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Friday, January 23, 2009

Strawberry Cream Cheese Champagne Cupcakes

Hope all of you are gearing up for Valentine's Day! This recipe was supposed to be my Iron Cupcake submission but I missed my deadline due to my Internet, its horrible! I'm sad, but I got some great cupcakes out of this challenge! These cupcakes are sooo moist and delicious. When you scroll down to the recipes it may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't and its a fairly fast process!


What I did:

  1. Cut up a pint of strawberries about 25 whole strawberries, put them in a container and fill them with the champagne you want. Let the strawberries absorb the champagne until you are ready to use them. Its to OK to eat a few ;)

  2. Then in your mixer mix the cream cheese frosting and set aside.

  3. Now puree your strawberries in a food processor is ideal, but since mine hasn't arrived yet, I used my blender. It should be really smooth. Add the champagne to the strawberry mixture, you can also add more than the suggested champagne amount. (Save some to drizzle on top at the end)

  4. Now, just combine the cream cheese and the strawberry mixture, add a little of the strawberry mix at a time, until you get the consistency you like.

  5. Now mix the white cake mix recipe and grease your pans, I used Wilton's Jumbo Cupcakes Pan and their Easy Release.

  6. You will need about 1 cup of batter for each cupcake. Bake at 350 degrees and remove from oven when toothpick comes out clean.

  7. With a fork make holes to the top of the cupcakes.

  8. Then in a saucepan put the 2 cups of champagne and 1 cup of confectioners sugar, bring to a boil and let it reduce to about half.

  9. Now add the mixture to your cupcakes, just drizzle on top. I put 3 tablespoons, but you can put it as much as you would like.

  10. Now you can assemble your cupcakes. Add some of the champagne infused strawberries.

  11. Then add some strawberry cheesecake frosting a nice big dollop.

  12. Now just top it off with some of the puree strawberry mix.

This is really, honestly, not as involved as it seems don't be afraid to try them out, they are soooooo good. Bon Appettit!!!


Make these:


White Cake Mix



Ingredients

  1. 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
  2. 1 1/2 cups sugar

  3. 2 cups all-purpose flour

  4. 2 teaspoons baking powder

  5. 1/4 teaspoon salt

  6. 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)

  7. 3/4 cup milk

  8. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.

  2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

  3. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract.

  4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often.

  5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans.

  6. Bake cake(s) about 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.
Champagne Syrup (to be added to the cupcakes/drizzled on once baked)
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups champagne
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

  1. Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce about half way. Don't expect it to get thick. It will still be very liquidy when you are done.

  2. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more.

  3. Keep adding to taste.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  1. 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
  2. 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  3. 2 cups powdered sugar
  4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.

  2. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.

  3. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Puree Strawberries (adapted to make this Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting)

Ingredients

  1. 2 cups of frozen strawberries in sugar

  2. 1/3 cup of Champagne

Directions

  1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed and fold in to cream cheese frosting

  2. Add the Champagne and mix.

  3. Add a little of the mixture into cream cheese frosting, until desired consistency is reached. Refrigerate until ready to use.





Saturday, January 17, 2009

Fortune Cookies!


Hi everyone! I hope that you enjoy my blog my first blog ever!!! I have decided to start this blog as a way to keep an online scrapbook of sorts for my baking and crafts. Most of the posts will be about baking since I LOVE to bake!!! For my first post, I decided to make these fabulous and delicious fortune cookies. I baked these as favors for a birthday dinner for my sister and I. Hope you enjoy them as much as our guests did!!!

These fortune cookies do not require many ingredients. Most of the items we have laying around in the pantry. All you need is:

  • Unsalted Butter
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Almond Extract
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Eggs
  • Heavy Cream/Heavy Whipping Cream
  • Salt
  • Ultra Fine Sugar
  • Cocoa
  • Pam or any Non-Stick Cooking Spray
  • 50 Paper fortunes (I typed them up on my computer and cut them into strips)

You will also need the following equipment:

  • Electric Mixer
  • Teaspoon Scoop
  • Cookie Spatula
  • Silpat (not a requirement but makes things a lot easier)
  • Cookie Sheet
  • Spoon
  • Empty Egg Cartons

*Before you start to do anything turn the oven on to 400 degrees!


Combine the egg whites and sugar, and beat on medium speed until frothy, about 30 seconds. I used the whisk attachment on my KitchenAid mixer.

Add the flour, cocoa, and salt, and beat until combined. Add the melted butter, cream, almond extract, and vanilla extract, and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. And it should look like this! Smells yummy already.



I used the teaspoon to scoop out the batter onto my Silpat baking mat fitted in a baking pan, or use a nonstick baking sheet. Prior to this recipe I had no idea what a silpat was, its just a french baking mat ideal for easy removal of these cookies. You can use it for for many other baking endeavors. I got mine at Williams-Sonoma. I then used the back of a spoon to make 4" circles, do this in a circular motion this worked best for me. Only do 3-4 circles if you are doing this alone. You need to work really fast in order to get them all shaped before they begin to stiffen up.


  1. Then just bake for about 4-5 min until the edges are browned.

  2. As soon as they are done use a cookie spatula to lift all cookies so they will not stick. You have to work very very quickly because they will harden almost as soon as they are out of the oven.

  3. Grab your fortune paper and lay it in the middle.

  4. Begin to roll the cookie into a loose tube.

  5. Using your index finger, make an indentation in the center of the tube.

  6. Pinch each end together with your other hand.

  7. Place the cookie in an empty egg carton to help it keep its shape until it cools completely.

I made a lot of these, it takes a while if you are doing this solo because you cannot do a lot at one time, but it is well worth it!


I made these Chinese take-out boxes from a template I got from K Werner Design. I made the labels from label paper, stamping them with a coffee bean ink and a Thank You stamp. Then I cut them out using a circle whole punch. I added ribbon for a handle and added my cookie to finish it off.

Make these cookies:

Fortune-Cookie Favors: Fortune-Cookie Recipe

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