Boxcakes, part 1

My sister lovingly spends her time trying to get me to post her pictures on my blog. She's a dear.

She sent a boxed cupcake mix she got from World Market from Cobblestone Kitchen. The three-pack of cupcakes promises 12 cupcakes each of lemon poppyseed, strawberry and chocolate caramel, each with frosting! It's almost too good to be true.

In interest of my ever-growing love of poppyseeds and my desire to find them somewhere locally, I decided to make the lemon poppyseed for work today. My coworkers loved them, but I had some problems.

1) 3/4 cup of what basically amounts to powdered sugar is not enough to frost twelve cupcakes.
2) There was not enough lemon. On a business trip a few days ago, I had the MOST LEMONY muffins ever and they ruined me for the week.
3) When the frosting did come together after I added an additional cup of sugar to the 4 tbsp shortening, the resulting picture did not look like this:



It instead looked slightly like spackle.



They were still pretty tasty, though. Just not homemade. Coworkers described the frosting as 'crunchy' and very sweet. I've yet to figure out why these need frosting in the first place, but the strawberry and chocolate should do better in that arena.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! Mr. O and I were at the grocer the other day and he found these darling wrappers! How could I resist?




I need to get out more, huh?

Sticky situations

I am so, so bad.

I started this blog in response to graduate school. My hobby list that first month included things like 'reading eight hundred pages on library collecting policies' and 'staring at my computer in hopes it would generate a 10,000 word paper'. I didn't have any social life, and this blog was a way for me to keep up with people I know and to show them that I'm still alive.

Well, summer happened. With summer comes a full-time job. That means I have time to see old friends, watch movies and other various and sundry things that one can do when the work week is only forty hours long.

And I neglected you, dear reader. I am sorry.



Here's my attempt at coming back. For a certain social occasion tonight, I threw in some thick, dark blackstrap molasses from McCutcheon's and prayed that my oft-neglected powdered ginger still had some kick, adding a bit more than the recipe called for.



These are spicy-good. When they come out of the oven, they are very soft but they harden up quickly once on the drying rack.

Mmm, spice.



"Blue Eyes" Blue Ribbon Gingersnaps
Marjorie Johnson's recipe, from Picky Palate

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup sugar (for dipping)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Cream shortening, brown sugar, molasses and egg in large bowl. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, blending until mixed. Dough can be chilled for easy handling.

3. Shape the dough into balls the size of whole walnuts. Roll balls in sugar, place on baking sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool on sheet one minute before transferring to rack.

Makes 3-4 dozen.



Thanks, Picky Palate!

Triple chocolate pudding

There isn't too much of a good thing, right?

My first recipe book is almost always Google. However, with the recent influx in grocery prices and as a Victim of a Natural Disaster (tm), I was trying to make do with what I had in the fridge instead of going out and buying more. Let's just say I have come upon a chocolate inheritance of sorts. About four bags' worth of eating chocolate.

The first time I made this recipe, I used 2% milk, half a bag of Hershey's Kisses (Mr. O hates dark chocolate - the nerve!) and maybe a scant less than 1/4 cup cornstarch (for all the baking I do, I'm still not exact sometimes). It turned out like a very strong chocolate milk. I don't think I waited long enough. Actually, I waited a really long time for it to set but it just didn't. I swear, I stirred and stirred to no avail.

The second time I made it, I used a heaping 1/4 cup of cornstarch, 2% milk, 1/8 cup cocoa, 1/2 package Dove Dark chocolate pieces and 1/2 package Hershey's Kisses. No sugar needed in this recipe - the processed chocolate takes care of that.

The result was thick, luxurious and quite possibly deadly. Those humidity drops are the result of cold pudding meets humid Southern air. Also happens on iced tea glasses (which is why double-barreled glasses are a gift from God).

Silky Chocolate Pudding
Adapted from smitten kitchen who adapted hers from John Scharffenberger, via Wednesday Chef
(I know, this is getting a bit ridiculous)

Serves 6


1/4 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
5 oz Hershey's kisses, unwrapped
5 oz Dove dark chocolate, unwrapped
1/8 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


1. Combine the cornstarch, cocoa, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. (note: I love substituting this bowl over a medium saucepan. Thanks, mom!) Slowly whisk in the milk, scraping the bottom and sides with a heatproof spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Place over gently simmering water and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 15 to 20 minutes, when the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, add the chocolate. Continue stirring for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the pudding is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

2. Place into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes. Lick the ladle. Lick the bowl. Note it's 9:00 in the morning. Feel moderately sick, but slightly giddy from the sugar high.

3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.

A Snag in Plans

Hello, dear reader.

I have hit a bit of a snag.

I was caught in the middle of a small natural disaster which left me without electricity for three days.

All my food was pretty much ruined, save for the kindness of a few friends who housed the contents of my fridge for the last four days. My freezer was a huge disaster by the end.

I'm going to spend the next few weeks getting my stock in order again, but until then it's definitely going to be slim pickings on this blog.

And, in case you're wondering, renters' insurance does not cover food loss.

Lemon Meringue Puffs

Those Meyer lemons, they've been sitting in my fridge for weeks.

I've been starting at them with trepidation. "Tell me!", I bellowed at their delicate pores. "Give me a sign!"

Well, I got invited to a dinner party and just happened to half the other half of that puff pastry dough from what - oh, goodness, over two months ago. This is where I realize that my freezer hides many dark secrets, for me to find upon moving out of my digs.



Lest the Meyer lemons go dead on me, I mixed them with a couple of regular lemons to make norecipe's Meyer Lemon Curd. I could eat it with a spoon for breakfast. It was my first time making lemon curd and oh my goodness, it was good! I thought it wasn't going to come together but then it finally did. (Sticking the candy thermometer in the pan was enough to bring it up to 170 and quell my fears that it would never thicken). If only eating a stick of butter wasn't so bad for you, I'm certain this would replace my cereal in the morning.

p.s. Lemon curd starts to melt when it is hot and humid where you are photographing. It does not make a difference in the final taste, however.




Lemon Meringue Puff Pastry Bites

Serves 6


1 sheet puff pastry dough
1 recipe Meyer lemon curd
2 egg whites
Cream of tartar
2 tb sugar

Muffin pan
Mixer
Rolling pin
Blowtorch


Let puff pastry dough thaw. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out to about 10" x 18". Cut into twelve pieces and shape into muffin tins (lightly greased). Bake at 400 for twelve minutes or until golden brown.

Once the puffs come out of the oven, make a hole in the center of the puffs by using the back of a spoon to create a cave for your lemon curd. Let the puffs cool completely.

Meanwhile, make meringues: egg whites at room temperature, add about 1/4 tsp cream of tartar and have a go at it with the mixer. When peaks form, add sugar slowly.

When the puffs have cooled, add lemon curd to center. Pipe meringue on top and blowtorch it until well-done.

Refrigerate until serving.

Attack of the Mutant Frosting

Ah, the end of the semester!

This sort of glorious accomplishment calls for something special, like Ina Garten's carrot cake cupcakes. Instead of, you know, eating my carrots this week, I decided to turn them into something sweet to celebrate the end of another busy semester.

I subbed about 75 percent of the oil for unsweetened applesauce to no ill effects. In addition, I always add more cinnamon that she calls for - you can't tell there's a ton in the end due to all the strong flavors imparted by the baked carrot.



Now, when it came to the frosting, holy smokes. After I beat my first mixer to death early in this blog, I acquired a small powerhouse of a hand mixer. When they say it's a Black and Decker, you should expect it to behave like a Black and Decker might. It beats the everloving snot out of everything (at 250 watts plus a power boost for those finicky candies, it should!) and definitely can cut through some not-quite-room-temperature cream cheese.

In fact, the frosting beat its way up the beaters like some kind of possessed sugar tornado. I had to add some liquid to coax the bulbous mess off the top of the beaters and back into the bowl. Alas, I ran out of powdered sugar and my frosting came out less than stiff in the end, but the consumers of the cupcakes didn't mind much.

Recipe, from Ina Garten and the Food Network website, here.

Presto, Pasta

After a long week of writing papers, sometimes settling down to a bowl of pasta just feels so right.

I had an entire day set aside for roasting garlic with my new toy earlier this year, so I've been enjoying the fruits of my labors (and the lack of garlic smell permeating every pore of my kitchen) ever since. The Roasted Garlic Express actually works really well for those of us who live alone and don't turn on the oven very often (both for heat and economical reasons). The resulting roasted garlic was frozen into cubes and comes in way handy for instances like this.

Pasta with prosciutto, roasted garlic and (long-awaited) asparagus. Top with cheese and enjoy! Y'all can figure out how to do that, right? :)