Vanilla Cupcakes

    Whenever I feel like baking something (which, let’s face it, is pretty much all the time) and ask my mom what she’s in the mood for, the conversation almost always goes like this:
Me: “Hey, mom, what do you want me to bake?”
Mom: “You’re making me fat.”
Me: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you want?”
Mom: “I think I need to ban you from the kitchen.”
Me: “……”
Mom: “Cupcakes, please.”
    Remember this post a few weeks ago, with my go-to recipe for cupcakes? Well, now I have a new, even-better-than-those-cupcakes go-to recipe (I change my mind a lot, okay? Don’t judge me), and ever since the first time I made it, all my mom ever wants is cupcakes. Specifically, these cupcakes with vanilla frosting and nothing else. I can’t really blame her though, because these cupcakes really are delicious. Moist, delicious… mmm, I want another one (or two or ten). I’m pretty sure I would probably be snacking on one of these babies right now if we hadn’t finished the last of them this morning—that’s right, haven’t you heard that cupcakes are the new breakfast of champions? I mean… what? Anyway, if you’re in the market for a good cupcake recipe, you should give this one a try.



Yellow Cupcakes:
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners, or spray with cooking spray.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
3. Fill cupcake tins 2/3 full. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 12-15 minutes (my oven cooks kind of weird, so this time may not be exact. Just watch closely to make sure they aren’t overcooked). Let pan cool slightly before removing cupcakes to cool on a wire rack (or, if you’re like me, remove cupcakes immediately and suffer the very hot consequences). Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting. Enjoy!

Yield: about 24 cupcakes

Fourth of July and Key Lime Pie

    Sorry for the mini-hiatus! My last few weeks have been insane… I spent the end of May and beginning of June in Boston. Then, less than a week after that I went on a two-week long road trip that started in Pennsylvania and ended back here in Florida (which included a stop at the newly-opened Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure… I am a huge Harry Potter nerd, and seriously that place is amazing. I would live there if I could). Despite some major bumps along the way, all of which just HAD to happen on the same day-—like having the airport lose my luggage, getting pulled over repeatedly by police thinking we were doing illegal things (apparently we looked like hoodlums but we were really just lost, I swear!), and losing the keys to our van-—I had a blast. One major thing I missed, though, was being able to cook or bake. Within the first two hours of being home I had already baked a pie, and since then I’ve pretty much been baking and cooking nonstop.



    I’ve been excited for the Fourth of July for a while. The second my older sister told me that she wanted to have a party, I scoured the internet for ideas on what to make until I finally settled on a Key Lime pie. If there’s one good thing about living in Florida, it’s the availability of key limes. I’ve been seeing them for weeks now in all of my local grocery stores, and since I’ve never tasted a single key lime pie before, I was eager to bake one. It took about 21 limes to get the full half cup of juice needed for the pie. I hand-juiced all the limes and by the end of it, I was pretty sure my thumbs were going to fall off. The pie turned out to be pretty good and my parents really liked it, especially when served with fresh, homemade whipped cream. I would definitely make it again. Sorry about the lack of a good photograph-—when the pie had finished baking I put it in the fridge to set, but once the morning rolled around, it had already been cut into and demolished.
    In addition to the Key Lime pie, I wanted to make something patriotic, and what better to make then red and blue cupcakes with vanilla frosting? The cupcakes were sooo good, even though I over-mixed them when trying to get the shades of red and blue just right. A few weeks ago, I posted about finally having a good go-to cupcake recipe. Since then, I’ve found an even better recipe—one that is now my go-to. You can (and should!) check out the recipe for those here. Once the last of the flour was barely mixed into the cupcake batter, I divided the mix in half and added red and blue Wilton gel colors until I achieved a good shade. I layered the colored batter into the tins, and topped them with a simple vanilla frosting. I halved the recipe and made about 32 mini cupcakes, and all of them were gone in less than 24 hours. Seriously, they were that cute and addicting.



Key Lime Pie
Adapted from these two recipes

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tbsp butter, melted
4 large egg yolks
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tbs grated key lime zest
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. Crust: place the graham cracker crumbs in a bowl and add the melted butter. Mix to combine, then press the crumbs evenly over the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. Bake for 8 minutes and let cool.
3. Filling: mix together sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks with a whisk until combined. Add in lime juice and zest and whisk again until thoroughly combined. Pour filling mixture into cooled crust. Bake on a rack in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes. Cool pie on a wire rack and then chill for at least 6-8 hours or overnight. Serve with homemade whipped cream.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

     When I first told my sister that I wanted to make these lemon ricotta cookies, she made it pretty clear that she refused to eat anything with the word “ricotta” in the title, and my mother and other sister had similar reactions. I’m not sure what caused their aversion to it, but these cookies looked too delicious not to make. I ignored their hesitation and decided to make them anyway... And we were all glad I did. In fact, I think the three of them actually ended up eating even more cookies than me. So good! On their own, these cookies are good but nothing spectacular. When the tangy lemon glaze is spread onto them, however, they become ridiculously addictive. I dare you to try and eat just one.



Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Adapted from Fleur D’Elise
Ingredients:

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese (shhh, I used part-skim ricotta)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cookies: In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar.
3. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
4. Grease baking sheets. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges (I over-baked my first batch and had to throw them away, so watch carefully). Remove from the oven and let sit on baking sheets 5 min. before transferring them to a cooling rack.
5. Glaze: Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Gently spread a thin layer of glaze onto each cookie, and let harden.

Blueberry Boy-Bait

     Blueberries have never really thrilled me. I tolerate them, yes, but they are not generally at the top of my mind when I want to bake (or eat) anything fruit-based. I found the recipe for this cake a while back, got bored, and decided to bake it one night on a whim. For one thing, it’s called Blueberry Boy-Bait, and I think right there it just screams, “bake me!” The cake itself is fantastic, like a wonderfully moist coffee cake, and the blueberries baked into the top add a tasty punch of sweet to the cake. I have made this recipe twice so far and both times it has been devoured within two days. If I had any boys to bake this cake for, they’d surely be in trouble.



Blueberry Boy-Bait
Adapted from Christopher Kimball’s The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook, as posted on Barefoot Kitchen Witch
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 ¼ cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) cold butter
½ tsp cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups fresh blueberries, washed, drained, and blotted with paper towels (or frozen blueberries that have been thoroughly thawed and drained)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9-inch pan with butter and then flour it lightly. Sift together the flour and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into pieces, then work into the flour mixture using your fingertips or a pastry blender (If you have a food processor, place the flour and sugar in bowl and pulse to mix. Add the butter, which should be cold and cut into pieces, and pulse 7 or 8 times until the flour takes on the texture of coarse meal). Reserve ½ cup of this mixture to use as a topping, and add ½ tsp cinnamon, if desired.
2. Add the baking powder, the salt, the egg yolks (reserve the whites), and the milk to the flour mixture still in the bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for about 3 minutes (this can also be done by hand with a wooden spoon.)
3. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold 2-inch peaks. Fold gently into the batter, and spread batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle blueberries on top of the batter (make sure they are dry), and then sprinkle with reserved ½ cup crumb mixture.
4. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the center of the cake bounces back when pressed with the flat side of a fork. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

     I have never been a huge fan of cake. Sure, the occasional birthday cake from the grocery store was cool, but I have always, for the most part, disliked the taste of boxed cakes. My mother never made cakes from scratch, however, so boxed cakes were what I was left with for most of my life. Even as I started to bake more and more, I stuck mostly to cookies and other non-cake treats. I’d tried some homemade cake recipes in the past, but with little to no success—the texture and taste always left something to be desired—and so I would retreat back to cookies and other things that I felt I was better at baking.
     But the other day, I got a huuuge craving for cupcakes and just had to have one. I scoured the internet and finally found a recipe that seemed promising. As I put the cakes into the oven, I crossed my fingers and hoped they would finally turn out right (I even made a half batch in case they were too disappointing). Luckily, they were delicious. The crumb was perfect, the cakes themselves were moist, and my mother, sisters, and I devoured them. There was a downside, though: now my mom won’t stop asking me to make them again. I frosted them with a simple frosting (4c powdered sugar, 1/2 stick butter, 1 tsp vanilla, some food coloring), but I think next time I’ll go with a chocolate frosting. Yes, there will be a next time. It is so exciting to finally have a go-to cupcake recipe—almost as exciting as it is to finally become a cake-lover.



Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes
(I can’t for the life of me find where I got this recipe from, sorry!)
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and either line muffin tins with paper liners or grease and flour them.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir until almost combined. Add the buttermilk, stir until almost combined, then add the rest of the flour mixture. Stir until all ingredients are mixed in.
4. Divide batter evenly into cups, and bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Yields 12 cupcakes.

Should've Put A(n Onion) Ring On It

     I wanted to come up with a clever “hello, world” line that wasn’t as lame as “hello, world” to open this first blog post. Clearly, I failed, so err… hello, world! My name is Tayler, I’m 19 years old, and I love to cook, bake, and sew. I currently live with my mom, dad, twin sister, older sister, two dogs, two birds, and pet capuchin monkey. Once August rolls around, however, I’ll be finishing my senior year in college, hooray! I initially became interested in baking about 3-4 years ago when I first baked a batch of homemade pumpkin cookies (oh yes, this recipe will most definitely be posted in the future). They were so delicious that I wanted to keep baking and trying new recipes, and from that day I was hooked.
     But enough about me, let’s talk about onion rings. I realize onion rings may be an odd choice for a first post, but come on, who doesn’t love onion rings? Well, okay, don’t answer that, I know a lot of people who don’t like them, but personally, I think onion rings are delicious. And this recipe was pretty good; I would definitely make them again. The potato chip crust made them crispy and crunchy, and the onions were perfectly cooked. So to all those people who turn their noses up at onion rings: more for me!


Mmmm, potato chips.

Oven-Fried Onion Rings
Recipe adapted from Not Without Salt
Ingredients:
2 medium onions (I used sweet onions), sliced ½-inch thick
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup + 1 tbs flour
1 1/2 cups crushed kettle-cooked potato chips
3 tbs vegetable oil

1. Pre-heat your oven to 450*. Combine 1/4 cup flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a bowl large enough to dip the onions into.
2. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg and 1/4 cup + 1 tbs flour. Whisk until a smooth batter is formed. In a third bowl, place your crushed potato chips (see note below).
3. Dip an onion ring into the seasoned flour, then into the buttermilk batter. Let the excess batter dribble off before you coat the wet ring with the crushed chips. You will need to use your hands a bit to make sure the chips adhere. Repeat this process with all the onion rings.
4. Cover a baking sheet with a piece of parchment. Drizzle with vegetable oil then pop it into the hot oven for 8 minutes – or until the oil just starts to smoke. Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and rotate to evenly coat with oil.
5. Quickly place your onion rings on the baking sheet then return to the oven. Bake for 8 minutes then flip each ring over before baking for another 8 minutes.
6. Hoard as many as you can for yourself before anyone else in your family realizes they’re finished.


Before.


After, mmmmmm. And seriously, how cute is that basket?!

Note: I had a minor issue coating the battered onions with chips because as I progressed, the chips got pretty wet and icky from the batter and would no longer stick to the onions. I recommend using the crushed chips a bit at a time rather than placing them all into the bowl at once.