Sweet Recipes

Way back when I first began blogging, I kept a fun little blog dedicated to my love of baking. Since I sort of let that blog go downhill (mainly I blame all the weight gain from devouring all the sweets I made), I have decided what better place than here to publish my favourites. I hope you enjoy them!

VANILLA CUPCAKE DELIGHTS

Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cupes unbleached all-purpose
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:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with papers; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachement, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
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.

Divide batter evenly amoung 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.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offet spatula to frost tops of each cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Billy's Vanilla Buttercream
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 to 8 cup icing sugar
1/2 whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitter with the paddle attachement, 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.

CHOCOLATE CRINKLIES

Ever since moving into my new apartment, I had been dying to use the Williams Sonoma Baking book that I bought months previous. There is an assortment of recipes, tips and tricks for everyone from the beginner baker through to the advanced baking artisan. I would classify myself as an advanced novice. Now with that in mind, I decided the first recipe to tackle would be a cookie one, as I find cookies some of the easiest sweets to bake.

What caught my eye was the image of a group of chocolatey cookies, covered in a dusting of icing sugar that looked like they could positively melt in your mouth. Here's the recipe! Enjoy :)

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Baking
Ingredients
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
4 large eggs
2 c granulated sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (I love using the PC brand, The Decadent)
1/2 c confectioners’ sugar
Directions
Melt the butter and chocolate on top of a double boiler, over simmering water, and stir often. Remove and set aside to cool a bit.

In a small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients — flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture on low speed until blended. Add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated. The dough will be stiff, but you must persevere: mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a good long while, at least 2 hours. I sometimes leave the dough in the fridge overnight.

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 325, though if you have an old, tempermental oven like I do, you might need to settle for 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl.

Roll a rounded tablespoon of dough between your palms into a 1 1/2 inch ball, and toss it around in the powdered sugar. Place the cookies about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until the tops are puffed and crinkled and feel firm when lightly touched, about 13-17 mins. (My oven usually gets them done in about 15 mins.) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Below you will find my baked batch. I realize that I did overdo it slightly with the confectioner's sugar, but I just couldn't resist.
I give this recipe 4 stars out of 5!

CHOCOLATE PECAN BANANA MUFFINS

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp quality vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
2 large over ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 cup milk
1 (3-4 oz) dark chocolate bar, finely chopped
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Either spray muffin tin with non stick cooking oil or line with paper cups.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl beat together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add the mashed bananas and milk. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Gently fold the wet mixture into the dry until moistened. Do not over mix or you will have flat, dense muffins. Fold in the pecans and chocolate.

Fill prepared muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on wire wrack.

SWEET PEACH AND WALNUT STREUSEL MUFFINS

I must confess, I've been trying to be on some kind of diet/healthy eating plan for the last few months. It has paid off and I feel good, minus 13 pounds!! :) So that in turn makes it hard to post about baking and sweet divine things because it simply tempts me.

That being said, I've indulged in a few treats. These below are one grand example: They were made as a belated Father's Day gift for my dad who was away on vacation. They are soooo delicious. Eating them fresh is the best. Enjoy.

Makes large 12 muffins

Brown Sugar-Walnut Streusel Topping:

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Muffin Batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 tablespoon dark rum or pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups peeled, pitted, chopped peaches
1. For the topping: In a small bowl, combine the walnuts, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir in the butter, and mix until well blended.

2. For the muffins: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line 12 large muffin cups with paper liners, and spray the top of the pan lightly with nonstick spray.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, from flour to salt, and set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, butter, sour cream and rum or vanilla. Fold in the peaches.

5. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture. Stir until just moist and blended. Do not overmix.

6. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan with a large ice cream scoop (1/3-cup scoop). The batter should come to the top of the paper liner or pan. Sprinkle with the Brown Sugar-Walnut Streusel Topping, and lightly press the topping into the muffin batter.

7. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes clean. Remove from the oven, and cool for 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out of the pan, and serve immediately.