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Posts Tagged ‘Cupcakes’

Primary Colored Dessert Table for Charity Event

Posted in Dessert, Life on the side, Party, Tutorial/How-To, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 27, 2012 | 17 Comments »

On Saturday night, my amazing sister-in-law hosted a charity party for an amazing organization called Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society, or RCCS. They are an incredible organization that provides an array of services for families in my community that are dealing with cancer, including financial support, emotional support, insurance subsidies and advocacy, tuition grants, and a lot more. For those who don’t know, they are currently holding a huge fundraising Chinese Auction, with local showings hosted by women in the community. My sister-in-law is awesome that way, so she hosted a showing of the auction in her neighborhood. Naturally, I stepped in to bake.

I figured I would show y’all what I made, for two reasons. Firstly, I have gotten some excellent feedback on my previous party posts, so if it helps someone planning a party, I am thrilled to post and help you out. (That’s me, Ms. Helpful. Didn’t you know?) But I have another reason, and that is, that I really hope you will consider clicking over to the RCCS website and making a donation. You can donate directly, or purchase tickets for their Chinese Auction. Personally, I put in for the trip to Israel. And the cash. Note: I do not get anything for referring you to the site, but it’s a very worthy cause so I hope you will donate!

Anyway, here’s the dessert table:

 

Let’s start at the left.

First, there’s mini chocolate cupcakes. Really basic recipe. Here’s one you can use. It’s hard to see from the picture, but I baked half in bright red cupcake liners, and half in bright blue. Then I colored half of the frosting yellow and half green, and alternated based on the liner color. Oh, by the way, for the frosting I used my new favorite frosting, which is the marshmallow frosting from my Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.  Great texture and it pipes really nicely. As usual, I piped the frosting with a Wilton 1M tip.

Next, we have mini cheesecakes. I haven’t posted this recipe, but I need to, because they are super delicious, and everyone goes crazy for them. I put a homemade strawberry sauce on top of them, just  to make them more delicious.

Next to the cheesecakes I have cookies that I rolled in colorful sugar. I actually used a different dough, but if you want to make these, try the dough from this cookie recipe.

Behind those, in the cookie jars, I have some new, soon to be featured either here or on my magazine column cookies. They were awesome, that’s all I’m sayin’.

Next to those are the muffins baked by someone else. Because I wouldn’t bake plain ole chocolate chip muffins now, would I? Behind them though, are the amazing Pecan Pie Topped Fudge Pies. Remember those? Yeah, they are awesome.

Next to that we had fruit. For poor dieting souls like me. Yep, I couldn’t (and didn’t!) eat any of this stuff!

And then behind it we had one of my favorite things: Mini Red Velvet Bundt Cakes! With Cream Cheese Glaze! I know, awesome, right? Here’s a close up, to help you drool:

These definitely deserve their own post, so stay tuned for that!

Lastly on this table, there were adorable looking mint truffles. I totally forgot to put them out, then just as the guests were coming I pulled them out and stuck ‘em on the table. Whew.

Now, let’s move on to the next table. I thought this was super cool, and so did the guests:

 

Yep, a DIY Hot Cocoa Bar! I think the picture is pretty self explanatory. It looked super cool, don’tcha think?

 

And lastly, I made a “door prize” for the guests to take home. Again, these need their own post, but here is a sneak preview:

 

The theme for the event is Twister (think Life’s Twists and Turns), so I figured this decor worked well! I did these with fondant, and will post a step by step tutorial soon.

Anyway, hope you get inspired for your next party, and hope you all consider a contribution!

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon, I have a fabulous (and healthy!) recipe to share. Oh, and don’t forget to enter my cookbook giveaway! -Miriam

 

 

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Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Marshmallow Fluff Frosting

Posted in Dessert, Muffins/Cupcakes, tagged , , , , , , , on November 25, 2012 | 17 Comments »

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

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Chocolate Cupcakes and a First Blogiversary Giveaway

Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Giveaways, Muffins/Cupcakes, tagged , , , , , on August 7, 2012 | 133 Comments »

 

 

 

 

Giveaway Closed! 

See here for the winner

 

I’ve been thinking about today a lot, but I can’t believe it actually came. It was one year ago that I published my first ever recipe.

I know that most bloggers follow up on that statement with “I am so embarrassed of that post” or “I can’t believe how far I have come since then!” or “it was totally on a whim that I started my blog!” But I am not going to say any of that. Sure, I think I have come pretty far since I wrote and photographed that recipe, but I am proud of that post, just as I am proud of every post I have up on this blog. This blog wasn’t started on a whim, it was the result of weeks of planning that followed months of deliberating. I am not spontaneous, and I don’t like to jump into things without knowing what I am getting into.

Before my first post, I spent an hour getting a one-on-one photography lesson with one of the professional photographers at work. I read a ton about food photography, about recipe writing, about recipe attribution. Then I spent days deliberating over a name for the blog. Next, I read all about the various hosting options and debated endlessly with myself about spending the few dollars to get my own domain.

And then I finally pressed publish. And through it all, I dreamed of “making it” in the food blogging world, but being the super realistic and practical person that I am, I didn’t expect many, if any, readers. And yet, you came.

I remember the first day that I broke a hundred hits. Then the first day that I broke a thousand. And the day I reached 100 thousand hits. I remember the first time someone blogged one of my recipes, the first time someone invited me to guest post, even the first time a stranger commented on my blog. Each one is a special little memory in a sea of amazingness that’s been the last year of blogging. So many extraordinary things happened this year. I had my work featured in a magazine. I started writing a baking column in another magazine. I bought a “fancy” camera and learned (somewhat) how to use it. I was interviewed, I was recognized. But most of all, I met some of you, some of the most amazing, friendly, sweet and talented people in the world.

Fellow bloggers will get this, but for the non-bloggers reading this, you can’t begin to imagine it, but some of the sweetest moments of this entire year have been letters from regular people like yourselves, who invited me and my recipes into their kitchen, then took the time to write me a letter and tell me about it. Every minute of work that has gone, and will go into this blog is validated completely when I get an email like that.

Honestly, I wish I could throw you all a giant cookie party to thank you for coming, for reading, for commenting, for baking and for cooking. But that isn’t very realistic. So instead, I decided to celebrate in the second best way. I decided to giveaway one of my favorite cookbooks to one lucky reader. No marketing gimmick, no sponsored giveaway, no paid ads. Just me, thanking you with a cookbook.

And hoping you’ll be joining me for the next year. And all the years that follow…

Okay, enough sappiness. Let’s get onto the cookbook giveaway. I chose to giveaway Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours. It’s a classic cookbook that every avid baker needs on their bookshelf. If you already own a copy, enter to win it for a friend. It’s a book to be treasured.

Here’s how to win:

Required entry: Leave a comment telling me how you found my blog, or what your favorite recipe(s) is/are. Or both. I love hearing from you!

For additional entries: leave a separate comment for each entry!

1) Follow @OvertimeCook on Twitter and tweet the following: “I want to win a cookbook in honor of @overtimecook’s first blogiversary! http://bit.ly/NfXCy7 ends 8/15″

2) Like Overtime Cook on facebook.

3) Follow Overtime Cook on Pinterest and pin one of the images in this post.

Rules:

Giveaway is sponsored by me. It ends at 11:59 PM on 8/15. Winner will be selected via random.org. Prize can only be shipped within the continental US. Winner will be notified via email or twitter.

And now, what would a birthday post be without some birthday cupcakes?

Chocolate Glazed Chocolate Cupcakes:

Adapted slightly from Baking From My Heart To Yours

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk (for non-dairy use soured soy milk)

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

For the Glaze:

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1 Tablespoon powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons cold butter or margarine, cut into 6 cubes

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 12-section muffin pan with paper liners and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter or margarine until smooth. Add the sugar and beat for about two minutes, until they are completely combined and creamy. Add the egg, then the egg yolk and vanilla, beating for about a minute after each addition to fully incorporate.

Turn the mixer to slow, and beat in half of the dry mixture. Add the buttermilk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Beat to combine. With a rubber spatula, stir in the melted chocolate.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups. Bake at 350 for 22-24 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over boiling water (double boiler style). Set aside to cool for 2-3 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the confectioners sugar. Stir in the butter, one piece at a time, until smooth. Dip the cupcake in the glaze, and swirl slightly, then lift up. Decorate with sprinkles of your choice.

Enjoy!

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Please remember to enter the giveaway and spread the word! And come back often, next year is gonna be even better!! -Miriam

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Blueberry Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted in Cake, Dessert, Muffins/Cupcakes, Seasonal, tagged , , on June 4, 2012 | 15 Comments »

I’d like ramble about two things today. I hope you will bear with me, as these ramblings end in…cupcakes.

Do I have your attention? Awesome, let’s start. With blueberries.

Is there anything that really screams out “summer” like sitting down to snack on (read: completely devour) a bowl of juicy blueberries? I don’t think so either. I tried to cheat the system a couple of months back, and bought myself a package of blueberries. Many dollars later, I discovered the disappointing truth: for the real goodness of juicy, summery, deliciously plump blueberries, you gotta wait for the summer.

Here’s my second rambling. (Patience my friend, we’re getting closer.) Where’s the line between a muffin and a cupcake. I once mentioned that Jim Gaffigan refers to muffins as “bald cupcakes.” And when you think about it, that’s kind of true. Obviously some muffins are barely sweet and definitely not a cupcake, and some cupcakes are so overly decadent that nobody that is of sound mind would ever call it a muffin, even without the frosting, but then there’s all that grey area in the middle. Muffins with frosting, cupcakes without frosting…it starts to get really confusing.

Say, for example, you’re my friend or coworker and you love my blueberry muffins. But then I pull out the mixer, make a batter, add in some blueberries, and tell you I am not making muffins. I am making cupcakes. You scratch your head in confusion. “What’s the difference,” you want to know. “As long as you make the delicious things you made last summer!”

Then I pull the cupcakes out of the oven, wait for them to cool, and pipe a layer of dreamy frosting on the top of it.

At that point, you give up. Let’s say for argument’s sake that frosting is the defining line between the two. Why do you care? You’re too busy burying your face in the fluffy layer of cream cheese goodness.

Blueberry Cupcakes:

Cupcakes adapted from Kristine’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour (minus 2 Tablespoons reserved for blueberries)

1 Tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk

1 pint fresh blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with paper cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour (reserve 2 Tablespoons), baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter or margarine with the sugar until creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and beat to combine. Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine.

Turn the mixer to a low speed and add in a third of the flour mixture, then half the milk, and repeat with remainder. Stir until just combined.

In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the reserved 2 Tablespoons of flour to coat. Gently stir into the batter, using a rubber spatula and not the mixer.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling them about 3/4 of the way.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Set aside to cool while you prepare the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Frosting Adapted from i am baker

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

1 8 oz package of cream cheese

4 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (heaping) teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, combine all ingredients and beat until fluffy. Spoon or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Note: The frosting recipe won’t make enough to pipe a super high layer of frosting on all 24 cupcakes. Either stick to a smaller amount like I did in the picture above, or 1 and a half times the recipe.

 

Thanks for stopping by folks! Hope you love these cupcakes, I know everyone ’round here did! Have a great day, and come back soon! -Miriam

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Mini Cookies And Cream Cupcakes

Posted in Cake, Dessert, Muffins/Cupcakes, tagged on December 1, 2011 | 10 Comments »

Here’s an important thing to know about the non-dieting Miriam: she loves ice cream. And she loves cookies. And she thinks the combination of the two is about as awesome as it gets.

Here’s an important thing to know about the dieting Miriam: she really wishes she were the non-dieting Miriam. And a part of her must be an idiot to make something like this that so desperately tempts the non-dieting Miriam to come out of hiding.

Am I confusing you? Let’s sum it up like this: I suddenly realized that I have never posted a cupcake recipe here, and can’t think of a more awesome cupcake to get things started than one that basically imitates one of the world’s most delicious ice cream flavors: cookies and cream.

The original recipe for this was for regular sized cupcakes, but I am currently working through a minor mini-cupcake addiction, so naturally I made them in mini. And because a full size cupcake with a full size dollop of cream seems a little bit intimidating, or at least completely guilt inducing, but a bite sized cupcake just doesn’t feel that way. Unless, of course, you have two or ten of these.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Mini Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Slightly adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

10 oreo cookies, crushed into very small pieces (large crumbs)

Frosting:

1/2 cup (one stick) butter or margarine

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 Tablespoons milk

7 oreos, crushed to large crumbs

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 mini muffin pans with paper liners. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour and baking powder, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add half of the flour mixture, then the milk, then the remaining half of the flour mixture. Beat until just incorporated.

Using a spoon, stir the oreo pieces into the batter. Spoon into prepared muffin pans, fill all the way to the top.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until they appear just set.

Frosting:

Whip the butter and confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Add milk, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until the frosting reaches a soft and creamy texture. Add crushed oreos and stir to combine.

Spoon or pipe the frosting onto the completely cooled cupcakes. Note that in order to pipe the frosting, you need the oreos to be very well crushed, and you need to use a thick tip (I used a 1M tip) otherwise the cookie pieces will get stuck in your tip.

And…do I even have to say it? Enjoy!

Don’t you love how the frosting almost looks like a delicious little swirl of cookies and cream ice cream?

Thanks for stopping by!

Miriam

 

 

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Party Treats Round Up

Posted in Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert, Fruit, Muffins/Cupcakes, No-Bake Dessert, Peanut Butter, Super-Easy, tagged , , , on October 10, 2011 | 12 Comments »

I’ve promised a post with some pictures and ideas of things I made for the party a couple of weeks ago for my new baby niece, and I think it’s finally time to deliver.

First, some background for my non-Jewish readers. The party is a traditional Jewish celebration in honor of the birth of a baby girl. In most cases, including this one, the party took place on Sabbath afternoon, just after prayer services. This party was attended by mostly neighbors, as observant Jews don’t drive on Sabbath. My brother lives in a very young neighborhood, with what often feels like two million kids. When planning the goodies I made, I tried to balance pretty (for the women) and kid-friendly. Here’s what I came up with. As you will soon see, the theme colors were pink and silver. Pretty for a little princess, right?

Cake Pops!

The internet is full of directions on making cake pops, so I won’t include those here. For proper directions, go back to the source.  Here are a couple of tips on what I did with these:

  • The chocolate was not made because it matched the color scheme, but because it tastes a lot better than candy melts. Think about that when choosing what to cover your cake pops in.
  • To drizzle the pink on the chocolate I put melted pink candy melts in a squeeze bottle. When I wasn’t using it, I stuck the bottle in warm water to keep it from hardening.
  • To get the silver sprinkles on top of the pink actually took some experimenting. I tried the squeeze bottle, but it was too thick. I wound up using a paint brush to apply a thin layer of pink, like glue, then I dipped it in silver sparkly sugar. Careful when doing this, because the very thin layer means it dries exceptionally quickly.
  • This is more of a generic cake pop tip, but make sure you cover the pop all the way. Rather let the melted candy drip a little down the stick than leave exposed cake around the stick. The exposed cake gets too soft and makes the stick fall out.
The verdict: Let me quote one little boy whom I heard calling his friends into the party. “Come in here,” he exclaimed, “it’s AWESOME.” Every kid who came in made a bee-line for these. I couldn’t have made anything they enjoyed more. Except maybe…
Oreo Cake Pops:
These cake pops were made by using this recipe (have I mentioned it’s my favorite thing to make for any party?)  Once your Oreos are stuffed, instead of rolling them in sprinkles, stick a lollipop stick in it and freeze them. Once frozen, proceed with the coating instructions for cake pops. Decorate as you like. I used the same glue method as I mentioned above. The little sugar pearls really add an amazing touch to these, dontcha think? :)
The verdict: hard to say which the kids liked more, but there’s something about the joyous exclamation of “A cookie on a stick!” that makes all the work worth it!
Decorated Marshmallows:
Honestly, I made these simply because they were so easy and the colors matched my scheme so perfectly. I found the tutorial here, and honestly, I have nothing to add to it- it’s all so clear and oh-my-gosh-gorgeous.
The verdict: How is this even a question? Candy coated in sugar…two guesses if the kids loved them!
Bakery Style Cookies:
Do these look familiar? They should.
The verdict: The kids loved these (what a shock, right?). The funny thing, though, is that my family (who had tasted these before) were all annoyed that most of them were eaten by the kids!
Mini Blueberry Crumb Muffins
I’ve posted this recipe before, but those were big. I decided to make them in mini, because somehow a large muffin seems daunting and indelicate for a person standing at a dessert table. The only difference here was to bake them in mini muffin pans and for 10-12 minutes, instead of the longer baking time.
The verdict: I didn’t notice the kids eating these (not enough sugar coating, I guess), but the mothers were absolutely crazy over them. And my family fought over who got to take home the leftovers- although there were almost none!
Mini Strawberry Bundt Cakes with Strawberry Cream Glaze:
I’ll be posting the recipe to this eventually, but in the meantime, you can do this with your favorite cupcake recipes: bake it in a mini bundt pan, glaze it with a matching glaze, and put some decoration (in this case, pink sugar pearls) in the center. It’s a great way to dress up the simple cupcake.
The verdict: These cakes (which were a lot prettier than they look in the picture, I think) got one of the best compliments I’ve ever received on a baked good. “Wow, these are delicious. I wasn’t expecting them to be so good, because usually things that look this pretty don’t taste this good.” 
Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:
I’m slightly hesitant to post these, because I’m still very new to cupcakes (as you can see from the picture!), but here’s what I did: I used my go to vanilla cake recipe, and baked it in silver foil cupcake liners. (Super cheap but hey, it matched my theme so good for me, right?) I used the Strawberry frosting recipe from Sprinkles, (increased the powdered sugar a but to make the frosting thicker) and piped them using a 1M frosting tip. I also used silver shimmer dust from Wilton, which set me back about a million dollars, but definitely made them look shiny and oh-so-pretty.
The verdict? Everyone loves cupcakes, right? I felt bad because the mothers were trying so hard not to let their kids have them, but those that did were thrilled. Then the guests left and the adults dug in. I was going to bring the leftovers to my office, but suffice it to say…none of them made it that long. ;-)
That’s about it folks. I made some simple cookies too, and lots of neighbors sent over treats…and unsurprisingly, nobody was left to starve.
If you have any specific questions about the treats I made here, please ask me in the comments and I will post the answers.
Enjoy!

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