to work with easily.
• Freeze Buns for Later – Wrap the buns in aluminum foil and then store in an air-tight container or freezer bag. Let them thaw in their packaging overnight on the counter. Foil-wrapped buns can also be thawed more quickly or re-warmed in a 300°F oven for about 10-15 minutes.

While the buns were rising, I cut up the onions and got the tomatoes ready for the pulled pork shoulder recipe I was following. The recipe can be found here: Pulled Pork Shoulder I decided to use a basic recipe to start out with and when I got the hang of making it, I would try something new. I changed two things when I made it today. First, I didn’t use carrots because I thought it would be a waste. We probably wouldn’t eat them after they had cooked for 3 hours so they would have just gotten thrown away. Secondly, I added chili powder to the dry rub. I did 1tsp of cumin and 1tsp of chili powder instead of 2tsps of cumin. Cumin is one of those spices that is very strong and I don’t like a lot of it in anything I eat.

Shredded Pork Shoulder
Adapted from thekitchn.com
3.5 pound pork shoulder, bone-in
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into wedges
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 12-ounce beer (I used Blue Moon Honey Wheat Ale because it looked tasty)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Trim the pork shoulder of any thick layers of fat. Mine had barely any fat on it so I just left it all. Combine the brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the pork all over with the spice mixture. Make sure you get it in all the little nooks and crannies. Let the pork to sit out for 30 minutes. (This was just enough time for me to bake off the hamburger buns)

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the pork on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the pork from the pot. Add the onions, garlic, tomatoes, and beer. Bring it to a simmer, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to bring up any browned bits.

Return the pork to the pot. Cover and put in the oven for 3 hours or so, checking once or twice, until the meat is extremely tender and pulls away from the bone easily or reaches around 200F. My bone ended up being a tiny shard of a bone so it came out pretty easily. I made sure to check the temperature of the meat before I took it out, just to be sure. Shred the pork in the pot, using tongs to separate the meat from the fat. This worked pretty well for me but toward the end, it was easier to take the meat out and put it on a cutting board to get the fat off and shred it. If you do it this way, just add it back to the pot when you are done shredding it. I threw away the bone but you could just as easily use it for some kind of soup or something if you are so inclined.

While the pork shoulder was bubbling away in the oven, I started on the barbecue sauce. This recipe came from Bobby Flay and Foodnetwork.com. I used only the sauce recipe on this page: BBQ Sauce I have to say that I was disappointed in the sauce at first. While it cooks, it is really thin and chunky. I didn’t want it to be that way. The flavor was really good but I did change a couple of things in this one as well. First, I had a bunch of stewed tomatoes so I used those instead of diced tomatoes. Second, I decided to blend the mix to make it semi-smooth. I had used the food processor to do the onions for this recipe anyway so I thought it would be a good idea to throw it in there to get it the consistency I wanted. I also put the very first jalapeno from my garden this year into this recipe!

First Jalapeno!

BBQ Sauce:
Adapted from Bobby Flay

1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 large yellow onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 (15-ounce) can stewed tomatoes
2 cups cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and jalapeno and cook until soft. I burned mine so I had to swap out pans! Be careful with this step! Add the fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes and juices, vinegar, honey, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce, and cook until the sugar has completely melted and the sauce is slightly reduced and thickened. The sauce never really reduced down and it filled my house with vinegar gases! I cooked it for a good 2 hours and it reduced, it just never got thick. If you are looking for a thick BBQ sauce, just pulse it a few times in the food processor and put it back in the pot to keep it warm. Season with salt, to taste.

Finally, while everything else was simmering away and the buns were cooling, I made the coleslaw. I wanted a pretty basic traditional recipe for this and it turns out, Bobby Flay has one! Coleslaw
I adapted this recipe by changing up the amounts of mayonnaise and sour cream. I don’t like to use that much mayo in anything I am making so I cut that and added a little more sour cream to the mix. I think it came out pretty awesome! It worked perfectly with the pork and the BBQ sauce.

Coleslaw
2 bags shredded coleslaw mix (without dressing)
1/2 cup best-quality mayonnaise
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons grated yellow onion
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons celery salt
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, onion, sugar, vinegar, mustard, celery salt, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl, and then add the cabbage mixture. Mix well to combine and taste for seasoning; add more salt, pepper, or sugar if desired. I don’t like it to be too sweet so I didn’t add any more sugar. It did need a touch more salt and pepper though.

So here it is finally completed. I couldn’t wait to eat at this point, after smelling it all afternoon so the first shot is a little blurry. I loved this and I would absolutely make it again. Next time, I would mix the pork with the BBQ sauce AND the juices/onions it cooked in, I think. Even though there are subtle changes I would make or add to each recipe, they are still delicious the way they are!

Carter’s plate:

 

Poppy-Tarts!

I have been wanting to make pop-tarts for a really long time and today in the IRC, people were talking about making them. They inspired me to get off my butt and try it. I found quite a few recipes but I decided on the one at SmittenKitchen.com Her recipes are generally awesome so I had lots of faith in this one as well.

I followed the directions pretty much exactly. I agree with adding some whole wheat flour to the crust next time. It would make them hearty and a little more healthy as well. I didn’t chill the dough between mixing and rolling them out but the dough was perfect. I also decided to egg wash the tops of them and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of each tart.

I HIGHLY recommend baking up the leftover crust edges with cinnamon and sugar (I used vanilla sugar). They are so delicious that I can barely stop eating them!

Pics!

 

Bagels!

I was making bagels from Serious Eats and I noticed that the grams and ounces were off. When I measured the ounces, and switched my scale to grams, it was not the same as the recipe. Since I have friends in Australia, I figured I would remeasure everything and put up the correct gram measurements.

Bagels!
Adapted from Serious Eats:
19.25oz [548g] bread flour (3 1/2 cups)
1/4oz [10g] instant dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons; or 1 envelope active dry)
1/2oz [17g] sugar (2 tablespoons)
1/2oz [7g] salt (1 teaspoon)
12 ounces hot water (1 1/2 cups, 120°–130°F)
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup (I don’t use the malt syrup because I cannot find it here)

Add the bread flour, yeast, sugar, and salt to a mixing bowl. Turn the mixer on to mix it up a little, then add the water slowly. Let it mix until it just comes together then mix it for 5 minutes on medium speed. I don’t have a food processor so I figured out a way to make the mixer work for it.

Transfer the dough ball to an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rest for an hour or so (longer doesn’t hurt it), until it doubles in size. Once that happens, fill the pot with water and then add the syrup to it. Set it on the stove to heat up and by the time you have the bagels shaped, it should be boiling.

Work the dough on a floured surface. I usually form it into a log and cut it into 10 equal(as equal as I can get them) pieces. Then I roll each piece out into a rope and wrap it around my hand to form a circle. Then roll it on the cutting board until it comes together. The diagram in the original recipe is a really great way to learn how to do this.

When all the bagels are shaped, start cooking them in the boiling water for one minute each, turning them halfway through. I usually take them out and put them onto a kitchen towel. While they are still wet, I put on whatever toppings I want (minced dried garlic or onion, sesame seeds, salt) and put them on the pan to bake. I bake them at 400F for 15-20 minutes and I do not flip them over to get them brown on the bottom. They always end up completely browned nicely.

They are delicious bagels and I love that serious eats shared it with us!