Tag: Baking

Carrot Cupcakes: Ohhhh yeah…..

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Ah, carrot cake… Is there anything better? All you people with your red velvet and cheesecake obsessions need to take this dollar I’m holding down to the corner and buy yourself a clue. But then, if you make a cake you have this behemoth darkening your fridge. The solution? Well, it’s me so I think the solution is always found in a cupcake pan.

Carrot Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes….

  • 2/3 cup grapeseed oil
  • 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, beaten

For the not-too-sweet frosting ….

  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Nutmeg

Preparation:

  • Wash and skin the carrots. Grab a cheese grater and put on a good audio book while you grate the carrots. If you have one of them fancy food processors, you can use that and save time. I like to save to save space, thus the audio book.
  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Once the carrots are grated, combine them in a small bowl with the oil.
  • In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Make sure you don’t add the eggs.
  • Now, with the dry ingredients mixed, fold in the carrot-oil mixture and take care not to mix it much. You want the batter folded, not mixed.
  • Beat the eggs separately and then fold those in, too. Stir the eggs into the batter just a little, 10-15 swipes of  your spatula.
  • Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners and then, using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
  • Bake for 13 minutes or so. They should be spongy on top and a golden-brown color.
  • Once baked, allow the muffins to cool.
  • Mix your frosting ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and beat at medium speed with a hand-mixer, until light and smooth.
    Note: If you cream cheese is a sticky mess in your mixing blades, turn the speed up and rove around the edges of the bowl. The speed will free the mixture from your blades and get it nice and smooth.
  • Using a rubber spatula, transfer the frosting into a plastic sandwich bag and snip off one edge. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and lightly dust with nutmeg.
  • Hand off the mixing blades to your clean up crew, as available.

Clean up crew

Serve at room temperature, or you can refrigerate them for a few minutes if you want the frosting to be a little firm.

Be prepared to make these often, as they are seriously delicious. I don’t have a big sweet tooth, and thus I modified the original recipe I found at Pinch of Yum to be a more balanced and mildly sweet cupcake. I finally had a proper dessert that kept me coming back for more. If you do like really sweet stuff, just up the powdered sugar in the frosting to 2 cups and call your dentist.

Nom on,

~Crunchy

Cream cheese sopapilla: Cinnamon-sugar perfection

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So I got all ambitious and bought LOADS of cream cheese a couple weeks ago thinking I’d attempt a cheesecake. And it sits there. And it sits there. And it sits there. I’m getting desperate. I need to use this stuff but I just don’t have time to make a cheesecake. Gak! After endless searching I stumble on this adorable little confection. It’s got sugar and spice and its handheld (a theme with me) and …. cream cheese! Yes. The process was still a bit time consuming, but man are these little suckers GOOD. I have had a hard time staying away from them they are so freaking good, and I don’t have a sweet tooth. No doubt they will tickle yours!

Cream Cheese Sopapillas

Ingredients

Filling

  • 1/2 pkg (4 oz) light cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Crust

  • 1 pkg refrigerated pie crusts
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 inch round biscuit cutter, or small juice glass

Preparation

  • Set the cream cheese out to begin softening.
  • Sprinkle flour on your board or cutting surface. Roll out crusts and cut out as many 2 inch rounds as you can. I had to combine and re-roll a few times. You should get about 24 rounds. Pop them in the fridge to keep cool.
  • Once the rounds are done and the cheese has softened, combine the filling ingredients and blend with a hand blender until smooth and soft. Use a rubber spatula to transfer to a sandwich baggie. Set aside.
  • Pre-heat oven to 350.
  • Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and lay out 12 crust rounds.
  • Snip the end off your filling baggie and pipe a small amount of filling onto each round.
  • Top the filling with the remaining 12 crust rounds. Using a fork, press along the edges of each pie to seal the crust layers together.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes.
  • In the meantime,
    • combine sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl. Set aside.
    • melt your butter in a bowl. Set aside.

When ready, let the pies cool just slightly.

  • Coat the tops of your pies.
  • Either dunk and cover your pies in the sugar mixture, or sprinkle over the tops. It just depends on how sweet you want them to be.

Depending on when you serve them, they go great with fresh berries and a vanilla latte. Or you can just guilty pluck one out of the fridge every time you go in the kitchen. I hear tell the calories don’t count if no one sees you eat it.

Nom On, 

~Crunchy

Shout out: Although my version tastes more like a mildly sweet tart, I did want to give credit to the clever baker who created this variation of the traditional sopapilla: http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2013/04/sopapilla-cheesecake-hand-pies/

Baked BBQ Chicken: Chicken-lickin’ good

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I thought for my first post I would share a great recipe for baked ‘BBQ’ chicken. I found this simple approach to getting the sticky, gooey mess I love about BBQ food without the fuss of a grill. I hope you enjoy it!

Baked BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients

  • Chicken Legs or Thighs (the bone-in, dark meat is juicer than boneless chicken breast.)
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Sweet Heat BBQ sauce 

Preparation

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Lay out ckicken on a rimmed, foil covered baking sheet
    • Brush meat with olive oil all over
    • Sprinkle salt and pepper all over
    • Set timer and bake for 20 minutes
  • Pull Chicken from oven
    • Brush chicken all over with BBQ sauce and bake for 7 minutes
    • Repeat once more and check internal temperature. If you have reached 160 degrees, allow chicken to rest
    • If needed, brush chicken with sauce once more and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes
  • For the final round of baking, check the chicken’s temperature to be sure it hasn’t already passed 160°F. If your chicken often turns out dry or chewy, you’re overcooking it. Remember, meat continues to cook after it’s removed from the oven. That’s why recipes tell you to let it “rest”—the internal heat finishes the job.
    In our world of paranoia about bacteria and food poisoning, it’s tempting to overcook meat. But the truth is, overcooked meat tastes terrible. 165°F is all you need. Respect the internal temperature, and let the meat rest.

If you don’t feel like making a big meal, these are delightful to eat with a loaf of fresh bread.

Nom on,

~Crunchy