Cupcakes for a Friend

First Friday's. That's what a few friends and I call our time together. We have decided that we will get together on the first Friday of every month. That way we know we will get to see each other and we will (try) not to make any other plans!

My friend B emailed to remind me that our other friend's birthday was coming up and that we (read: me) should make something sweet and that she will bring party hats! The birthday girl doesn't like chocolate and she loves peeps! I didn't have time to go to the store to get her peeps so I scoured the cupboards and cookbooks to see what I could make with ingredients I had on hand. I found this recipe for Vanilla cheesecake crumb-top cupcakes and they sounded delicious!


I made a few substitutions and changed a few things from the recipe and I do believe they probably made for a better cupcake. I used cake flour instead of AP flour, butter instead of corn oil, yogurt instead of sour cream and omitted the lemon from the cheesecake filling. An amazingly light, moist cake with the wonderful cream cheese topped with sugary-crumbs. These are so good. I recommend you go and make them right away. It may look like a lot of steps but I was able to get these into the oven in 30 minutes (which is how long the baby decided to nap!).

My friends both loved them (as did their boys) and I'm looking forward to enjoying a few more with some coffee this afternoon.



Vanilla Cheesecake Crumb-Top Cupcakes
Adapted from cupcakes! by Elinor Livans

Preheat oven to 325. Line the muffin tins with cupcake liners. Spray the inside of each liner with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the cheesecake filling and topping. Then make the cupcakes. (See all recipes below)

Assembly:

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the batter into each liner. Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cheesecake filling into the center of each; it will spread slightly over the batter. Sprinkle a generous tablespoon of crumb topping over each (the more the better for me).

Bake just until the edges brown lightly and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 20 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before removing.

Cover and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Cheesecake Filling
8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Mix in the vanilla. Set aside

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup cake flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Stir the flour, brown sugar and salt together using a large spoon. Add the melted butter and stir until crumbs form.

Vanilla Cupcake Batter
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (strained overnight to make a thick yogurt cheese)

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg and yolk (on medium speed) and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, mix in the butter and vanilla until blended. Mix in the yogurt until no white streaks remain. Mix in the flour mixture until batter is smooth.

Chocolate on my mind.

Growing up I didn't like chocolate. I know, crazy right? I didn't know why I just never wanted to eat it. I preferred (and still do prefer) chewy candy. Jelly bellys, licorice, hot tamales, skittles, cinnamon bears. Give me any of those and I will eat them until I feel sick, seriously. But now I know why I didn't like chocolate, I only knew about the super sweet milk chocolate. After being introduced to dark chocolate and good quality chocolate I became a huge fan!

Oh, and hot chocolate. Once I learned that you can make your own, and just how delicious that is, no more packaged hot chocolate for me! Good chocolate, cocoa powder with a little milk and homemade marshmallows...incredible!

I still would rather eat licorice but when I do crave chocolate these are a few of my favorite things to make. What is your favorite chocolate recipe?

Chocolate Bar

Cocoa covered almonds

Chocolate popcorn

Chocolate mendiants

Chocolate milan cookies

Cacao nib cookies

Chocolate peppermint wafer cookies


And something else sweet, little M enjoying all my dessert cookbooks :)

New Life, New Growth

Last year before Miette was born a few friends came over to help me plant my Summer garden. Because I knew for sure that by the Summer I would be cooking up a storm and would, of course, want to use all the vegetables from the garden. Well, that didn't happen. I was a bit overwhelmed with being a new mom and the garden was neglected. There was a point when the cucumbers grew to be as long as my little one! And now, since I'm making all of the baby food for Miette I want to grow as much food for her that I can.

For the first time I planted seeds in all my beds, instead of seedlings. The next thought was how in the world can I keep my dog out of the soil. She just loves digging a hole and taking a nap right on top of my seedlings. So my genius husband came up with the idea of placing yarn over the top of the beds and it works!


We also decided to plant the fruit trees in the ground instead of keeping them in pots. Hopefully this will produce more fruit. For now we have lemon, lime and a Fuji apple tree. The almond tree just started blooming and looks just beautiful!

So there you have it, my Winter garden. Miette enjoys being outside with me while I garden so I think I will do a good job of not neglecting the garden this year!


Oh and this is what I will be tackling this week. Every year this weed, bermuda buttercup, completely takes over the backyard. A few years ago we ripped up the grass and put down decomposed granite in the hopes of having less work in the yard. Unfortunately now we have more work. The only way to get rid of it is to pull it up, root and all. Oh boy...

Cooking Classes

Hello!

Well I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. Baby M is 9 months old and I've been busy taking care of her, making her baby food, making food for Brian and I and just enjoying life. I'm planning to start up some cooking classes this Spring and Summer and was wondering what type of classes you would be interested in taking.

I have a few ideas but want to hear from you! So tell me, what do you want to learn?

A 3-course Spring dinner. Soup, main course and dessert.

Homemade pasta plus fresh sauces.

Homemade breads, a great way to get an arm workout and to save money!