Sunday, September 23, 2012

Biscoff Buttercream Cupcakes




Today is Josh's birthday...and he loves those Biscoff cookies they serve on the plane. Luckily, they also have them at Wal Mart reasonably priced...otherwise we'd get two every several hundred dollars spent! Biscoff came out with Biscoff spread also...this is great because it's dairy free! Josh likes that too. So... you may remember that Josh shouldn't have dairy, but you know...let him eat cake...I tried to scramble together some vegan friendly products but in Logan at 9:00 PM, it's not a good idea to start that adventure at that point. If the whole thing wasn't going to be dairy free then why bother? So I did my own thing with what I had already. I made the frosting from this site

Biscoff Buttercream Frosting:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread
2 Tbs. milk

and then used Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodle cupcake recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (Ateco No. 809 or Wilton No. 1A), pipe frosting on each cupcake: Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve


but I added biscoff cookie crumbs to the bottom and topped it with a Biscoff cookie I cut in half :) I just had an idea...use the spread and thin it out just a little bit and insert it in a squeeze tube and drizzle it over the top! That would be epic....

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Jill Schadegg from Logan, Utah was our 100th Fan on Facebook. She won a Chubby Chicks oven mitt! We recieved soem hints on what colors she would like and we came up with this!



Saturday, June 2, 2012

Debb's Italian Cream Cake Cupcakes

Debb's Italian Cream Cake Cupcake
My all-time favorite cake is made by our preacher's wife (and my dear friend and mentor), Debbie Webb.  I begged for the recipe which she gave up without hesitation and for over two years, I have never made it.  I guess I was afraid it wouldn't turn out as good as hers and I didn't want to go to all the work to be disappointed.

Well, I decided to dust it off today to make for our Italian themed potluck at church tomorrow.  Layer cakes are so hard to cut and serve well at potlucks, so I decided to make a cupcake form.  Ok, I just like to turn things into cupcakes....isn't that why read this blog?

I did make a couple tweaks to the original recipe.  First, I substituted almond extract for amaretto (we live in a dry county and I didn't want to make a road trip to buy it, but the amaretto is really worth and adds just a little more flavor punch).  I also left pecans out of the frosting and sprinkled them on top so that I could pipe the frosting.

They turned out amazing and while I wouldn't call this a quick, easy recipe, it was totally worth the effort and I hope the 36 people who get one tomorrow enjoy them.