Improve your KitchenAid mixer

BroWn sugar cupcakeS

7/22/2019

Why settle for a plain vanilla cupcake when you can have a flavorful, tender cupcake instead? This is a new favorite at our place. The recipe, adapted from one by Baker By Nature, is a bit more complicated than a dump-and-go, but it’s worth the quick extra steps! You can enjoy this cupcake with cream cheese, chocolate, vanilla or salted caramel frosting. Or eat it plain, which is how I like it best ;)

The recipe calls for full-fat versions of dairy products. You can substitute lower fat equivalents, but you will lose some of the tenderness and moistness of these cupcakes.

Yields about 18 standard sized cupcakes. Prep time is around 30 minutes. Baking and cooling adds another 30 minutes. The cupcakes keep for several days at room temperature (unfrosted) or for 3 months in your freezer. We have some in the freezer for later!!

Please excuse our video typo - we will fix it when we’re back in the office!

Ingredients & equipment

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into your measuring cups and leveled with a knife
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown
2 large eggs plus one large egg yolk, at room temperature
1/4 cup boiling hot water (should be very hot, and poured into measuring cup right after boiled)

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F).
Line two 12-mold cupcake tins with 18 paper liners. Spray papers lightly with non-stick spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a small bowl combine the milk and sour cream, mix well to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with SideSwipe or your flat paddle: beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy; Even with SideSwipe this took nearly 3 minutes (don't skimp on time here - the creamed ingredients will start out dark and eventually will be lighter in color and fully).
Beat in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add in flour mixture in 2 additions, alternating with sour cream/milk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
Stir in the hot water, beating just until combined.
Fill the prepared cupcake tins 3/4 of the way full.
Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Frost as desired.

0 Comments

Blueberry ginger buckle

6/1/2019

0 Comments

What's a buckle, you ask? It's a Northeastern US, streusel-topped coffee cake loaded with fruit. This one's full of blueberries and some spicy zippiness from ginger and black pepper. The buckle has a dense texture and a crunchy, crackled (buckled) top. It's perfect for brunch, breakfast of with tea or coffee.

We went with the full amount of ginger from the original recipe. If you don't like ginger or have a sensitive palate, cut it in half or omit altogether. We added less than half the pepper when we made ours.

We saved a few of our blueberries to stud the top of our cake at the end. Simply press into the streusel topping.

Our recipe is loosely based on one in the book Bake From Scratch, Volume 2. We made alterations in the ingredients and technique, so we're calling it our own.

Cake keeps for one day on your counter or five days in your refrigerator in a sealed container. We don't recommend freezing.

Video is coming soon!

ingredients

Cake

1/4 cup (57g) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 large egg (50g), room temperature
2 cups (250g) cake flour
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/4-3/4 teaspoon ground ginger (to taste or omit)
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup (120g) whole milk or buttermilk (we used buttermilk)
3/4 pound (340g) fresh or frozen blueberries ( we used frozen)
1 Tablespoon (15g) fresh lemon juice
9 x 9 pan (we used an 8 x 8 and it took much longer to bake in the center - we recommend a 9-inch pan if you have one)

Topping

1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (42g) cake flour
1 teaspoon (2g) nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon (1.5g) Kosher salt
1/4 cup (57g) cold unsalted butter, cubed

instructions

Heat oven to 350F (180C). Butter and flour a 9 x 9 pan square baking pan. Set aside.
In your stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe or a flat paddle, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until it is fluffy/sandy. It won't be super fluffy like many creamed mixtures.
Add egg and beat well on medium.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, ginger, salt and pepper.
With mixer on lowest speed, add small amounts of milk, alternating with small amounts of dry ingredients. Beat between each addition, mixing just until barely combined. End with flour mixture.
In a small bowl, toss blueberries with 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice.
Gently stir blueberries into the cake batter. The batter will be thick - more like muffin than most cake batters. Spread and level with a spatula.
In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, nutmeg and salt. Using a pastry blender of fork, cut in cold butter until the mixture is crumbly.
Sprinkle topping evenly over the cake. If desired, press a few extra blueberries into the topping for a decorative effect.
Bake until golden - 35-45 minutes for a 9-inch pan; 45-55 minutes for an 8-inch pan. It's difficult to determine the doneness with a toothpick. Instead, wait until the center no longer seems jiggly and the edges achieve a golden color. We overcooked ours a bit on the edges because it took a while for the center to bake. We used an 8-inch pan. This would be less of an issue for a 9-inch pan bake.
Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove cake from pan. You can serve at this point or move to a wire rack and cool completely.

0 Comments

Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies

5/29/2019

0 Comments

Chewy and slightly sophisticated, these cookies are sure to please who like their desserts to have "that little bit extra." We swapped out some of the butter with some fruity and delicious olive oil. We also substituted bread flour for a portion of the all-purpose flour. The result? Chewier cookies (although we attribute that more to the oil than the flour).

The addition of chopped dark bar chocolate gave us puddles of gooey chocolate when they came out of the oven. If you don't have bread flour, feel free to use all-purpose for all the flour. Just don't skip the salt!

We used our favorite grocery store brand, California Olive Ranch, for this recipe. It has a great flavor, is widely available, and is reasonably priced, to boot1

Our recipe, adapted from the Displaced Housewife blog, makes about 3 dozen cookies. They keep at room temperature for several days and can be frozen as dough balls or finished cookies for up to three months.

We will link up a video soon!

ingredients

1 -1/2 cups of brown sugar, any type, packed
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup good quality olive oil ( we used California Olive Ranch)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1- 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 -1/2 cups bread flour (or an additional amount of all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
3- 1/2 cups dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or chips (reserve some for the tops)
Sea salt flakes for the tops (optional)

instructions

Heat your oven to 375 degrees F. Make sure you have a rack in the top third of your oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mats.
In stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe or your paddle attachment, cream your brown sugar, butter, oil and granulated sugar on medium speed until fully incorporated.
Add the eggs + vanilla and mix on medium until everything is well blended.
In a medium bowl whisk together all-purpose flour, bread flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until the cookie dough is barely blended. You still want to see streaks of flour. Add the chocolate chunks and fold until just mixed.
Gently roll into 2 tablespoon-sized balls (we used 1-1/2 Tablespoon scoops). Place on prepared baking sheet with 2 inches between the dough balls. Stud the tops of the cookie balls with some of the reserved chocolate chunks for pretties cookies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze dough balls 10 minutes before baking if you like thicker cookies.
Bake the cookies in the top third of the oven for about 11 minutes. They will look slightly underdone. Fresh out of the oven, sprinkle with the sea salt flakes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, the cool completely on a wire rack.
Store in a sealed container up to three days at room temperature.

0 Comments

confetti cookies

5/22/2019

0 Comments

Perfect for a birthday or a rainy Tuesday, these soft, sprinkle-covered. almond flavored sugar cookies will brighten the day! They freeze well as dough balls or baked cookies, so go ahead and make a big batch so you can have some on hand for a quick treat or gift.

For the most uniform cookies, we recommend you use a 1-1/2 Tablespoon scoop. Makes 4 dozen 2-1/2 inch cookies. Recipe comes from King Arthur Flour and Smitten Kitchen.

This is a great recipe to bake with kids!

ingredients

3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1 cup (8 ounces, 225g or 2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup (2 ounces, 55g or 1/4 of an 8-ounce brick) cream cheese
1-1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 cup rainbow sprinkles

directions

Heat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to blend
In your stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe or your flat paddle, beat on medium speed : cream cheese, butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add egg and extracts and blend on medium speed until well combined.
On your mixer's lowest speed, add the flour mixture all at once, and beat just until flour disappears. Chill dough in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Scoop balls of dough using a 1-1/2 Tablespoon scoop if you have one, or approximate the size and roll completely by hand. With scooped dough, roll gently in the palms of your hands before dropping them in a bowl of rainbow sprinkles and gently rolling to coat them evenly. The sprinkles stick best to slightly hand-warmed dough.
Transfer balls of sprinkle-coated dough to lined baking sheets at least two inches apart. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to press down on the cookies until they are about 1/4 to 1/2-inch tall. Fill in any bare spots in the sprinkles if you like. Add more sprinkles on top if you want a heavy coating - the cookies will spread a little and may leave gaps.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes until they look underbaked but lightly golden underneath. [Err on the underbaked side, otherwise the cookies will become too crisp by Day 2.] Let cool on the baking sheet on a rack for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool the rest of the way. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.

0 Comments

<<Previous

blog

BroWn sugar cupcakeS

Ingredients & equipment

Instructions

Blueberry ginger buckle

ingredients

instructions

Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies

ingredients

instructions

confetti cookies

ingredients

directions

Recipes and mixing tips

Categories