Chocolate Salted-Caramel Mini Cupcakes

This recipe is from the Martha Stewart cupcake book. My mom got me this book a year ago and that's how long it took me to finally choose what cupcake I wanted to make first. I would pickup this book once a month and then could never decide what to make because there are just so many beautiful cupcakes to choose from. These cupcakes do take some time to make, but they are worth the extra steps.

Salted Caramel Filling

Makes 2 cups
2 1/2 c sugar
2/3 c water
1 tbsp light corn syrup
3/4 c heavy cream
2 1/2 tsp sea salt

Heat sugar with the water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan over high, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Stop stirring, and cook until syrup comes to a boil. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized and just reaches 360 degrees F. Remove from heat; slowly pour in cream(mixture will spatter) and stir with wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in sea salt. Use immediately; if at any time caramel begins to harden, reheat gently until pourable.

Dark Chocolate Frosting
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 c plus 1 tbsp boiling water
21/4 c unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 pounds best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Combine cocoa and the boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioners sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined. Beat in the cocoa mixture.

Cupcakes:
Makes about 56 mini
1 1/2c all-purpose flour
3/4 c unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 c buttermilk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 c warm water

Sea salt, preferably fleur de sel, for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and the water.With a electric mixer on low speed, beat until smooth and combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Transfer tins to wire rack to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.

To finish, use paring knife to cut a cone-shaped piece(about 1/2 inch deep) from the center of each cupcake(discard pieces). Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons warm filling into each hollowed-out cupcakes. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.

Fill pastry bag fitted with a medium open star tip(Wilton#18) with frosting and pipe onto each cupcake. Garnish each cupcake with a pinch of sea salt.

Buffalo Chicken Sliders

This is a nice quick and tasty recipe. I served them with some carrots and celery and used some of the blue cheese spread to dip them in. This would be a good meal to make when you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen


1 rotisserie chicken, shredded(I cooked and shredded two chicken breasts)
slider buns(I made these Brioche Burgers buns)
3 tbsp butter
1/2 c hot sauce
4 tbsp honey
2tbsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt

For the blue cheese spread:
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c crumbled blue cheese
1 tbsp vinegar
3 chopped green onions
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.Add the hot sauce, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to a bubble. Add the chicken and heat through.Toast some buns. Mix all of the spread ingredients in a bowl.Spread buns with blue cheese mixture, top with chicken and your done.

Source: bakedbree.com

Hummus and Olive Pizzettas

Dear Cousin,
You would love these. I used that pizza dough recipe you gave me, but any one would do. Shaped the dough into about 3 inch shapes. Spread with hummus, layer of cheese (Feta would be good), cherry tomatos and quartered kalamata olives. Then I drizzled on a olive oil, salt and parmesan cheese mixture before baking. But brushing the crusts at the end of bake time, right before broiling it. Serve with a lemon wedge. Crispy and delicious.

Shrimp Po' Boys

1 pound shrimp, shelled and deviened
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp creole seasoning(see below)
1 baguette
1 c lettuce, shredded
2 tomatoes, sliced
1/4 c remoulade sauce(see below)

Toss shrimp in the oil and creole seasoning to coat. Grill the shrimp until cooked, about 2-3 minutes per side. Assemble sandwich.

Remoulade Sauce
1/4 c mayo
1 tbsp creole mustard
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp horseradish
1 small clove garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp capers
1 green onion
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
hot sauce to taste

Mix all ingredients together.

Creole Spice Blend
21/2 tsp paprika
2tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp dried leaf oregano
1 tsp dried leaf thyme

Source:annies-eats.com

Cauliflower Potato Vegetable Soup

This is just one of the many cauliflower soup creations you might see on here in the future. Which is good cuz they say cauliflower fights cancer!

1/2 Onion
1 Carrot
2 Celery Stalks
1 Garlic Clove
1 Potato
1 Head Cauliflower
1 Box of Chicken Stalk
Bit of milk or cream
3 Cups Water
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Saute onion carrot celery and garlic. Pinch of salt and pepper. Add chicken stalk and water. Bring to a boil. Add potato and cauliflower. Cook until tender. Whisk in milk. Garnish with cheese and green onion.

Multigrain Buns

These buns are so light and fluffy.  Especially for a multigrain bread.  I find whole wheat and multigrain can be so heavy and thick.  These aren't.  The base recipe is from My Kitchen Cafe.  I just changed the flour.  I used a multi grain blend that uses a blend of flours but you could easily just add flax, cracked wheat and cracked rye.

1 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 tablespoon instant yeast (or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, give or take a few tablespoons (OR WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR)

In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl by hand, combine the warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour (if you are using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, let the yeast proof in the warm water and sugar for about 3-5 minutes until it is foamy and bubbly before adding the oil, salt and flour). Begin mixing and continue to add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Judge the dough not by the amount of flour called for in the recipe but in how the dough feels (see a tutorial on working with yeast here). The dough should be soft and smooth but still slightly tacky to the touch.

Knead the dough in the stand mixer or by hand until it is very smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes in a stand mixer or 8-10 minutes by hand. Lightly spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it has doubled (this usually takes about an hour).

Lightly punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly greased countertop. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and form the dough into round balls. Place the rolls on a lightly greased or silpat-lined baking sheet about an inch or two apart. Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap taking care not to pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or else the rolls will flatten while rising. Let the plastic wrap gently hang over the sides of the pan to fully cover the rolls but not press them down. Let the rolls rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

Spinach Salad with Curried Pecans and Apples

This makes for a nice side salad or you could make it a dinner salad like I did and add some chicken. I just added a tablespoon of curry powder to some of the salad dressing and marinated the chicken in that before I baked it. The only thing I changed was what kind of cheese I used, the recipe called for blue cheese but I didn't have any so I used havarti. This was one of the best salads I've had in a long time and I plan on making it again very soon.



For the pecans:

6 ounces pecan halves
2 tbsp melted butter
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper

Vinaigrette:
1/3 c cider vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 c olive oil

To make salad:
1(10 ounce) package baby spinach
1 gala or fuji apple thinly sliced
1 small red onion thinly sliced
1/2 c blue cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Toss pecans in the melted butter with the remaining ingredients. toss to coat the pecans completely. Spread the nuts on a foil lined baking sheet and bake 10 to 13 minutes. Cool and set aside. You can make these a few days ahead of time and keep them in a airtight container.

To make the vinaigrette put all the ingredients in a jar and shake until combined. The dressing could also be made ahead of time.

Put everything into a bowl. Season the leaves with some sea salt and pepper and toss with 1/4 of the dressing

Source: bakedbree.com