Piña Colada Cupcakes

With the temperatures barely hovering above freezing, and the summer being months away, I, like many other people, am constantly dreaming of a warmer place. I figured since I am stuck for the next few months with the cold, why not bake something to remind me of those blissful summer days. Something that always screams summer and tropical weather to me are piña coladas. They are my life. I had my first one a few years ago, and we have been inseparable since. The only problem is where I live, they are kinda scarce. Plus those things are freezing, not really what I'm looking for while piled under blankets. So how about some piña colada CUPCAKES to bring back those warm summer memories, without the chill factor?

So as a ever so devoted Pinterest member, I kept seeing this one recipe for pineapple angel food cake. Its only two ingredients, takes less than 30 minutes to make, and they are only 50 calories per cupcake!!!! What could be better? And I know I made the hugest contradiction to myself because one of the two ingredients is cake mix, but since I had literally no time to make them, I figured the box mix was the best way to go. So if you use a mix like me, just make sure you use a good quality kind, to get optimal cake success (I used Ginger Evans brand, but I heard that Pillsbury angel food cake mix was pretty good as well).

As for the frosting, it was an experiment, but it came out really good as well! I made a coconut whipped cream frosting, straight from the heart. (yeah that's right-no recipe) It's not quite as "healthy" as the cakes, but it is whipped cream, which is pretty light as far as frostings go. I used cream of coconut, something new to me, and it came out delightful!

So are you looking for a baked good that's not too heavy, and brings a bit of that tropical feel even to the most frozen tundra? Then make these cupcakes!!! (Come on, you know you want to!)

Piña Colada Cupcakes:
1 good-quality box angel food cake mix
1 can crushed pineapple (do not strain)
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup cream of coconut
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tsp of vanilla
1 small jar maraschino cherries (for garnish)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the cake mix and crushed pineapple into a bowl. Mix until just combined. Fill 24 cupcake tins lined with paper liners to the brim using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the tops are browned. Cool completely.

To make the frosting, beat the heavy cream, coconut, and confectioner's sugar on medium for about 3 minutes, or until the cream has started to stiffen. Mix in the vanilla and more coconut, to taste preference. Beat until very stiff peaks form. Cover the bowl and let the frosting sit in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes, to allow the frosting to get really stiff. 

Spoon the frosting into a pastry bag, and frost all the cupcakes. Top each with a maraschino cherry and serve. Enjoy!

Italian Anisette Cookies

Ever since I can remember, for every family gathering there ever was my grandmother has always brought these to the table. And just about every time, I help myself to one. The crumbly, dense, sweet cookie with the hint of anisette and the bright colored balls over the hard, sleek glaze that just melts in your mouth....um where was I again?

Right, my anisette cookies. Being a true Italian, I knew I couldn't wait much longer to try out making these cookies from scratch. I found one particularly good recipe from Amanda's Cookin', but I also dug up another recipe from my great grandmother (the same person that also came up with the Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Bread) and I decided to meld the two together. The outcome? Spectacular! One bite transports you to your grandmother's kitchen, or a nice Italian bakery. I served them at a dinner party this weekend and the feedback was great! They were a huge hit. I have already had many people coming up asking me what makes them just so moist (one of them being my other Italian grandmother on my mom's side!).

I was really proud of these. They came out really nicely, plus they were oh so simple to make. I banged the batter out in under 30 minutes! The only tricky thing is that you really have to watch the cookies bake in the oven, if they are in for too long, they will be dry and tasteless. 

So have fun with this recipe! Play some Italian opera while you bake and reminisce about that really good macaroni you had at that one Italian restaurant. Let these transport you to Italy-home of good food and even better dessert!

Italian Anisette Cookies:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

3 cups plus extra flour (AP or cake)

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 tsp anise extract

Anise Glaze

Colored sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheets with Cream butter and shortening together. 

Add sugar, beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, beating them in one at a time. Mix in vanilla and anise extracts.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined. Gradually add to wet mixture. Add extra flour by the tablespoon until the mixture forms a dough. Chill dough in the refrigerator until firm, about 10-15 minutes.

Form tablespoon-sized balls and place about an inch apart, about 12 per sheet. Bake for about 8-9 minutes, until the bottoms are slightly brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Anise Glaze:

2 cups confectioners sugar

5 tbsp milk

1 tsp anise extract

1/4 tsp vanilla

Add the milk to the sugar, stirring continuously. Mix in the vanilla and anise extracts. If the mixture is too watery, add more confectioner's sugar. 

Once the cookies are completely cool, transfer to a wire rack with paper towels underneath to catch extra glaze. Dunk the tops of the cookies in the glaze, then sprinkle the tip with colored balls. Let the glaze harden before serving.

*This glaze technique works best when someone else helps you. It's a pain to do it by yourself, and you really cant glaze all and then put the sprinkles on, because the glaze hardens rather quickly. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes (Pink Velvet)

Yup, you read that right, pink velvet. As in cupcakes. As many great bakers know, the some of the best treats have often come from accidents or experiments. This is one of those times.

So here's what happened. Since Valentine's Day was coming up, I wanted to make something super festive for my friends. Plus I had gotten these awesome heart-shaped cupcake tins as a present a while back that I hadn't been able to use yet. And what better cupcake than red velvet to fill those tins full of festive yumminess? So I found this great recipe of the Georgetown Cupcakes red velvet cupcakes from Portuguese Girl Cooks off Pinterest, and I had a little vision. Why should I use frosting and make them good, when I could use something else and make them GREAT?! What about ice cream? (Since I'm on my little sort-of health kick, I used frozen yogurt instead) and thus my heart shaped ice cream cupcakes were born.

It started off well enough, a good challenge not only because I had never made red velvet from scratch, but also because I was under a time limit. These days, its so hard to find some quality baking time, so I usually only have an hour or two per week to get my baking fix. Then I looked in my red food coloring container, which looked and felt about halfway full on the outside, but really only had a little more than a teaspoon left!. (good lesson, really check all ingredients prior to baking and don't judge something on looks alone) So I just kept going, and the taste of red velvet still came, but they were more rose colored.

Other than that funny little mishap, my cupcakes came out great! The frozen yogurt wasn't overpowering or sparse at all-it was a nice light contrast to the dense-ish cake. Most of my friends described them as 'refreshing'.

This recipe truly makes 24 good sized cupcakes. Since I only had 12 tins, I decided to put the frozen yogurt just in those, and frost the rest. I made my own original cream cheese buttercream. It was great! And it's soo easy to make, which makes it even more worth the sugar.

So happy late Valentine's Day! I hope you like the cupcakes and they turn out more red for you! I promise you they can put a smile on even the most anti-romantic person out there.

Red Velvet Cupcakes:
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 tbsp red food coloring(or less if you want a pink color)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup vanilla frozen-yogurt (more/less depending on preference)
Powdered Sugar (For dusting)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting(follows)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray silicone cupcake tins and line on a baking tray/line cupcake tins with paper liners. 

In a small bowl, whisk the flour and salt until combined.

In a stand mixer attached with the paddle, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. 

In a very small bowl mix the food coloring, vanilla, and cocoa, until all lumps are gone. Add to the butter mixture and beat well, until the mixture is completely red.

Add the flour and milk alternatively to the mixture, in three parts. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition.

In another small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar. Mix until the lumps are gone and the vinegar has stopped fizzing. Add to the batter and mix until just incorporated, no longer than 30 seconds.

Scoop batter into cupcake tins/cups. Bake for about 18 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back after touching them lightly. Cool completely before frosting.

Frozen Yogurt- Once cooled, remove the cupcakes from their liners. Cut in half horizontally. Put about a tablespoon or two onto each cupcake, spreading to cover the entire base. (This will not work if the frozen yogurt is too soft, or too hard) Lightly top the cupcakes and store in the freezer at least 6 hours, or overnight. Before serving, let the cupcakes sit out at least 15-20 minutes, and dust the tops with powdered sugar. 

Cream Cheese Buttercream:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp cream cheese

Directions:
Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. All the milk, vanilla and cream cheese. If too liquid, add more sugar by the tablespoon. 

Rice Pudding Bruleé

Now I know what you're thinking-"rice pudding? That's only for old people!" That's what my first thought was too, until I had some (its kind of funny because I was with my grandparents when I tried it). Rice pudding is great because its not too formal, and not too hard to make. Plus it's pretty plain, which makes it a good base for other flavors to mix in, or topped with various delicacies. Also since it's pretty simple, its not usually a dessert you serve at parties or just to other people, it's more of a comfort food. 

I had also been dying to make something from my Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, which brings together two of the best things in life-cooking and harry potter. What more could I ask for?

And yes, I did bookmark basically the whole book the minute I read it.

Always up for creating something new, I brainstormed new ideas to make this dish more...exciting. And I thought about caramelizing. Its a fairly new technique to me, I have yet to buy a kitchen torch yet, so I have been using the oven broiler, which does the job pretty well. So I was inspired to caramelize my pudding. 

And I must say, it turned out really well! I made a few changes to the recipe, but mostly it is the same recipe from the cookbook. The caramelizing went pretty well too. I don't think that I broiled it just enough, but it still had that hard, sugary top that was a nice brown. That brought in a lot of compliments. So thanks Dinah Bucholz, props to you for bringing this new idea to me. It went so fast I wasn't able to get a picture of the whole thing by itself, but I do have some cute ones from my serving. So try my new creation! Hopefully I have helped this simple dish transform into a dreamy dessert. 

Rice Pudding Bruleé:

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup short-grain rice           2 tablespoons butter
-3 1/2 plus extra cups milk         2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
-1/4 cup plus extra heavy cream     1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
-1/2 cup granulated sugar           generous dash of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt                   granulated sugar for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 2-quart baking dish. 

Put rice, 3 1/2 cups milk, 1/4 cup cream, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Combine and heat until it starts to boil. Reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in butter, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon (adding more vanilla if you are like me). Stir until the butter is melted. Pour into the greased dish. 

Bake for an hour, stirring every fifteen minutes. After the hour is up, add milk and cream (I did about a tablespoon of each). Bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes, but do not over bake (it could dry out the pudding). Remove from the oven and let cool for at least an hour,it must be about room temperature, but its ok if it's a little warmer. 

Right before serving, heat the broiler and dust the granulated sugar over the pudding evenly to create a nice thin layer to cover the dish. Place the pudding on the top rack, but be sure you can see the top of the dish still. Broil for 3 minutes, or until a nice browned layer has covered the dish. You must watch this very carefully, because it can burn very easily. 

Serve immediately with whipped cream, warmed jam, or cinnamon. The topping possibilities are endless! Enjoy!