Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Make it Work

There's no cooking in the kitchen! OK, enough of that. How about we just have some more of this...


That's what I'm talking about. I've had a cupcake craving for a couple of days now, and there's not really a bakery in this two-bit town that makes a cupcake up to my standard. It's quite unfortunate, really. My mom was attending a potluck church thing so I figured I would do the charitable thing by baking cupcakes for her to bring just so I can satisfy my wee little craving. They pope should just put my name down for sainthood. I got the cupcake recipe from here, which based its cupcake on the Martha Stewart recipe.

Apparently, making a Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting can be tricky (which I found out for myself). I made the mistake of adding the strawberry puree at the wrong time with the egg whites and the sugar in the saucepan. Needless to say my meringue didn't peak so much. Since I had a time crunch and limited resources (i.e. 45 minutes and no more eggs) I looked online to see if I could salvage this soupy mess that just did not seem to want to turn into frosting. I found one website that suggested putting it in the fridge for 20 minutes and then beating it into delicious fluffiness. Again, time crunch so I put it in the freezer for 10ish minutes. After beating it for the second time I thought it would surely turn out but alas it curdled. Luckily, the same website suggested heating 1/4 of the frosting in the microwave for 10-15 seconds and streaming it back in the remainder frosting while beating on low. Voila! It worked and I saved the day for my mom (Not really since she was already bringing a tiramisu. Man they will really love her!).

Moral of the story: Always listen to Tim Gunn and just make it work. Oh, and eat a cupcake.

A Healthy Balance of Dessert

OK, so after the sugar rush that was the pumpkin cake post here is a recipe for Low Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies that I made earlier tonight from the Skinnytaste site. I ended up with 23 instead of 30 so if you're counting calories, just beware that it may be off a bit. These were definitely pretty delicious for being low fat. Also, all I really had in the refrigerator was 2 tbs of butter and was not about to head out to Kroger at 9 p.m. just for some butter. I really dig this site a lot so you can probably expect several recipes from here in the future. I really like how she posts the nutritional info and WW points (even though I'm not on WW) for each recipe. Saves me a lot of trouble/guessing.

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 30, I got 23 out of mine

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbs unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick oats
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I lined one baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Gina says to use a mixer but I was lazy and didn't feel like whipping it out (that's what he said?) so I used a combo of a wooden spoon and my hands (Oh geez...). Add the egg, followed by the applesauce and vanilla. Then I alternated between adding the oats and flour mixture until just combined. Then stir in chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoonfuls (approximately 1 tbs) of the dough onto prepared baking sheets, flattening each cookie slightly. I tried to get the exact number of cookies so I even used an actual measuring spoon at 1 tablespoon to get these babies on the sheet. Oh well. Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Another great thing about My Fitness Pal? Several people have already entered some of Gina's recipes in the food database. Seriously, highly encourage you to make these cookies and then sign up for My Fitness Pal (if you already haven't). It's so easy to use and completely brillz.

Pumpkin Cake 2 Ways

While I know that several of us on Couch are watching what we're eating, I can't help but post the recipe for the pumpkin cake that I made for Thanksgiving. It's so not healthy at all but it was pretty delightful. That being said, it may likely be another year before I make it again (partly because of the eating healthy thing, mainly because I have a pumpkin window every year that lasts just a few months). To balance the unhealthiness of the pumpkin cake, I will also post a recipe for low fat chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from the Skinnytaste site!

Anyways, I did this cake 2 ways: 1) as a double layer cake with a chocolate buttercream frosting for a party along with one layer for home and 2) as a bundt cake with a cream cheese glaze for the boyfriend and his family.

Pumpkin Cake (adapted from Allrecipes found here)

Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour either 3-9 inch round cake pans or 1 bundt pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, followed by the eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Spread batter into your greased and floured pan(s).
For a layer cake: I put 2 pans in the middle rack and 1 on the top. I baked the cakes for 30 minutes while rotating the pans every 10 minutes in order for them to bake evenly since they were placed in different places in the oven.
For a bundt cake: This one took much longer. I baked this one for 45-55 minutes. I'd always err on the lower side of the baking time and adding any necessary additional minutes.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (from my favorite site Smitten Kitchen here)
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar (no need to sift)
3 sticks (yup, 3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp
6 tbs half-and-half or whole milk
1 tbs vanilla

Beat the sugar and butter. Add the chocolate, half-and-half or whole milk and vanilla until smooth. Enjoy. Deb from Smitten Kitchen (I read her website so much I feel like we should be on a first name basis) says you could also just put all of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to incorporate the ingredients, and then process until the whole thing is smooth.

And yes, I did decorate the cake myself. I used one of the big jagged edged frosting tips (sorry, can't remember the number) and just add those all around the cake.

Cream Cheese Glaze (also from Smitten Kitchen here)
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tbs powdered sugar, plus extra if needed
2 tbs milk, plus extra if needed
1/4 tsp vanilla

Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth and light. Add milk and vanilla. I ended adding more sugar and vanilla because I felt the cream cheese taste was too strong for my liking. I do apologize, I did not measure exactly how much I added. I just put in a little bit of each and kept having to taste it until it was right. Darn.

Comfort Food

It's getting colder where I live so I was definitely craving some yummy, warm mac and cheese. I didn't want to have to buy too many ingredients and found this recipe from Rachael Ray for Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin Mac and Cheese. NOMZ. We had a crap ton of broccoli so I didn't bother with buying any cauliflower. Also, I threw in some chicken and 86'd the chives. Let's be honest. I really only wanted an excuse to eat some Cabot Sharp Cheddar Cheese from Vermont. My only negative for making this mac and cheese: I didn't pay attention to how many servings it yields so I made the whole thing. I ended up putting some in the freezer. We'll see if it freezes and reheats well. In the meantime, enjoy my lovely photog skills.

And just for shits and giggles because I'm feeling nostalgic, here's an oldie but a goodie picture from last year's hike up to Kent's Ledge in Vermont.