MSC – Triple Citrus Cupcakes

Upon reading the title and the recipe I wondered if the lemon would overpower the lime and orange flavors, but they didn’t.

They lived in harmony. Moist and tender crumb, beautiful flecks of zest peeking through the tops, an inviting aroma, lightly sweet and flavorful, these were a stunner. Now that’s what I call a happily ever after.

The texture was more muffin like to me so I only glazed one for show and left the rest plain to give away as a breakfast treat. I halved the recipe and used the zests of one lemon, one lime and one clementine. These were VERY well liked by the fiancé’s coworkers. They disappeared in no time, and I can understand why.

Another winner Martha. You don’t disappoint.

Thanks to Marthe from Culinairy Delights for choosing this recipe. You’ll have to get Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes book for the recipe.

Up next month: Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. These are great!

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SMS- Perfect Pound Cake

Sadly, I don’t have fond memories of my grandma in the kitchen with an adorable little apron, baking up her super extra secret recipe pound cake for me.

This is mainly due to the fact that I would have rather bothered the fishies in the pond, chased random bunnies, or wander aimlessly around the HUGE (to a child) backyard picking at all the bushes and trees for juicy fruit or smelling the endless amounts of flowers, than to be stuck in the hot kitchen while she fiddled with things on the counter that I was too short to see.

BOOOOOOOOOORING!! Hey, I was a kid! I needed adventure and excitiement. I NEEDED BUNNIES!! And back then I wasn’t finding my daily dose of adventure sitting in the kitchen. (Boy, am I eating my words now or what?)

But I miss that backyard. I miss my Oma. I have been thinking about you much more often than usual as of late. I can thank baking for that. I always remember devouring your goodies (I just don’t remember watching you baking them) and now I have picked up baking and I think that you would be proud. 🙂

This pound cake came together ridiculously fast and was ready in about 30 mins in my oven, but I baked for an extra 5 mins just to be certain that the cake was completely done (which I kicked myself for later, it was a bit on the dry side).

I made a simple orange glaze for it (1/4 cup oj + 1/4 sugar. bring to a roaring simmer until it thickens. stir and pour. easy as pie!) because I wanted the simplicity of the cake to shine!!

And shine it did. Just not for very long, its already gone 😉

*gone*

For the recipe, head on over to see Michele at Veggie Num Nums!

SMS – Truffles (4 different ways)

When I bake from a recipe I usually don’t take much creative license. I’m just too afraid that if I substitute anything or remove something that the concoction will just blow up in my face like a chemistry experiment gone awry.

But this has been bothering me a bit and I decided that I should just take the bull by the horns. I wanted to get creative! I wanted to take a written recipe and make it my own!

Forget baby steps. Psh, try leaps and bounds!! Ok, maybe its just leaps and bounds to ME but this took some creativity on my part and I think I fared quite well!! I took the base truffle recipe (made 1-1/2 times the recipe and separated into 4 batches) and nipped, tucked, sploshed, and rolled until I ended up with 4 different, tasty variations of these delightful truffles.

First up is the Almond truffle. I substituted chopped toasted almonds for the hazelnuts (mainly because I couldn’t find them) and almond extract for the hazelnut liquor and I rolled them in cocoa powder.

For the second variation I  added the zest of 1 orange and rolled it in chopped chocolate bits.

For the third variation I added Bailey’s Irish Cream liquor and rolled them chopped almonds.

For the last variation I added peppermint extract and rolled them in chopped white chocolate. I think I’ll be making these around Christmas. How cute would they be boxed and tied with a big red bow?

It says that these are best served room temperature but I find that they are on the mushy side so I prefer them chilled.

For the original recipe you can visit Annie from Living Life Foodcariously.

For more pics of these lovely truffles, click here.

TWD – Brownie Buttons!

If I tell you a little secret will you promise not to hate me, yell at me or write me off? Stone me with month old biscuts? Promise? Ok. Here goes…

I’ve never technically made brownies from anything other than a box.

I know, I KNOW! What kind of self proclaimed baker could I possibly be having not made from scratch brownies?

The argument (in my head, mind you) usually goes something like this:

“crap, gotta make brownies”  –  find recipe.

“mmm these look good”  –  I hope I don’t ruin these.

“just doooo it, chicken”  –  eep. scared. never made brownies.

“tick, tock”  –  running out of time! arg!

“get on with it!”  –  WHAT? Not enough ______? UGH!!

“le sigh. boxed brownies it is”  –  whew. what a relief.

*Sigh* So you see, its all a giant jumble of fear for wasting ingredients and turning out something completely inedible and a lack of time management. Did I mention I’m a procrastinator?

Well let me tell you, I have changed my ways. Pinky promise. At least on using boxed brownies for everything. They definately taste better homemade AND they instill a sense of pride I never knew I could bestow upon myself!

See how pretty? I just LOVE the craters in brownies, don’t you?

Dorie’s brownie buttons were originally supposed to be made in a MINI muffin pan BUT I didn’t have one (and I wasn’t about to buy one for $30 at the last minute… I mentioned I’m a procrastinator, right?) so I made then in a regular ole cupcake pan. And darnit, they are still cute as…. well…. buttons!! It yielded 7. I promptly ate the odd one out, I have a quirk about even numbers. Don’t ask.

The only thing I changed was that I used the zest of an entire orange, rather than half. It looked so lonely only half zested and I figured what the heck… orange and chocolate are a match made in heaven anyhow. I also didn’t “dip” my brownies in the melted white chocolate. Instead, I melted a handful of white chocolate chips and piped dots on each brownie. Why you ask? Well they ARE called BUTTONS. Duuuuh. 🙂

Let me tell you, these are good! Have you ever eaten those chocolate oranges? They are a bit reminiscent of those. My mom used to buy those for me on her way home from work so, these brownies are quite nostalgic for me.

Tony on the other hand, won’t touch them with a ten foot pole. “Fruit in baked goods is gross” he says. *shakes head* Men 🙂

For the recipe visit Jayma’s blog Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen

For more pictures of these lovelies click here.