Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

I think (because I know you're all dying to know my opinion) that the appeal of red velvet cake is purely psychological. Take away all the food coloring and what have you got? A slightly-chocolate flavored cake. But mostly vanilla. It'd probably be beige. But it's still great, and I don't care if the fact that its artificially red makes my brain tell me it tastes better. Anyway . . .

I made cupcakes for a baby shower. The original recipe was for a layered cake with blueberries and raspberries, but I thought cupcakes would work better for the occasion. The cake is gorgeous, though, and would be perfect for the 4th of July. (Had I posted it last week like I intended. . . ) See?

Photo from Epicurious.com

I should really call these "Hot Pink Velvet" because I only had half as much red food coloring as the recipe asked for. And didn't realize it until I had emptied the bottle. The mother-to-be was having a girl, and she loved pink and black (I didn't know this before I made them), so it worked out perfectly.

Yes, my child eats cake batter occasionally. Like twice a year.

Piping frosting onto cupcakes is so much easier than picking them up individually and getting frosting all over my fingers. I sprinkled a little hot pink sparkling sugar and topped each with a single blueberry. They were good right after I frosted them, but they got even better after sitting in the fridge for a while.

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Epicurious.com

Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon red food coloring
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs

Frosting
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 1/2-pint baskets fresh blueberries (optional)
3 1/2-pint baskets fresh raspberries (optional)

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare mini muffin molds with liners or nonstick spray (with flour added) .Sift sifted flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into medium bowl. Whisk buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla in small bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions.

Divide batter among muffin molds. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 8-10 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Turn cupcakes out onto racks; cool completely.

For frosting:
Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Frost cupcakes and garnish with berries. Store in the fridge. Makes about 40 mini cupcakes.

Nat's Notes:
1. This recipe original made two 9-inch round cakes, layered, with frosting and berries in between, like the photo above.
2. I wasn't sure how long to bake these, as I'd never used a mini muffin pan before. I overbaked some, which made them slightly dry. Use the times above, but keep an eye on them. It might take longer depending on where you are.

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Bobby Flay's Onion Rings

As promised, here's the recipe for the onion rings on Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger. He recommends using Vidalia onions, and I happened to see some at the store while I was out, so I used them, too. Vidalia onions, if you didn't already know, are a very sweet type of onion only grown in Georgia. They may or may not be available where you are, so just use a sweeter type of onion (yellow ones would work nicely). But if you can find them . . . I bet they're the reason these onion rings are so amazing.

Seriously, they're everything I want in an onion ring: a crunchy crust that stays on the onion during frying, soft, sweet interior, and not too much of an onion-y taste. If I wasn't making them for the specific reason of topping our burgers, they might have all been eaten before we sat down.

I know, not the greatest shot, right? You should feel lucky to even see a picture of these. We practically inhaled them.

Bobby Flay's Onion Rings
from Food Network Magazine June/July 2009

3-4 c frying oil
1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 c flour seasoned with dashes of salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper
2 c buttermilk seasoned with dashes of salt and black pepper
That's it.

Heat oil to 350 degrees F in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. (Oil should not go more than halfway up the pan.) Place seasoned flour in a zip top bag and the seasoned buttermilk in a shallow bowl. Toss onion rings in the bag with the flour, then coat with buttermilk. Return to the bag for a second coating of flour (shake it good), then drop the coated rings into the hot oil in batches. Use a spider or something similar to break them up so they don't stick together. Fry them for several minutes until they turn golden brown, turning only once or twice. Remove from oil to some paper towels or a cooling rack to drain. Season with a sprinkle of salt. Eat them quick before someone sees them.

Nat's Notes:
1. If you feel like you're adding too much salt and pepper (because every component is seasoned), don't worry. You're not. I think that's another big reason why these are so delicious.

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Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger

All I can say is that this burger is the BOMB. I was surprised when I saw the meat was actually ground turkey, and then he goes and names it the "Cheyenne" burger. I bet there would be a lot of cowboys in Wyoming laughing their chaps off at the thought of eating a turkey burger. While eating it, though, I could see why Bobby would use turkey, a milder, often bland-tasting burger meat. All of these toppings have strong flavors, so it was actually a charitable act of the burger, to sacrifice its flavor, to showcase its toppings. Thanks, man.

This was the first time I'd ever made onion rings or BBQ sauce from scratch. I'm a "make it from scratch" junkie, so I had to give it a try. Honestly? The BBQ sauce was great, but using your favorite store-bought kind would have done just as well. The onion rings, though? Holy. Cow. They were so amazing, they earned their own post.

If I don't get another post up before Saturday, have a great 4th of July weekend!

Burger pictured with some Asian Noodle Salad -- an unlikely, but tasty compliment to the burger. Thank goodness for leftovers.

Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger
from Food Network Magazine June/July 2009

4 ground turkey or beef patties, seasoned with salt and pepper
8 slices of bacon (turkey works great), cooked
4 slices of smoked gouda (Bobby used smoked cheddar, but I couldn't find any.)
4 hamburger buns
1 Recipe Onion Rings (recipe coming soon)
1 Recipe Bobby's BBQ sauce (recipe below)

Brush patties with BBQ sauce and grill for 5-8 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the patty and the type of meat you have -- until it's cooked through. Add cheese slices to patties during the last 2-3 minutes of cooking.

When the patties are done (or while they're cooking, if you have room on your grill), place the buns inside-down on the grill for 2-3 minutes toast. (This is totally optional, but it's amazing at the difference it makes.)

To assemble burgers, brush both sides of the bun with BBQ sauce, and layer a couple of onion rings and bacon slices on top of the patties. Eat. Groan.

Makes 4 burgers.


Bobby's BBQ Sauce

2 T oil
1 Spanish onion, chopped (I used a regular yellow one, I think.)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 c ketchup
2 T chili powder (ancho, if you have it)
1 T paprika
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped
2 T dark brown sugar
1 T honey
1 T molasses
Salt and black pepper

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add ketchup and 1/3 c water, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add everything else (except salt and pepper); simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor (or use a stick/immersion blender in your saucepan); puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then pour into a bowl. Allow to cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Makes about 1 cup.

Nat's Notes:
1. If you'd rather use store-bought BBQ sauce, it would work just as well. I'm sort of a "make it from scratch" junkie, and tried out his BBQ sauce. It's great, but it tastes a lot like stuff I'd normally buy.

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Spiced Apple-Filled Ebelskivers

I saw an ebelskiver pan in my mom's cabinet while I was visiting and jumped at the chance to make some while I was there. She hadn't used it yet and was excited to try it, too.

Ebel-whaa? Ebelskiver literally (in Danish) means apple slices, but they use the word for spherical pancakes filled with fruit, jam, chocolate or whatever you want.

So my mom and I got to work -- she got the pancake batter whisking away in her gorgeous copper Kitchen-Aid, and I started on the filling. I love being in the kitchen with my mom. The miles of counterspace and more-than-six-inches-deep sinks are nice, too. (Can you tell I've been cooped up in my tiny kitchen for a while?)

This was pretty time consuming (because we picked a recipe that had cooked filling) and dirtied up a lot of dishes, but man . . . if you have an ebelskiver pan and extra hour or so on a Saturday morning, you really should try these. (As a side note, I'm curious to know if a regular pancake recipe would work as well.)

The pancakes were moist and tender, and the maple whipped cream that topped them . . . was amazing. I found this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma site. They have about a dozen different ebelskiver recipes, and I think I'm going to try the cinnamon-bun filled ones next.

I might have to get my own ebelskiver pan, too, because I don't think I can wait until Christmas in Idaho to make them again.

Spiced Apple-Filled Ebelskivers (Pancakes)
from Williams-Sonoma.com

For the filling:
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Juice of 1/2 lemon

For the maple whipped cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp. salt

For the filled-pancake batter:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 egg yolks
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
5 egg whites
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbs. confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

To make the filling, in a fry pan over medium heat, cook the butter, brown sugar, apples, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon juice, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes. Drain off any liquid. Set aside.

To make the maple whipped cream, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the heavy cream, maple syrup and salt until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the filled-pancake batter, in a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, granulated sugar and salt. In another bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the buttermilk and sour cream. Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the flour mixture until well combined; the batter will be lumpy. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff but not dry peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the whites into the batter in two additions.

Brush the wells of a filled-pancake pan with melted butter. Heat over medium heat until the butter bubbles. Pour 1 Tbs. batter into each well and cook for 2 minutes. Spoon 1/2 tsp. apple filling into the center of each pancake and top with 1 Tbs. batter. Cook until the bottoms are golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes more. Using 2 skewers or toothpicks, flip the pancakes over and cook until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes more. Transfer the pancakes to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

In a small bowl, combine the confectioners sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on the pancakes. Serve with the maple whipped cream. Makes about 30.

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Mango Pudding

I loved the way Poornima garnished her pudding, so I added strawberry slices as well. Gorgeous!

For this month's Taste and Create swap, I was paired with Poornima from Tasty Treats. Poornima had so many mouth-watering Indian dishes on her blog, but because I'm still in a post-vacation fog, I opted for something simple. I chose this mango pudding because I've never had mango pudding, and I don't think I've ever made pudding entirely from scratch before. We loved it! I used frozen mango chunks to make my mango puree, which tasted great, but I bet it would have been even better had I used fresh. I bet you could use different kinds of fruit, too. Hmm. . . strawberry pudding?!

Mango Pudding
from Tasty Treats

1 cup water at room temperature
2 1/2 tbs unflavored gelatin
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
2 cups mango puree (fresh or canned)
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk or heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped mangoes
whipped cream and mango slices for garnish

Pour the water into a large glass or metal mixing bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put a couple of inches of water into a saucepan and heat to boiling. When gelatin mixture is ready, place bowl over the top and reduce heat to medium, ensuring the boiling water doesn't touch the bottom of the mixing bowl. Heat the mixture and stir until gelatin has melted and the mixture is transparent. Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved.

Remove the bowl from heat and whisk in the evaporated milk and mango puree. Gently stir in the chopped mangoes. Pour into wet serving bowls and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

Serve chilled topped with whipped cream and slices of mango.

Nat's Notes
1. A 1 pound bag of frozen mango chunks and about 1/2 c or so of water made about 2 cups of puree.
2. Yes, I chose the cream.

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Spinach Salad with Pecorino, Pine Nuts and Cranberries

We're home! I apologize for the lack of posts, but I only get to visit my family in Idaho about twice a year now. When I'm there, I turn into a lump of lazy, and I did a lot more eating than blogging. But lucky for you, my mom, my grandma, and I cooked up some great stuff, and I'll be sharing it with you momentarily. . .

as soon as I catch up on some housework and some much needed sleep. Traveling with two kids is exhausting. (Especially when one of them still wakes up every 2-3 hours.)

I wanted to quickly post this salad recipe we tried a few weeks ago. It's simple, really, just a handful of ingredients, but it's amazing how a few good quality ingredients can pack such a punch. I made this salad twice in one week. That's how good it was.

Spinach Salad with Pecorino, Pine Nuts, and Cranberries
from Bon Appetit June 2009

1 1/2 T dried cranberries
1 1/2 T pine nuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 T balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp minced shallot
1/2 tsp sugar
2 T olive oil
6 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves
Shaved Pecorino Romano cheese (or fresh Parmesan, if you have it)

Whisk first 5 ingredients in small bowl. Whisk while adding oil. Season with a couple pinches of salt and pepper.

Toss spinach with vinaigrette in large bowl. Add cheese and toss.

Serves 4.

Nat's Notes:
1. If you can't find shallots, you can substitute minced red onion and maybe a pinch of garlic.
2. The original ingredients called for dried currants, but I had cranberries on hand. They're probably easier to find, too.
3. Don't skimp on toasting the pine nuts. Toasting them gives them such a different (and better) flavor. I think they taste like pine trees untoasted.
4. If you've never shaved hard cheese before, just use a vegetable peeler.

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Chevy's Sweet Corn Tomalito

I had good intentions of posting this with Chevy's salsa recipe, but I can only do so much in a day, people. Luckily I'm in Idaho visiting my parents for the next several days getting a much needed break from my life. My sister flew in from Maryland, so I have a nanny, too, while my mom works up in her office during the day. The only way this could be better is if Steve was here. I miss him. He really likes this recipe, and he was the reason why I made it in the first place.

When we first started eating at Chevy's, they would bring you your entree and on the side of your plate would be a pile of yellowish mush with a cactus-shaped tortilla chip sticking out of it. Looks can be very deceiving when it comes to food. This pile of mush was often, depending on what we ordered, our favorite part of the meal. It's like a really sweet cornbread-type, puddingish thing. Not a dessert, but definitely satisfied my sweet tooth after eating spicy food. That stuff is gold.

You have to order it as a side now. Bummer. It's alright though, because I haven't been too impressed with Chevy's the last few trips. Now that I have recipes for my two favorite things there, I don't really need their overpriced corn mush anymore. I can make my own, thanks.

One Year Ago: Baked Doughnuts

Chevy's Sweet Corn Tomalito
from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 by Todd Wilbur

4 c frozen corn, thawed
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c milk
1/2 c masa harina (corn flour, found in the Mexican food aisle)
1/2 c corn meal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add milk and masa and mix well.

Puree the corn. Add corn to butter/masa mixture and mix well. Add corn meal, baking powder, salt, and remaining corn and mix until combined.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan. Cover with foil and place into a 9x13 pan. Add hot water to larger pan until it's about 1/3 full. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until corn cake is firm in the center. Let sit, covered for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Nat's Notes:
1. This is best eaten the day you make it, while it's still hot. As it cools it gets sort of dense, but it still tastes great. It's even good warmed up the next day, but it never regains the fluffy, fresh-from-the-oven texture.

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