Bake. Laugh. Eat. Repeat.
Let’s continue the Spring train today (hoping Spring, itself, will hop on at the next stop) with some lovely, sweet pastries.
What do you say?
I say yes! And you can’t stop me!
But do you really want to?
Even if I offer you a warm empanada?
Made with flaky butter crust wrapped around a fruity, coconut-laced filling?
What’s that you say?
You wouldn’t even dream of standing in my way?
I didn’t think so…
I know what you’re thinking…
Uh, M.? Didn’t you forget something?
Don’t you want to be dipping these cupcakes in some sort of candy coating?
Dunking in ganache and finishing with a generous shellacking of sprinkles?
Alley-ooping into a bath of sugar and glazing with serious case of regret, early-stage cavities, and extra poundage??
Nope. That’s next week’s post.
Seriously, all of the above have their own special place in both my heart and the canon of modern dessert artistry, but after a weekend of vacationing and indulging with A., I wanted to dial things back just a bit – does that ever happen to you?
I mean, I didn’t want to relinquish my death grip on the sugar bowl – that’s just crazy talking crazy talk. But, thankfully for my teeth and my waistline, I actually found myself craving wholesome sweets that are still satisfying but maybe just a little bit less guilt-inducing.
Dig? Dig.
Most people don’t think of walnuts when they think of southwestern food, but the reality is that they are a part of this desert’s culinary landscape. I like them for their less aggressive flavor, and I love them paired with flax here for all kinds of satisfying crunch.
But, again, we’re not engaging in any crazy talking crazy talk: there’s heaps of fluffy, canela-spiked cream cheese frosting to go on top of these lovelies.
I mean, seriously, we have our standards, don’t we?
Of course we do. Which is why we’ll be returning to our regularly scheduled candy-coated, chocolate-dipped, streusel-slathered programming in no time.
Walnut & Flax Frosted Cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. flax meal
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. whole walnuts
For the frosting:
3 c. whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c whole milk
1 tsp. canela, ground (ground cinnamon may be substituted)
Chef’s Note: This frosting recipe yields quite a bit – I really wanted to top these cupcakes as generously as possible. The recipe can easily be halved, however, and the cupcakes topped less liberally if you prefer.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line 15 of the cups of 2 standard (12-cup) muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside.
To prepare the cupcakes, whisk the flour, flax meal, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
Spread the walnuts in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant. Set aside to cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, rough chop and set aside.
Meanwhile, cream the sugar and oil together in a large bowl. Mix in the vanilla extract and then the eggs, one at a time. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the walnut pieces. Fill each prepared muffin cup approximately halfway full with batter (I used a 3-tablespoon scoop here, just to keep things even) and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Set cupcakes aside to cool before frosting.
To prepare the frosting, place the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk and ground cinnamon together in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on low speed just to combine. Once blended, adjust the mixer speed to high and whip until light and fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove and frost cooled cupcakes generously. Serve immediately or store in a covered container for up to 4 days.
YIELD: approximately 15 frosted cupcakes
So this girl walks into the kitchen and finds her dog eating a puffy taco.
Sounds like the start to a joke, right?
I mean, I’m sure you’re expecting the follow-up to involve three rabbis in a rowboat, or someone somewhere crossing the road for some reason other than just to get to the other side…
Right?
Sadly, in this girl’s case, the story of the dog and the puffy taco is nothing other than cold hard reality.
And a visual metaphor for the crazy chaos that has been my first 17 days of 2013.
Do you ever see something in front of your very eyes and it just hits you?
Well that was me, watching sweet lil’ 9 lb. B. dominate the sad leftovers of last night’s vegan puffy taco feast.
I don’t know how he got his hands on that puffy taco. And I don’t know exactly why my reaction was to burst out laughing like a hyena instead of trying to tear it from his grasp and scolding him vigorously.
No. Instead I laughed, I offered to pass him the salsa, I went to my inner Zen place, and I acknowledged that I may need to slow down a little. Calm down a little. Secure the trash more tightly a little.
Have you been spending the last few days celebrating some independence? Picnicking? Pool partying? Grilling and fireworking?
As you should, my friend!
Summer is in full effect -just look at the mercury if you had any doubt- and it’s about time to get into some baseballing. Like this week’s All-Star Game coming at you straight from Kansas City! A. and I will be watching. A. and I will be celebrating. A. and I will be taking a break from our picnicking, pool partying, grilling and fireworking to enjoy the All-Star action. Perhaps you should too.
Not a lot of words today. Just a few pictures.
Pictures telling the story of a clumsy batch of Agave Nut Bars that tripped and fell into some melted chocolate.
Really? Be more careful, lil’ Agave Nut Bars! What if you’d fallen into a pot of my mole negro?!? Uh… whatever. More on that later.
I remember back in the day, when cell phones were enormous and hair was enormouser, my friends and I would scour the Earth for CD releases from our favorite indie bands. As soon as we were able to score a CD or two, we’d lock the door to one of our rooms and sit around listening to each track over and over and over and over, hating on the world and loving on the music.
At some point it became a thing for bands to include double top-secret bonus tracks that lucky listeners would have to find on their own. Imagine skipping over track after track after track hoping to find that hidden gem. This girl did it. Because once you found it you were the coolest kid in town, sharing your bonus goodness find with anyone who you deemed worthy.
If you’ve read this book, you know that Crack Pie is listed as the bonus track to the rest of the book’s string of hits.
I found that hidden track. I’m sharing it with you. Prepare to have your brain fall out of your head. It’s time for Crack Pie.
The recipe for Crack Pie is deceptively simple. You’re making a crust and you’re making a filling. Duh.
You need to use your stand mixer. And you need to pay attention while you’re baking. But you’ll be churning out two whole pies in no time.
I suspect the key to successful Crack Pieage is twofold:
1. Creaming the filling in a stand mixer. The book flat out says it. And it makes sense since you’re not filling with mounds of apples or pecans or anything else with its own texture and consistency. You’re making your pie filling from scratch so it needs to be perfecto. You can do it with a hand mixer, and things will still taste stellar. It just might not be, you know, crack-like.
2. Baking the pies carefully, at the correct temperatures, for the correct amount of time. The recipe instructs a baking time of 15 minutes at 350° before you lower the temp to 325° and bake until only the bulls-eye center remains jiggly. My oven is stoopit so I really needed to watch carefully as I lowered the temperature, alternating between keeping the door open and then closed so that the temp dropped but not too low. No biggie. Just keep your eye on it.
I like festive foods, don’t you? And I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what makes food festive.
Mini foods are festive. Ironically so are big foods.
But colorful foods are where it’s at. Colorful food makes me want to party like a rock star, and I think 9 out of 10 people share this view.
So you best get your party pants on: we’re about to dive into some colorful Confetti Cookies.
As with all good things in life, these cookies start with a shamefully large supply of butter. And eggs. Get ready for it.
But the key to the Confetti Cookie is a whole bunch of rainbow sprinkles. Sprinkles in the cake crumbs that you make first, and sprinkles directly in the cookie dough that you make later.
I know you’re feeling festive right about now. Unless you’re that 1 out of 10, in which case I can’t help you.
Here’s the thing about these cookies: they’re ginormous. I baked them off three to a sheet. Three cookies! One sheet pan! But they’re so colorful and prettie that it’s hard to be mad.
