Malted Mint Brownies

Back in March, the good people from Oh Nuts! graciously offered to let me sample anything I wanted from their website. Was this a dream?! Yipee! After spending a lot of time combing through their enormous selection, I eventually settled upon Turkish Antep Pistachios and dried red sour cherries. I had lofty plans for them, but they were both so incredibly delicious I ended up just enjoying them right out of the bag, in all their naked glory.

And if free Pistachios and cherries weren't enough, Oh Nuts! included a one-pound bonus bag of Mint Cookie Malted Milk Balls which can be best described as a hybrid between Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie and a Whoopers candy - or otherwise known as the world's most best candy ever. Seriously!
One recent afternoon when I was looking for a cupcake recipe on Epicurious, this mint brownie recipe got my attention. I wondered if I could swap out the nuts for chopped malted mint ball and figured I just had to give it a shot. I also figured if I was going to go for mint brownies I had to go all out; I doubled the amount of peppermint extract. I was a little concerned that I might have overdone it but was instead rewarded with one of the most delightful brownies I've ever concocted. It might sound a tad ridiculous, but if glitter was edible, that's what these brownies would taste like! Bright and jazzy, fun and full of sparkly texture. I made these as a birthday dessert at work and everyone who had one went bonkers over them! And just when you thought this post coudn't get any better, Oh Nuts! has agreed to give one of my beloved readers a free item of their choosing (everything except items in their gift section). All you have to do pick the one item you'd love to sink your teeth into and tell me about it via a comment (please remember to include an email address or link to your blog/website). All comments must be received by midnight (PST) on Thursday, May 8th. In the mean time, you can save 5% off your order if you enter the coupon code "Pass09" at checkout (code expires 5/10/09).

Malted Mint Brownies
brownie recipe adapted from Epicurious

Brownies
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened high quality chocolate, chopped (please don't use Baker's brand, it's terrible!)
4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups Mint Cookie Malted Milk Balls, cut and quartered*
Topping
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips or white Candy Melts
1 teaspoon of shortening
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
green food coloring gel (not the water based type), optional
6 Mint Cookie Malted Milk Balls, finely chopped

Brownies
Melt butter and chocolate in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9"x12" baking pan with parchment or foil, being sure to leave some excess hanging over the sides (this makes it easier to the brownies out of the pan later.) Lightly butter the surface of the paper. Set aside.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Slowly add cooled chocolate mixture, flour, peppermint and vanilla extracts and salt; stir until just blended (don't over mix!). Add the chopped mint cookie malt balls and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Bang the pan on the counter to force them to fall. Cool pan on a wire rack.

Topping
Melt chocolate in a zip lock bag (or in a small bowl) on low power in the microwave until the chocolate is fully melted. Add the shortening and mix until well combined and the chocolate is a bit runny. Add the extract and green food coloring gel (you can decide how much color you want to add) and mix well.

Cut one of the bottom corners off the zip-lock bag (small cut) and use it to quickly drizzle the chocolate over the brownies (if you're using a small bowl, use a fork to drizzle the chocolate). Scatter the reserved 2 tablespoons of chopped mint cookie malted milk balls, if desired.

Let the brownies get cold in the refrigerator, at least 2 full hours and best overnight. Remove the brownies from the pan using the parchment paper and cut into squares.

Note: These brownies taste good when they are warm but they taste 10 times better after they have cooled completely.

* You can buy them from Oh! Nuts (a one-pound bag would make enough for two recipes with some left over. Alternatively you could try using 2/3 cup mint chips/Andes Candies, 1/3 cup roughly crushed Nabisco Famous Wafers, and 1 cup of Whoppers (Note: I haven't personally tried this substitution but I think it should work just fine. I'll try to get around to testing this soon.)

Yield: I cut these on the small side and was able to get about 36 servings.
Would I Make This Again? Without a doubt, yes! I was pretty much powerless around these brownies. They were so minty and had a great texture and had the right amount of chocolate.

Paul's 50th Birthday Red Sox Cake

A apparently Paul is the consummate Red Sox fan. His sister Nora told me as little kids, the highlight of their summer would be to go to Fenway Park to watch a game with their dad. Since then, Paul just loves the game and the team and thought a Red Sox cake would be perfect for his big 50th birthday celebration. Originally she had asked me if I could do a red Red Sox jersey with a "50" on it; but after some discussion, she gave me free reign to do whatever I wanted as long as it conveyed a Red Sox theme. :)

Here are a few things that I learned while making this cake:

1. Delivering the cake to the customer is my favorite part. Nora's family had their entire house decorated in a baseball theme. Everyone was wearing the most delightful homemade costumes; even the dog had on a Boston Red Sox shirt! But the best part for me was watching the reaction on everyone's face as I came through the door. I actually got a bit teary eyed! It just felt really special to be a part of such a big celebration, to know my little cake will live on in pictures and memories long after it's been consumed. 2. White chocolate candy-melts can be melted and used as a paint-like medium. On the pennants and jersey, after struggling to cut out the little letters of fondant to no avail, I decided it would be easier to just paint the lettering directly onto the surface. I had anticipated this and had bought triple-zero sized paint brushes just in case. I had to add a little shortening to the chocolate, but the candy-melts worked out okay. I wished they would have set up a bit more smooth, but considering the alternative, it worked great. Next time I think I'll try white food coloring gel instead.3. Making royal blue fondant takes a lot of work. It took me about an hour to get a pound of fondant to go from white to dark blue. I eventually used black fondant to make a dark gray and then added the royal blue food coloring gel to that to get a very dark blue color. Does anyone know of a better way?
4. I truly enjoy doing detail work. I spent hours working on the various symbols, banners, and logos for this cake. I would sit at my kitchen table late at night, listening to Radio Paradise (best radio station EVER), with a palette of fondant, an Exact-o knife and cutting mat, a few print-outs of the images I want to make, and just go to town. I get lost in the details of most things in life so this really isn't a surprise. But when it comes to cakes like this, it's the details that really make it special and unique.
5. Always plan for two hours more time than I think I'll need. Even though I got up early and worked late on the cake the night before, I was still rushing to finish on time. So much so that one of the pennants I made ended up just sitting at the top, leaning against the flag poles. I had planned to add more details to the cake but just ran out of time. Everything always takes more time than I think it will.
6. I still have so much to learn! Covering a cake in fondant is not my forte. I need to take a class desperately. I know what you're thinking: the cake looks fine. But believe me when I say that I need lessons. It's so incredibly frustrating because I've read and watched (on the net and TV) people covering cakes with fondant and I think I'm doing everything they are. I'm not defeated though; I'll get there, eventually.

All in all, aside from the mistakes (I can't help but see them all), it was another successful delivery. And it was a vast improvement from my very first fondant covered cake, which just happened to be Red Sox themed too. :)

If you like this cake, here are a few other posts I think you'll enjoy:

Annika's Baby Block Cake

A Whale of a Cupcake

Nacho Cheese Dispenser Cake

Pecan Peach Amish Friendship Bread

Normally I'm not one to fall prey to those "send this email to seven people or you'll have bad luck for seven years" hoxes, but when my friend Mandy sent me an email asking me if I wanted a bag of Amish Friendship Bread Starter, I couldn't resist. It had been something I'd always wanted to try but never had the opportunity.

If you're new to the whole idea to chain-mail baking, allow me to enlighten you: Basically Amish Friendship Bread is a made with a sourdough starter that takes ten days to make, from start to finish. At the end of the ten-day period, you'll be left with approximately 6 cups of starter, four cups of which are to be given away and two for you to make something yummy. There are a limitless treats you can make the starter, everything from a basic cinnamon bread to muffins, cookies, cakes, even pancakes and waffles!
I'm not exactly sure why this is called Amish Friendship Bread. Although I've never actually spent time in an Amish household, I'm pretty sure that they'd shun the idea of boxed instant pudding mix. So in an effort to stay more true to the recipe's namesake, I left it out and opted to use canned peaches and pecans instead. I had reserved the juice from the can of peaches with the intention of making it into a glaze to pour over my finished bread, but after my family and I tasted the it, we decided that it didn't need it. It was pretty flavorful all by itself!

If you decide you'd like to try it, you can find instructions for making the starter on Allrecipes.com. Please note: On days six through nine, be sure to let the air out at least once or twice a day. My bag of starter literally inflated to the point where it looked like a pillow sitting on my kitchen counter. I've read some horror stories about how it can explode and ooze sticky, smelly batter all over your kitchen if you don't take the time to squeeze the air out of the bag. Oh and apparently dogs like the way it smells too! I gave one of my four bags of starter to my friend Nicole and her dog got into it and lapped up the batter.
The recipe I've included below is my variation for Amish Friendship bread - I didn't do anything too crazy or different, I just added a few more instructions to help take the guesswork out of making it. If you're curious what the basic recipe is, or need a printable version of the instructions to include with your bags of starter, you can download it here.

Pecan Peach Amish Friendship Bread

1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325F. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Grease 2 large loaf pans with shortening or Pam with Flour spray. Dust the greased pans with half of cinnamon sugar mixture.

About 2 cups of starter (or whatever you have left after you've measured out 4 cups to share)
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk (full, 2%, or skim will all work okay), at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour (I prefer to use unbleached)
1 cup of toasted and chopped pecans
1 15 oz can of sliced peaches in light syrup, thoroughly drained and diced

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, and vanilla until well combined (you can use a hand mixture for this step) and add it to the starter. Using a hand mixer or spoon, mix until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, and flour. Add it to the starter batter and continue to mix on medium speed until it's well combined and no pockets of dry ingredients are visible.

Mix in the pecans and peaches with a wooden spoon until they are well distributed.

Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture over the top.

Bake both pans together in the oven 60 to 75 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of bread comes out clean. Cool until bread loosens from pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Remove from the pan and either eat it while it's warm or let it cool on a wire rack.

Yield: Each loaf yielded about 15 slices or so.
Would I Make This Again? Maybe. The bread was pretty good and had a unique sour dough taste. Everyone who had some seemed to really enjoy it, but I'm not sure it would be something I'd crave. If I had to rate this on a 1 to 5 scale, I'd give it a 2 1/2 star. Defiantly worth trying out once.

Jake's Oreo Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Frosting

My son's thirteenth birthday was back in January but I completely forgot to post about his cake! Jake went totally bonkers over it and said it was the best birthday cake I have ever made for him. Sometimes it's the simple recipes that make the biggest impression.

It's a fairly easy cake to make, both kid and adult friendly, and, because it's cake mix based, it's doesn't take very long to prepare. To save a little money and to keep from having a big package of Oreos in the house (big temptation for me), I used one 8oz package of Mini Oreos instead of 18 full size cookies. The little cookies also came in handy for decorating the cake too. The frosting was almost too good to be true; super creamy, chocolaty but not too much, and complimented the flavor of the Oreos perfectly.

Oreo Cake with Chocolate Pan Frosting
adapted from Cake Mix Doctor

Cake
18 full-sized Oreos or one 8oz package of mini Oreos or 2 1/4 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs
1 package (18oz) of white cake mix WITH pudding in the mix
1 cup water (room temperature)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temperature

Frosting
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water (plus additional, if needed)
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (plus additional, if needed)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt

Cake
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray two 9" cake pans with Pam for baking or grease with shortening and dust evenly with flour, tapping out the excess. Set the pans aside.

Grind the cookies in a food processor and process them until you have a fine crumb. If you don't have a food processor, you can put the cookies in a zip-lock style bag, squeeze all the air out, and crush them using the bottom of pot or a rolling pin. You'll need 2 1/4 cups of crumbs total. If you have more than this, set them aside to use to decorate the cake (if desired). Set aside.

Place the cake mix, water, eggs, and oil in a large mixing bowl and mix on low speed for 1 minute and scrape the bowl and blade. Increase the speed to medium and mix for another 2 minutes and scrape the bowl and blade. The batter should look evenly colored. Add the cookie crumbs and mix on low for 15 seconds or so until all the crumbs look evenly distributed.

Pour the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops. Bake both pans in the oven, side by side, and bake about 25-30 minutes until a cake tester in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans and invert onto the rack. Then invert each cake again so they continue to cool right-side-up. Allow to cook completely 30 minutes more.

Frosting
Place the cocoa powder in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer and pour the boiling water over it. Stir the cocoa and water with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it comes together to create a soft mass. Add the butter and blend on low with the paddle attachment on low speed until the mixture is smooth and well combined, about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and salt and mix for 30 more seconds. Scrape the bowl and blade.

Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat on low speed until all the sugar is incorporated. Repeat with the other 2 cups. Scape bowl and blade. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting has lightened in color and is fluffy, about 2 minutes more. Add more boiling water, a teaspoon at a time, or more powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time, if the frosting is too thick or too thin.

Assembly
Slice each cake horizontally (if desired) so you have 4 layers of cake (I like to do this using a long piece of unflavored dental floss). Place a little bit of frosting on the bottom of your cake plate (this will act like glue and hold the cake in place). Place one of the cake slices cut side up on the plate. Top with some frosting and smooth to about 1/2 from the edge. Repeat the process with the remaining 3 layers. Then frost the top and side of the cake. Decorate the cake with reserved cookies, cookie crumbs, and cake crumbs or any way you wish.

Cut and serve right away or let it sit at room temperature until you're ready to eat.

Yield: 8 slices (or more depending on how you slice it)
Would I Make This Again? Yes, I think this would be a good dessert to bring to a cookout or family function because everyone would be sure to love it.

P.S. For those of you that use the Blogger platform and have had issues getting your blog to print correctly in Firefox, I figured out a workaround. For some reason it was only printing the first three pages. If you'd like to know how I did it, please send me an email and I'll send you the instructions.

Fun Kitchen Finds

Mother's Day is less than a month away (May 10th people!) and I decided that now would be a great time to put together a list of some interesting kitchen finds that I thought was worth sharing:

How wonderful would it be to have your very own dwarf Meyer Lemon, Clementine, Yuzu, or Key Lime Tree in your kitchen? Since growing citrus trees in the Pacific Northwest isn't exactly an option, I think one of these would be the next best thing.

I'm not a huge collector of kitch, but this set of little cookbooks comes with its own paper oven. Adorable!

This is one of the prettiest Bundt pans I've ever seen.

Every refrigerator could use a set of whimsical magnets, and these monster themed ones are especially cute.

I looked high and low for dark brown paper cupcake liners and not only did I find them, but several other colors too!

The next time you have a bunch of treats and no one to share them with, invite a few friends over and play Foodie Fight. Finally a game I could actually win! :)

Triple-decker Chocolate, Coffee, and Toffee Cheesecake

The next time the occasion arises where want to impress your friends, need a raise, or want to otherwise make people temporarily worship you, this is the cheesecake for the task. This year my mother-in-law made Easter brunch and I was responsible for the dessert. At any family event where my mother-in-law will be present, I always make something that involves chocolate because it's her absolute favorite. So after some thought, I decided to try and make a cheesecake that featured several layers, one of which would be a chocolate. This would help make it more palatable to those family members that aren't chocolate fanatics. After a lot of research, I found a great article written back in 2000 by Eleanor Klinvas, specially about making multilayer cheesecakes. Score! I knew the Triple Decker one would be perfect!
Since I've never attempted to make a cheesecake that has more than one layer before, I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The key to making this cake successful is using really good quality ingredients and giving yourself a lot of time to complete each step. The only problem I had with this recipe is that I waited to late in the evening to start baking. Since this cake required two additional hours of attention before I could put it in the refrigerator, I ended up sleeping on the couch for the last two post-baking steps! Seriously though, after seeing everyone's reaction to this cake (especially my mother-in-law), it was totally worth the slight sleep deprivation. :)

Triple-Decker Chocolate, Coffee and Toffee Cheesecake
adapted from Eleanor Klivans

Chocolate crumb crust
Butter for pan
2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (I use Nabisco Famous Wafers and crush them in a food processor)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 pounds full-fat cream cheese, softened 3 to 4 hours at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla bean paste or extract
2 tablespoons whipping cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons instant coffee dissolved in 1 tablespoon whipping cream
2/3 cup (2, 1.4 ounce bars) crushed toffee, such as Skor or Heath Bars
6 ounces good quality semisweet chocolate such as Lindt, Schaffenburger, or Guittard, chopped (please, avoid Baker's if you can, its flavor is just terrible)*

Prepare the crust
Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter 9-inch springform pan with sides at least 2 3/4 inches high. Mix cookie crumbs and melted butter, combining well. Press crumb mixture evenly over bottom and 1 inch up side of pan. Wrap outside of pan with 1 large piece of heavy foil, making a water tight seal.

Make for 6 minutes. Set aside and cool completely.

Water Bath
Before you start the cheesecake batter, you should get everything ready for the water bath. You'll need a roasting pan that's big enough to hold the spring form pan in both width and height.

While you're preparing the cheesecake, boil a large kettle or pot full of water. Preheat the oven to 325F.

Prepare filling
In a standing mixture, cream the cream cheese in large bowl on low speed until smooth for 1 minute. Add sugar and mix until smooth, about 2 minutes. Scape bowl and beater.

Mix in flour and mix just until the flour disappears. Add eggs, 2 at time, mixing until batter is smooth and no traces of egg can be seen, about 1 minute. Mix in vanilla and cream for about 30 seconds.

Get 2 medium sized bowls, preferably ones that have a pouring spout. Pour 2 cups batter into each of bowl. Stir dissolved coffee into mixture in one of the medium bowls and stir well, until the mixture is an even color. Set aside. Mix the crushed toffee into batter in second medium bowl, mix well, and set aside.

Mix melted chocolate into the batter that's left in the mixing bowl, stirring just until chocolate is incorporated and no white batter shows. Pour chocolate batter into chocolate crust in prepared pan.

Place cheesecake in large baking pan with at least 2-inch high sides and place in oven. Pour hot water into large pan to reach 1-inch up sides of springform pan. Bake 20 minutes.
Carefully slide oven rack out several inches. Pour reserved coffee batter all around inside edge of pan. Batter will flow evenly to cover top of cake. Bake 20 minutes.

Pour reserved toffee batter all around inside edge of pan. Batter will flow evenly to cover top of cake. Bake 30-60 minutes. You'll know it's done when you can give the cheesecake a gentle shake and top doesn't move and looks firm. (FYI: Eleanor's instructions said that the cake should be done after the last 20 minutes, but mine was far from done. I baked it for an additional 45 minutes! Part of this extra time may have been because I was using an 8.5" pan instead of the 9", I'm not exactly sure. Whatever the cause, don't panic. Just be patient, keep the water level consistent, and wait for the top of the cake to get firm.)

Very carefully, remove everything from the pan (roasting pan, water, and cheesecake). Note: If you have a bad back, don't be a hero and ask for help because it's heavy and the water is going to be near boiling. Cool cheesecake in water bath 1 hour on a heat proof surface, covered loosely with paper towel.

Carefully remove cheesecake from water bath. Remove paper towel and cool 1 hour more on a wire rack. Cheesecake should feel cool to touch. Gently run a thin-bladed knife around the edge of the cheesecake. Unhinge the latch on the spring form pan and gently remove the ring. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.

Serve the cake with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or just plain. When slicing the cake, be sure to clean the knife after each cut. This will ensure prettier slices.

Leftover cheesecake can be covered and refrigerated up to 1 week (not that it will last that long! :)

Yield: 16 servings.
Would I Make This Again? Without a doubt! I was told by several people that this cheesecake was the best one they've ever had! Plus, I'm excited to try this recipe with other flavor combination.

Abi's Cupcakes in the 'Hood(ie)

I made these cupcakes in only a few hours after work one night. They were a birthday gift for one of the trainers at the gym with whom I've only had the opportunity to train with a handful of times. She's a hardcore athlete, a hell of a trainer, and is super cool to boot. Jesse, the trainer who told me it was her birthday, mentioned that she's really into t-shirts, namely making them for special events or for people she knows. After I made a few t-shirts, I decided to make a few hoodies, which are both made out of fondant, just for fun.

For the cupcakes, Abi said she wasn't a big time chocolate fan, but still wanted something that had chocolate in it. I suggested chocolate chocolate-chip and she loved the idea. I have to say that this cupcake recipe is not for those who want serious makes-one-weak-in-the-knees-over-the-top chocolate-fudge decadence. No, this cupcake is more hot-chocolate than a chocolate truffle, if that makes sense. It's based on a Martha Stewart recipe that I tweaked just a tiny bit. And for the frosting, I kept it light and mellow: just a simple white chocolate buttercream bespeckled with vanilla beans. Yum!

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cupcakes with White Chocolate Vanilla-Bean Ganache
adapted from MarthaStewart.com

Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
7 ounces (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk (I used non-fat, but any type would do)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Ganache
8 ounces good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened slightly
Pinch of salt

Cupcakes
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

Line standard muffin pans with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and whisk to make sure the dry ingredients are all the same color.

Cream butter and sugar with a mixer for 3 minutes, until white, light, and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low. Mix milk and vanilla in the bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix for 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl and the blade. Add half the milk and mix for 30 seconds. Repeat with the flour, then the milk, and ending with the flour. After all last of the dry ingredients are added, mix together for an additional full-minute. (Tip: When you're adding the flour or milk to the sugar mixture, pulse the mixer just a few times or use a wooden spoon or spatula to slightly mix the ingredients together. Otherwise you'll end up with a pile of cocoa flour and milk all over your counter and you!)

Slowly and gently fold in the egg whites in two or three batches, until all the clumps of egg white have disappeared. Fold in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake cupcakes about 15 to 18 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes are firm to to the touch and testers inserted into centers come out almost clean. You'll probably hit a few chocolate chips as you test for doneness so you might see some chocolate sticking to your tester. Let cool in tins on wire racks until they are cool enough to touch and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store covered at room temperature or in the fridge until you're ready to frost them.

Frosting
Melt the white chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of water that is not quite simmering. Make sure the bottom of the bowl rests several inches above the surface of the water. Stir chocolate until smooth and let cool to room temperature on the counter top.

Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Using a whisk, stir in the milk until all of the sugar has dissolved and mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Add butter and salt and continue to beat until smooth and shiny. On the lowest speed or with a rubber spatula, slowly stir in the cooled white chocolate.

Cool the frosting in the refrigerator until it gets firm, about 30 minutes, and frost the cupcakes.

Yield: 36-40 cupcakes
Would I Make This Again? Yep! You know a recipe is really a keeper when your son mistakes the batter on the beater for frosting. This recipe is really yummy!

Allison's Key Lime Pie Fudge

Last Fall, back when it was Allison's birthday, I made two beautiful Key lime pies to celebrate her special day. As I was leaving for work that morning, it occurred to me that I forgot to take photos of it and figured I'd just take some once I arrived at work. Well, those plans came to a screeching halt right after both pies slid off the tray and landed bottom-side-down onto the asphalt. Luckily, they were still edible but the jolt of being smacked to the ground caused them to crack and all my airy whipped cream deflated. I felt so terrible presenting such an ugly dessert, but Allison didn’t care one bit, nor did anyone else that devoured them. So when I recently learned that Allison would be leaving our team and moving to South Carolina to be closer to her fiancé, I knew right away that it would be my chance to make her another, more blog-worthy Key Lime Pie. However, my plans were foiled a few days later while I was enjoying my daily Tastespotting sashay over lunch. I became charmed by a recipe for Lime Fudge with Macadamia Nuts at Technicolor Kitchen. I knew instantly I had to make this for her instead. While I loved the idea of using normal, everyday Persian limes, I suspected it would work just as well with fresh Key lime zest and juice. I couldn't stop there, could I? I mean, what would Key lime Pie fudge be without graham cracker crust? It would be pretty good too, true, but I knew that including it would really make this fudge extraordinary. (BTW: Do you see the faint smiley face in the photo of the fudge above? :) ) This recipe could not have come out any better, if I do say so myself! Its texture was really smooth and silky, which is directly related to the fact that I used Lindt, which was the best quality of white chocolate I could find in the store. The flavor was great too, just the right amount of tang that was quickly mellowed by the crust. It was pure ecstasy! It was such a huge hit, I was actually a little blindsided how popular it was. People raved! A little words of caution though, it's a bit addictive. So much so my boss said I could call it Key Lime Crack!

Key Lime Pie Fudge
adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

Graham Cracker Crust
Note: The crust is optional. The fudge will still taste great without it.

1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 cups finely crushed graham crackers

Fudge
3 cups or 4 4-oz bars of good quality white chocolate, finely chopped (
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon finely grated Key lime zest, about 5-6 Key limes*
3 tablespoons lime juice – freshly squeezed is better

Line a square 8"x8 baking pan with foil or parchment paper, extending it up and over pan (this helps you get it out of the pan later). Butter sides and bottom of the pan, especially the corners. Set aside.

If you're making the crust: Preheat oven to 375. In a medium sized bowl, melt butter in them microwave. Stir in sugar with a fork, braking up any lumps. Add crushed graham crackers and toss to mix well. Spread evenly into the baking pan and bake for 4 to 5 minutes or until edge is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Stir white chocolate and sweetened condensed milk in a large heavy saucepan over low heat just until chocolate is melted and all the lumps are gone. Remove from heat and stir in zest and juice. Spread mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Cover and chill for two hours or overnight. Lift the fudge from pan using edges of foil. Peel off foil and use a heavy non-serrated knife to cut the fudge into one-inch pieces. (Tip: Keep a damp kitchen towel handy to clean off the knife after each cut. This will keep give your fudge a cleaner appearance.)

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

* Zesting the limes - Be sure to wash the limes in hot, soapy water before zesting them. I like to scrub mine with a wet terry cloth towel to get all the wax off. Be sure they are totally dry before zesting. Also, Key limes are really small and their zest is thin. Go very slowly when zesting each lime as you'll be at the pith (white part) after just one or two passes. I highly recommend using a Microplane Grater/Zester which makes short work of the task.

Yield: 64 1-inch squares, although it really depends on how you cut it.
Would I Make This Again? Without a doubt! This was the most popular recipe I've brought into work in a long, long time. A real crowd pleaser!

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Better Than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake

Several weeks ago, I had a bit of a baking dry spell and really felt the need to bake. Since my friend Scott just sits over the wall from me, I asked him for a baking assignment. He thought for a moment and then explained how he's really been into Starbucks Lemon loaf and suggested that I try to recreate it.

I steered clear of any copy-cat recipes that were already on the web because I was committed to making a lemon pound cake that didn't use any extracts. I realize that Starbuck's recipe wasn't likely to be as sincere, but I was really curious to see if I could achieve a super lemony cake using only fresh lemons.
In my research, I uncovered two potential winning recipes and after much debate about which one I would use, I decided to wing it and use elements from both. The first recipe was created by Bill Yosses who is the Executive Pastry Chef at the White House. I loved that Mr. Yosses's recipe not only avoided the use of any extracts, but it used almost every part of the lemon. Bill explains that he likes to use small segments of lemon in the batter because as the cake bakes, the juice evaporates and leaves behind little powerful pockets of lemon goodness. I was all for that! The second recipe was one I found on Epicurious that had several good reviews. It was a bit more simple that Bill Yosses's and I loved that it too didn't rely on extracts either. I figured between the two of them and a few little tricks of my own, I'd have a solid contender.
After all was said and done, this cake was almost what I wanted. It scored big points in the flavor department as many testers loved it's bright, yet not over the top, lemon flavor. The only place where I think I missed the mark, was the crumb. While it was a beautiful cake, I felt it just wasn't the dense, super tight-crumbed pound cake I had hoped for. No one noticed this but me, though. As a matter of fact, the one comment I kept hearing from everyone was that this cake was way better than Starbucks! I think I might try this challenge again to get the tight crumb that I wanted, but for now I'm pretty satisfied. :)

Better Than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake
adapted from Bill Yosses and Epicurious

Cake
4 small lemons, organic if you can find them (Note: Avoid the giant lemons! Smaller lemons tend to pack more flavor, contain less water, and are cheaper too!)
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, that is completely softened*
3 cups superfine, Baker's or caster sugar*
6 eggs, warmed for 10 minutes in hot tap water before using
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

Glaze
2 lemons
2 cups powdered-sugar*, sifted

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 16-cup tube pan and dust with cake flour; tap out any excess. Be sure to grease and flour the center column too. You can also use Pam with Flour (I do).

Scrub the lemons with hot soapy water. Rinse really well and dry completely. Zest four of the lemons, being careful to avoid the pith (the white part that live right below the yellow part of the lemon). With a very sharp paring knife, cut the tops and bottoms off of each lemon. With one cut side down on the cutting board, trim the pith off the lemon, vertically, going all the way around each lemon, exposing the flesh of the lemon. (About.com has a great little tutorial how to do this. They illustrate the technique with an orange but it translates to any citrus fruit). Over a bowl, cut segments from membranes, letting fruit and juice fall into the bowl, being sure to discard the seeds and the remaining membranes. With a fork, break segments into 1-inch pieces.
In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and the lemon zest. Work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Set aside.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter for 2 minutes at medium speed in the electric mixer. Add half the sugar and mix for 2 more minutes, then add the rest of the sugar and mix again for 4 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the bowl and the beater blade.

Remove the eggs from the warm water and dry them. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition (about 30 seconds). On the lowest setting, mix in the dry ingredients, then the sour cream. Lastly, gently fold in the lemon juice and segments. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about an hour and a half. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Cut around the cake in the pan, turn out the cake. Carefully turn cake right side up on rack.

While the cake is cooling, juice the remaining 2 lemons. In a small bowl, slowly add the powdered sugar to the and stir until smooth. It should look thick, opaque, and should be thin enough to it should be pourable. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice. Poke small holes all over the top of the cake using a fork or toothpick. Carefully pour about 1/2 the glaze over the tops and the sizes of the cake. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours or overnight. Cover the remaining glaze and keep at room temperature. About a half hour before you're ready to serve, pour the remaining glaze over the cake.

Store in a covered container, either in the fridge or at room temperature.

Ingredient Notes:

* Butter - A butter knife dropped on a stick of butter should slide completely through the butter to its center. This means the butter needs to be at 70-72F.

* Superfine/Castor Sugar - You can make this by putting granulated sugar into the food processor and whizzing it around several times for a minute or two.

* Powdered Sugar - If you have an old, half-opened bag of powdered sugar sitting in your pantry, I'd strongly encourage you to throw it away! It's been my experience that powdered sugar that's been opened and not properly resealed starts to oxidize very quickly. It can give the sugar a metallic taste that will impart an "off" flavor into your dessert, especially glaze.

Yield: Many, many slices! This fed about 24 people, and then some who only wanted a "small slice"
Would I Make This Again? Yes! I loved everything about this cake, especially the wonderful compliments it received.