Detour: Special Pasta

As you are aware, I occasionally (okay...once) like to feature a non-baked good on here because it's just so darn good I want to share it with the world!  If you've known me or my husband for more than a month or two, then you've heard about our "Special Pasta."  Just sitting here actually writing out "Special Pasta" makes me laugh, because it's so funny that we call it that.  We made it last night, though, and in light of our 1 year anniversary (of marriage) coming up in a little over a week, I thought it would be great to share it with all of you.  Let's start with a story...

Most of you know that I met my husband when we were in high school.  I was 14 and he was 17, and much to the chagrin of our parents (helloooo drama!) we fell for each other HARD.  I was a preppy kid in Gap jeans and cardigan sweaters, he was a metal head with spiky hair and scary chains.  We were both in marching band, and he was probably the most charming individual I had ever met.  The years that followed were filled with love notes, late night phone calls (BEFORE cell phones! We used calling cards! Ha!), and flower-filled lockers when he came home from college for a weekend.

Okay, okay, enough with the mush.  Where did the pasta come from?!

One year for Valentine's Day I went to OU to celebrate with him.  He decided that we were going to take over his crazy little apartment (everything was brick! The floor, the walls...seriously...EVERYTHING) and have a romantic dinner.  We went back and forth on what to make, and finally he settled on a Rachael Ray recipe for "Bacon and Egg Coal Miner's Pasta (aka Rigatoni alla Carbonara)."  We. loved. it.  We also changed the bejeesus out of it for two reasons:

1. Pancetta-Have you ever been to Athens, OH?  Great place for a Halloween Party, bad place to find out-of-the-norm foods.  When we inquired if the deli had pancetta at the local Kroger, we were asked, "Paynchetta? Is that sum kahnd of cheeese?" Mmmhmm.  We smiled, thanked her for her help, and got a package of center cut bacon.

2. Quantity-Being the true blue Americans that we are, we added the whole package of bacon, pretty much doubled the cheese, and upped the ante on the crushed red pepper. Mmmm...

So because "Bacon and Egg Coal Miner's Pasta: Rigatoni alla Carbonara" is kind of a mouthful, we just started calling it "That special pasta from Valentine's Day," which was eventually shortened to "Special Pasta."  Over the years we've made it for so many people, even our friends know what "Special Pasta" is!  So after countless requests for the recipe, I'm sharing it with you.  I sincerely hope you enjoy what has become our signature dish!

Special Pasta
adapted from Rachael Ray's Bacon and Egg Coal Miner's Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg center cut bacon (less fatty)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced (yes...5.  Don't skimp. Bacon+garlic=heaven)
• 1 lb rigatoni (any pasta will do, I actually really enjoy this with Farfalle as well)
• 1/2 C grated parmesan cheese (buy the block of cheese and grate it yourself. SO much tastier! Cheese was not meant to come from a can, people)
• 1 handful of flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 C white wine (chicken stock only in a pinch, the wine is WAY better)
• 2 egg yolks
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

Fill large pot with water to boil for pasta

Have your loving husband slice the bacon into small strips (naturally, you can do this on your own, but this is one of those recipes that really works best with two people).  Heat a large pan with high sides on medium-high heat, add bacon.  Be sure to drain bacon fat from the pan with a large spoon as much as you can.  If you leave it, it will be greasy, and not-so-tasty.  Once the bacon starts to look halfway cooked, add pasta to your boiling water.  It's better to be a little late adding the pasta, than early.  When you add the pasta in the end, it should be very hot.

While husband is cooking the bacon, chop the parsley, grate the cheese, and stir together in a bowl with the egg yolks and black pepper.  Add a large spoonful of the boiling pasta water to the egg/cheese mixture and stir rapidly to temper the eggs.  Add water until it's creamy and easy to stir with a fork, but not too runny (this is usually about 3 spoonfuls for us...but it will depend on your spoon!).  Set aside.

When bacon is just starting to look crisp, add garlic and crushed red pepper and stir rapidly, (careful not to burn it!!!) until garlic is just softened.  Add white wine to the pan, and deglaze.  Be sure to scrape the pan to loosen tasty bits that may have been sticking.  When wine is reduced by half, turn off the heat. 

When pasta has finished cooking, drain in a colander (DO NOT RINSE-you want the pasta to stay starchy so the cheese mixture adheres to it), and transfer hot pasta into pan with bacon.  Toss to combine.  Finish by adding egg/cheese mixture and toss well until pasta is coated.

Serve in your favorite bowl, plate, or as we're fond of: the blate (bowl...plate...blate...get it? This one is from Williams Sonoma.  Thanks, Mom!).  Finish with a little grated parmesan, and devour.  This recipe can also be doubled, and devoured as leftovers.

I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty!

Hmmm...starting off a post with a Little Mermaid quote?  Looks like a recipe for awesome-ness to me!

 

I have been wanting to make these Blueberry Crumb Bars for over a month now, and it was just time!  Why did I wait a month?  Well, first I moved.  Then it got HOT.  We're rocking the a/c window units here in the new digs, so the idea of heating up the oven (and, therefore, my kitchen) was less than appealing to say the least.  It finally cooled down this week, after many days (weeks?) of 90+ degree days, so I decided today was the day!

 

I haven't tried them yet, since they're cooling as I write this, but I can tell you without a doubt that my house smells heavenly!!  There's nothing like blueberry, lemon, and butter to make your house smell all sorts of good!  These bars look so delicious, and they were beyond easy to make!  I was actually thinking while making them, "Gosh, these are so easy, I'm not sure I'll really have much to write about!"  Then I looked at what was in front of me and realized, "Wow...I'm using some things here that might not really be something that could be found in everyone's kitchen," so I had the idea to show you some of my kitchen gadgets, gizmos, and essentials.  Plus, I figure, in the days of Twitter, Facebook, and People magazine, everyone likes to be nosy nowadays!  So here we go (Not interested?  Just want the goods? Recipe's at the bottom!)...

 

1. Pastry Cutter- This is my newest kitchen gadget from Hill's Kitchen.  This can be used to make biscuits, pie crust, shortbread, etc.  I've been wanting one for a while (I'm dying to try my hand at homemade biscuits!) because even though all recipes that call for a pastry cutter say "or use two forks or knives to cut in butter..." I have had zero luck with that method.  This, however, was easy as pie (Oooh! Yesss. Haha, I crack myself up!).

 

 

2. Microplane & Citrus Reamer- Do me a favor: GO BUY THESE.  Oh, I'm sorry?  You say you have a "juicer" that works just fine?  You lie.  That little piece of wood will get every last bit of delicious juice from a lemon, orange, whatever.  I've never seen anything that works better (except maybe those crazy juicer contraptions at Jamba Juice).  And the microplane?  It's just money.  Works great for zesting lemons, and also grates parmesan cheese faster than the huge box grater that is now collecting dust on my shelf (makes less of a mess too!).

 

3. Kitchen Timer- Essential!  My mother tells me she doesn't bake because she always gets distracted and burns things.  Ever heard of the phrase, "Like mother like daughter?"  Yep.  I've burnt a thing or two in my day.  So I love my kitchen timer magnet.  Why?  It's loud enough to hear in my living room at the other end of the apartment, it is extremely obnoxious (a high pitched "beep-a-da-beep!"), and won't turn off until I press the button.  This is just common sense people!

4. Ikea flour and sugar jars- Know what I hate?  I hate those big bags of flour that never seem to open right, so they inevitably tear, and your counter tops get more flour than your baked goods!  Drives me bananas!  These jars were $5 each!  It's a no brainer.  If you're going to go buy some, keep in mind that they should be wide enough at the top to accomodate your measuring cups (this is important! For some reason the cutest ones have skinny little necks at the top.  Who does that?!).  These also have a seal under the lid, which I like.

 

 

5. Jewelry Dish- Confession time: I'm a sucker for those pottery painting places in strip malls.  Yep.  The ones with the little ceramic turtles and "I love you!" picture frames.  I'm always looking for an excuse to go in!  Well if you're looking for an excuse to paint some cheap unfinished pottery, here you go!  This dish is shaped like a flower, is painted by moi, and holds my rings while I bake, cook, and do dishes.  As a side note: how cute are my garlic jar and Ohio barn?!  Gotta love a little home state pride!

 

Okay.  So did you come here for a recipe or something?  My bad.  Let's move on to that for you!  Today's recipe is yet another gem from Smitten Kitchen, who got it from AllRecipes.com. 

 

Blueberry Crumb Bars

from SmittenKitchen.com, adapted from Allrecipes.com

Yield: I cut these into 36 smallish rectangles

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

 

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

 

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

 

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

 

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

 

Honestly?  These were too easy!  They are so delicious too (they've cooled overnight, and as I'm finishing this post my coworkers are devouring them)!  I think if I were to change anything, I might add some toasted pecans to the crumbles on top next time.  It would be the perfect addition!  Also, the lemon in this is so essential.  The blueberry flavor really pops because of it!  While I wouldn't recommend cutting it out, you could probably use a small orange if you didn't have a lemon lying around, and it would be equally delicious.  Okay, so seriously...go make these!!!

 

Excuses, Excuses...

Aaand I'm back!  As the title notes, I am full of all sorts of excuses and baloney today...so bear with me.  First off, let's start with today's recipe.  My Mom made a carrot cake for Dad's birthday, and it looked so pretty I thought I'd just have to make some cupcakes of my own, complete with creamy delicious frosting, and maybe I'd get ambitious and pipe on some pretty little carrots too!  Ha.  Then we moved.  I've been telling friends that our new place could be a contender for "Hoarders" as of late.  Boxes piled up, just crap....eeeeeverywhere.  So carrot cake got put off for a little bit.  Then I got stressed.  And I was like "Okay, we're moving everything aside and I'm making some darn cupcakes!"  So I invited my friend Beth over, and bought all of my ingredients.

Then we got to talking... :) hehe....

So 8PM rolls around and I'm like, "Oh!  Cupcakes! Haha, woops!"  So I made them.  And wow.  Delicious!! Just sooo good.  Moist, light, perfect.  Since it was getting late, I drove Beth home while the cakes cooled.  Then I got back and it was, oh, 10PM.  And I hadn't cleaned up.  And then I had a cupcake.  They were literally so good at that point that not only did I not feel like MAKING frosting, but I didn't want to mess with the awesome flavor they were already packing.  So I passed. No creamy frosting, no piped on carrots, just cake (hey, stop it!  I can hear you judging me through my computer screen!).  :) They still went like hotcakes the next day at work.  Probably because people were thinking, "Ooh, muffins!  Healthy!" as us Americans are wont to do.  Hey, if an absence of frosting makes you feel better, my lips are sealed!

So this is where I usually show you a picture of a pretty little cupcake.

**Sigh**

Excuses again.  So I'll provide a different picture instead...

That's my office building.  Some of you know I work for a certain government agency, and guess what?  No cameras inside.  No cell phones inside.  No cell phones with cameras or computers with cameras....you get the picture.  So I got nothin!  Luckily, that talented Mama of mine DID catch a photo of Dad's birthday cake (carrot cake is his fave), so I have this for you!

Gorgeous right?!  She doesn't know it...but I'm going to steal that cake plate someday.  Or at least find one that cute!  And those are crushed pecans on the sides.  Delicious, AND pretty!  Okay, so on to the recipe already!  This one hails from allrecipes.com (an awesome go-to for just about anything!).

Carrot Cake
from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup chopped walnuts**
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 cup raisins**

**Call me a purist, but I omitted the walnuts and raisins.  Just not my cup of tea.  It was perfectly fine without.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease and flour an 8x12 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.

Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.

Pour into prepared 8x12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick.

Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting
From AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

**Nat note: I also learned from the awesome teacher at Hill's Kitchen here in DC that if you want your frosting to harden a bit (kinda like the grocery store sort) you can add a tablespoon or two of milk to your frosting, and adjust the amount of powdered sugar as needed.

So I hope you all enjoy!  Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there this weekend, including all three of my wonderful Moms!

And last but not least, Happy Birthday to my gorgeous Mom (then and now!) tomorrow!  Love you!!

Best. Pie. EVER.

There's just not a whole lot to say about this pie.  I saw it on (I know, I know, I tend to obsess when I find something good) Smitten Kitchen and thought, "Ooh that looks yummy.  It will be perfect for the cookout with Beth and Justin!"  Just all non-chalant like that.  Not that I didn't think it would be good...I just didn't think it would be "Oh my god I could eat this whole pie by MYSELF" good.  Yeah.  For serious.

So back to the story! We had our friends Beth and Justin and their little cutie Henry over for a barbeque.  We just made some steaks, a green bean potato salad, and some grilled veggies.  It was so nice to spend time with our friends, and the weather here in DC has been just gorgeous!  I wanted to have something cold for dessert, but didn't want to give up on a big "bang" of flavor, so I searched Smitten Kitchen's arsenal of pie recipes, and came across the recipe for Chocolate Pudding Pie. 

The first obstacle I ran into was that I had a packet of pie recipes with an EXCELLENT pie crust recipe, but I lost it!  I was so forlorn.  How would I make pie?!  Well, I decided that Deb could never do me wrong, so I used the all-butter pie crust recipe she had on the site.  OH my gosh.  I'll never go back.  So buttery, flaky, delicious.  The pudding?  I'm not sure I'll ever make it out of the box again.  And the very lightly sweetened whipped cream on top?  The perfect compliment to the rich, thick pudding.  I'm telling you.  Make this.  How good was it, you ask?  I had a piece.  I tried to pawn the rest off on Justin and Beth, but they wouldn't take it.  They left.  I had another piece.  I put it in the fridge.  I came back to it the next day.  I had another piece.  Midway through that last piece I shouted "NO MORE!! I need to throw this #@*% pie AWAY!" as I felt it's chocolatey buttery goodness settling in on my hips.  It pained me, but I knew it was for my own good.

Worry not, friends.  I have a feeling this pie will be making an appearance again soon!  We're moving in the next couple weeks to a new, and much bigger apartment.  I'm thinking there's a housewarming barbeque in our future...and I'm thinking this chocolate pudding pie will be our guest of honor!

Now on to the recipe (straight from Smitten Kitchen)!

Chocolate Pudding Pie

Adapted from Gourmet

One of my favorite things about this — besides the whole CHOCOLATE and PUDDING and PIE thing — is the way that despite its all-id, kid-like nature, this pie is surprisingly unsweet and not heavy. There’s barely a half cup of sugar in the whole she-bang and the lack of excessive richness (it’s a milk and cornstarch pudding, not a weighty egg yolk and cream custard) makes for something you can easily crave on a hot summer day, although you’ve already been warned that that craving may strike without warning.

One half-recipe of All Butter, Really Flaky Pie Dough, wrapped and chilled for at least 30 minutes


Pudding filling:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (not more than 60% cacao), finely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chilled heavy cream
Bittersweet chocolate shavings for garnish (optional)
Prepare pie dough: Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 11-inch round, then fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under and crimp edge decoratively. Prick bottom and side of shell all over with a fork, then chill shell 30 minutes. While shell chills, preheat oven to 375°F with a baking sheet on middle rack. Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights*.
Bake on baking sheet until pastry is set and edge is pale golden, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil, then bake shell on baking sheet until pale golden all over, 15 to 20 minutes more. Cool shell.
Make pudding filling: Whisk together cornstarch, 1/3 cup sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, then gradually whisk [tips alert!] in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking, two minutes (mixture will thicken). Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate and vanilla until smooth.

Pour filling into cooled shell and chill, its surface covered with wax paper (if you want to prevent a skin from forming), until cold, at least two hours.

Just before serving, beat cream with remaining two tablespoons sugar until it just holds soft peaks. Spoon onto pie and garnish with bittersweet chocolate shavings, if you’re feeling fancy.

Do ahead: Pie dough can be made and chilled up to two days. Pie, without whipped cream, can be chilled up to one day before serving. Whipped cream is best added at the last minute, however, I did find that ours held up surprisingly well for a day (so far), if you feel like winging it.

* Detour! This is where I admit that I for reasons both lengthy and boring, I really loathe working with pie weights and use a different technique to blind bake pie and pastry shells. Instead, I freeze my rolled-out shells for 20 to 30 minutes until solid, press a piece of buttered foil, buttered side down, very tightly against the frozen shell and blind bake it according to regular directions. When it is time to remove the weights, I carefully pull back the foil, and press any part of the crust that has bubbled up gently back with the back of a spoon and continue baking the shell. Try it!

Natalie note: I used a bag of uncooked kidney beans as my pie weights.  Works every time!!
 
Seriously guys.  Make this pie.  But don't blame me when you sit on your couch rubbing your belly and cursing it's chocolatey goodness.  It can't help that it's got Mary Poppins Syndrome!  You know...it's practically perfect in every way? Har har har!  Okay, and there's your daily dose of cheesey jokes.  Enjoy!!

Smitten with Smitten Kitchen!

The last time you logged on here, I made some delicious St. Patty's Day cupcakes.  In making that cake, I rediscovered my favorite blog Smitten Kitchen, and I've been a woman obsessed.  There's this handy little button called "Surprise Me!" on the left side of the side, and MAN!  I could spend all day clicking that link and just daydreaming about all of the possibilities.  Cakes, pies, side dishes, main courses, appetizers, EVERYTHING!  Girlfriend has mad skills, and an amazing sense of humor on top of that.  If you haven't been to http://smittenkitchen.com/, you're missing out!

So to begin, the obsession with this recipe started with a picture.  Sometimes I'll see a recipe or see a photo and I'll have this "Oh-my-god-if-I-don't-make-this-I-may-die" moment, and before I know it I'm making a grocery list.  The first photo on this blog post made me have such a moment, and voila!  Cupcakes. 

This cake was not meant to be a cupcake, and after making them, I can see why.  This cake is so light and delicate, one of mine actually collapsed under the weight of the frosting!  I can completely see this working better as a cake.  Especially if you were to keep it light on the frosting--it packs a serious punch!  It was so strong I actually decided to nix the glaze for the cupcakes.  I think I would definitely make it like Deb did on the blog with a full cake, but I'm happy with my decision to leave it out for the cupcakes.  Why am I happy?  Because where my coworkers usually blow through 2 (or sometimes 3!) cupcakes at a time at work, and the other day's PB&C cupcakes actually didn't go very fast at all, and we had some leftovers.  This NEVER happens people.  It was just weird!  So while I wouldn't say it was a raving success, it definitely wasn't a failure either (they were still delish, people!).  I would totally use this peanut butter frosting on anything and everything else.  Seriously. Bookmark it.  Use it.  Love it.

Now on to the recipe, because the next one I give you is a doozy!

Sour Cream-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze
from Smitten Kitchen (copied from the site)


Adapted, only barely, from Sky High: Irresistable Triple-Layer Cakes
This cake is INTENSE. Serve it in the thinnest slices possible, and keep a glass of milk handy.

Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake; serves 12 to 16 (the book says, I say a heck of a lot more)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanut brittle (I skipped this)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cakepans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. (Deb note: These cakes are very, very soft. I found them a lot easier to work with after firming them up in the freezer for 30 minutes. They’ll defrost quickly once assembled. You’ll be glad you did this, trust me.)

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. (Deb note 1: Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Deb note 2: Once the cake is fully frosting, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the peanut butter frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze.)

5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving. Decorate the top with chopped peanut brittle.



Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 5 cups
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)
1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.



Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

8 ounces seimsweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of a double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm

Car Bomb Cupcakes

Good morning my devoted readers! :) Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!  Are you wearing green?  Are you downtown wherever you are drinking pint upon pint of green beer and singing along to whatever Dropkick Murphy's song they've got blasting?! Well, probably not, since you're reading this (and if you are? well that's just weird).  If you're like me, you're probably at work WISHING you were doing all those things...but alas, you're stuck in your cube (or maybe you're big time and have an office!).  I have the cure, folks, for the St. Patty's Day office blues...Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream Frosting.  In the words of the wise Emeril Lagasse? "Oh yeah, babe."

I was on Facebook yesterday when I saw that one of my friends was making "Car Bomb Cupcakes" and I remembered that I had the recipe too!  I'm fully admitting to being a copy cat here, although our versions are slightly different.  Seriously, though, getting inspiration from a girl named Maggie O'Toole on St. Patrick's Day?  Luck of the Irish and whatnot, if you ask me!  :) So thanks, Maggie for reminding me of this gem!

The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen, another one of the many blogs that I love!  The original recipe includes an Irish whiskey chocolate ganache in the middle, but I chose to leave that out (just too rich for my taste!).  Maggie made hers with the ganache, and did a cream cheese frosting instead...and you should see hers!  They look gorgeous!  I went for just a spread of frosting on mine, as the taste of Bailey's in it is pretty potent, so I didn't want the cupcakes to be overwhelmed by the frosting.  As I'm writing this, there is ONE cupcake left in the box of 22 that I brought in...and it's not even noon yet! all of the cupcakes are GONE!!  Needless to say, these went over VERY well here!  On to the recipe (straight from the blog--all commentary is hers, which is pretty great)!

Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes
While the Guinness in the cake gets mostly baked out, the Baileys is fresh and potent, so if you’re making this for people who don’t drink — ahem, nobody I know, but I hear such people exist — you’ll probably want to swap it with milk.
The Baileys frosting recipe makes a smallish amount of frosting — enough to just cover the cupcakes. Because they were so rich and this frosting so sweet, I felt it only needed a little. Double it if you want more of a towering effect.
Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes
For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling (Updated to double it, based on many commenters suggestions — thanks!)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)
Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.
Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.
Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]
When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
Ice and decorate the cupcakes. [I used a star tip and made little "poofs" everywhere and sprinkled it with various colors of sanding sugar to keep it looking festive for New Years. I bet shaved dark and white chocolates would look gorgeous as well.]
Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)


Natalie again!  So-some issues that I had with the cake:
-When I melted the butter and Guinness and cocoa powder, it kind of separated and didn't look very smooth.  I whisked it until I decided that all of my effort wasn't making one bit of a difference, and put it in the mixer bowl with the eggs and sour cream.  It all came together just fine, but it did make me nervous.
-As usual, my oven cranked the heat, so they were done in about 13 min.  Please people.  I beg of you.  Don't overcook your chocolate cupcakes.  Just consider it illegal.  Camp out in front of your archaic stove like I do, and stare in at them.  It's worth it...trust me!

Final product, voilá!    And yes...that's a cupcake wrapper in the background.  :) Jeff and I split one last night.  Dee-lish!  I also had to include a pic of Maggie's, because they were so pretty!  Enjoy, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Maple Magic!

Good evening dear readers!  Today's baking adventure took me down a new road--scones!  I have never made a scone before today, but Ina Garten made some DELICIOUS looking Maple-Oatmeal Scones while I was vegged out on the couch recently...and I decided they were a must-try.  My husband is a huge maple-anything fan, and I was excited to make something that he'd really enjoy.  I also have included a couple more photos today, as I usually only include the end product. The easiest thing I have access to is my phone-so the quality of the photos aren't usually the greatest....but they get the job done. 

So I took a photo today of all of my ingredients before I started, and then I laughed.  I noticed my iPod and speaker was in the shot, and realized that music is an essential when I bake, cook, drive, breathe, etc.  My husband says that my life has a soundtrack...and that's probably true :)

So there they are.  The essentials for today's adventure.  I was feeling like some country today, so today I played my Country mix with songs like "American Saturday Night" by Brad Paisley, and a whoooole lot of Sugarland (my favorite band!).  It put me in such a great mood while I baked!

Also, before I go into the recipe-I just want to take a minute to tell you about this dough.  All I could think while I was rolling out the dough was how luscious it was!  It was so soft, but not too sticky (after flouring my counter and the dough) and just made me so excited to get the scones into the oven!  Also, as I'm about to post a photo of the dough, you should know that the largest cookie cutter that I had was a big heart.  I felt a little silly at first, but I was so happy with how they turned out!  They just looked adorable!

Okay, so on to the recipe!  Like Ina's, mine made about 16 large (heart shaped, hers were round) scones.  Also, you'll see in my ingredients photo above that I had 4 eggs.  Well, those were the last of the eggs, so I didn't do an egg wash on the top.  No big deal, it didn't make a difference because of the glaze that we're putting on top anyway.  Also-It took the ol' turbo heater 15 minutes and not 20-25.  Keep an eye on them, they get nice and golden!

Maple-Oatmeal Scones

by Ina Garten, from Barefoot Contessa, Food Network

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 cup cold buttermilk
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk or water, for egg wash

Glaze

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Blend the cold butter in at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup, and eggs and add quickly to the flour-and-butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough may be sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4 to 1-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into 3-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are done.

To make the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. When the scones are done, cool for 5 minutes, and drizzle each scone with 1 tablespoon of glaze. I like to sprinkle some uncooked oats on the top, for garnish. The warmer the scones are when you glaze them, the thinner the glaze will be.

And now the final result!  I placed the scones on a cooling rack, and put the rack over a sheet pan and the parchment that I baked them on, to make for easy clean-up when I put the glaze on.  They turned out so cute, I love the hearts!  They're VERY tasty too!  I think the only think I would try next time is adding a little cinnamon to the dry ingredients; I think it would really make the maple flavor pop a little more.  I hope you'll give these a shot, they are just perfect!  Enjoy!