Becky's Special Spice Cupcakes w/orange citrus glaze

Okay, so I'm doing a ton of baking this weekend. Nibbley Bits has some orders! Yup - it's been awhile, but people still ask sometimes.

Sitting here right now, I already have baked 94 cupcakes and 40 macaroons this morning. There are some meringues in the works tonight, but am waiting for the general humidity and the heat in my oven to go down. This is my new weight-loss plan. Bake when it's hot out and sweat off the weight. The key: don't eat everything I bake.

These are a new recipe that I'm super excited about. Hope you enjoy!

Spice Cupcakes

Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 20 minute

Yields: 2 dzn cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tins
• 4 cups cake flour, sifted, plus more for tins
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
  
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups milk, room temperature

1 recipe orange glaze


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush standard muffin tins with butter; dust with flour, tapping out excess. Alternately, you can use muffin liners
   

2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and spices three times. (This makes for a really well mixed, super fine mixture.
   

3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.
4. Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
5. To finish, place cupcakes on a wire rack set over a baking sheet; spoon glaze over cupcakes, and let set. Cupcakes are best eaten the same day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Enjoy for a nice light, delicate cupcake!

Gluten-Free Apple & Pear Crisp

I know what you're thinking: gluten-free?!? Well, I don't keep a gluten-free kitchen, and frankly I feel like most gluten-free has a bad rap. Plus, it requires a ton of ingredients and just seems like a lot of work. Honestly, I've never tried gluten-free baked goods before. I don't have any dietary need for it and I really do enjoy gluten-y items.

That said...this recipe is gluten-free, white sugar-free, and vegan. It was a challenge for a holiday party in which some of my friends DO have dietary restrictions and can't have the gluten, dairy, or white sugar. So, I set-out to find a recipe that I could make for them...that didn't require a lot of additional ingredients due to the impending move.

Hopefully if you need a dessert recipe for those with some additional dietary needs, this will fit the bill without breaking the bank!

Apple & Pear Crisp
adapted from the Gluten Free Goddess

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 - 40 minutes
Yields: 1-9" pie, serves 4

Ingredients for the fruit filling

• 2 Granny Smith apples, cored & sliced thin
• 2 Yellow Delicious apples, peeled, cored & sliced thin
  
• COOKS NOTE: I honestly just use an assortment of apples that appeal to me.
• 1 large red pear, cored, peeled & sliced thin
• 4 TBS unsweetened apple juice
• 1 TBS raw agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp gluten-free Apple Pie Spice, or cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice mix
• Pinch of Sea Salt
  
  For the crisp topping:
  
  • 3/4 cup organic light brown sugar
    
  • 3/4 cup gluten-free pancake and baking mix, such as Pamela's Baking & Pancake mix or Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Baking & Pancake mix
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3-4 TBS organic shortening or vegan margarine

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Smear a deep 9-inch pie plate with vegan shortening.
2. In a medium to large bowl, toss the apple and pear slices in the apple juice, agave, spices, and a small pinch of sea salt.
3. In a separate bowl, stire together the organic brown sugar, gluten-free flour mix and cinnamon. Add the shortening in small pieces and rub between your fingers until the crumbs are moist and form a crumble topping mixture.
4. Sprinkle a handful of the crumble mixture into the bottom of the prepared pie plate. Spoon in the apple and pear slices; add all the liquid. Top with the remaining crumble mixture.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F, in the center of the over, for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the fruit is fork tender and the filling is bubbling and thickened. The top should be golden brown.
6. Cool a bit on a wire rack before serving warm or at room temperature. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.
7. The crisp may be reheated in the oven or a microwave, but it truly is best eaten the day you make it.

Enjoy!!


By the way...this was highly recommended by both those gluten-free & non. In fact, a lot of people enjoyed this not knowing it was a gluten-free dessert.

Pumpkin Cupcakes: Take Two - Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Pecan Frosting

Okay...so, after my first pumpkin cupcake experiment I was craving a more...mapley flavor, if we remember. I came across this recipe (which I think is the recipe I originally found, then lost, made the other cupcakes, then found again and here we are), and just had to try it.

This may be the quintessential pumpkin cupcake...perhaps one of the most delicious cupcakes I have put in my mouth. As we know, I like cupcakes, so there have been many a cupcake eaten by me. Now, I did make some tweaks to the original recipe which are reflected in my recipe below.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Pecan Frosting

Active time (cupcakes): about 15 minutes / (frosting): about 25 minutes
Cooking time: about 20 minutes
Yields: 18 regular sized cupcakes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• Dash of ground ginger
• Dash of freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown, Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.
   
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
   
3. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, and brown-butter mixture. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.
   
5. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
6. Frost with Maple Pecan Frosting.

Frosting

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 ounces cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar (plus more)
  
• 1/2 cup pecans toasted and finely chopped
• 18 pecan halves, toasted

1. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring maple syrup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, swirling pan occasionally, until reduced by about a third, 10-12 minutes. Pour into a glass measuring cup nested in a bowl of ice water and stir constantly until syrup is very thick and barely warm to touch, 3-4 minutes. Remove from ice water.
   
2. In a bowl, with a mixer on low, beat cream cheese and butter until well blended. Beat in powdered sugar (adjust the amount of sugar to reach your desired consistency); add chopped pecans and mix until well blended; scrape in reduced syrup; beat until smooth.
3. Frost cupcakes and decorate with a pecan half.

These are an amazingly complex, decadent cupcake. They'd be perfect with a cup of tea, coffee or some nice sipping whiskey. Aside from the browning of the butter they are extremely easy.

Enjoy!!

Gingersnaps

I wasn't really thinking when I was baking, so I apologize for the lack of photos on this one...

The gingersnap is one of my favorite cookies - and I think it's perfect for this time of year! Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of gingerbread men. I do love me some gingerbread, and gingersnaps. But it's something about the texture with those little men and a lack of ... pop with the flavor.

I made these for a little cookie swap I went to over the weekend. It's a simple cookie with pizazz, and easy to make to boot. So, without further ado...

Gingersnaps
(Courtesy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook)
Prep: 15 minutes
Bake time: 8 to 10 mins per sheet
Yield: About 4 dozen

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
Granulated Sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Beat the brown sugar, shortening, molasses and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed. (These can also be mixed with a spoon) Stir in the remaining ingredients except for the granulated sugar.
3. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
4. Shape the dough by the rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Dip tops into granulated sugar. Place balls, sugared sides up, about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until just set. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

These cookies are best the next day after the flavors have had time to meld...

Enjoy with some sorbet or a nice cup of tea!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes wtih Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

I really love fall. It's a wonderful time of the year, isn't it? This year I've been a bit obsessed with squash. Baking with it and just plain eating it...roasting it, sauteeing it, making soup...you name it! So when I came across this recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting, it instantly became a must try. Because you know what I love MORE than pumpkin? Yup, that would be maple.

This is a delicious seasonal cupcake...the cupcakes have an amazing texture, and a nice cream cheese frosting. Now...more about the frosting after the recipe...

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Yields: 20-22 regular-sized cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing pans

1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

Ingredients for Frosting:
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup + 1 TBS pure maple syrup

Make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a cupcake pan with 20 - 22 liners.

2. Beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.

3. Add the eggs 1 at a time and beat them in, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. I did 3 additions of flour, 2 of the liquid mixture. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

Make the Frosting:
Beat all the ingredients on medium until light & fluffy.

Okay...so here's my philosophical debate regarding the frosting on these cupcakes. I was really hoping for a more maple-y punch from the frosting on these cupcakes. However, there was only a slight maple-y taste from the frosting, with the tang of the cream cheese overpowering most of the delicate maple flavor (in my opinion). In fact, my recipe reflects additional maple syrup in the frosting, but was afraid to add too much more for fear of making the frosting runny. Next time I make this I'm hoping to try a maple buttercream to see if I get more of a maple-punch.

So please...enjoy this light, fall cupcake and if you have any thoughts on the maple frosting feel free to post a comment!

Enjoy!

Fall is in the Air! Pumpkin Spice Scones

You may not know this about me...but I love fall. It's my favorite season, followed very closely by spring. Something about the transitions..I just love it!

This fall I've embraced the various seasonal foods. I'll take the next couple of days to catch you up to what's been in my kitchen. But let's start with what I made most recently. We just had a house-guest. I feel that whenever possible, fresh baked goods should await a house-guest. It's just how I was raised. And this was a special house-guest, it was Matt's best friend Richard. He was in town so the boys could attend WhiskyFest NYC. (side note...if any of you are interested in whisky check out Matt's blog http://whiskeyapostle.com)

So...in honor of fall, and Richard, I made some pumpkin scones. Now, I'm not really a scone girl. I don't know if it's the taste or the texture or if it's just a mental block. There's something about the word scone that sets me a bit on edge. But we were just at a fantastic b&b upstate (Creek Locks Bed & Breakfast) that had scones one morning for breakfast, so I guess scones were on the brain. And I've been eating as much pumpkin and butternut squash as I can get my hands on lately, so...I decided to scone it up. I think part of the reasoning for this was a somewhat sub-par pumpkin bread I made last week.

I'm totally scavenging this recipe from another cooking blog, so think what you will of me. But below you will find the recipe for Pumpkin Spice Scones. If you want a more thorough accounting of the process went to to make these scones, then please feel free to visit the other blog - it's quite interesting! I somewhat followed the recipe. I added a little more pumpkin then called for, and that was about it. As previously stated...I love pumpkin.


Courtesy of Pinch My Salt
(This recipe takes about 15 minutes to come together and 15-20 minutes to bake)
(Makes 8 scones)

Pumpkin Spice Scones
* 1 C. all purpose flour
* 1 C. cake flour
* 1 1/2 t. baking powder
* 1/2 t. salt
* 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 t. ground nutmeg
* 1/4 t. ground allspice
* 1/4 t. ground ginger
* 6 T. unsalted butter
* 1/2 C. raisins (optional)
* 1/3 C. pumpkin puree
* 1/3 C. heavy cream
* 6 T. brown sugar
* 1 t. vanilla

Plus ingredients for icing (see below)

* 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!).

1a. Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refrigerator.

1b. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).

* 2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out.

2a. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them.

* 3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be.

3a. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.

* 4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching.

4a. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.

* Icing:
- For ginger molasses icing:
*Stir together 1 C. powdered sugar, 1 T. molasses, 1-2 T. milk, and 1/4 – 1/2 t. ground ginger (to taste). Adjust the
amount of sugar or milk to make the icing the consistency you want. It should be pretty thick.
- For cinnamon icing:
*Stir together 1 C. powdered sugar, 2 T. milk, 1/4 – 1/2 t. cinnamon (to taste). Again, adjust amounts to change
consistency. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.

Now, this recipe has two options: with raisins & without, and thus two frosting options. I went sans fruit (the ill-fated pumpkin bread last week had dried cranberries and I just wasn't having it) and the suggested molasses-ginger icing. The icing was divine. I made the scones/frosting the night before and I feel like the ginger flavor intensified slightly overnight, but not in a way that made it overpowering. It would make me nervous to go too heavy on the ginger however. I may or may not have overmixed my scones slightly, as the dough was somewhat sticky when I got to transferring it to the baking pan. However, this gave it a surprisingly nice muffin texture.

So there you have it...perfect for any fall morning sunny and warm or dreary and drizzly.



Enjoy!!