Cupcakes, Birthdays and Family Nights on the Town

Last night was a fabulous adventure with the fam!  We went over to Sissy K's apartment for much Pinot and cupcakes (my creation) and then headed out to dinner at Crispo downtown which was amazing! I got a delicious prosciutto cheese platter- yes for my meal, I have been CRAVING prosciutto recently so gotta satisfy my craving and move on!  They also had the most amazing artichoke heart appetizer. So amazing that we got two orders!

Well the cupcake creations were an absolute hit! Dad loved them so I believe if the birthday boy enjoys them you can classify those as a hit! Wahoo. And yes, we ate them before dinner- it felt very indulgent and fabulous :)

These are a little trickier to make than your standard cupcakes and frosting but not by much. They are worth ever step! We will do the cupcakes first and then tackle the frosting.

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup milk

12 tablespoons sugar free strawberry preserves (I went with Trader Joes- OBVI)

Steps:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

2) In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

3) Add butter to try mixture with an electric mixer

4) In a separate large bowl combine mill, egg whites, and both extract.

5) Slowly add the dry ingredients to the large bowl of wet ingredients and beat slowly until there are no lumps.

6) Fill pam-ed muffin tins 1/2 way

7) Scoop one tablespoon of sugar free jam on top of each cupcake

8) Top with one more scoop of cake batter

9) Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, until top of cupcakes begins to brown slightly

10) Remove and let cool!

While the cupcakes are cooling, you can create the frosting!

This frosting was stolen from here and is absolutely delicious! Note tho: It makes SO much frosting that I think I'm going to have to bake tonight because I have an entire bowl left! If you are trying to make frosting just for the above cupcakes, I would suggest cupping the below recipe in 3!

Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperate

6 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Steps:

1) In a small bowl cream butter with an electric mixer

2) Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar and the milk and vanilla and mix at a low speed until combine (add powdered sugar a little at a time)

3) Add two more cups of the sugar and combine until light and fluffy!

After the cupcakes are cooled completed spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes and dollop with red cakemate. Swirl around with spoon for effect (if you desire)

These are amazing cupcakes.  The strawberry filling really adds the extra omph to make them over-the-edge-superior-to-your-standard-cupcake-kinda-treat. 

The frosting was a little too sweet for this girl but all in all the creation was quite delicious.  I give these a Star Fabulous Rating of 8/10!

Star Fabulous Rating: 8/10

Confused Pancake Cookies

It is only because I promised to deliver both the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, that I am writing this post.

As I am sure many of you thoughtful people already know, this week is Administrative Professionals Week!  Our team of fab people over here decided we wanted to show our favorite person in the office how much we appreciated her so everyone got a job!  One woman grabbed a beautiful card, the team ordered a gorgeous orchid and I was in charge of bringing a tasty treat! Being comforted with the fact that I had back-up PB &J Bars, that I knew people would love considering how well they have been received, I took a simple and stable recipe from the fabulous  Tina.. and fiddled... bad move Jessica.

Now before I tell you what changes I made to this easy, simple and classic recipe, I think it is essential to make this note. 

I have learned from experience (ahem... this recipe) that certain classics can only be tweaked to be made healthy so much before you take the tweaking too far.

 

Tina's treats are both scrumptious, and healthy and should have been left alone. 

With that said, here goes nothing. 

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

1/3 cup liquid egg whites

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2) Mix all ingredients in one bowl

3) Make into 12 portions and place on pam-ed sheet

4) Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes.

5) Remove cookies from baking sheet and allow to cool

Now it should be said that these cookies did not taste bad by any means.  The problem was simply that replacing all oils and butter (fats) with applesauce unfortunately removed the crumbly delicious texture of  cookies that makes them as good as they are.

The results... according to my taste testers, were that the cookies tasted less like cookies... and more like:

(Picture Source)

Needless to say I did not subject the office to these confused pancakecookies and they are currently under tinfoil on my kitchen counter (hoping maybe they are like Peeps and are a little better stale?)  

The team got exactly what they wanted with the rest of these goodies.

The best thing that came out of this exploration however... I feel a delicious pancake recipe brewing in this dome. 

Now, if treated like cookies, these suckers probably deserved something along the lines of 2 maybe 3 stars on the Star Fabulous Rating System (edible, but hey so is gum, doesn't mean you should swallow it).  I believe it is important, however, to recognize these for what they truly are, no matter the original goal. 

Star Fabulous Rating if treated like Confused PancakeCookies:

Asparagus Prosciutto Pizza

 **Not baking but too delicious not to share**

Last night we had a small shin-dig at my APT with some girlies.  Jvo and I have been planning to have a delish dinner date ever since our extravagant brunch at Friends of a Farmer a couple of weeks back.  She is currently is on an asparagus kick, and anything involving pizza always works for me so we tackled this Asparagus Pizza Recipe with a few slight changes.

We adventured down to Trader Joe's (my main complaint about this city is that there aren't enough Trader Joes'). Grabbed some goodies and headed back to the APT to devour. 20 min later and 17 blocks, we were starving.

The recipe that we used was a little indulgent but definitely worth the splurge! We kinda of winged everything, one of the nice things about cooking is that you can mainly just go with the flow and it will still come out well :)

Ingredients (roughly)

1oz Prosciutto (roughly one package)

Olive oil, for drizzling

1 whole wheat Trader Joe's Pizza dough

1 1/4 cups grated Monterey jack

1 giant block of Fresh Mozzarella (we went with a sort of spicy olive oil marinated block)

6 asparagus stalks

1/2 a sweet onion

2 tablespoons minced garlic

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

10 basil leaves, finely chopped

 The steps to this were very simple and perfect to do with a friend!  Jvo and I split things up and it worked out perfectly!

1) Spread dough over a pam-ed baking sheet and dust with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

2) Cut onion and saute with olive oil until cooked well but not overly brown

3) place the olive oiled dough into the oven to toast lightly while you...

4) Cut asparagus into small 3 inc pieces

5) Cut mozzarella chunk into small quarter size pieces

6) Pull prosciutto into long thin pieces

7) Chop basil into small crisp pieces

8) Remove dough from the oven and sprinkle garlic evenly throughout

9) Sprinkle Monterey Jack cheese evenly over dough

10) Add asparagus evenly

11) Add Mozzarella evenly

12) Add Prosciutto evenly

13) Top with basil!

 (deliciousness before we threw it in the oven!)

14) Put in over for 20 to 35 minutes until edges start to brown.

15) Dig in!

This recipe made PLENTY of food.  Four starving girls (roommate and roommate's fred were stuffed and there was enough for Jvo to take home for lunch today. Perfect.

What better way to end a scrumptious salty meal then with a delicious sweet treat! We dominated my PB&J Bars and then all were comfortably stuffed until about... right now.

PB &J Bars

When I was younger I was the pickiest eater in the entire world. No. I am not exaggerating.  My daily meals consisted of cereal for breakfast, plain pasta with a little bit of butter for dinner and every single day I ate Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich on whole wheat bread for lunch. Thank you mother for forcing whole wheat bread down my throat as I now find white bread revolting and whole wheat is better for me anyway.  

Needless to say, the epic PB & J combo is something that I often (and quite randomly) crave. Crave, as in ABSOLUTELY need.  I browsed my collection of genius blogs and stumbled upon The Sweets Life's brilliant PB & J masterpiece.  With a couple of tweaks (I am a heavy up Jelly girl, not a PB queen) I created this fantastically satisfying walk down Childhood Lane.

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (wish I had reduced fat but the Deli only had regular)
3/4 cup brown sugar
 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cups unsweetened Applesauce

1 1/2 tablespoons egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup raspberry preserves 

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350F. 

2) Line 9 x 13 brownie baking pan with tinfoil and spray with cooking spray.

3) In a small bowl. whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4) Beat butter, peanut butter, and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth

5) Add applesauce, egg whites and vanilla and beat in slowly with the electric mixer

6) Add flour mixture, beating on low just until blended.
7) Transfer 3/4 of the dough into prepared pan smoothing out evenly with your fingers and pressing onto the bottom of the pan. 

8) Place remaining dough in the refrigerator while doing the next step

9) Spread jelly over the crust evenly. 

10) Remove remaining dough from fridge and sprinkle in grape-size pieces on top of jelly

11) Bake bars for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown on top.

12) Cool bars completely in the pan on a cooling rack. 

13) Lift foil from pan to remove bars and cut into 28 squares

These are fantastic.  My love/obsession with jelly was completely satisfying and the PB was delish but not overwhelming as it easily can be. 

Cant wait to serve them at dinner tonight. Hope everyone loves em :)

Personally, I give them the below Star Fabulous Rating...

Star Fabulous Rating: 9/10