S’mores Cupcakes

There are three things I remember about my summers spent at Girl Scouts camp: 1. Having your mom write your name on your underwear is embarrassing but useful, 2. There are spiders in the latrines, and 3. The best part is always the campfires with s’mores.

I haven’t ventured for an overnighter in the great outdoors for some time now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t switch out the bonfire for a kitchen torch-god knows I prefer to eat my s’mores sans mosquitoes-and give the boyfriend heart palpitations at the same time:

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“Torching.”

“You know what you’re doing?”

“Sorta’.”

This recipe comes from Society Bakery in Dallas, Texas, courtesy of Bon Appétit. Apparently, all of the former campers now turned kitchen slaves out there say they “can’t get enough of” these cupcakes. And after making and trying one myself, I have to agree that they’re extremely addictive.

The graham cracker cupcake is moist and light and the bittersweet chocolate ganache pairs with the marshmallow stuffed inside the cupcake, and toasted on the top, perfectly. I say all of this a little loftily: ‘pairing’ and whatnot, but who are we kidding? It’s a s’more! You can’t go wrong!

*Sidenote: If you ever find yourself splashing on sexy perfume instead of practical bug spray to impress the young male camp counselor who’s your hike leader for the wild & untamed woods that day, DON’T DO IT.

Equipment:

• Stand or handheld mixer
• Kitchen torch [optional; can use the oven, too]
• Food processor or blender
• Apple or cupcake corer [optional; I just used a knife]
• Whisk

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs [about 15 whole grahams ground in a processor or blender]
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 stick [1/2 cup] unsalted butter, rm. temp.
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup + 7 oz. jar of marshmallow creme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

Whisk graham crumbs, flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt in a medium bowl. In another large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Add graham cracker mix in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions [beginning and ending with graham mix]. Divide batter among muffin cups. *Note: The cups will be very full. This is one of those cupcake recipes where the cupcake top is very wide.

Bake about 22 min. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely.

Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil and pour over chocolate. Let sit 1 min., then stir with a spatula until smooth.

Core center of cupcakes, or, using a paring knife, cut a round hole [about 1-inch down] into the cupcakes. Remove the cut parts and eat/discard. Spoon about 3/4 cup marshmallow into a ziplock bag, pushing into a bottom corner. Snip off corner and pipe marshmallow into the holes of the cupcakes. Spread ganache evenly over each cupcake top. Let set for about 10 min.

To toast, you can either preheat your oven’s broiler, coat a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray, spoon dollops of marshmallow creme on the sheet, broil until slightly charred [1-2 min.], and then spoon onto the tops of the cupcakes…OR you can dollop the creme directly onto the cupcake and torch it.

*Note: The creme will start to flatten and spread once on the cupcake for a bit, even after torching. If you don’t want the creme to ooze over the sides of the cupcakes, make sure to use only a scant dollop. Next time I might just plop a large marshmallow [forget the creme!] on the cupcake and torch. That way, no mess.

Chanel Birthday Cake

I always thought it would be nice to have a birthday in the summer and not arctic winter: sun instead of sleet, outdoor seating instead of thermal underwear, making sand castles instead of overly large payments to your electric company. “Oh Mer, have you picked out your birthday bikini yet?”

“I wish! I’m still too busy doing cartwheels in fields of dandelions because it feels so great to be born in the summer.”

Le siiiiiiiigh.

But I digress. Someone was lucky enough to have been born in the summer and she requested I make her a Chanel cake. This cake is unique for me because it’s the first time I was asked to make a cake based on a photo. I was asked to make the cake look exactly like the photo, only instead of purple the 3rd color should be light blue.

The cake I was asked to replicate:

Never one to turn down a request, I agreed immediately and had a lot of fun making it. However, I thought the numbers on the top of the cake were a little, well, ugly, so I bought some bedazzled ones from Etsy at Milan Creations. You can get these cake toppers in a numbers of colors and gems.

For the cake I used (3) 8″ round cakes as the base and then (3) 6″ for the top. I was asked to make the cakes white vanilla bean flavor and the bottom layers to have strawberry jam filling and the top layers to have raspberry jam filling [there are some tricks to using jam as filling that I'll explain below]. I damned the layers and coated the cakes in a vanilla bean frosting. The cakes are decorated with fondant.

Happy summer, awesome, better-month-than-mine, hope-your-birthday-includes-a-grilled-rack-of-ribs-with-a-candle-in-it birthday, Ashley!

Equipment:

• (3) round 8″ cake pans
• (3) round 6″ cake pans
• Stand or handheld mixer
• Whisk

Ingredients:

The recipe for the white cake can be found here on Wedding Cakes for You. I used this recipe as a base and added some vanilla bean paste and extra vanilla extract [just use your own personal judgement] to make it more vanilla-y. *Note: Be careful if you use Lorelie’s conversions-she doesn’t always get them right b/c she’s a busy little bee. Do the math yourself!

The recipe for the frosting can be found here in this post under “Vanilla Piping Icing.” I doubled the amount I listed in this recipe to dirty ice the cakes [dirty ice means it's a layer of icing on the cakes that isn't meant to look pretty; rather, it acts as a glue for when the fondant is applied].

For the jam fillings:

• 1 jar seedless fruit jam
• 1 small box dry jello in similar flavor.

Heat the jar of jam, lid off, in the microwave about 30 seconds on high. Spoon out into a medium bowl. Whisk in jello.

Spread on cake layer and put in freezer for about 10-15 min. or in the fridge 30 min. Damn with frosting then apply the second layer of cake.

*Note: A lot of times with jam filling, keeping the cake layers from sliding around is difficult because a jam consistency is a bit runny and slippery. To stop the sliding from happening, adding a bit of jello, then letting it set before adding the second layer, keeps the layers from shifting.

The fondant letter cutters are usually too small for large cakes, so I made the letters by hand with a paring knife. I assume there’s a better way to do this, which I’ll have to look into.

Side view-the Chanel logo goes around the cake

Homemade Confetti Birthday Cake Cookies

Nothing says coming out of a devastating flu like making cookies for your soul. For some people that means chocolate chip or snickerdoodle. But I wanted cookies and I wanted confetti cake that I used to request for my birthday. The answer? Why, confetti birthday cake cookies, of course.

I didn’t know where to start with this one. I know there are all kinds of recipes where cake batter is turned into a cookie, but I wanted it to be homemade and I wanted a REAL cookie: crunchy on the outside rim and moist/chewy on the inside-not some cake-y cookie that’s more mush than crunch. Cake batter cookies just don’t cut it.

Leave it to Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar to have already developed the perfect recipe for confetti cake cookies. By her own admission, nothing really tastes better than box cake-especially Funfetti box cake. Supposedly, it took Tosi-the lifelong professional baker-and her expert team four months to accurately recreate Funfetti cake from scratch, and man was that the most productive four months, because it really does taste just like Funfetti box cake…only so much better because it’s homemade.

The steps look involved because it’s not a simple cookie batter, but the steps are quick and the result is even better than a Nyquil-free sleep and the ability to keep down solid foods.

Me to my soul: ‘You’re welcome.’

Me to my blood sugar level: ‘Better luck next time.’

[Recipe from the book Milk by Christina Tosi. Make approx. 15-20 extremely large cookies.]

Equipment:

• 3 large baking sheets
• Stand mixer

Ingredients:

For the “Birthday Cake Crumbs”

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbl. tightly packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 Tbl. rainbow sprinkles
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 Tbl. clear vanilla extract

For the “Confetti Cookies”

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, rm. temp.
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 Tbl. light corn syrup
• 2 eggs, rm. temp.
• 2 tsp. clear vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup milk powder
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
• 1/2 amount of Birthday Cake Crumb recipe

For the crumbs: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until well combined.

Add the oil and vanilla and beat again to distribute. The wet ingredients will act as glue and  help the dry ingredients form clusters; continue beating until that happens. Spread the clusters on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-20 min., breaking them up occasionally. The crumbs should still be slightly moist to the touch; they will dry and harden as they cool.

Let the crumbs cool completely before using in a recipe [or just eating by the handful]. Crumbs will keep in an airtight container at rm. temp. up 1 week or up to 1 month if refrigerated or frozen.

For the cookie: Combine the butter, sugar and corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2-3 min. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat 7-8 min. on medium-high.

Turn off mixer and add the flour, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and rainbow sprinkles. Mix on low speed just until combined-NO MORE THAN 1 MIN. Scrape down the sides. Still on low speed, add the birthday cake crumbs and mix in for 30 seconds until just combined.

Using a 1/3 measuring cup, portion out the dough onto 3 parchment lined baking sheets with about 4-5 cookies per sheet, leaving at least 4 inches between cookies. Pat the tops flat. Wrap the sheets in plastic wrap and refrigerate AT LEAST 1 hour or up to one week.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time [keeping the remaining sheets refrigerated], for 18 min. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. They should be very lightly browned on the edges and the centers will show just the beginning signs of color. Cool the cookies completely on the sheets before transferring to a plate or container.

Cookies will keep in a container at rm. temp. for 5 days; will keep 1 month in the freezer.

Key Lime Whoopie Pies

Everyone loves to make whoopie…pie that is

It’s getting to be that kind of humid, sweaty weather that makes you want to plop your behind on white sand and have very deep thoughts, such as “Should my next one be daiquiri or mai thai? Decisions, decisions.”

Unfortunately, I can only dream of bikini bliss at the moment, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get a hint of the keys in my kitchen. And by that I mean key lime juice (humor me).

This recipe is extremely easy to make and doesn’t take a lot of time. The yellow graham cracker cake is moist, but not dense, and the whipped lime filling is very light and fluffy-no extra sugar required!

Now where did I put my margarita…

[Recipe from Betty Crocker. Makes roughly 18 pies.]

Equipment:

• Hand mixer

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup veggie oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
• 6 Tbl. bottled key lime juice or plain lime juice (you can use real limes-you’ll need about 3 medium limes)
• 1 (8 oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed (fat free works great)
• 1 (6 oz.) Yoplait key lime pie yogurt (Yoplait light works great)
• Green food coloring (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs, and graham on low speed until moistened. Beat 1 min. on high speed. Dollop 1-2 inch balls of batter onto the baking sheet, roughly 2 inches apart. Bake 13 min. or until set (do NOT overbake). Cool 2 min. then remove from the sheet and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 min.

In another large bowl, beat the condensed milk and lime juice on high speed until thick. Fold in Yoplait, then the whipped topping, then the food coloring. For each whoopie pie, spread the desired amount of filling on the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side-down. Gently press together. Store in the fridge.

Keeps refrigerated about 1 week.

Fresh Strawberry Lemon Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I like pregnant women because I tend to eat like one, and anyone who can keep pace with my appetite gets a thumbs-up. I also like pregnant women because they like to eat everything and I like to feed people everything. Win-win.

My editor and good friend, Laura, is awesome at what she calls “making humans,” and is about to pop another one in a week or so. Perfect time to feed her cupcakes, take her out to lunch, then send her on her way to out-of-the-office bliss.

Laura, Me

Shana, Laura, Denny

Laura, Denny, Victoria

Since it’s spring and I’m still drooling over the ripe strawberries on parade at the moment, Laura [and the office] received some strawberry lemon cupcakes with some decorations-gone-wild, courtesy of the Container Store [click here for the set] and Crate & Barrel [click here for the pinwheels].

The cupcakes are made with fresh strawberry purée-the trick is to draw out the sweetness of the berry by letting the purée sit overnight in the fridge. This way, the sugars release and you get a sweet cupcake without all the artificial flavoring. The strawberry and lemon frostings are made with cream cheese and mascarpone cheese, giving the frosting enough body and silk without needing too much confectioner’s sugar…plus, it just tastes damn good.

Happy baby producing, Lady Laura. May your son be as enthusiastic about baked goods as you are

[Recipe for the cupcakes adapted from The Cooking Photographer] [Makes 12 cupcakes]

*Note: You will need to make the purée for the cupcakes the night before [ideally].

Equipment:

• Blender or food processor
• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Fine sieve
• Zester or grater

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 2/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberry purée [about 1 quart of fresh strawberries]
• 1/2 cup [1 stick] unsalted butter, very soft
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. almond extract
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• Few drops of pink food coloring [optional]

Strawberry frosting:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, rm. temp.
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, rm. temp.
• Pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 cups SIFTED confectioner’s sugar
• 1/3 cup seedless strawberry jam
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
• Few drops pink food coloring [optional]

Lemon frosting:

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup SIFTED confectioner’s sugar
• 8 oz. cream cheese, rm. temp.
• 6 oz. mascarpone cheese, rm. temp.
• 1 Tbl. lemon juice
• Zest of one large lemon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Few drops yellow food coloring [optional]

Cupcakes: Gather enough strawberries to make the purée [almost an entire quart of strawberries]. Blend/process the berries until smooth and press through a fine sieve, to remove all seeds, into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with liners. In a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and salt until well-mixed. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat until well-mixed. Add the buttermilk and strawberry purée and beat until mixed. Add the cornstarch and baking powder and mix to incorporate. Then add the flour and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Beat in food coloring.

Fill liners evenly with all of the batter. Bake for 25-30 min. or until toothpick comes out dry. Cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry frosting: Using a stand or hand mixer on medium-high speed, beat together cream cheese, butter, and salt in a large bowl until creamy. With mixer on low speed, beat in confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 cup at a time. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in strawberry jam and lemon zest. Beat in food coloring.

Lemon frosting: Pour the granulated sugar into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the zest of the lemon. Beat until sugar is tinged yellow and smells very lemony [2-3 min]. Add cream cheese and mascarpone. Beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar. Beat until smooth. Add vanilla and beat. Beat in food coloring.

To assemble: Using a piping bag or ziplock with a slit cut in the top, pipe a round of strawberry frosting onto the cupcake. Using the same method, pipe a round of lemon frosting on top of the strawberry frosting.

Keep refrigerated until ready to eat. Keeps, covered and chilled, about 5 days.

Chia Seed Muffins

Years ago, I was sitting on my couch watching MTV’s ‘True Life’ about a body builder. The show was snooze-worthy, but something the teenage Hulk said stuck with me: “Your body is a machine. How well it performs depends on what fuel you put in it.” Simple enough, but it’s only now as I reach my almost-30 peak that I’m coming to understand how important it is to keep myself well-oiled, as it were.

Part of this recent exploration into a higher-performing me [a me who still can't stand most green veggies, doesn't enjoy seafood all that much, and would rather eat Fudgesicles than strawberries] is trying to incorporate ‘superfoods’ into my diet. Besides an adventurous foray into black garlic, nutritional yeast, Vega One and, yes, plain ‘ol broccoli, I’ve also discovered something called chia seeds.

Chia seeds, originally eaten by the Aztecs as a staple food, were re-discovered by Dr. Wayne Coates, an agricultural engineer and ultra-distance runner. Chia has an insane amount of omega-3 fatty acids [4 grams per 2 Tbl. serving, including the essential one called alpha-linolenic], as well as tons of antioxidants, dietary fiber, and protein.

Other pluses? They’re easily digestible, have an extremely long shelf life, and can be eaten raw, ground, or in water [chia seeds turn into a jelly-like substance when wet...not as terrifying as it sounds, I promise].

But what I personally enjoy the most about these seeds is their multiple uses for foods, including baking. In Dr. Coates’ book, Chia: The complete guide to the ultimate superfood, the Dr. and health writer and certified holistic health counselor, Stephanie Pedersen, give a breakdown of chia, as well as over 75 recipes that include chia.

Enter these legit amazing chia seed muffins. I know what you’re thinking: “Great. Seeds? Muffins? Health food? I’m going to need a sedative just to eat it.” WRONG. These are some of the best muffins I’ve ever tasted…and it’s not just because I’m in superfood La-La Land. The muffin is dense, moist, and tastes like a cinnamon and vanilla cupcake.

AND [drumroll] it’s healthy! Lots of chia, nonfat vanilla yogurt, and whole wheat flour go into these delicious little babies.

Does this mean I’m going to go run a 5K? Karate-chop the evil-doers of D.C. in the blink of an eye? Become the Robo-Meris machine I’ve always dreamed of becoming? No. But do I feel less guilty about passing on the salmon? A bit. And does this also mean I have to invest in more dental floss for post-seed consumption? Oh yeah

[Makes roughly 12-16 regular-sized muffins. Adapted from the book mentioned above.]

Equipment:

• Hand mixer
• Muffin pan

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt, rm. temp.
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. King Arthur Flour’s Princess Cake & Cookie Flavor [optional]
• 2 cups whole wheat flour [I like to use KAF's white whole wheat flour]
• 1/3 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp. low-sodium salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 2 Tbl. sugar + 1/4 tsp. cinnamon [for topping; optional]

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with wrappers or lightly grease a muffin tin.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, and princess flavor.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, chia seeds, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add this dry mix to the wet mix and blend until JUST combined. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 of the way full. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a tiny dish. Sprinkle on top of the muffins.

Bake until golden brown, 15-20 min. Allow to cool slightly in the tin before placing on a cooling rack. Keeps covered, or refrigerated, about a week.

Ohio Buckeyes

When I tell people I meet in D.C. that I’m from Ohio I sometimes get fun questions, such as “How did you make it here?” or “That’s in corn land, right?” or even “Ohhh…I can tell” [I was wearing a side braid at a work conference. Clearly, everyone from the Midwest still dresses like Katniss Everdeen, I suppose].

Newtown, OH

People I’m closer to ask me whether or not where I live is rural, if it’s near a great lake, and exactly how close I live next to the Deliverance country of Kentucky.

Road by our place

Bridge by our place

Answers: Yes, No, and closer than anyone in Cincinnati would like to admit

The local car shop

However, my parents actually live in a village close to Cincinnati, called Newtown, which is  pretty stereotypical “real America.” People say ‘y’all,’ men work on the field, and you can get a homemade apple pie at the market down the street.

Ye-haw, Miss Maman

You can also ask anyone close by if they like buckeyes and they won’t automatically assume you’re speaking of tree nuts. They’ll know you’re talking about the chocolate and peanut butter candies Ohio is [somewhat] known for that resemble those tree nuts.

Best food...on Main

Best ice cream

As I spend my last day here in the Buckeye State playing with old friends, drinking with family, and eating my way through memories, this tried-and-true candy recipe seems like the perfect end to a wonderful home visit.

Me + Miss Maman

Me and Grandma

Me and Em, my oldest friend, and fellow Ohioan

D.C., watch out! I’m armed and ready with more braid ideas, more tan, and more accent than I’d like to admit.

I’m comin’ home, y’all!

[Makes roughly 5 dozen]

Equipment:

• Stand mixer [recommended] or hand mixer
• Toothpicks
• Double boiler [recommended] or microwave

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 stick softened unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups SIFTED powdered sugar
• 4 cups good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. vegetable shortening

Make the peanut butter balls: In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer), combine the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar to the mix until it is well mixed. Roll the mixture into 3/4″ balls, using your hands, and place on a plate lined with waxed paper. Stick a toothpick in each of the balls (to be used as a handle for dipping in the chocolate). Chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Melt the chocolate: When the peanut butter balls have set, gently melt the chocolate and shortening in the top of a double boiler, stirring frequently, until smooth.

Form the buckeyes: Dip the frozen peanut butter balls in the chocolate, holding them by the toothpick. Leave a small portion on the peanut butter showing at top so the candy resembles the fruit of the buckeye tree. Return the buckeyes to the plate. Gently remove the toothpick and smooth over the hole. Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.

*Note: Store buckeyes in a tightly sealed tin or (preferably) in the refrigerator. Buckeyes also freeze well.