Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Like every school year ever and like every student ever, I've fallen into the November slump. And while despite the the forever cramming for midterms in October ending, November means its cold and I need to save my motivation for final exams. That sounds fair right?

Well thanks to my friend, I actually got around to baking again and surprise, surprise, it's a cupcake. I keep thinking it's about time I stop baking cupcakes and start baking more of a variety of sweets but in all honesty cupcakes are such a crowd-pleaser and I don't bake for myself, I bake for my friends.

So my friend Katie picked out a recipe, which I happened to own from Martha Stewart, for snickerdoodle cupcakes and being the kind souls that we are, we gave them out to our friends and performers at a coffeehouse that we helped organize.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (makes approx. 30)

Ingredients:

3 cups minus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter

4 large eggs

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tins.

Sift together dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy with a mixer on medium speed in a larger bowl. Add the eggs one at time, mixing until completely incorporated. Add vanilla. Add the dry ingredients in three batched alternating with milk and making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything is well incorporated. 

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes. When cooled frost with your favourite buttercream or cream cheese frosting.

Notes: Baking in student housing, as I'm sure I've said before, means the ovens usually have a mind of their own. Despite baking at a lower temperature than 350 I found the first batch came out with a stiff top but the insides were still light and fluffy. Not only is this recipe a keeper, I think it may also be foolproof.   

Pie Time!

Now that fall is finally here and the weather is cold enough to make you contemplate getting out your winter coat, it is time for fall baking! Which means while everyone is baking "pumpkin spice" everything, I was trying out pies (not pumpkin pies) for the first time. 

The idea seemed simple enough which was to buy pie crust and raspberry jam and cookie sticks, combine and bake. Actually, it seemed fool proof and they looked beautiful going into the oven. The problem took place in the oven where the pies went from "thanksgiving" to "halloween". I'm not sure if it was because the vents I cut weren't big enough or if it had to do with the sticks, but in the oven the pie crusts separated and oozed jam everywhere which made it look like a bloody mess.

Thankfully some of them came out clean like the one bellow and regardless of the appearance they were tasty. And since this blog has become more unsuccessful than successful in my baking pursuits, I'll be making sure to put up some good, classic recipes that were also brought to our thanksgiving feast.

Black-Bottom Cupcakes

Since moving back to school, starting classes and then catching a terrible cold that originated in Georgia (the state, not the country), I've had little to blog about. I did have a previous blog from the end of August when I made the most delicious and moist vegan mini-cupcakes ever but before I could write the blog post my memory card deleted all the photos and then the memory card was lost forever (karma's a bitch and it doesn't distinguish between people and memory devices). But today I took all my baking supplies on the long trek to the campus ghetto to bake at my friends' house. Carrying my cupcake carrier, camera bag and a massive bag filled with canisters, a mixer and every other ingredient for half an hour resulted in quite a few rests along the way and my friend saying, "You look like you're about to cry." So we went to McDonald's to cheer me up.

For the recipe this week I returned to The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook for their Black-Bottom Cupcake recipe. The final product was delicious but not quite a cupcake and I wish it had been better described in the recipe especially the consistencies, none of which seemed accurate while mixing. The "black-bottom" was called a cake filling but never reached a consistency of cake batter (actually the thickest 'goop' I've ever come across) and tasted more like a brownie after being backed. Alternatively, the cheesecake batter was a liquid mess. 

Black-Bottom Cupcakes (makes a dozen)

Ingredients:

Cake Base (Brownie)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 + tablespoon sugar

 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sunflower oil (I used vegetable oil)

1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake Filling

4 1/2 oz. cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

2/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions for chocolate base:

Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa and baking soda in a large bowl. 

In a glass, whisk the oil, vinegar, vanilla, and half a cup of water. Gradually add to dry ingredients.

Continue to mix until all ingredients are fully combined.

Dived into cupcake liners.

Directions for the cheesecake filling:
Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla and salt on medium-slow until smooth and fluffy (or in my case, not at all).

Stir chocolate chips by hand.

Spoon a tablespoon of the filling into the cupcake liners.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. A good indicator is when the cheesecake filling turns golden on the edges. Decorate with cream cheese frosting and cocoa powder.