Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes - Homemade and less than $3.25 each

Okay - I know they are definitely not as pretty.

Sprinkles just opened up in our area (Palo Alto Stanford Shopping Center) and are doing a booming business charging people $3.25 a cupcake. As husband is very concerned about economic times (favorite word is recession), I cannot spend $3.25 on a single cupcake, let alone $36 on a dozen. I know fully well that mine are not as pretty, probably not as delicious, and are missing Sprinkles' signature color coded disk...

But I think they are still pretty tasty and as part of my birthday present to a friend, (see Eggplant Pasta Salad post) were well received. I do like the strawberry as I am against artificial colors and flavors if it can be helped - and these turn a nice pale pink color from strawberry puree. The recipe itself is slightly finicky, only because you have to create a strawberry puree, but not anymore difficult than your standard cupcake recipe.

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes (From Martha Stewart)

Makes 1 dozen

2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
6. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Strawberry Frosting
Makes enough for 1 dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

Eggplant Pasta Salad - Instead of a Present

Good friend of mine had her birthday this week. I knew I wanted to get her something and so I ran over a list of things that could be gifts.

1. Designer high heeled shoes. NOPE. Too expensive given current economic RECESSION, not to mention impractical for running after three children.

2. Designer handbag. NOPE. Again, cost and also not efficient given that a mommy's handbag often turns into a desk, lunch box, grocery bag, and lost and found at the same time.

3. Spa day. NOPE. Mommy friend has no time to go to the bathroom alone, let alone sit in a salon chair for 30 minutes to get her toes done.

4. Dinner and a movie. NOPE. Kids need her at night, husband needs her at night, no time at night. (oftentimes a mommy's busiest time.)

After I had eliminated all my choices, and after attempting to get her to take some time to get a pedicure and lunch - I was forced to give up. I decided instead, to give her a night off from cooking for her family. I made her some pasta salad, some chili and some cupcakes as a present and had it dropped off at her house. (delivery made for me by another trusted friend.) It ended up making me feel really good as her family ate well, she got a night off from cooking and everyone was happy.

Which made me realize - the power that cooking has...it can be debilitating when you're agonizing about what to cook, what to shop for, how to feed the family and one can often be paralyzed by the sheer decisions that need to be made around a meal - OR it can be energizing and inspiring - I got a lot of joy and pleasure from providing someone with a simple meal and my friend an equal amount of joy and pleasure from not having to make decisions about what to cook.

The next time you need to give a birthday present - you can think of perhaps, giving a meal...

Eggplant Pasta Salad

Serves 8

2 medium eggplants or 1 large eggplant
2 red bell peppers, chopped into strips (about ¼ inch wide)
1 yellow bell pepper chopped into strips
2 onions, chopped into strips
5 cloves of garlic (or more to your taste)
1 lb penne, farfalle, or penne rigate – personal choice
¾ - 1 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Herbes De Provence
Juice from one lemon
½ cup fresh basil, chiffonade cut

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut eggplant into ¾ inch cubes. Toss with ½ cup olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt. Put into roasting pan, and cook, until tender, about 20 minutes. (Check once and stir the eggplant around to ensure even cooking.)

2. In a heavy fry pan over medium low heat, cook onions and bell pepper in about ¼ cup olive oil. This should take about 25 minutes to cook – the onions and bell peppers should caramelize, and be soft. During the last five minutes of cooking, add the garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. (can be a bit salty here as this will season the pasta. But remember-the eggplant also has salt.)

3. Cook pasta according to directions.

4. In a salad bowl, mix lemon juice, ¼ cup olive oil, and herbes de provence. Toss cooked pasta in the mix. Add bell pepper/onion mixture. Add eggplant and basil. Serve with parmesan cheese. Best served at room temperature.

Printable recipe

Pumpkin Muffins - Dairy Free, Egg Free

I love a good warm muffin in the morning, but with the new restriction on my diet of no eggs, it's been harder to make muffins. I posted a Banana Muffin that I made both dairy and egg free, but I was getting a bit bored of that one. One of my favorite breakfast muffins, in the fall, is a delicious pumpkin muffin - so I did a series of online searches but could not find a dairy-free, egg-free version. Thus, I was forced to try and make my own version by experimentation.

I found my pumpkin muffins were tastier AFTER they had cooled down a bit - texturally they were very rich and moist - my kids missed the crusty crunchy top portion, and found them a bit too spicy...(I followed a spice mixture that I found online.) I thought them very satisfying and delicious - and will definitely make them again - although maybe I will be stuck eating the entire dozen.

Pumpkin Muffins
12 muffins

1 cup pumpkin puree (can)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 very ripe banana mashed well

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 1 cup pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, mashed banana and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Printable recipe

Moroccan Chicken - Sped Up

This post is dedicated to my frommies (mommy friends) at the PJCC - who willingly tried my invention.

I posted a couple of weeks ago a great Moroccan Chicken meal (Tyler Florence) that sort of went against the purpose of this blog - which is to create easy dishes that can be done quickly. So I set about trying to modify the original recipe as I loved the flavors but didn't necessarily love the investment of time. I came up with a much more simplified version, but stayed true to the flavors and the concept behind the dish. It ended up being quite the hit at our school Monday lunch bunch with daughter's friends and the frommies. I still prefer the longer version for sheer flavor and experience, but this modified version also tastes pretty darn good.

Moroccan Chicken over Apricot Cranberry Couscous

Chicken
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 T of olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1.5 - 2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

Mix all the ingredients except the chicken breasts together, creating a rich marinade. Add the chicken and let set in the marinade for at least 30 minutes - longer does make it taste better. While chicken marinates work on couscous.

After couscous is ready, cook up the chicken over medium heat in a fry pan, or a grill pan if you have it. Because of the spice mixture, the chicken DOES burn rather easily so watch carefully. After browning both sides carefully, turn the heat down to low and put a lid over the fry pan - this will allow the chicken to almost steam to fully cooked, making for a very moist chicken breast. Allow chicken to rest for 10 minutes and then slice against the grain.

Apricot Couscous
1 cup couscous
11/2 cups boiling water
10 dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 green onions, green parts only, chopped
2 handfuls fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the couscous, apricots and cranberries in a medium bowl; pour the water over it, stir with a fork to combine. Cover and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork. Add green onions and cilantro to the couscous. Add lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine.

Printable recipe

Braised Chicken with Shallots, Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Red Potatoes, and Steamed Broccoli

My stove died over the last weekend...and after frantically calling repair shops, landlords and retail stores, it was decided that I would get a new stove...on Friday. Which meant, for FIVE LONG DAYS, I would have no stove power, save for a small gas stove that we use for grilling meat at the table. This complicated my life significantly, because it meant that for any given meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner, I would only have ONE burner, instead of my usual four. My cooking style had to change as did my strategy for planning menus.

In an effort to deal with a busted stove, I came upon this recipe - which sounded so delicious on paper I was excited to try. It was very good and entire family enjoyed it very much. Daughters enjoyed it because the chicken was incredibly tender and moist (the use of the thigh meat does this) and husband enjoyed it because it came with a sauce to be enjoyed on top. Husband loves ANYTHING that has a good tasting sauce so this was a winner for him. I loved it because the chicken was moist and the sauce was made in the pan so I didn't have to dirty up another pan...

Since the solo burner was occupied with the braising chicken, I had to use other cooking appliances in order to round out the meal. I decided to roast some potatoes and sweet potatoes in the oven - simply just tossed wedges of both in some olive oil and salt, and lay them in a single layer on a roasting sheet and baked them at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. They were SUPER yummy, especially the roasted sweet potatoes. (I used organic Japanese sweet potatoes.)

I steamed broccoli - in the microwave...so easy...and voila! My dinner, even though I was short a stove.

Braised Chicken with Shallots (From Martha Stewart, Everyday Food)

Serves 4
8 bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound small shallots (about 12), peeled and halved
5 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
Fresh tarragon leaves, for garnish (optional)

Season chicken with salt and pepper; coat with flour, shaking off excess.

In a Dutch oven or 5-quart pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high. Cook chicken until browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove; set aside.

Add shallots and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened and golden brown, about 5 minutes. 

Add wine; cook until evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in mustard and 1 1/2 cups water; bring to a boil.

Return chicken, bone side down, to pot. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until chicken is tender and cooked through, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate; loosely tent with aluminum foil to keep warm. Add tomatoes to pot; season with salt and pepper. Cook on high until sauce has thickened, 6 to 8 minutes. Return chicken to pot; reheat if necessary. Garnish with tarragon, if desired, and serve. 

Printable recipe

Birthday Cupcakes - Billy's Vanilla Vanilla

Last May, it was daughter's birthday and in an attempt to be supermom, I tried out 15 cupcake recipes in order to find THE PERFECT one that would inspire oohs and aahs and cause people to bow at my feet and ask me to open a bakery. Needless to say, it didn't happen.

For husband's birthday, I decided to go back to one of the recipes that I tried back in May - Billy's Vanilla Vanilla, which I originally found off of Martha Stewart's website.

The reason I like this recipe is that it is pretty hard to make a TOUGH cupcake with it - as a general rule, over beating of flour causes tough cupcakes. This recipes has you cut in the butter with the flour, and then add the wet ingredients at the end. It's a bit of a unique approach but I've found the results consistently good.

Cupcakes ARE easier if you have a stand mixer, but a good hand mixer is fine. You should NOT attempt to make cupcakes by hand as your arm has not the power to incorporate all the things together efficiently and well.

Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes (From Martha Stewart)
Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Ingredients

3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Billy's Vanilla Butter Cream (From Martha Stewart)

Makes enough for 30 cupcakes (I think this makes an OBNOXIOUS amount of frosting - I've made HALF a recipe and had more than enough frosting - but then again, I don't love an inch of frosting on my cupcake...)

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.

Birthday Party for Husband - Make Your Own Gourmet Burgers

It was husband's birthday so I wanted to have a few friends and family over to celebrate. Due to the number of kids, we decided to do a luncheon. I thought about what to make and due to the people attending, decided to make Orzo Salad and Potato Salad. Then the next question became, what to serve WITH it...and then I decided to have a "Make Your Own Gourmet Burger and Hot Link Bar." It was loads of fun and everyone seemingly ate a lot. The prep work was a bit time consuming, but not difficult in anyway.

The fixin's I offered on the table (not all in the picture unfortunately.)

• grilled onions (onion sliced and sauteed in olive oil until somewhat caramelized)
  
• guacamole (also could have with chips)
• homemade bbq sauce (from the Ribs recipe)
• Niman Ranch bacon (cooked up in the oven so as to avoid major splatters in the kitchen)
• tomatoes
• cheddar cheese
• jalapenos
• ketchup and mustard

The grilled onions and bacon appeared to be the most popular condiments while the potato salad and orzo salad were rapidly consumed. All in all it was fun and good easy entertaining.

So if you have a party - you can seriously just throw this meal together in a snap!

Korean Beansprout side dish: Kong Nameul Banchan (콩나물 무침) Mini Lesson

They always say the simplest dishes are the hardest to make. I still struggle with making a perfect plain egg omelet. It's all in the technique. If you learn the technique, with practice, you can perfect a dish. Korean food, I think, in particular, is very difficult because it's not just a simple matter of ingredients - a lot has to do with good technique.

I suddenly found myself having to make kong nameul (bean sprouts) for dinner one night. I thought for a moment about it, and not trusting myself, decided to go to my guru of Korean cooking - my mother. Thankfully I timed my phone call well and got her on the phone.

"Mom - how do you make tasty kongnameul? Do I just put it in the boiling water and blanch it quickly?" I asked?

"No - if you do it that way, you will lose all the delicious flavor of the kongnameul. The trick is to use only a little bit of water," replied my mother sagely, with all of her Korean cooking wisdom.

"What do you mean? How? What do you do?"

And she patiently explained it. I understood it and executed as she had instructed me, and voila - REALLY delicious kongnameul. But it was due to great technique -and I will impart those instructions here.

Kong Nameul Banchan (콩나물 무침)
1 bag of bean sprouts (500grams or about 1lb) (this is the kind with the yellow bean "head" head on the end.)
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 green onions finely chopped
1 tablespoon of sesame oil (you can add more if you like the taste)
1 teaspoon crushed toasted sesame seeds

Carefully wash the bean sprouts. In the old days, you had to remove the stringy "tail" at the end - but recently, Korean news have reported that that is the "most nutritious" part. Whether it is a conspiracy by housewives and mothers to no longer pull of that part or something else, I don't pull it off. (Mom, if you're reading this, don't faint.) If you have an extra 30 minutes on your hands, and you're into pulling random bits of root off, please be my guest. But I just don't have time. (and it's more nutritious if you believe everything on the news.)

Place beansprouts, water, vegetable oil and salt in the bottom of a very heavy pot.

Cover pot and place on medium high heat. Cook until you see steam escaping from the pot (or you begin to smell the kongnamuel) and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 12-15 minutes with the lid on.

While still hot, add the garlic, green onions, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Mix. Adjust seasonings as necessary. (more salt, more oil, more sesame seeds?)

Now serve.

Moroccan Chicken - A Taste of the Exotic

I saw this recipe on The Food Network as my favorite hunky chef, Tyler Florence, went to work making it. It looked a bit more complicated than I want my meals to be, but I thought the final look compelling enough that I thought I'd try to simplify it a bit and make it for the family.

I decided against the whole chicken and went for chicken thighs - mainly because I didn't want to stress about over cooking white meat and under cooking dark meat. I stress about this very conundrum everything Thanksgiving, so I figured it wasn't worth it to worry about it at other times of the year. Chicken thighs are great for baking because they have the skin, lots of fat, and they are very difficult to dry out (I sometimes even want them to be dry and I can't get the thighs to be that.) I added cranberries to the couscous, took out the mint, and the rest I followed as is.

This is definitely a more "exotic" tasting meal. It's not for every family. The couscous will be universally enjoyed, but the chicken, with it's blend of spices - you need to have a family with a bit of an adventuresome palate. Daughters LOVED the chicken as it was moist, tender and incredibly flavorful, downed the couscous, and even liked the olive sauce, probably because it was a bit salty. Husband however, ate his entire meal only to say afterwards "Please don't make this again. I need Korean food." I was so taken aback by his comment, as husband eats and enjoys almost EVERYTHING (except potatoes), that I decided to make it AGAIN the following day for a friend and her daughter for lunch. BOTH of them loved it - so I think it was simply a husband thing and not a dish thing. Daughters also eagerly consumed it the following day. The other problem is that it isn't a 30 minute start to finish dinner. But if you have a bit of a willing palate, this meal is definitely worth the effort.

Moroccan Chicken with Apricot Couscous and Green Olive Sauce in Flat Bread

Moroccan Spice Mix:
1 cinnamon stick, chopped in pieces
8 whole cloves
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons cumin seed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
11/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon brown sugar

Chicken:
3-4 lbs chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, halved
1/4 bunch fresh cilantro
1 head garlic
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Apricot Couscous:
1 cup couscous
11/2 cups warm water
10 dried apricots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 green onions, green parts only
2 handfuls fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Green Olive Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons
2 shallots, sliced
1 fresh red chile, halved lengthwise
1/2 pound large green Spanish olives, pitted
1/4 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced

4 pieces lavosh bread, cut in 1/2

To prepare the Moroccan Spice Mix for the Chicken: Combine the cinnamon stick, cloves, cayenne, cumin, fennel, coriander, and paprika in a dry skillet over low heat and toast for just a minute to release the fragrant oils; shake the pan so they don't scorch. In a spice mill or clean coffee grinder, (I just used one of the mini prep food processors - it was perfect) grind the toasted spices together, with 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt and the brown sugar. (A word of advice: make sure you thoroughly wipe out your coffee grinder before you make coffee again - Moroccan spices taste great on chicken but horrible with coffee.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Massage the chicken skin with the spice rub; make sure you don't miss a spot. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place lemons all around the chicken in a roasting pan. Toss peeled garlic cloves all over the chicken. Drizzle the oil all over the chicken. If you have time, let the chicken marinate for 30 minutes to really get the flavors down deep into the meat. Cook chicken for an hour. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes so the juices can settle back into the meat. Save the lemons to squeeze over the chicken.

To prepare the Apricot Couscous: Put the couscous in a medium bowl; pour the water over it, stir with a fork to combine. Cover and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork. Put the apricots, cranberries, green onions, and cilantro on a cutting board and coarsely chop everything up; add this to the couscous. Add lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine.

To prepare the Green Olive Sauce: In a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the shallots and chile over low heat for 8 minutes until caramelized, then scrape into a food processor. Add the olives, parsley, vinegar, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup of oil; puree a good 3 minutes until totally smooth.

Serve chicken with couscous on the side. Squeeze with cooked lemon if desired. Add your choice of green vegetable. Another option is a sandwich, where you wrap shredded chicken in the lavosh and add some green olive sauce.