Naturally Green St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Having a sensitivity to food coloring confuses people sometimes, especially since mine is restricted to blue. What they don't seem to understand is that my body doesn't actually care if it looks blue, just if it contains the pigment Blue 1. You know what else contains Blue 1 besides blue food coloring? Green food coloring. Purple food coloring. A variety of foods that don't fall anywhere on the blue side of the color wheel, also known as my list of reasons I hate everything (because I usually discover these foods contain blue food coloring the hard way).

Reasons I Hate Everything List

• Store bought marshmallows (even the gingerbread ones)
• Cranberry ginger ale (ironically bought to make my stomach feel better)
• Chocolate animal crackers
• Peach Mango Crystal Lite
• Reese's Pieces
• Almost anything berry flavored

There's probably more, but since I've become obsessive about checking the ingredients on foods before I buy them, there's a lot less accidental blue food coloring ingestion, so I'm less angry about it. That's not to say I never slip up (sometimes on purpose, damn you sour gummy worms), but since my system has usually been cleaned out of all blue by that time, it's usually less "I hate everything" and more "well, that was not smart."

But when this time of year rolls around, and everyone decides to dye everything green, the subject starts to come up again. Well I tell someone I can't eat something that has green food coloring, they go, "Why, it's not blue," and I have to go back to the elementary school color wheel to explain how you make something green.

Enter the naturally green cupcakes. I originally made them last year for a friend who wanted "baby friendly" St. Patrick's Day cupcakes for her son's day care. I didn't know what baby friendly cupcakes meant, so I figured I'd just make something low sugar with no artificial ingredients and some hidden healthy stuff. (I topped those original cupcakes with an avocado cream cheese frosting, which made me sad because avocado+cream cheese tasted really good and all I wanted to do was add some garlic and onion to it and spread it on toast. Instead I, very reluctantly, had to add sugar)

I had low expectations for those cupcakes, as they were meant for tiny people who hadn't yet grown all of their teeth, but they were surprisingly tasty. I decided to try and make them again for Christmas, tweaking the recipe up a bit for adults, and topping them with some red velvet frosting. Those were really good, but I decided to make the full recipe in the blender, and the flour got overworked, so they came out a bit on the gummy side (which was also sad, because making them in the blender was so easy!)

So here we've come full circle and I decided to once again, this time with the tweaked recipe and without trying to make everything in the blender. Whattaya think?

Green enough for you? Except for the candy decorations, there is not a drop of food coloring in these bad boys. Have you guessed what makes that possible yet?

The answer is spinach. These cupcakes are loaded up with some green leafy goodness adding color and nutrition without tasting like it. While the cupcakes do have a different flavor than a straight up vanilla cupcake would, nobody can tell you made them with spinach unless you tell them. Plus, they're a lot healthier than a regular cupcake. You've got spinach, you've also got unsweetened applesauce, and there's only one stick of butter for the whole batch. It's practically health food. I've totally eaten these for breakfast and not felt one whit of guilt.

Of course, I've also eaten pie for breakfast and not felt guilty about it, so I may not be the best judge of food related guilt.

These cupcakes are a little more dense and a little more coarse than the ideal cake texture would be. You could skip the frosting and call them muffins, but then you don't get the moral superiority of eating spinach for dessert, and I'm not down with that.

As for the toppings, those are not healthy, but that's the part that makes them cupcakes.

The frosting is a cream cheese frosting, and it wasn't half bad, considering I'm not a huge fan of cream cheese frosting, but it refused to stiffen. I have never made a cream cheese frosting that stiffened properly. I don't know if it's because I purposefully use less powdered sugar than most recipes (most cream cheese frosting recipes are way too sweet.Tooth-achingly so. I don't think I will ever understand), but it never happens for me.

Decorations wise, I went super simple. I separated out the yellow M&Ms from a bag of spring colored ones (spring yellow is paler, but there's more per bag), and placed them on top to look like gold coins. Then I sprinkled some rainbow-colored Nerds around the edges to represent a rainbow. You could totally use rainbow sprinkles instead; that was actually my plan, but I saw the rainbow Nerds in the grocery store and I got excited. XD

I realized afterwards that using neon-colored candies to decorate my naturally colored cupcakes was a bit contradictory, but they're pretty so I don't care. (I actually didn't end up eating any of the decorated ones, so it all worked out in the end)

Spinach Cupcakes
Yield: 18

Ingredients
5 cups packed fresh spinach
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar*
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Cream cheese frosting

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add the spinach, maple syrup, applesauce, and vinegar to a blender and blend until completely smooth.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Add the vanilla.

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add about half the flour mixture to the butter, beating on low until just combined. Add half the spinach mixture and continue to mix, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the remaining flour and spinach mix, and beat on low speed until well combined.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill three quarters of the way with batter. Bake 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

*I have skipped the sugar before with no ill results, besides being not quite sweet enough, so if you prefer to not use refined sugar, you can leave it out.

Recipe by Kim

Birthday Cake Milkshakes and Raffle for #NoKidHungry

Do you guys know what today is? It's my birthday, and I've decided to celebrate. First on the list are these thick and tasty Birthday Cake Milkshakes. For my last day at the job, I baked up a double batch of my favorite Birthday Cake Cupcakes, but I ended up only having enough frosting for half of them (I even doubled the frosting recipe. I guess I was just over zealous with the piping bag). I decided I didn't want to make more frosting and stuck the extra cupcakes in the freezer. They've kind of been in the freezer ever since.

I don't like wasting food, and I especially don't want to waste good cupcakes, so what's a girl to do except stick them in the blender with some almond milk and ice cream and make milkshakes?

These milkshakes are thick and creamy and totally taste like liquid cake. They're a great way to use leftover or stale cake, and an on-the-go alternative to the traditional birthday cake if you plan on going out to see the movie about space bees for your birthday (aka Jupiter Ascending)

I used unfrosted cupcakes because that's what I had, but I can't see how frosting would hurt these puppies. It would probably just give it a more authentic birthday cake flavor. I also used vanilla almond milk. You could go with dairy or soy milk, but I think that the almond milk just gives it that right amount of extra flavor.

Second on the birthday celebration list is a giveaway! I got an extra copy of Dining With the Doctor: The Unauthorized Whovian Cookbook for Christmas, and since I know a lot of you may have found me through my myriad Doctor Who posts, I figured this is something you may enjoy. But since it is my birthday and that's put me in a very generous mood, I've decided that in place of the usual giveaway format, I'd make it a raffle instead to benefit one of my favorite charities.

No Kid Hungry is a charity that I've supported for a while now, since even before I had a blog. It is a charity dedicated to ending childhood hunger in America. Did you know that one in every five children in the US go hungry? That's over 16 million kids whose brains and bodies are still developing and need all the nutrition they can get.

So here's the deal: I've put together a fundraising page on No Kid Hungry. Anyone who donates to that page, between now and Monday, February 23, is eligible for one raffle entry for Dining with the Doctor. You don't get more entries for more money, so donate whatever amount you feel is appropriate.

After you've donated, go to the Rafflecoptor widget below and fill in your entry. The email address you provide is the email address that I will use to contact the winner, so please make sure it is accurate. The winner will be chosen randomly, and the giveaway is open to US residents only.

You can also donate without entering the raffle. I have a fundraising goal of $150, which seems like such a small amount, but it can provide up to 1,500 meals for children in need. It would make all my birthday wishes come true to reach it, so please remember that every dollar helps. Tell you family, your friends, your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate, and let's help put a big ole dent in childhood hunger. My fundraising page is here.

Birthday Cake Milkshakes
Yield: 2 milkshakes

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 cup vanilla ice cream*
4 vanilla cupcakes (or 1 slice of cake), chopped into pieces

Directions
Place the cake into a bowl and pour the almond milk on top. Cover and refrigerate for minimum of 30 minutes.

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

*Low fat vanilla Greek yogurt can also be used, but will add a tangier flavor

Recipe by Kim

Banana Crunch Parfait

So, my interwebz has been on the fritz lately, which is why this wasn't posted last week. Sorry, lovelies.

Anywhozzle, did you know that September is National Whole Grain Month? It is. I'm not exactly the world's healthiest eater, but I usually try to incorporate a lot of whole grains in my diet. Why whole grains? As the name implies, they use the whole grain which means it has more nutritional value, rather than refined grains which have most of the nutrition processed out. Whole grains are good sources of fiber, which helps fill you up and keep you from over eating, but are also a good source of other nutrients like magnesium. For those of you that don't suffer from migraines, you might not know that migraines can sometimes be caused by a magnesium deficiency. So if a carb that's already better for me nutritionally might help prevent me from having migraines, you bet your booty that I'm going to try and eat that one more.

To celebrate National Whole Grain Month, I made these magnesium-rich Banana Crunch Parfaits (bananas and yogurt are also good sources of magnesium. Word) with Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch Cereal. I got a chance to try Great Grains cereal for the first time, and let me tell you-- holy crunch, Batman! The cereal was at like granola-levels of crunchiness, which was awesome. It wasn't quite sweet enough for me, but mixed with the sweet ingredients of the parfait, it worked great. I've been eating the Vanilla Graham flavor for breakfast, and I'm loving it.

As for the parfaits themselves, they're an awesome, quick breakfast. I even liked the honey drizzle on top as that extra sweet kick, even though I'm not usually a fan of honey. The only change I would make would be to use fresh strawberries instead of the canned pineapple, since I found the pineapple to be a little jarring, both in flavor and texture. I think the strawberries would just go better-- and who doesn't like strawberries and bananas together, amiright?

I used Stonyfield Farm Greek yogurt for extra protein, and got an eminently satisfying breakfast. You could make them as a healthy snack, or even a healthy alternative to dessert, if you're into that sort of thing. They do need to be eaten immediately, so the cereal doesn't get soggy. But trust me, you won't have a problem doing that. I didn't have parfait cups, so I made one giant parfait instead of 6 little ones and I may or may not have eaten the whole thing in one sitting. It's okay because it's healthy, right?

Banana Crunch Parfait
Yield: 6 parfaits

Ingredients
1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)
1 medium banana, sliced
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks in juice, drained
1 cup Great Grains Banana Nut Crunch Cereal
1 cup honey

Directions
Spoon half of the yogurt into 6 parfait glasses. Layer with half of the banana slices, pineapple chunks, and cereal. Repeat the layers, and drizzle the honey on top.

*Disclaimer: I received free samples of Post Great Grains cereal in order to feature this recipe. I was under no obligation to review if I so chose, and I receive no further compensation from this post. All opinions are, as always, my own*

Star Wars Cake Batter Truffles

So, this weekend, the FYE (For Your Entertainment) in Woodbridge Mall was doing this grand reopening extravaganza for three days.

Anyway, I was browsing Facebook the Thursday before, and a post from Her Universe caught my eye.

"Do you live in the tri-state area?"
Yes, yes I do.
"Then come meet Ashley (Eckstein, founder of Her Universe) when she judges a cosplay contest in the Woodbridge Center Mall!"
Wait, my Woodbridge? The place I was just two weeks ago helping my mother look for a dress for the brother's wedding? With the Disney store and the carousel and the Nestle shop? That Woodbridge?

I was so there.

Now, I didn't participate in the cosplay contest (I saw that Miggy Jagger from Heroes of Cosplay was supposed to be co-judging it, so I assumed that it would draw some of the epic, screen-accurate cosplayers, but I guess it just either was too short notice, or not publicized well enough. That's not to say the cosplayers that showed up weren't excellent, but there just weren't as many as I was expecting, and a couple other newbies were participating, so while I still wouldn't have had a chance of winning, TARDIS dress and top hat wouldn't have looked so out of place) so I wore my Her Universe t-shirt. Specifically, my "Come to the darkside; we have cupcakes" Her Universe shirt that was designed because Ashley loves cupcakes.

Ever since I discovered that, I have totally wanted to give Ashley cupcakes. But I thought it would be kind of weird to bring cupcakes, so I thought I would make something that traveled a little better and was still kind of cupcakeish: Cake batter truffles. And what was even better about that was that I could make them in my myriad geeky silicone ice cube trays.

*INTERNALLY SCREAMING*

I very nearly wussed out at the last minute (YAY SOCIAL ANXIETY), but my mother (who I dragged with me with me, purportedly so we could look for wedding shoes afterwards, but mostly because I hate driving, and especially to Woodbridge), walked right up to her and introduced us, and kept dropping hints about the blog.

Ashley was super sweet and promised to check out the blog, even took out her phone to make a note of the name (but it's totally cool if she never does; I'm over the moon that she even intended to look it up), and was really impressed with the truffles. She asked me how I made them, and I stuttered something about homemade cake mix and ThinkGeek and ice cube trays in reply. I'm not completely sure how much sense it made at the time. My brain and my mouth aren't always on the same page.

Well, Ashley, if you're reading this, here is a much better explanation: I started things off with my Homemade Yellow Cake Mix (you could do store bought; I'm not judging, but I would have had to buy cake mix, which would be silly when I already had all the ingredients for it in my pantry). Now, I know I always say you can use cold butter in place of the butter flavored shortening, but for cake batter-y things, I feel like the butter flavoring is essential to the cake batter flavor. So if you can't bring yourself to use shortening, I would suggest adding maybe a 1/4 teaspoon of butter flavoring.

Next, I followed these instructions for the truffle filling from Take a Bite out of Boca, I just added some almond extract and upped the vanilla (since my mix was homemade, it wasn't pre-flavored) and nixed the salt (it already tasted a little salty to me). I also added chocolate sprinkles instead of rainbow. I stopped just before the rolling and chilling, since it was going into molds.

Then I melted some dark chocolate candy wafers (chocolate works as well, but the wafers just melt easier and cover better, and I already had them in the freezer). You want to fill the molds about 1/3 of the way with the chocolate and tap it a few times to get rid of air bubbles and fill in the details of your mold. Then take your truffle filling, roll it into a ball (a little less than a tablespoon was good for the Darth Vader molds. The Milennium Falcon took a lot more, maybe a tablespoon and a half? I didn't measure it). Press the filling down into the mold, until the chocolate starts to come up the sides. (Don't press too hard, or the chocolate will be too thin and break when you try to remove it). Fill the molds up the rest of the way with chocolate, give it another couple taps to get rid of air bubbles, and chill until the chocolate is firm (I freeze it, usually because I'm impatient).

Then just carefully pop them out of your molds, and give to the geeky celeb of your choice. It will still be weird, but not as weird as carting cupcakes around with you, and they might promise to visit your blog.

Cake Batter Truffles

Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1½ cups flour
1 cup Yellow Cake Mix
1½ tsp. vanilla extract*
½ tsp. almond extract*
3-4 tbsp. milk
Sprinkles
Candy coating (I used dark chocolate flavored. Vanilla or almond would work as well. Or use your favorite chocolate)

Directions
In bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. On low speed, add the flour, cake mix, and extracts, and mix until well incorporated. Add 3 tablespoons of milk (you may have to add more to achieve the right consistency). Stir in the sprinkles.

Melt the candy coating in the microwave or in the top of a double boiler. Fill your molds 1/3 of the way with the coating. Tap gently to get rid of air bubbles. Roll the filling into balls and press them into the molds, until the coating starts to come up the sides. Fill the molds the rest of the way with chocolate, tap again, and chill in the refigerator or freezer until the coating is firm.

*If using store bought cake mix, reduce the vanilla to 1 tsp. and forego the almond extract-- it will be pre-flavored

Recipe adapted from Take a Bite out of Boca

NOTE: I got both ice cube trays off of ThinkGeek, but it doesn't look like they have them anymore. (They're listed as out of stock, but don't show up in the general listings). You can find them elsewhere, like on Amazon or a site like Perpetual Kid

And because I know you want them: Cosplay Photos! (Sightlines were poor in the store, so I didn't get as many as I would have liked)

And finally, I feel like I should apologize for this:

Victoria Cosplay derp face

#sorrynotsorry

Black and White Mini Cupcakes

Did you guys know my momma is part of a local digital photography club?

Of course you didn't. Because I never told you, and you don't know my momma.

Anyway, they had a showcase this past weekend, and they provided free food in order to lure people in. They were supposed to bring finger foods, so my mom volunteered to bring mini cupcakes. And guess who actually did the baking of the cupcakes?

It shouldn't be that hard to guess, since this is a baking blog, and the cupcakes are pictured above.

I suggested the idea of black and white cupcakes (since it was a photography showcase. Black and white cupcakes, like black and white photography, get it?), and my mom loved the idea, so I went with a dark chocolate cake (with a couple drops of black food coloring- the cake is dark enough you don't need much) and a vanilla frosting. I sprinkled them with some black nonpareils I had chilling out in my massive collection of sprinkles, et voila, black and white mini cupcakes!

Except, I think I kind of went too high concept with the idea of black and white cupcakes. Nobody really got it. My mom made a point of telling people they were black and white cupcakes and got no reaction. My dad said there was a guy talking about black and white photography, and he started eating a cupcake, and he didn't make the connection. *le sigh* I mean, it's a photography club. They should be creative types, right? I thought they'd get it. (And there were still most of them left after I got there an hour into the showcase. I am not used to this. Of course, I sent her off with almost 4 dozen, so there is that.)

Anyway, on to the technical parts: the cake is sooper yumtastic. I got the recipe off of Hershey's Kitchens, I just added a little instant coffee to really bring out that chocolate flavor, and I used vanilla bean paste instead of extract because... I'm not completely sure where that ended up, (hashtag movingproblems) and it kind of tasted like the cookie part of an Oreo. Except it wasn't a cookie, it was cake. The vanilla frosting is also reminiscent of Oreo filling, and it's seriously good.

Now, the batter is really easy to bring together (I didn't even need my mixer, just a bowl and a whisk), but it's also really liquidy. So if the cupcakes overflow, it's kind of a disaster. Normally with mini cupcakes, I use one cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon) of batter, and that's fine. For these, one tablespoon was way too much, and they overflowed and baked onto the tin and it wouldn't come out of the tin and I was just left with cupcake carnage. So if you use this to make mini cupcakes, use only 2 teaspoons of batter per cupcake.

But I wouldn't really suggest using it to make mini cupcakes, because it makes a buttload. Seriously. I think I got about 8 dozen, but I lost count around 5 dozen, and I got fed up towards the end (because I only have one mini cupcake tin that only holds 12 cupcakes) and just used the rest of the batter to make a mini cake. So, not really the best batter for making mini cupcakes. But a layer cake or regular cupcakes? Or jumbo cupcakes? Oh yeah, this cake is awesome.

Totally and completely unrelated: what should one do with a buttload of leftover mini cupcakes (sans frosting)? Asking for a friend...

Black and White Mini Cupcakes
Yield: Approximately 8 dozen mini cupcakes

Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
2 cups sugar
1¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1½ tsp. baking soda
1½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. instant coffee
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp. vanilla extract)
A few drops black food coloring
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup solid white vegetable shortening (Crisco)
3½ cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
Pinch salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients, until well mixed. Add the milk, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and mix until well integrated (some lumps are fine). Add the food coloring and mix until the color is even (repeat if necessary to achieve the desired shade). Add the boiling water and mix until smooth (the batter will be very thin).

Line a mini muffin tin with liners (foil works best, but paper is fine), and fill with maximum 2 teaspoons of batter (do not overfill). Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the tops spring back when gently pressed. Allow to cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until smooth. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla bean paste and salt. Gradually increase the speed to high, and whip until light and fluffy.

Cake recipe adapted from Hershey's Kitchens. Frosting recipe by Kim

And a quarter for scale...

Neapolitan Cupcakes

I think summer has officially arrived. I don't care what the calendar says. The temperature's been in the nineties, the pools are opened, the college kids have come home, people are barbecuing, the roses are blooming, it is so totally summer.

And what says summer more than a carton of ice cream, especially that party classic, Neapolitan ice cream.

Now, I'm going to level with you: I only ever ate the vanilla part of the Neapolitan ice cream. Chocolate ice cream is not my favorite (I prefer my frozen treats more on the refreshing side) and I never liked strawberry ice cream. I think because it tastes really artificial, because otherwise I love strawberry anything. But turn it into cupcakes, and Imma stuff my face with them.

These cupcakes are aMAZing. Super moist, super tasty, with chunks of real strawberries in the middle. Basically, I just split my birthday cake cupcake batter into 3. To one I added melted semi-sweet baking chocolate, to another, I added some strawberry preserves and diced strawberries, and the third kept simple, reliable vanilla. You can easily use your favorite vanilla cake recipe (so long as it yields approximately the same volume of batter) or even a box mix. I won't tell.

But the real reason I made these cupcakes was because I wanted to see if I could swirl 3 flavors of frosting together. And guess what?

Nailed it!

The chocolate frosting I made a little too thin, which is why you just see that thin ribbon of it (and you can see how it's a little more wavy than the vanilla or strawberry). But it still looks amazing, and that's an easy fix.

I meant to take pictures to show you guys how I did it, but I forgot. But the secret is really super simple: plastic wrap. Roll up a thin log of frosting in plastic wrap, twist up the ends, snip off one end, and place in piping bag. Repeat with other colors/flavors. You can also do this with disposable piping bags, but plastic wrap is cheaper, and unless you're using a giant piping bag, that gets a bit awkward to hold. 

I forget where I originally saw this method (I think it might have been on Instructables) but it was one of those so-simple-it-hurts d'oh moments. Like, how did I not think of that without someone having to tell me? But before I found that tip, swirling more than one color of frosting seemed impossible, or at least too complicated to be feasible. Now I look for excuses to swirl colors.

I've been told that I didn't need go crazy and make a Neapolitan cupcake just so I could swirl 3 flavors of frosting. But it wouldn't make sense to do that on any other flavor.

Duh.

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 recipe Birthday Cake Cupcakes (vanilla extract reduced to 1/2 tsp.)*

1 1/2 oz. semisweet baking chocolate, melted

1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tbsp. strawberry jam or preserves

Approx. 1/2 cup diced fresh strawberries

2 drops red food coloring (optional)

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the batter as directed, using only 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract. Divide the batter evenly among 3 bowls (1 1/2 cups batter per bowl). In one bowl, mix in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder. In a second, add preserves, diced strawberries, and food coloring, if using. In the third, mix in the extra vanilla extract.

Divide the three batters equally between 24 baking cups. Bake about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on wire racks.

*Feel free to use your favorite vanilla cake recipe or box mix. Be sure to adjust baking times as directed.

Recipe by Kim

Neapolitan Frosting

Ingredients
For the vanilla:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp. solid white vegetable shortening (Crisco)*
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. milk or cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the strawberry:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp. solid white vegetable shortening (Crisco)*
2 tbsp. strawberry sauce or seedless strawberry jelly**
1 cup powdered sugar
Pinch salt
Red food coloring (optional)

For the chocolate:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp. milk or cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
For the vanilla: With an electric mixer, beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until smooth. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar. Add the milk and vanilla and gradually increase speed to high. Whip on high until smooth and fluffy.

For the strawberry: Beat the butter, shortening, and sauce on medium until smooth. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar and salt. Beat on low until just incorporated, then increase speed to high and whip until smooth and fluffy. Add food coloring, if using, until the desired hue is reached.

For the chocolate: Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Mix together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the sugar mixture to the butter mixture. Add the milk and vanilla and gradually increase speed to high. Whip on high until smooth and fluffy.

*The shortening is for texture. Feel free to skip it, if you'd prefer.

**I used strawberry champagne sauce, which was very thin.If using jelly, you might need to add a little milk to help thin out the frosting.

Recipes by Kim

Soft Vanilla Cookies

The job has been taking over my life, you guys. We've got the construction of a new call center space on the first floor right by my desk, a part of the company was bought by a different company, so I've had all these employees-but-not-really-employees and non-employees-but-kind-of-employees coming to me for help because they're not on the network, or no one told them squat before coming here, and we've picked up a new contract so I've got 30 people starting this week alone. On Thursday alone, I was there 12 hours straight.

But I've got nothing on G, who picked up almost triple the amount of overtime I did, because we had one of our sites move buildings, another switched security systems, we upgraded our own security system, and of course, nothing went smoothly. Now she's sick, which is honestly not surprising, and she's going to take the time to relax and get better, or so help me, I'm strapping her down to a bed. Honestly, that woman thinks she's superhuman or something.

So when it came time for me to bake this weekend, I was honestly just in the mood for something sweet and simple. Nothing complicated, nothing that would take too long, something that yielded minimum effort and maximum reward.

I was craving some big, soft cookies, and I decided on vanilla to satisfy my need for simple and sweet. I added some cornstarch to help keep them soft (and a little too much leavening. I've reduced that in the recipe. But if you like super puffy cookies, increase the baking powder to 1 1/2 teaspoons).

Vanilla is one of those ingredients that is used almost all the time in baking, but is rarely ever allowed to shine by itself. When it is, it tastes old-fashioned and classic, like a soft-serve ice cream cone on a warm summer day. It's something that's never going out of style.

These cookies are soft without quite getting cakey, sweet without being overly so, and the tops are speckled with real crushed vanilla beans from the vanilla sugar. And they've got that sort of simple, old-fashioned flavor that would make them great with tea.

The sister-in-law loved these so much that she asked me where I got the recipe.
Me: I made it up.
SIL: How do you do that?
Me: I just kind of throw ingredients into the mixer until it looks like cookie dough.

And now you know my top-secret, totally scientific process. Shhhh


Soft Vanilla Cookies {Printable Version}
Yield: About 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups, plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. vanilla sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well after each addition. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, corn starch, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix until fully incorporated.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonful on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat, leaving minimum 2 inches between each. Using your finger or a fork dipped in water, flatten each cookie slightly. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar and bake about 8 minutes, or until the bottoms start to brown. Cool completely on wire racks.

Recipe by Kim

Sweet Vanilla French Toast Sticks

There are certain benefits to being a pantser like me. For one thing, it means most of the things I write or make or create are going to be original. It's like I'm giving myself a surprise, because I often don't know myself how these things are going to turn out. It's a new adventure every time. XD

For another-- and this is especially true of cooking/baking-- it means I have to use the things that I already have on hand. If I don't have something, and I don't know how to substitute it, it means I'm probably not making that recipe. That doesn't mean that I never go out to buy ingredients, but as I'm generally in my pajamas when I start rummaging through the kitchen looking for something to make, and I'm generally too lazy to actually get dressed and go out before I start cooking, it's very rare. Unless the insomnia monster hit and I'm up at 4 in the morning and I'm a wee bit manic and I run to the store right when it opens. Or I'm already going to the store for staples like flour, butter, and sugar.

These French toast sticks are an example of how little I actually like going to the store. I found the recipe for them in Fast Food Fix and saw they used Hawaiian sweet bread. I almost flipped right past it, because Hawaiian sweet bread isn't exactly a staple in my house, and I'm not even sure if the stores around me carry it (the first time I ever even heard of it was when I was in Florida a few years back). I certainly wasn't going to go looking for it.

Then I remembered that I had a box of sweet bread mix that I had nabbed from Wegman's on one of my rare ingredient runs. So I lugged out Max, my bread machine, mixed up the dough, and was able to clear something out of the pantry and make these French toast sticks. Double win.

(Yes, I spent 3 hours making bread so I didn't have to go to the store. What? I said I was lazy)

These French toast sticks are very sweet, and certainly not something I'd make for an everyday breakfast. But for a brunch or special occasion, these suckers are totally winners. Sweet, vanilla-y, with just a hint of cinnamon, and the slight carmelization of the sugar the sticks are dipped in, these are a totally great alternative to doughnuts. Serve with butter and maple syrup, or dust with powdered sugar. These are eminently nommable breakfast treats.


Sweet Vanilla French Toast Sticks {Printable Version}
Yield: 10 sticks

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 tbsp. milk
½ tbsp. vanilla extract
½ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Approx. 4 oz. Hawaiian sweet bread (2 sandwich-sized rolls)
2 tbsp. butter or vegetable oil

Directions
In a wide mouthed, shallow bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and ground cinnamon.

Cut the bread into strips, about 1 inch wide, and ½ an inch thick. Heat the oil or butter in a skillet over medium heat. Working with one strip at a time, dip in the egg mixture to coat completely (but do not soak), and then coat in the sugar mixture. Place the strips in an even layer in the skillet and cook about 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Dust with powdered sugar if desired, and serve warm.

Recipe adapted from Fast Food Fix