Wordless Wednesday

Apple Pie Cupcakes

This is another recipe that I saw on Annie's blog (by the way, if you haven't gone yet, check out her blog). These cupcakes just looked to cute for words and it was incredibly creative of Fatty Fat Fats to come up with this cupcake idea. The cupcakes themselves were so much fun to make and it was a great way to use up some of the apples I brought home from my apple picking adventure. The cupcakes are a great base for your basic cupcake; very rich, dense, and moist. If you like apple pie, then you would will like the apple filling. Combining the cupcake with the apple pie filling and then topping it with buttercream is shear genius and dessert deliciousness. The apple filling is such a treat and a great way to turn your standard cupcake into something unexpected. This is definitely a dessert to make when you want people to say "wow, that is so cool!"

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Source: Recipe copied from Annie's Eats (here) which was adapted from Fatty Fat Fats (here)

Yields ~30 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup milk

For the apple filling:

2 tbsp. butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 tbsp. sugar

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced (I used golden delicious)

For decorating:

My go to recipe for vanilla buttercream (here)

Directions:

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well to combine. Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the apple filling, heat the butter a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cinnamon and sugar and cook for a minute, until the mixture begins to bubble. Lower the heat to medium and stir in the apples. Mix well. Cook until the apples are somewhat tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

While the apple mixture is cooling, use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake, making sure to leave a rim around the top of the cupcake. Fill the holes with the cooled apple mixture. To decorate, top each cupcake with a swirl of vanilla buttercream.

These cupcakes were gorgeous.




All the goods.

Enjoy!

An Affair with Almond Extract

I had seen this sugar cookie recipe on Annie's blog and put it on my baking to do list. The thought of adding almond extract intrigued me but I had been too cheap to actually buy almond extract. I finally broke down this weekend and bought the extract. I was in love with the scent. Not only are almonds good to eat, but they smell fantastic. Little did I know that I was about to embark on a new food affair. I made the dough, and as I usually do, I tasted it. The first word that came to mind? Sinful. I thought I was doing something horribly wrong. I mean, it had to be wrong to enjoy this dough as much as I did. I was afraid to tell Alex how good the dough was because I was afraid he would want to eat some too. I didn't want to share and I wanted to keep it my little secret. As if the dough was not good enough, the baked cookies were even better. I could not get over how amazing the cookies smelled and how they tasted so strongly of the almond extract. This might just be my go to recipe for sugar cookies now.

Ella's White Sugar Cookies
Source: Annie's Eats (here)
Yields 40 cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups sifted flour

Cream butter and add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, extracts, salt and flour.

Chill dough until firm. Roll to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface and cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes (cookies should not brown). Remove from oven, cool to room temperature and decorate.

Enjoy!

Decorated for Halloween.

Amazing!

TWD: Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes

I love chocolate. I could eat chocolate all day long. I don't discriminate either; I am just as happy with a piece of white chocolate as I am with dark chocolate. So I was thrilled when I saw that Clara of I *heart* food 4 thought picked Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes. These cupcakes came out very chocolatey and moist and the ganache topping made the cupcakes even better. I am happy I only made half the recipe because, if not, I wouldn't be around to post this week because of a chocolate-induced coma.

Make sure to go to Clara's blog for the recipe and to check out TWD to see what the others made (there are some cool Halloween ones!).

So pretty.




I ate all of them.

Obsession of the Week

I have done nothing but think about going apple picking this past week. Ever since I made my Boston To Do list I have been obsessing about when I am going to get certain things done. Other than apple picking, I haven't done anything on my list. But it's ok. I still have time! Well, sort of. If I hadn't gone apple picking this weekend I would have missed it and would have waited until next year and since I don't know where we will be living a year from now, it was a now or never type of thing. I was determined to go rain or shine and I had no problem going alone. Luckily enough, I didn't have to go alone since my friend Edgar volunteered to go with me. That's a good thing too, because we left with about 35 lbs of apples and I don't think I would have been able to carry that around by myself.

We went to Shelburne Farm in Stow, MA and it was such a surreal experience for me. I had never been to a farm and didn't know what to expect. I thought it would smell like poop and it didn't. I didn't think there would actually be tractors on the land and there were. Heck, I didn't even expect them to accept credit card and they did. I couldn't believe all the apples. I have never seen so many apples in my life. I was so used to seeing glossy apples that I was thrown off by seeing them in their natural form. I felt like a kid and truly enjoyed myself...I didn't want to leave!

Cortland Apple Tree


Delicious Apple Cider Donut


Pumpkin Patch


Holy Huge.


Apple Seeds (correction: these are milkweed seeds)


Golden Delicious Apple Tree


Me Picking!


Mutsu and McIntosh Apples


The Goods

PS expect lots of apple recipes :)

Finally...Montien

I have heard so many good things about Montien. Countless people have recommended this restaurant to either Alex or myself. You would think that with both of us going to school downtown we would have explored downtown eating more, but we haven't. So I took the initiative and told Alex that we would be eating at Montien and we did! The food was great and the price was even better. The restaurant was a little older looking than I had expected, but I think I built up the restaurant in my mind based on everything I had heard about Montien from others. Maybe I was expecting a flashy restaurant that lived up to the hype? Whatever it was, the restaurant wasn't what I expected. It was red walls and brown furniture with paper place mats, plastic covered menus, and a fully stocked bar.

Despite the atmosphere not being what I expected, the food was more than I expected. I was afraid the food wouldn't be as good, especially since the restaurant had been built up so much in my mind. But it was good food! We started off with spring rolls that came out quicker than we could say "feed me!" The rolls were crunchy and stuffed with veggies. Spring rolls get better each time I have them and these were even better because of the sweet and sour sauce. This sauce was thick and spicy and had red pepper flakes in it that gave it its kick.

Alex ordered the Chicken Chop Chop. This is definitely the most perfect dish for clearing up the sinuses. It is so spicy that you feel like you are melting. The chicken is ground up and served in a hot basil sauce. At first the heat doesn't hit you; all you taste is the sweetness of the basil. Then your taste buds get knocked upside down and you are begging for more water. The heat is so worth it!

I ordered Thai Fried Rice and I ate the WHOLE thing by myself. Thai fried rice is my absolute favorite type of fried rice. To me, Thai fried rice has the perfect combination of salt and sugar.

I don't know what took us to long to go to Montien, but I am glad we finally did. It was great food at a great price.

Bangkok Dining

A few weeks ago Alex and I went to Bangkok City. We have known about this restaurant for about as long as we have lived in Boston but have never gone. Whenever we get in the mood for Chinese/Thai food we usually just head out to China Sky in Wellesley. Since there was a Red Sox game on this particular weekend, we decided to stay local and go to Bangkok City. The restaurant itself has such a retro, lounge feel with its deep blue walls and wooden decore. The service is quick and the food is great.

We started off the dinner with spring rolls. I was never a fan of spring rolls because the vegetable quotient was high but Alex got me hooked on these things. They were crisp, crunchy, and packed with veggies. The rolls came with a tangy sauce that went perfectly with the heat of the rolls.

We also ordered chicken tempura. While this appetizer was good, there was no chicken! It was mostly broccoli and mushrooms and I am not a fan of either of those vegetables. The batter was thick and it swallowed up some of the veggies and chicken.

For the entrees we shared fried rice and spicy chicken. The fried rice was great. It was actually a little more than great, it was awesome. It had a hint of sweetness that made the fried rice something more than just rice and soy sauce.

The chicken was also great. It was tender and covered in a spicy sauce that tasted like it was made from sweet bell and chili peppers.

For dessert we shared fried ice cream. The best way to describe how this dessert tasted like was imagining a Krispy Kreme donut stuffed with vanilla ice cream. So good but oh so bad for you!

Bangkok City is reasonably priced and incredibly delicious. Go check them out!

Spice Love

I am so excited to be participating in this month's Sugar High Fridays. For whatever I have never participated, but when I saw this month's theme I couldn't resist. What is this month's theme, you ask? Spices! This is such a great theme because it's a perfect way to wrap up fall (the season) into a dessert. I love the smell of spices and I love how warm and cozy their scent makes my house feel. So after thinking long and hard and narrowing down my choices, I decided to make Spiced Sugar Coins. These crunchy cookies were delicious and a wonderful way to highlight how spices complement one another. The smell was incredible and, I kid you not, it smelled like a candle from Yankee Candle.

Thanks to Dessert First for choosing spices as this month's theme.

Spiced Sugar Coins
Source: Carole Bloom's The Essential Baker

6 oz (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 extra-large egg yolk
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Place the butter in a large bowl and beet until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and cream together well. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula. Add the vanilla to the mixture and blend thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Add the nutmeg and salt and toss to blend. Add this mixture to the butter mixture in 3 stages. Stop after each addition to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Place two large sheets of wax paper on a flat surface and divide the dough evenly onto them. Use the wax paper to shape and roll the dough into cylinders about 10 inches long and 1 inch wide. Cover the cylinders tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 45 minutes or in the fridge for at least 2 hours until firm enough to slice.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a fork, lightly beat the egg yolk in a small bowl. Divide the sugar evenly between sheets of wax paper. Unwrap each dough cylinder and using a pasty brush or spook, coat the outside of each cylinder with egg yolk, then roll in the sugar, coating each completely.

Place a cylinder on a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut each cylinder into ¼-inch thick slices.

Place the slices on the baking sheets, leaving at least 1-inch of space between them Bake for 5 minutes, then switch the sheets, and bake for another 5-6 minutes, until set. Remove from oven and cool completely on baking racks.

Wordless Wednesday

Obsession of the Week

This week I am obsessed with bees. Weird, right? It all started when I went to the Public Garden and got some great shots of them. Then I got stung by one later in the week. So for the past few days all I have been able to think about are bees. They looked so cute buzzing around, pollinating the flowers. Then one stung me and they weren't so cute. But at least they photograph well ;-)