Butterbeer Cupcakes

OK, raise your hand if you're excited about Harry Potter 7.2 coming out this week. I am super excited! Like millions of other people out there, I am a die hard HP fan. I basically grew up with the characters! I can still remember reading the first book in 6th grade and thinking "man...this is amazing...when's the next one coming out???" And every book after that just got better and better, as I became more invested in the character's lives -- I cheered when Harry finally stood up to the Dursleys, groaned when Harry went through all that teenage angst, cried when Dumbledore and Fred died, and whooped when Ron and Hermione finally kissed. It was 10-year long emotional roller coaster! 

But to be honest, I've never been a huge fan of the movies -- books are always better, in my opinion. Still, each of the movies has been better than the one before it, and the actors have really became pretty good at their craft. And, this is the last movie in the franchise!  Can't miss it.

Right now my plan is to see the midnight showing of HP tomorrow night with Amy, and then go see it again on Saturday with Dan and another friend. Is that, perhaps, too much Harry Potter, you ask? Nahhhhh.

To get me in the mood for the Wizarding World of HP, I decided to make some HP-themed food for the movie. A bunch of food blogs have been doing that lately, so I had plenty of inspiration. Cauldron cakes, candy wands, Golden Snitch cake pops -- it all sounded good, but the recipes all seemed pretty complicated. But then I found a recipe for butterbeer cupcakes...

These are perhaps the best cupcakes I've ever eaten in my entire life, bar none. It doesn't matter that there is no chocolate involved -- they're just so good! The cake itself  is incredibly moist and fluffy (probably from the addition of bubbly cream soda to the batter), and the butterscotch frosting is tongue tickling-ly delicious. HP fan or not, you must try this!

Recipe can be found here, courtesy of the amyBites blog.

** BTW, those adorable cupcake stands were hand made by my friend Emily!

Lemon Cakes

I've had a serious crush on Tom Colicchio since the first season of Top Chef. He's bald, but so sexy! I think it's his wry stoicism that really does it for me. Not to mention, he can cook. So, when I found out that he was also responsible for bringing food trucks serving a menu inspired by one of my favorite fantasy books to the streets of NY and LA, my cup of love for him runneth over. 

One of the items on the Game of Thrones-inspired food truck menu is a treat that is much loved by many of the book's characters: lemon cakes. I'd always pictured them to be like mini lemon bars, but Tom's creation is a little more elegant -- miniature cakes baked in ramekins set in a water bath, with the result being that the bottom of the cake is light and spongy, while the top of the cake stays dense and custard-y. I had trouble un-molding my cakes, so my end product was not nearly as pretty as Tom's cakes. But, the intended layers were all there, and each creamy morsel was packed with lemony good flavor. Yum!

Wonton Cups with Spinach and Mushroom Ricotta Filling

Happy Superbowl Sunday, everyone! And...happy 1 year anniversary to my blog! To celebrate both momentous occasions, I spent the better part of the afternoon cooking: crab quesidillas, pizza dip, fresh guacamole, and...wonton cups with spinach and mushroom filling.

Why wonton cups? Well, I got really into cooking-themed books last year, and these cups were mentioned in passing in one of my books. There, the cups were filled with tuna tartare, but I had a feeling the people coming to my Superbowl party weren't going to be thrilled with raw fish, so I went with something a little tamer.

Who knew wonton wrappers were so versatile? I'd only ever used them to make wontons and crab rangoons, but they're actually quite effective as Tostito-esque scoops. And aren't they pretty? This is definitely something that looks fancier and more complicated than it actually is.

You can fill the cups with just about anything -- hummus, crab dip, salsa -- but I can tell you that sauteed spinach/mushrooms with ricotta was very tasty. The only downside is that, once filled, the cups lose a lot of their crisp/crunch over time. Maybe more time in the oven would fix this? Or perhaps frying vs. baking? 

Wonton Cups

Ingredients:

- 1 package of wonton skins

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 350

(2) Grease a mini muffin pan.

(3) Press a single wonton skin into each muffin cup. Make sure the skin doesn't fold in too much -- there needs to be enough space to fill with good stuff.
(4) Bake for 7-9 minutes, until lightly brown and crispy.
(5) Fill with anything you want, or serve as dip scoops.

Maple Fudge Cupcakes

I'm in a great mood this weekend. Dan and I are happily settled into our new condo, the kitty is doing very well, we finally have furniture in our bedroom, and I passed the bar exam. How do I choose to celebrate these wonderful events? Nights of debauchery? Fine dining on the town? Nope! I celebrate by sleeping in until 9:30am and trying out a new Hannah Swensen cupcake recipe.

In terms of taste and texture, these cupcakes taste more like brownies than cake. They're dense, chewy, and intensely fudgy with a nice maple after taste. As for the frosting, I could probably eat it by the spoonful. Even Dan, who isn't nearly as wild about chocolate as I am, ate 3 of these in rapid succession. Now that's a good cupcake.

Maple Fudge Cupcakes (Slightly modified from the Hannah Swensen recipe)

Ingredients:

(Cupcake)

- 4 cups chocolate chips

- 1-1/2 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup maple syrup

- 1-2/3 cups flour

- 1-1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/2 cup butter, melted

- 3 large eggs

- 1/3 cup milk

(Frosting)

- 2 cups chocolate chips

- 1 14oz can condensed milk

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 350.

(2) Prepare muffin pan with liners, or grease cups if you don't want to use wrappers.

(3) Microwave the chocolate chips, syrup, and 1/4 cup sugar for 1 minute. Stir mixture until chips are melted and everything is smooth.

(4) Add milk, melted butter, and the rest of the sugar. Mix well.

(5) When mixture has cooled a little, add eggs, one at a time. Mix well.

(6) Gradually add flour. Let batter rest for 5 minutes.

(7) Fill  of each cupcake liner 3/4s of the way full.

(8) Bake for 20-25 minutes.

(9) For the frosting, melt chocolate chips and condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly to make sure mixture doesn't scorch. Drop large spoonfuls to fill the craters at the center of each cupcake + some extra to cover the rest of the cupcake top. Sprinkle with chopped pecans, or garnish with fresh fruit of choice.

Cherry Peach Bread

A new day, a new Hannah Swensen recipe to reproduce in my kitchen. Today's book was "Key Lime Pie Murder," and it contained a delightful-sounding recipe for Peach Bread. My parents used to love eating my Cranberry Walnut Bread for breakfast, so I figured they might like to try another fruit-flavored loaf. 

In typical Tina-in-the-kitchen fashion, there were a couple ingredients in the recipe that I didn't have. No cream cheese, and no ripe peaches. I didn't feel like making another trip to the grocery store, so I just rifled through the fridge to see what I could find. And what I found were two containers of Yoplait Light Harvest Peach yogurt. Perfect!

Until last year, I didn't realize that there were different kinds of cherries. Thanks to my friend Karen, who spent a year working at a juice factory, I now know that not all cherries are of the deep purple/red variety, and have discovered the magic of Rainier cherries. Not only are they prettier, but they're also sweeter. And, I also happened to have some in the fridge, so naturally they also went into the batter.

Unfortunately, the peach and cherry flavors weren't as strong as I had hoped. I think next time I'm going to have to pick one fruit and stick with it. And, actual mashed peaches or cherry juice might do help. Even so, the bread was still very tasty. Moist, mildly fruity, just a little bit sweet, and good alone or toasted and slathered with some jam. Mmm.

Strawberry Blueberry Custard Squares

Now that the bar exam is over, my life is my own again. I get to sleep in past 7 a.m., I don't have to care anymore about who really owns Blackacre, I can have hobbies again, and most importantly, I can finally read for pleasure whenever I feel like it.  So, I was pretty pumped when Dan's parents surprised me with a Kindle last week. Instant downloads of any book I want for free/discounted prices??? Awesome!

While browsing through the online Kindle store, I stumbled across a series by Joanne Fluke. It was the title of the books that really caught my eye -- "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder," "Strawberry Shortcake Murder," "Peach Cobbler Murder," etc. After downloading the first book in the series, I was completely hooked. Each book follows the heroine, a successful bakery owner, as she helps solve the seemingly endless (but somehow unexpected) murders in her small town. Naturally, all of the murders involve her baked goods in one way or another -- hence, the titles. Best of all each chapter also contains at least one recipe for the treats she creates along the way. 

I love the series as much for the mouthwatering recipes as for the very entertaining story lines. Naturally, I am planning to test out everything that sounds good, which is definitely going to take a while. First up = Strawberry Custard Squares.

This recipe is very straight forward -- a simple shortbread crust is covered with fresh fruit, then smothered with custard. Strawberries aren't really in season now, but the ones on display at my grocery store looked pretty good, so I bought two cartons. In the end, three cups of sliced strawberries took too long to chop, and my hands got tired, so I just threw on a few handfuls of blueberries to supplement the missing fruit.

The resulting concoction tasted a bit like a cross between a pie and a fruit tart. The crust was buttery and crumbly, but less sweet than a regular shortbread; the fruit was explode-in-your-mouth juicy from cooking in the oven, and the custard was creamy and not overly sweet. Delicious!

Hannah Swensen's Strawberry Custard Squares (From "Peach Cobbler Murder")

Ingredients:

(First layer)

- 1 cup flour

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 stick chilled butter

- 2 tbsp whipping cream

- 1/2 cup flour (not a typo!)

- 1/2 cup granulated sugar

- 3 cups sliced strawberries (or whatever fruit you want)

(Topping)

- 1/2 cup granulated sugar

- 1 tbsp flour

- 2 eggs, beaten

- 1 cup whipping cream

- 1 tsp vanilla extract (or strawberry if you have it)

Steps:

(1) Preheat oven to 375.

(2) Spray a 13x9 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

(3) In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like course sand.

(4) Stir in the 2 tbsp cream. Pat dough into bottom of cake pan.

(5) In another bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour and sugar. Sprinkle it over the crust in the pan.

(6) Arrange sliced strawberries on top. Set aside.

(7) In a medium sized bowl, mix sugar and flour.

(8) Sir in the eggs, cream, and vanilla. Pour mixture over the top of the fruit in the pan.

(9) Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.

(10) Cool on a rack, then refrigerate.
(11) Serve warm or chill, with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream for a topping.