It’s funny how certain things work out at times. Take writing for example.
Honestly, it’s always come very easily to me. My 12th grade English teacher once commented that I’m lucky she enjoys reading my essays so much, or she would probably fail me for turning them all in two weeks late.
When I started this blog, I put a lot of thought into the food and recipes (obviously!) and of course, as you know, I thought a lot about the photography. But the writing? It was always an afterthought, just something I did in the last few minutes of my posting.
And I guess it worked. Because suddenly in the last few weeks I’ve gotten a ton of comments from readers, both of my magazine column and my blog, all telling me how much they enjoy my writing.
And suddenly my writing went from something I never thought about to something I need to stress over at least as much as my pictures. And that’s what led to me sitting in front of my computer, staring at an empty blog post for twenty minutes.
Isn’t it strange how pressure turns something effortless into something you just can’t do?
Speaking of pressure- this cupcake recipe is of the no-pressure variety. It doesn’t use any unusual ingredients, so you’re likely to turn to this recipe when you need a good dessert in a pinch. PS- they are absolutely delicious!
Also, I think I just wrote a blog post. Pressure and all!
Snickerdoodle Cupcakes:
Adapted from Martha Stewart, via Brown Eyed Baker
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour *see below for note on subbing all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk, soy milk or rich’s (non dairy) whip
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Decide if you want to make mini or full size cupcakes and line the correct size pan with paper liners. (I made some of each!)
Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter or margarine and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Turn the mixer to low, and add the flour 1/3 at a time, alternating with the milk, 1/2 at a time. Mix until just combined. Don’t over mix.
Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake pans, filling them 3/4 full.
Bake in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes for mini cupcakes or 20 minutes for full size cupcakes.
Set aside to cool, then frost cupcakes with marshmallow fluff frosting when they are completely cooled.
*Note: to replace the cake flour with all-purpose flour, use 1 1/2 cups minus 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour. You can use it as is, or you can replace those three tablespoons of flour with corn starch.
Marshmallow Fluff Frosting
adapted from How Sweet It Is
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon milk or soy milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, vanilla, marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar and milk until smooth, creamy and stiff enough to pipe. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over frosted cupcakes.
Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by folks, and enjoy these lovely cupcakes! Psst! Did you enter my cookbook giveaway? You totally need to win this one! -Miriam
