Birthday Celebrations with Lemon Bar Cupcakes

February seems to be the birthday month for those around me. I have at least 4 friends and my brother's birthday to celebrate this month. This past week, my friends and I celebrated the birth of one of the best - Brittany - with wine, appetizers, comedy, and cupcakes. Britt loves lemon bars, and I was determined to find a recipe for lemon bar cupcakes. I came across a number of recipes, but ended up mixing and matching to make my unique cupcakes. The result - delicious lemon cupcakes, with a shortbread crust, filled with lemon curd, and topped with lemon cream cheese frosting. Yum!! And a perfect treat for someone who gave up chocolate for Lent (me!).

There are a lot of ingredients in this recipes, and a lot of parts to it. If you are looking for fast cupcakes, these are not it. This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes, so you have plenty to share :)

Cake, crust, and lemon curd ingredients (explained further below)

Shortbread Crust:

33 Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies (crushed)  

*You can use any short bread cookies here

6 Tbsp sugar

6 Tbsp melted butter 

Place shortbread cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Stir until combined. Set aside. 

Lemon Curd:

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1cup fresh lemon juice

3 lemons, zested

1/2 cup butter, melted

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs.

2. Stir in the lemon juice, lemon zest, and melted butter. Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, stirring after each minute until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. This means its ready to go! Set aside.

Lemon Cake Ingredients: 

1 cup butter, room temperature

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp lemon zest

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs, plus 3 egg yolks

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup low-fat buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with papers. 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.

3. In a large bowl, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in 2 tbsp lemon juice. 

4. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until combined.

5. Take bowl of shortbread crumb crust mixture. Place a tablespoon of the mixture at the bottom of each muffin cup. Use the back of a spoon, or your fingers, to pack crumbs into the bottom of the cup. If any remaining crumbs, you can use on top of cupcakes.

6. Drop 1/3 cup of lemon batter into each cup.

7. Take lemon curd and drop 1/2-1 tsp into each cup filled with batter. The lemon curd with disappear into the batter. 

8. Bake for 20-23 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. 

9. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

Use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe

Mix in: Lemon juice, yellow food coloring

Ice cupcakes as desired. Sift powdered sugar over the top.

New cupcake display! 

These cupcakes were light, lemony, and delicious! A nice change from the typical rich chocolate or red velvet. These would be great for a spring or summer dessert. A group of beautiful ladies celebrating with  appetizers, wine, cupcakes, and comedy night was a success!

Happy Birthday, Britt! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day all you lovers out there! The day of roses and chocolate and romantic gestures is upon us. And whether you are single, dating, engaged, or married, you can always enjoy delicious treats of the holiday even if you have to make them yourself! And if you don't have someone else to bake for, you can always make them to share with friends. One of my friends sent me a few recipe ideas for red velvet cake that is healthier and less calories than traditional cakes. The one I chose to make is from the American Cancer Society and was chosen by my favorite, Chef Duff Goldman himself! You can find the original recipe here. The recipe is a cake recipe, but I modified it for cupcakes. The recipe makes almost 24 cupcakes. 

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:
1 12oz can of small beets, pureed
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs, 2 large egg whites
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp instant coffee
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Directions for Cake:


1. Preheat oven to 375. Line pan with cupcake paper wrappers. 
2. Combine oil, eggs, egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until smooth and light colored. 
3. Melt chocolate. Add the teaspoon of instant coffee to the melted chocolate. Stir until combined.
4. Turning the speed on mixer down to low, drizzle the melted chocolate into the mixture. Once the chocolate has been added, turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl. 

5. In a separate bowl, combine the cocoa powder, apple sauce, and beet puree. Add this to the chocolate mixture. Place the mixer on medium and mix, scrape down sides and turn off mixer. 

6. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together (flours, salt, baking soda) and gently fold into the mixture. 

7. Pour batter into cupcake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. 
8. Cool cupcakes completely.


Directions for Chocolate Berry Ganache:


Ingredients: 2 oz heavy cream, 1 1/2 oz berry puree, 4 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate (broken into small pieces)


For this ganache, I used Ghirardelli chocolate and a mixture of fresh strawberries and blackberries. You can make the puree from fresh or frozen berries.


1. Boil cream in a small pot.
2. While the cream is boiling, warm the berry puree in the microwave.
3. Once cream has boiled, add berry puree and stir to combine.
4. Pour over chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside and allow to cool so it becomes slightly thick.

5. While ganache is cooling, you can prepare the cupcakes to be filled. Cut off the top of the cupcake and scoop out some of the center. 

6. Fill inside of the cupcake with Chocolate berry ganache. Cover with top of the cupcake that you cut off to prepare for decorating. 

Nom!!

Directions for the Cream Cheese Frosting: 


Ingredients: 24 oz reduced fat/fat free cream cheese (room temperature), 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract 

Cream cheese must be at room temperature or it is very hard to mix.

1. Lightly beat cream cheese and vanilla until smooth.
2. Scrape sides of bowl then add powdered sugar. Cream together until smooth. Do not over mix or frosting will become too soft. 
3. Decorate with frosting as you desire!

I used my favorite decorating tool, a stainless pastry bag, for most of the cupcakes.

For a little added decoration, I made chocolate heart decorations. Melt chocolate and using a plastic bag, draw hearts with the chocolate on wax paper. Freeze until ready to use and then garnish cupcake. 

So enjoy Valentine's Day no matter what your status by indulging in a delicious, and kind of healthy, treat! And while your enjoying your treat, read about what cupcakes really do for you in the great article from the Washington Post! 

Superbowl Sunday Funday

Superbowl Sunday is a great day to make all of those dips and appetizer recipes you have been waiting to use all season. Since college, my game day go to was always Buffalo Chicken Dip. Cheese and hot sauce in one dish = amazing. My plan was to make a big bowl of dip with some chips and celery. I spent my morning on Pintrest, and stumbled upon something even more amazing - Buffalo Chicken Braided Stromboli. I was immediately sold on trying out this dish. You can find the recipe here on a great cooking blog that I follow.

And we can't forget about dessert! My second dish today is for all those who love sweet and salty. This dish made me think of pretzel M and M's. The recipe is adapted from Food and wine and the original can be found here.


Ingredients:
Pizza Dough Roll
1 can of shredded chicken
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 cups shredded cheese
1/2-3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
1/4-1/2 cup hot sauce
Parmesan cheese

1. Roll out pizza dough and measure 3 inches on either side.

2. Add a cup of cheese down the center of the dough.

3. Add canned chicken, blue cheese, red onions, and hot sauce.



4. Cut 1 inch thick strips on either side of the buffalo dip.

5. Start braiding. Pick up one strip and fold it over, pressing it against the opposite strip.

6. Sprinkle with Parmesan and place in oven heated to 425 for 11-15 minutes.

7. Let cool. Slice into pieces. The dip stays inside!

Now for the Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Bars

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
12 oz bag chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini pretzels, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp chocolate sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper, letting it hang over the sides.

2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat the butter with both sugars at medium speed until light, 1 minute. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients. Stir in the chips and pretzels

4. Spread the batter in the pan and top with the sprinkles. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden; the center will still be a little gooey. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool completely.

5. Cut into squares and enjoy with a big glass of milk!

The buffalo chicken dip stromboli was amazing! I will definitely make it again, even if it is not until next football season. One change I would have made would be to add more hot sauce. It would also be good with some sort of hot cheese dip on the side or on top. Yum! The chocolate chip pretzel bars could have used a little more pretzel to reach the saltiness level I would have liked, but they were overall delicious! Both were great additions to the Superbowl party spread. Even though it wasn't the Steelers playing, it was a great game. Good job Giants!

PB and J Cupcakes...take 2!

Warning: Milk is a must when making this recipe!!


There is one food I can not live with out - Peanut Butter. I love PB and J's, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter pie, and simply peanut butter on a spoon. Most of my friends and family have tried my baking, but my new bible study group has yet to indulge in a delicious desert. I was hoping to go on a healthy dessert streak, but let's face it, peanut butter really isn't very healthy. And unfortunately when you want to impress others with your baking, low fat and low calorie is not the way to go. For my second bible study meeting, I decided to satisfy every one's sweet tooth with one of my favorites - Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes. My roommate knows me so well and bought me a book for Christmas called "500 Cupcakes." Not only does it have great recipes, it has many alternatives you can use to change up any cupcake.


For my newest delicious creation, I chose a recipe for peanut butter cupcakes, filled with jelly and topped with peanut butter chocolate frosting.

                                                     PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened                            1 cup sugar

2 cups cake flour                                     2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp salt                                                   4 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk                                   1 cup crunch PB

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 18 muffin cups with cupcake baking cups.

2. Combine butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, and buttermilk in a large bowl a beat with a mixer until smooth.

3. Stir in the peanut butter until well combined.

4. Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Remove pans and cool.

JELLY FILLING

1. Once cool, use a sharp knife to slice off the top of the cupcake. Fill with jelly. I used both grape and apple jelly, but it would be good with any kind.

2. Put top of the cupcake back on to prepare it for frosting.

FROSTING

Ingredients:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
2 tbsp of milk
2 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Combine the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar along with the milk, and beat until well combined. Add cocoa powder and mix until combined.

2. Frost cupcakes as desired!

My new frosting tool! I finally was able to use it and it is amazing!
I can't wait to play with it more.

PB and J cupcakes with peanut butter chocolate frosting.

This cupcake is delicious! It is rich and peanut buttery, so it must be enjoyed with a large glass of milk. These cupcakes are anything but healthy, but oh so good! They are worth it! I hope that my new bible study group enjoys them tomorrow, and maybe I will even get some clients ;)

You can keep your New Year's Resolution with cupcakes!

It feels good to be back! It has been a while, between the craziness of the holidays and trying to avoid the sugar and butter after all the cookies I ate in the few weeks around Christmas. My new mission - healthy desserts and meals! I love baking for others, but come January most of us make the typical New Year's Resolution - swearing off sweets and hitting the gym more often. But most of us have a sweet tooth that we can't ignore. I often bring my treats to share at work, but 2 weeks ago we started a Biggest Loser challenge. It is a fun way to build community, as well as motivate staff to take better care of themselves. So for my first meeting that I had to bring snacks for, I decided it was fitting to try out a few low-calorie cupcakes. I thought it would be impossible to find but....success! Both recipes use a lot of alternatives to typical baking ingredients such as applesauce, honey, and Greek yogurt.

Cupcake #1 - White cake with Raspberry cream cheese "frosting". This first recipe comes from Chef Curtis Stone. He made it on an episode of the Biggest Loser. The cake part of these cupcakes was a bit bland, but it allowed the raspberry topping to really shine. These cupcakes are only 60 calories, and even less if you make them mini cupcakes!

Ingredients for cake:                               Raspberry Frosting:

5 egg whites                             1 cup nonfat cream cheese

3 Tbsp honey                                  1 cup fresh raspberries

2 tsp vanilla extract                    Fresh raspberries to garnish

1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt                

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt                                           

Directions for White Cake with Raspberry Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line cupcake tin with liners and spray lightly with non stick spray.

2. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and whip on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, or until the whites begin to lighten up and hold their shape.

3. Increase speed to high and whip in salt and honey until whites hold soft peaks. Then add vanilla extract.

4. Fold in yogurt

5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.

6. Sift the dry ingredients into the egg whites a little at a time, folding them in with a rubber spatula. 

7. Once mixed, scoop the batter into cupcake tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they gently spring back when pushed on with your finger. Allow to cool completely.

Raspberry Frosting: Puree raspberries in blender. Strain over a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Cool completely and then fold in to cream cheese. *I added a little bit of powdered sugar to sweeten it up a bit* 

Spread on cupcakes and garnish with half of a raspberry. These cupcakes are really cute as minis and the raspberry flavor is great! 

Cupcake #2 - 100 Calorie Moist Chocolate Cupcakes. I found this recipe by doing a simple Google search, and I will definitely use it again! You can find the recipe here. Not only are these cupcakes healthy, they can be easily made vegan. 

Ingredients:

1 cup nonfat milk (dairy or nondairy)        1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp apple cider vinegar                          1/4 tsp salt

1 cup whole wheat flour                          3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder         1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 tsp baking soda                                  1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions for Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake tin with liners and spray lightly with non stick spray. 

2. In a small bowl, stir together milk and vinegar. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, applesauce, and vanilla. Pour in the now curdled milk and mix all ingredients well.

5. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be thin and wet like pancake batter. 

6. Divide evenly among cupcake cups. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. 

Once cupcakes are cool, you can top them with a light whipped frosting. Or you can eliminate the extra calories of frosting and use fat free cool whip, powdered sugar, fruit, or jam.

I topped my cupcakes with sifted powdered sugar, a small spoonful of raspberry jam, and half of a fresh raspberry. These cupcakes were very moist, even without oil and eggs. To make vegan, simply use nondairy milk in the recipe. The cupcakes (unfrosted) are only 108 calories with 0.6g of fat. There is a way to have dessert and still keep your resolutions! 

Tis the Season....for baking!!!

This is a baker's favorite time of year (well at least mine)! I have been so busy baking, that I forgot about blogging! One of the things I love most about all this baking is passing along my creations for others to enjoy. Although everything is homemade, today I am going to focus on the decorating. That's the fun part after all! A lot of the recipes I used for the cake and cookies, I have used in previous blogs. You can use any of your favorite recipes, or mixes if you prefer!

First up - Rudolph cake pops! One of my co-workers gave me the Bakerella cake pop book and they had the idea in there. You can also find it on the Bakerella website. You can use any cake recipe you like. For these, I used a red velvet cake recipe I found with my Babycake maker. If you don't have a cake pop maker, check out my past blog post that shows you here.


Ingredients:
Cooled cake pops
Chocolate, melted in bowl
M&M's or other round candy (brown and red)
Pretzels cut into antler shapes
White and regular chocolate, melted and in pastry bag (or plastic bag with hole)

Dip cake pop in melted chocolate to cover.
Place M & M or other candy on cake pop where you would like the reindeer nose. 

Before chocolate dries, place pretzel antlers on the top.
Add melted white chocolate for eyes.
You can include a small dot of chocolate for the eyeballs as well. 

Next up - Melted Snowman cookies!! These are fun and so easy to make! Use your favorite sugar cookie and icing (or your favorite cookie mix and store bought icing). I used my favorite cookie and icing recipe that you can find here. 


Ingredients:
Sugar cookies
White icing
Large Marshmallows
Melted chocolate - various colors or icing with food coloring in desired colors

After making your cookies, let them cook and then ice them.

Spray a plate with cooking spray and then load up the plate with marshmallows.
Microwave the marshmallows for a few seconds, until they start to expand. 

Place marshmallow on one end of cookies. This will be your snowman's head.

Use your melted chocolate/icing in baggies to decorate your snowman as you choose!
Decorate the marshmallows as the face, and the rest of the cookie with arms. 

Add scarves, bow ties, buttons, and bows! 

So cute! And a hit with children and adults :) 

Now on to - Chocolate peppermint cupcakes! I got the idea from my favorite cooking blog, We Are Not Martha. I used a different chocolate cupcake recipe, but the same icing recipe. Use whatever chocolate cupcake recipe you please. I used this Ghirardelli recipe you can find here. 

Ingredients:

12 chocolate cupcakes, cooled

1 cup of butter, softened

Powdered sugar, 3-4 cups

2 Tbsp milk

2 Tbsp peppermint extract

Cream butter until fluffy.
Add powdered sugar until desired consistency.
Add milk and peppermint extract, blend until combined.

Crush candy canes for decoration. 

Cut cooled cupcakes in half.
Layer peppermint icing on bottom half with a spoon.
Press top back on so icing comes through on sides.
You can roll the cupcake in crushed candy canes to garnish. 

Pipe icing on the top of the cupcake and garnish with candy canes.
Delicious! 

Last, but not least - Steelers Santa hats. These did not come out as neat and pretty as I had hoped, but they are still adorable. Instead of making them as cake pops, like I saw in the Bakerella cake pop book, I made them as Oreo truffles. Yum!


Ingredients:
1 package Oreo cookies
8oz cream cheese, softened
Colored chocolate, melted 
Round white candy, or cut up marshmallow for top

Crush Oreos, including cream center into fine pieces.
Mix with softened cream cheese to form a dough. 

Roll Oreo dough into cone shapes and place on wax paper. 

Dip bottom of the Santa hat into melted white chocolate.
Give them a few minutes to harden.
Dip the other half of the Oreo truffle into melted chocolate color of your choice,
being sure to not overlap with the white.
Add small piece of marshmallow, or round white candy, as the top of hat. 

Decorate with your favorite player's numbers, or team name.
Then share with other fans!

If you can't think of what to buy someone this year, bake them something delicious from my blog! It is one of the best presents you can give ;) 

One more week of baking, then I might need to take a break. 

Until then, Merry Christmas and happy baking!