The Cake Mix Challenge

When it comes to cake mixes most people lay in one of two camps, either you love them or think they are a disgrace. Well, I do really prefer making my own cakes from scratch, but to be honest it's more of an ego thing than a real taste preference. I just enjoy the process of making them and the pride I feel when people are seemingly amazed that I made something from scratch. I do however realize that making a cake from scratch is a daunting, intimidating task for a lot of people. When you try out a new recipe you can never really be sure how it's going to turn out and there's the constant "is this cake going to be too dry" question. With a cake mix you are pretty much guaranteed success if you can follow directions. I also realize that a lot of people, myself included sometimes need a little shortcut to make everything fit in, or just want a shortcut so that they can watch 30 minutes more of t.v. I have made cakes in the past using box mixes and they have always been good and people have always thought they were homemade, and that is because a few years ago I figured out the secret to making a good box mix, throw away all of the directions and add your own stuff. I usually substitute sour cream for the water and always add in at least one extra egg, usually two. I also, depending on the cake flavor add in either vanilla or chocolate. I have heard of people adding in pudding mix and while I haven't tried it yet I'm definitely planning on it. There are really so many ways to dress up a store bought cake mix and all of this has led me to the "Cake Mix Challenge". This is entirely a challenge for myself, but hopefully some of you will play along. So every month for the rest of the year I am challenging myself to come up with a recipe for a cake mix that will be so good that nobody will believe you when you tell them it came from a box. That said, I do draw the line at store bought frosting, they are pretty much gross, they don't have real dairy products in them and that scares me and the texture is terrible, I have never frosted anything with them that didn't look terrible. I think they are just a bunch of oils and artificial sweeteners and colorings. Plus making frosting is really, really easy and only takes a few ingredients, so I really recommend that you take the 5 minutes and make your own. This month is very nearly over, but I have to get started somewhere and since it is my husband's grandmother's birthday this weekend I decided to give it a go. I had actually planned to make these cupcakes from scratch but when this idea came to me, I knew that they would be a good candidate for a box mix. These are a take on the famous Hostess cupcake that we all know and love. I figured I could make some that would at least be as good if not better. I also wanted to try out an idea that I saw over at Martha. Her cupcakes were just chocolate, no filling but the idea of taking the traditional white loops and making them into words was so cute I had to try it. So here is my version of a classic using a box mix.

Hostess cupcakes:

1 box devil's food cake mix- I used Betty Crocker, but whatever you like is fine
1 1/4 c. fat free sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. buttermilk
4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate

Mix all of the ingredients together in the bowl of your mixer, fill 24 prepared cupcake liners each 3/4 of the way full and bake at 350 for minutes. When a knife is inserted and comes out cleanly remove cupcakes from oven and place on a cooling rack.

Filling:

6 tbs. unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups marshmallow fluff (buy the big size, my grocery only had the small size so it takes 1.5 containers to get three cups.)
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. confectioners sugar
cream to thin

Cream the butter in the bowl of the mixer, add the marshmallow fluff and vanilla, mix. Now as for the confectioners sugar, I usually just add confectioners sugar to any frosting until it seems the right consistency to me. I can usually tell when its right for either filling, frosting or decorating. So use your best judgment, this is just an estimate, you can always add a little cream to thin it out. It should be creamy like what is normally in a hostess cupcake, not like the consistency of buttercream icing. When the cupcakes are cool, place the filling in a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, insert the tip into the center of each cupcake and fill until the cupcake puffs up a little. If some of the filling spills out the top, just use a knife to smooth it out evenly.

Chocolate Ganache:

3/4 of a bag of semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

In a heavy pot placed over low heat, heat the cream just until you see steam rising off the top, do not let it come to a boil. Remove from heat. Place chocolate into the cream and stir until the chocolate is melted and combined with the cream. Let cool. You can either dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache while it is still slightly warm and liquid or you can let it cool some and spread it on with an offset spatula. I transferred mine to a small bowl and popped it into the freezer for a couple of minutes. However you choose to do it, ice your cupcakes.













Decorators icing:

4 tbs. unsalted butter softened
3 tbs. shortening
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
cream to thin

Cream the butter and shortening in the bowl of the mixer. Add the vanila and mix. Slowly add the confectioners sugar and mix until incorporated. You can add some cream if the icing is to stiff. This should be a consistency that is pipeable, sort of like toothpaste. Place the frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a writing tip, or small round tip. If you want them to look like hostess cupcakes pipe 7 connected loops onto them (yes I counted the loops on a real one) if you want to write a special message on them just use cursive to mimic the loops on the real ones.

Final step; serve to your loved ones and enjoy the happy looks on their faces when they bite into the cream filling.

So there you have it the first entry into my "Cake Mix Challenge". Look for more to come in the following months.

-Kim

Soft Pretzel mmmm......

I've been wanting to try my hand at soft pretzels for a while, I love those big warm pretzels that you get at the mall and so does my husband. I had also thought that this would be a good project to try with Sweets, but it turns out that they are kind of hard to get rolled out into a rope that you can make pretzels out of and Sweets got bored after the first one. I didn't dare try to make my own recipe for this one since I'm still pretty new to the world of yeast breads and am positive I would ruin them if I went recipe less. I made the mistake of forgetting to put the egg wash on these which kept them from getting that nice distinctive golden brown color that we are so familiar with. They still taste really good and a lot like the ones you buy, which is good because they took like two hours of my day to make. If I make these again I will definitely make sure that I remember the egg wash, since by the next morning these were chewy and a little soggy. I think the egg wash would hopefully seal them and keep them a little fresher for a day or so, I mean who could be expected to eat a dozen pretzels in one day. So here is the recipe I used and hopefully if you make these yours will look a little better.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Soft-Pretzels-For-Bread-Machines-45567

-Kim

Owl Apron

Okay I am a fabric junkie, I admit it. I can't go into the fabric store without wanting to buy something new. I've been trying to be good lately since I have a huge stash that I am trying to work through but sometimes a fabric is just too good. Fabric is just one of my obsessions along with pretty much anything vintage. Those are the two categories in which a good find can incite major heart palpitations. This fabric sort of did it for me in both categories, while not technically a vintage fabric I don't think anyone can argue that the design has a heavy 60's feel to it, with the owls and black light poster color scheme. I had really only planned on buying some broadcloth when I hit the fabric store yesterday, I was planning to make an apron for my husband's grandmother's 75th birthday this weekend and she, like myself loves owls so I had intended to use some fabric with owls that I already had. Well a 40% off sign later I find myself clutching a bolt of this lovely stuff and breathing heavy. I'm happy with my purchase since 1.5 yards is proving to be enough for an apron for my husband's grandmother, one for myself and I think enough left over for the wallet I've been wanting to make.
Okay so on to the actual apron. I knew I wanted a 50's housewife inspired half apron, I looked at a few commercial patterns but thought the idea seemed easy enough that I could make my own pattern, so that's what I did. It is lined with solid broadcloth, has two patch pockets on the front, has a orange and pink handmade bias tape waistband and orange bias tape ties. It is technically reversible although the green side is pretty boring, on the next one I make, which will actually go to my husbands grandmother I am going to add patch pockets in the owl fabric to the reverse side so it will be pretty either way. I am thinking of trying to make a tutorial as I make the next one if anyone is interested. So I am happily wearing my apron as I sit here and type this morning and will probably be wearing it for the foreseeable future, I just can't get enough of the fabric and of course who doesn't love a big swirly apron to make housework a little more bearable.

-Kim

A Few of His Favorite Things.

I have been thinking lately about all of the favorite foods that we have and how so many of them tend to be things we don't actually make ourselves. We all have those favorite restaurant foods that we are too intimidated to try and make, the fear that they won't quite live up to the original always in our minds. So I have been feeling drawn to try and replicate or make an "inspired by" version of some of our favorite items. I'm not fixated on exact duplicates really, just trying to capture the feel and flavors that we love. This weekend I took on two of my husbands favorites, Barbecue Chicken Pizza and Boston Cream Pie. For both of these I went the "inspired by" route and made my own take on these favorites. For the pizza I made my own whole wheat pizza dough in the bread machine, my own barbecue sauce, and decided to add sweet peppers and onions and bacon to the mix. For the Boston Cream Pie I went for cupcake form. I really like making cake recipes into cupcake form, it's the perfect size portion for me and I like the ratio of frosting and filling to cake that you get in the smaller form. I really enjoyed both recipes even though they are rather time consuming, but you could easily substitute store bought sauce for the pizza and even use instant pudding for the filling of the cupcakes with a store bought yellow cake mix. Both of these recipes have the same feel of the originals but with my own spin and are perfect if you have time to spend in the kitchen some cold Sunday.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

Crust:
1 3/4 c. warm water
2 tbs. olive oil
2 c. bread flour
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tsp garlic powder

Place all ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order suggested by the manual. Set the machine to the dough cycle. When the cycle is over there is no need to let the dough rest again, it can go straight to the pizza pan. I like to sprinkle some cornmeal onto the baking sheet before stretching and rolling the dough. I kind of just use a combo of stretching and rolling until I get the shape and size that I want. This recipe will make a pretty large size pizza, enough for at least 6.


Barbecue Sauce:

2 c. ketchup
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. ground mustard seed
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. hot salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. paprika
2 tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. chili powder
salt/pepper to taste
1/4 c. water

Mix all the ingredients together in a small saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes and then place in the refrigerator to cool. This recipe makes enough for the pizza so if you would like more you can double or triple the recipe.

Pizza Topping

4 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups of sliced green, red, and yellow peppers
1/2 sweet onion sliced
1/3 lb bacon slices cut into 1 inch pieces
1 c. pizza cheese or mixture of provolone and mozzarella
1/3 c. Parmesan cheese

In a skillet cook the chicken until no longer pink, add the bacon pieces and cook until almost done. On prepared pizza crust spread the barbecue sauce generously over the surface leaving a 1 inch border. Sprinkle the chicken and bacon mixture over the top. Spread the peppers and onions evenly. Top with both cheeses. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before cutting.



Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes:

Cupcakes:

1 c. unsalted butter softened
1 c. white sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 c. milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 350
In the bowl of your mixer cream the butter and both sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla, stir until blended. Add the eggs stirring after each until all are incorporated. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter alternating with the milk until all is incorporated. Spoon batter into 24 prepared cupcake liners and bake at 350
for 15-18 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean, do not over bake. Remove from oven when done and let cool on a rack.

Custard Filling:

1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tbs. corn starch
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
2 tsp. vanilla
4 egg yolks
2 tbs. butter

In a heavy saucepan add the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir to combine. Add the milk a little at a time until the sugar, cornstarch and salt are dissolved. Add the rest of the milk, cream and vanilla. Turn on the heat and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture starts to get very thick. In a separate bowl gently stir the egg yolks. Add a little of the hot cream mixture to the eggs yolks and whisk quickly. Continue to add a little more hot cream to the eggs, whisking after each addition until the mixture is half and half, this is tempering the eggs and will keep them from scrambling when you add them to the hot cream mixture. After you have the eggs tempered add the mixture back to the hot cream mixture, stirring as you add. Once the egg mixture is incorporated into the cream, heat without stirring for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in the two tbs. of butter. Place in a bowl in the refrigerator until cool. When mixture has cooled place into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Insert the tip of the pastry bag into the center of each cupcake, making a small hole, pipe 2 tbs. of the custard filling into each cupcake. Some filling may spill out the top, I just use a knife to spread it evenly over the top of the cupcake.

Chocolate Frosting:

1/3 c. Cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. confectioners sugar
6 tbs. softened butter
1 tbs. milk

In the bowl of your mixer cream the butter, add the cocoa powder and mix until well blended. Add the confectioners sugar and mix until smooth. Add the milk a little at a time until the icing is a smooth, spreadable consistency. Frost the filled cupcakes with 1 tbs. of icing for each.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of my weekend. I am now very, very tired. This is pretty much all I did Sunday with the exception of a million loads of laundry and getting to watch Sweets puppet show that she put on with her new hoard of sock puppets courtesy of some Meemaw craft time. I also took a nasty spill when tripping over some of Bug's toy trucks and am nursing a bruised wrist so if my typing is terrible lets blame it on that. It's actually kind of ironic that I tripped over the toy trucks, I honestly can't tell you how much time I spend preaching each day about the need to keep toys picked up so that someone doesn't trip and fall and of course when it finally comes to pass it has to be me that takes the spill. I was proud of Sweets though, when I fell she very calmly stepped over me and made her way upstairs to where her dad was napping and woke him up to tell him that "Mommy had fallen and needed help". Bug on the other hand just came over and sat on me and cried, I think he actually felt pretty shook up by seeing mommy hurt. I also realized that there comes a point in our lives when falling down really sucks. Kids fall all day long and just brush it off but when we fall we feel it for days afterward. As a matter of fact, I'm feeling it right now so I'm going to have a beer and some Tylenol p.m and call it a week.

-Kim

Cheese Crackers for Playgroup

Well it has been a very long week. My cousin and her sweet little baby are leaving today for Japan. They will be gone for three years and are only going to get to come home once this June. All I can say is that we will be missing them dearly. I took the baby's picture this week and luckily have gotten to spend some quality time hanging out with them the last few weeks. But their leaving has left me very sad, so what is one to do when they are sad? Bake. Spending time in the kitchen measuring, kneading, mixing, all make my mind clear. I don't have to think for a while about whatever is upsetting me, just about the crackers or scones I am preparing. This week I decided to make something for the little ones for play group as well as the moms. So I thought what do the 3-6 year old crowd like? Cheese crackers of course. So I looked around at some recipes and then sort of combined some to get a flavor that would be more kid friendly. I also decided to make them into twists because that just seemed fun. For the moms I revisited the cinnamon-pecan scones from my previous post, because they were one of my favorite things I have ever made and I wanted to try the maple syrup in them. I'm still undecided about which I like best, but I think I have decided that scones are my official favorite baked good item. So here is the recipe for the cheese crackers:

1-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1/4 c. butter
1-1/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. cold water

In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal and salt stir to combine. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until small crumbs form. Stir in the cheese. Add the water a little at at time until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Heat oven to 425. After dough is chilled divide in half and place one half on a lightly floured surface and roll until about 10x10 in size, cut into half inch strips. On a lightly greased pan or silpat liner place each strip, slightly twisting and pressing down the ends to hold in place. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy, will keep in an airtight container, but I found if you want them to be crispy you may want to reheat them in the oven for a few minutes.

Speaking of favorite dessert type items, last night we went to our favorite ice cream place, "The Pie Pantry" to say farewell to my cousin. We spent many a day there over the summer and if you live in Louisville you have to check it out. They have the best ice cream and desserts in town and pretty yummy coffee, as well as totally reasonable prices. They have a really great atmosphere, it's comfortable, the staff is nice, and it's usually not to crowded. They also serve lunch; sandwiches, salads and soups which are really tasty too. They serve Ehrler's ice cream and I usually go for the cherry vanilla although last night I had the chocolate covered cherry sundae, which is seriously unbelievable. Just imagine cherry vanilla ice cream on top of a brownie, covered with chocolate sauce, cherries and whipped cream, trust me it was even better than it sounds. They also offer ice cream to take home and they have a wide assortment of pies, cakes, and other baked goods that can be bought by the slice or whole. They even do decorated cakes and wedding cakes. So it may be winter and we're all freezing our butts off, but head on over to The Pie Pantry and have a slice of something.

-Kim

Cinnamon-pecan scones

Yes, more scones. They were just so good the other day. So I was looking at my previous post and it came to me cinnamon rolls + scones = cinnamon-pecan scones, and since I am going to visit my mother-in-law today I thought I should put the plan into action. So I took my recipe for the blueberry scones and gave it an overhaul to produce these sweeties. I used honey this time, but I may swap for maple syrup the next time since after I had them in the oven it occurred to me that the syrup would have been a good flavor combination. I made candied pecans to go in these but you could just use plain if you are short on time. So here is the recipe, enjoy!

Candied pecans

1 1/2 c. roughly chopped pecans
2 tbs. white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat the oven to 350

In a 8x8 pan spray pecans generously with cooking spray and toss to coat. Add vanilla to the pecans and toss to coat. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, add to the pecans and toss to coat. Heat in the oven for 10 minutes watching carefully so they don't burn. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cinnamon-pecan scones

2 c. all purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
3/4 tbs. salt
6 tbs. cold butter cut in pieces
1 tbs. white sugar plus some for sprinkling on top
2 tbs. honey
1/3 c. heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops
1/2 c. sour cream
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 c. candied pecans

Heat the oven to 400 degrees

In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the texture is very small crumbs. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. In a small bowl stir together honey, cream and sour cream, add to the well in the center. Add the cinnamon and pecans at this point also. Stir with a fork until a ball forms, take out of bowl and knead just a few times, don't overwork as this will cause a tough scone. Form into a 6x6 square on your baking pan, cut into 4 equal squares and then into 8 triangles. Brush the tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with a cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake 20 minutes. When cooled you can drizzle a "icing" on top. Just mix 1/2 c. confectioners sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon and enough heavy cream to make a glaze.

-Kim

Breakfast baked goods

Seeing as how Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday this year I felt obligated to make my family an old-fashioned breakfast to celebrate. This year I stuck with the old stand-by's of bacon, eggs, and fruit but worked my butt off throwing in some homemade baked goods. I went with these cinnamon rolls http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/CinnamonRolls.htm and these blueberry scones http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/blueberry-scones?autonomy_kw=scones&rsc=header_10 I followed the directions for refrigerating the cinnamon rolls over night and they were actually really easy. I have found that since I have my bread maker making yeast dough is much less intimidating. The only change I made was to use heavy cream for the icing instead of milk. They were the perfect cinnamon roll and I'm sure if we ever feel the urge to kill ourselves with calories again I will make this recipe. The scones were the perfect scone in my opinion, not too dense, slightly crunchy on the outside, perfectly crumbly, light and moist on the inside, and just a touch of sweetness from the berries. I used frozen organic blueberries for this recipe even though it called for fresh and it turned out fine, and just for note you can buy frozen organic blueberries for cheaper than a pint of fresh non-organic. These scones really worked up fast and as it says in the recipe the minimum amount of handling helps keep them light and not hard. So with a little prep work you can have fresh cinnamon rolls or scones for breakfast this weekend and trust me they are so much better than what you can buy in the store. You don't have to take my word for it, just check out bug enjoying his scone.

-Kim