Banana Coffee Muffins For The Rons

The other day I was driving home from visiting some family when I noticed that the battery light on my dash was bright red. The Rons (the most amazing mechanics that ever existed--a father, son team) told me once that if something lights up in orange it isn't necessarily good, but it can wait a hot second. However, they said that if one of the lights are red that is definitely not good.

If you only have a few muffins to bake, put them in the middle and fill the rest with water for even baking.

Crap. I pulled into a parking lot, gave them a call, and explained my situation. Father-Ron told me to bring it in immediately and he would take a look at it. I drove it the couple of miles distance to the shop and prayed to baby Jesus that my car wouldn't decide to kick the bucket in the middle of an intersection. Well, my prayer and happy thoughts worked because Rosalie and I made it to The Rons' in one piece. Whew. Father-Ron was there, and said he would be able to look at it the next day. Before I left he made sure someone was coming to pick me up. I told him mom was coming to get me, and went outside to wait. At that moment I decided that mom probably wasn't coming to get me because our communication via text messages was nothing short of dodgy -- my phone decided to only accept emergency calls after I had talked to Ron so I couldn't tell her what was going on. This time I was able to call home, and she came to get me. Except that it took forever and it was sweltering outside.

Fill about 3/4 full for perfect muffins.

I stood in the shade outside of the shop for a while. Then Father-Ron went outside, noticed me, and told me I could sit inside. I decided to stay outside, and a few short minutes later he came outside again and offered to buy me a coke from the vending machine on the other corner of the building. He waved me over, got out his key, and let me pick my drink. He is so kind, and I was utterly grateful as it was the first day that was really hot. And it was so refreshing! Well, after all this kindness I decided that I would make them something delicious to show my thanks. When Ron and I were at the vending machine he told me that he drinks coffee all day, so I decided to make them something with coffee in it. Muffins with coffee.... I googled it, and it turns out that such a thing exists! I had no idea. So, I made them, with bananas, and they turned out so good. They didn't have much of a coffee flavor to it, but I have an explanation for that. I used instant coffee, and when we had the proper amount all figured out, it ended up looking like sludge (and smelled about the same), so I added a lot more water to even it out, and therefore must have taken a lot of the coffee flavor out.

Fresh from the oven!

Anyway, they were delicious, and The Rons were happy to see them the next day. I felt sort of silly handing them over, but I handed them over to Ron (the younger), and he seemed pleasantly surprised -- I mean, who doesn't like coffee in muffins? I also added chocolate chips to make them extra delicious. I think it called for some sort of nut, but please. Nuts or chocolate? Ron (the younger) laughed at being sufficiently caffeinated to work on the next car. So, I'm not sure what they ended up thinking about them, but I was pleased. The muffins were dense, moist, and flavorful -- scrumptious.

Perfect muffin on a cranberry plate.

Latin Lace Florentines For Mother's Day

Latin Lace Florentines

This year for Mother's Day Mom and I got together with Grammy. After consulting on how to spend the day we came up with a casual day at home, grilling, and chilling. It was only the night before that I decided to come up with something fabulous for these two special women in my life. Mom and Grammy are both trying to lay off the sugar and sweets (NOT while I'm around!), but this is a special day, and once I saw the recipe for these Latin Lace Florentines, I knew they would be the perfect treat for the day (and mom agreed).
 
The  night before I was leafing through my Great Big Butter Cookbook when I happened on the same page a couple of times. I have to admit that I am a picture person -- if the picture is engaging you have me hooked. The opposite is true if the picture is dull -- but this picture was anything but dull. Gorgeous, tiny, lacey cookies topped with a drizzling of chocolate in a dish of chili powder. Yes, you read that right, there is chili powder in these cookies! Mmm they are decadent. Anyway, I was smitten with the picture, had most of the ingredients, and decided to make them as soon as we brought Grammy home.

These are going fast....

  The assembly was sort of strange. First, you whisk all of the dry ingredients together, and then you pour all of the wet ingredients into the dry mixture and stir until completely combined. These are not the usual steps I take when making cookies, but I did as I was told. It worked out just fine...the machine was a little irritated, but the batter was completely mixed and delicious looking.

Now, here's one thing I encountered. For this specific recipe when it says to only use a teaspoon size ball on the baking sheet that is precisely the size you should use. And I don't generally advocate for tiny cookies. Like mom said: "I want my cookies to be the size of a plate, the size of my head!" I guess that's where I get it from. The first go around that is what I did. I have a cookie scoop that makes a decent size cookie. I noticed that this becomes a bit of a problem though when they were baking. There is a lot of butter and light corn syrup in these cookies, which means that as soon as there is any bit of heat the batter instantly begins to spread out (putting the dough balls three inches apart is also a good idea! These cookies spread out!). Because the edges were spreading out and the middle was still mounded, the edges began to get really brown and the center was still under baked. For the next batch I decided on the tiny teaspoon, and I had much better results. When the cookies spread out there was no longer a huge mound in the center, so they baked pretty evenly. When the cookies come out of the oven you can tell where they get their name from. The big chunks of almonds and oats leaves gaps in the dough and makes the cookie look like lace! They are so pretty! And did I mention delicious? Oh, my. They are good.

Once all the cookies were out of the oven I melted bittersweet chocolate to drizzle on top of the cookies. Bittersweet chocolate was the best to use because it perfectly complimented the sweetness of the cookie. Semi-sweet chocolate would have been too sweet and masked the flavors in the cookie -- cinnamon, chili powder, mm! Decadent.





Once the chocolate was drizzled over the tops of all the cookies we dove in (well, we dove in way before then, but this was the first time we would taste the final product). Everyone thought they were delicious! And gorgeous (even Shawn can't keep his paws of of these elegant treats). They were the perfect cookie to make for a day honoring mothers; the cookies are dainty, lacey, elegant, and delicate. Perfect!

A variation of these are definitely going in the bakery.

What did you do with the special women in your life on Mother's Day?

Night Four of Cake Decorating

Last Thursday I had my last cake decorating class. For our final class we had to bring in an already made and perfectly frosted cake. Fun! More practice time! Since I had left over strawberries I decided to make my Strawberry Champagne cake again, and this time I would perfect it. I made it for Easter, and it did not go as well as planned. This time I would make a well so the strawberry juice would not leak out of my cake and make a hot mess. This will work, and I'll have a perfect cake! I got to town making my cake and it turned out perfectly (of course). Once it cooled down I used the left over strawberry buttercream frosting I had to use between the layers. Then I made my very deep well, and added cut strawberries. No juice is getting out this time!

For this class we are supposed to make the criscocream frosting....I ended up making my usual buttercream frosting because I really wanted to eat the cake! I put my top layer on top of the bottom layer and went about my business frosting my cake. I used the 16 inch featherweight piping bag and the appropriate tip for frosting the edges of the cake. I should have known I might run into some issues when the frosting didn't stick to the cake. This same thing happened to me and the other students in the class, so I didn't think long about it, and promptly dismissed the idea. I did notice a problem though when I kept getting a bulge around my cake's middle even after I had smoothed everything out. I probably fixed it up a good four times.....and then the streams appeared. NO! Crap. After trying to patch up the cake with little success I opted on removing the strawberries. Yes. This means that I scraped out the oozing middle as far in as I could get (mixing my pink middle frosting with my cream outer frosting). I then had to pry the two glued layers apart. This was an interesting task. I scraped the melting strawberries off the gooey middle, and scraped off a lot of the pink frosting just to be sure to get most of the juices out. Then I smushed the two layers back together, and attempted to fix my white frosting. Luckily there was just enough. Unfortunately the strawberries did quite a bit of damage as I found out when I took the cake out of the box when I got to class. I assume the cake should not look like this:

This is my final product -- trying to make something  out of it.

Lesson learned: never ever ever. Never! EVER EVER! use fresh fruit in between layers of cakes if you do not want an avalanche of frosting. Instead: make a sauce out of whatever fresh fruit you want to use! This is thick, stays put in its' well, and does not create streams! This is the route to go. I assure you. The instructor did tell me that my frosting was perfectly executed...it was just those strawberries.

Anyway, on our last night we learned how to make roses! This seemed an ominous task especially when you see what the tip to actually make the rose looks like. How in the world?! But she showed us, we were scared to try, and then we all had a pleasant surprise when we attempted our own rose. The final products looked like roses! Might sound silly, but I was expecting it to look like some ugly thing, but it wasn't! It was so pretty.

For our final hour or so we were to replicate one of the cake designs from our Wilton plan book. I had thought that I didn't want to make one with roses because the roses in the book are so awful looking, but now that I had pretty, delicate pink roses I wanted to cover the entire surface in them! I picked a cake and put my roses on, then made some leaves to fill in the spaces (which look completely natural). I could not have been more proud of myself. The (top, anyway) looked so impressive. Everyone was inspecting each others' cake designs and oooing and ahhhing at how wonderful they looked. It turned out to be the perfect last night.

These roses were so much fun to make!

The top of my cake is so pretty!

Hopefully sometime in the near future I'll take the next step and take the class on working with more flowers and cake design. We'll see, and I'll keep you posted. :)

Night Three of Cake Decorating

On my third night of cake decorating I learned how to make different types of flowers. First though we were instructed to bring pre-made cupcakes (I brought the leftover Red Velvet cupcakes from Sue's shower). She then showed us how to frost the cupcakes. For this particular design we used a star tip and a 10 inch featherweight piping bag with the white Wilton recipe for criscocream. You can use one of the nails the Decorating Basics kit comes with (and your cupcake might in fact fly off of it and go splat), or you can set it in front of you. The point is to cover all the showing cake with frosting, or "the good stuff" as defined by Rita, our instructor. I personally like a little bit of the cake showing; it shows the pretty contrast between the cake and the frosting, especially if you have a red cake and white frosting! But, to each her own. When ready, hold the piping bag at a ninety degree angle, and start at the edge of your cake. Make a complete circle around the edge of the cake, and when you come back around go up slightly on the layer you already made. Keep circling around until the cake is covered. When finishing, stop the pressure on the bag and lift off. If you keep pressure going you will not have a neat little star shape. It should look like this:

Once our six cupcakes were properly frosted we learned how to make shaggy mums, drop flowers, rosettes, and shell boarders. These were all so much fun! Here is a picture of the first flower that we made:

Crazy flowers that were fun, but I will probably never make again.

Mine ended up turning out kind of funky because the frosting was so stiff--it kept sticking to the tip, and refused to let go! Rita told us to not ever use the stiff frosting recipe because it's more like sticky paste, and completely non-malleable. The medium consistency is better, but ours definitely needed to have more water added to it! Anyway, they were fun to make, and everyone really had a ball making these. The one woman had a wilted flower. Instead of the "petals" sticking up, they were sticking to the bottom, and really did look like dead flowers. She worked hard though, and got some beautiful flowers at the end. 

Drop flowers, rosettes, and leaves

The next thing we did was learn how to make a drop flower. You use one of the star tips, press it to the cake, use enough pressure so that the frosting makes lines in the shape of a flower, stop pressure, and finally, lift off! This gives you a lovely flower. With one of the smaller round tips, you can add a dot of frosting to the middle, and make a gorgeous flower! The technique is basically the same for the other variation of the drop star. The only difference is to extend your arm so that it is parallel to your body. Once you have the flower shape starting to form, you turn your arm so that it is perpendicular to your body. this make a little ruffle to your flower. Again, you can use a round tip to make the center of your flower. 

Rosettes and leaves

Rosettes were very similar to the motions of frosting the cupcake. You make a blob in the center of your potential flower, then swing your arm up, to the right, and then finally swinging around to the left. It makes a cute little rosette!

This class was so much fun. I think making leaves was my favorite. The look rather difficult to make, and the tip seems ominous, but it's so easy! I can definitely see myself making these flowers and leaves again. 

I think I added all but one flower to this cupcake. A hodgepodge of everything I learned!

The Royal Wedding

This morning I woke up before the crack of dawn, 4:00, to watch the pre-show of the royal wedding. I had to peel my eyelids back, but I made it to the living room in time to be a part of all the wedding festivities. The excitement was in the air with the rolls royce waiting just outside Kate's hotel, the anticipation of the arrival of guests, and finally of the royal family. I felt like I was there! I took a couple of pictures, only a hundred or so, of the TV to document what I saw today.

Kate looked absolutely gorgeous, and I was so impressed by how calm she seemed the entire time. I wonder if her stomach was in a knot. Can you imagine walking for four consecutive minutes with not only the world's royalty gazing upon you, but two billion people?! I admire her.

Westminster Abbey looked spectacular! Brings back fond memories of when I was there years ago for a college course. It looks exactly the same, and extraordinarily different -- it's incredible to think that I walked where William and Kate walked and saw the things they saw. Must make a pilgrimage.

I love yellow. I think I was a queen in a past life.

The ring finally went on! I thought he was going to have to leave it hanging before her knuckle for a minute there. Persistence gets the job done, though!

Mawwww....replay of the couple's first kiss...it was so quick I didn't have a chance to snap a picture when it actually happened! How great that they gave the people another kiss, too!

They make such a beautiful couple, and you can tell that they truly love each other. What an inspiring story! Who would have thought that your average girl would meet, date, and marry Prince William?

found it especially exciting to watch this special day. William is only a couple of years older than me, and I remember growing up with him (well, via pictures and television). I, like many other girls my age, had his picture on my wall and dreamed of marrying him one day.And Kate got to do it! How fabulous.

I celebrated along with the royals. Leftover strawberry champagne cake from Easter was the perfect cake to honor the couple, and man was it delicious! Notice my coffee mug...rather fitting, I thought. :)

Wishing the couple a lifetime of happiness and love!

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes!

For Easter I made a decadent Strawberry Champagne cake, and I thought I would make the cake again, but in cupcake form. The secretary in my office was honored today for being spectacular (she really is), and I thought I would contribute to the celebration with these decadent cupcakes. Everyone loved them! Laurie, who doesn't usually like a fruit or berry treat, told me that these cupcakes are point worthy! She is on Weight Watchers (and looks phenomenal), so every point counts! That was most certainly an honor to hear. And, at the request of Matti, I shall now post the recipe I used. I hope you make these and enjoy them as much as I did! :)

Gorgeous Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes!

 Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 ½ cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup champagne

¼ cup pureed strawberries

½ tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup chopped fresh strawberries

2 egg whites

Cream butter and sugar until light and smooth. Add the egg and mix until completely incorporated.

In a separate bowl combine and sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a dish combine the puree and champagne. Alternate adding the flour and strawberry mixtures to the butter mixture. Start and end with flour for a fluffy cake. Add the vanilla. Add the strawberries mixing until just incorporated. Fold in half the egg whites, then fold in the remainder.

I like to put the batter into a piping bag to fill the cupcake tins. Batter should reach just over ¾ of the tin.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter

1 package (2 pounds) powdered sugar

heaping 1/3 cup pureed strawberries

1 tsp vanilla

chocolate shavings for garnish

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. With continuous mixing, add a bit of the powdered sugar (add some of the strawberry puree if it gets too thick). Keep adding the sugar in small increments until completely blended with the butter. Add the remainder of the strawberry puree and the vanilla. If the frosting is still thick, add some champagne! Add chocolate shavings on top of the frosted cupcake for a decadent treat!

Ready for the office!

 These cupcakes were truly decadent. There are a lot of strawberries, but the flavor is mild. The chocolate garnish not only makes the final product pretty, but perfectly compliments the floral tones throughout the cupcake. 

Happy baking!

Red Velvet Cupcakes for Sue

A couple of months ago I had a wedding cake tasting for my friend Sue, and while she enjoyed all the flavors of the cakes she could only pick three of the six for her wedding day. She chose the Spicy Chocolate cake, Ginger cake, and Hazelnut cake (these were all my favorites, too). Even with the three chosen, Sue still had Red Velvet on the mind. Since her colors are a very pretty blue with a hint of red this cake would be a perfect compliment (not to mention completely delicious with the cream cheese frosting!). She decided the cake should be included...at the bridal shower, but in cupcake form! I was more than happy to oblige! Any reason to try a new recipe or perfect something I have already made, and I am game! I agreed to bring the new and improved Red Velvet cupcakes.

For some reason my cake planning process did not go as smoothly as it has before. It all started when I was on the hunt for these little red candy hearts. They were to go on top of each individual cupcake, which is not only precious, but entirely appropriate for the occasion! Alas, they were nowhere to be found. Instead of topping the cupcakes with the hearts I decided to go with an accent color that will be dominant for the wedding -- aqua blue. I had the majority of my supplies, but I still had to go out that morning to finish up (I also strongly recommend gathering ingredients at least the day before you plan on baking...). Once I had everything I started baking!

We recently got a stand mixer (Oh, so fabulous!) and this was my first time using it. I was stoked. I started in mixing the eggs and sugar -- I can go and do something else while this is happening now! The next step calls to mix the red food coloring--2 ounces--with the tiniest amount of chocolate--one teaspoon. These proportions make the final product bright red, not a gorgeous, deep blood red. We're looking for blood red here people. I decided to use only one and half ounces of the coloring, and I threw in another teaspoon of cocoa powder. Meeeeehhhh....still not looking good...dump in a tablespoon. Now we're getting somewhere! It still was not quite up to par, so I threw in another tablespoon. I mean, really, you can never have too much chocolate. This made the color of the cake perfect! This then gets stirred around with the eggs and sugar mixture. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, and distribute them evenly into the cupcake pans. It was only after they were done that we realized a tiny mistake had been made....a minor detail had been left out of the cupcakes. It was only the butter.............

They turned out perfectly!

Satiny cream cheese frosting.

I ended up throwing those ones out -- they turned out really cute, but when I pulled one apart it was like pulling apart a sponge.

Not so cute. Tasted good though! I had to make two more batches of cupcakes (one while mom was on a Weggies run to gather more supplies). The first edible batch turned out nicely, but were a little overfilled. The last batch turned out perfectly, and between the two I had thirty perfectly shaped Red Velvet cupcakes! Then I was done for the night. Whew.

Hi, you're pretty.

Nestled together

 Bright and early the next morning I made the cream cheese frosting, frosted the cupcakes, and sprinkled the blue glitter on top. They turned out perfectly! The red with a hint of blue on top of the pale frosting was gorgeous!

Ready for transport!

I had only a couple of minutes to spare before having to leave for the shower. With the cupcakes all boxed up, I left feeling confident and excited.

 

Suzanne got this beautiful tiered cupcake stand.

 

 

 The staff at the restaurant were so good to me! One of the women came out to my car and helped me unpack, and they were all ready to put the cupcakes in the fridge. I couldn't have asked for better treatment of my precious cupcakes!

I'm in love with this table-scape :)

I set them up, and the final product was gorgeous! I love the way they turned out, and so did Sue. Her guests liked them, too -- they kept telling me how pretty they looked, and then how delicious they were. I was pleased. The wedding party split up the left over cupcakes, and I was sent home with the cupcake stand! I love parting gifts! It was such a pleasure to be able to make these scrumptious treats for my friend's special day!

Me with my masterpiece!