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Pumpkin Muffins

It has finally started to get cold in New York. I'm so excited, because I love wearing sweaters, and scarves, and boots and everything associated with the cold. In fact, the only thing that I have bought since moving here - clothes wise - are some incredibly warms sweaters from Housing Works. Well anyway, now that the colder are has settled in, I figured it was time to bake some pumpkin muffins. Pumpkins is one of my favorite plants ever. Questions - a vegetable, fruit, or just a squash? I feel it's one of those things that kind of pushes the boundaries. At work, they have pumpkin truffles, which are AMAZING!! I eat one almost every day that I go into work. So this morning, I woke up - early in fact - to bake some muffins. Now as I've said before, my oven here in my dorm room is very faulty, so I turned the oven up a little high then 350 because I was worried they did not bake. When the first batch came out, they were a little darker then usual, but still delicious. The second batch I eyed a little more carefully and took them out the moment they started to brown. In my opinion, they were much much much better. Charlotte said they were just as good as the first batch, so I guess we all just like our muffins at different consistencies. Either way, I will definitely be making these again. RECIPE FOR PUMPKIN MUFFINS Adapted from Gourmet Magazine INGREDIENTS:


• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 
1 tsp baking powder
• 
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
• 
1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs
• 
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (I ended up using Apple Spice, just about the same)
• 
1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tbsp sugar

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:


1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven toe 350F. Put liners in muffin cups.
2. Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
3. Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, 1.25 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.
4. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.
5. Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
6. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Blueberry Scones

So I'm not going to lie, I have no where near enough time to bake as I would have liked now that I am in college. Everything just seems to be work work work and read read read with no time for baking. That being said, this past Thursday, during an afternoon when my writing class happened to be cancelled, I decided to make some scones. My dad tells me every day I should make scones and my suitemates seemed to like the idea of some pastries in the house as well. I was about to venture out and use a new recipe, but after having already purchased the ingredients a few days prior, I just fell back on the classic recipe that I use all the time and never ceases to fail me. ( I didn't make the glaze and used blueberries instead of strawberries) While the recipe never fails, our oven does. After keeping the scones in for longer then I ever do - and I even cut them smaller - they had still not baked all the way through. The dial said it was at 400 degrees, but I find that very hard to believe. Oh well. They were a little gooey, but still sweet and yummy.

Martha Stewart Cookies

So Saturday night, the cool people that we are, my roommate and I decided that instead of going out and enjoying New York City to the fullest, we were going to make cookies. Okay, that's not quite true. We didn't know what to do, and at 11 o'clock, after it was assessed that we were not going out, making cookies seemed like the best alternative. Usually, when I make the classic chocolate chip, I always fall back on Alton Brown's classic chewy recipe, but to make those, you a) need bread flour b) need to refrigerate and c) really need a mixer. Having none of said items or time, I decided upon another classic's recipe - Martha Stewart. Charlotte mixed it almost all entirely by hand - clap clap Charlotte! - and this was her first "cookie dough/sleepover" experience. Whatever that means. Having no mixer caused it to be a little runny since we couldn't cream the butter properly, but aside from being a bit flat, they were classic chocolate chip cookies. The perfect fix for our late night craving.

Thumbs up from Jessica.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Adapted from The Martha Stewart Cookie Book

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Of course we had to make a super big one for everyone :-)

An American Experience

A few nights ago, my roommate and I discovered something a magical - a store within our dorm that accepts dining dollars!! What does this mean, you might ask? Well basically, dining dollars is money that is paid by the powers above (i.e. our parents) so when spending it, it's not technically "your money." So within this lovely little convenience store, they sell a plethora of goods - candy, drinks, sudafed, and KRAFT Mac and Cheese. Now if you venture into our kitchen you will see a list of rather American looking foods on our fridge - frozen yogurt, grilled cheese, twinkies, mac & cheese - all foods that our dear Charlotte has yet to try, given her status as an expatriated French women. Well anyway, upon seeing the Mac & Cheese downstairs, I pounced and bought it (well Charlotte technically used her dining dollars because I had left my ID upstairs) and proclaimed we would be having a fine Americanized lunch of mac & cheese the following day. As I prepared the lunch the following day - Charlotte was too afraid to do it by herself even though I was 30 minutes late arriving home - her first words upon seeing the very orange packet of cheesey stuff was, "That is not cheese." I had to agree, but then again, this is Kraft, and this is America where nothing is what it seems. All I can say is, not matter what the substance was that was added to the macaroni, it was quite delicious. Charlotte seemed to agree and upon completion of her very first bowl of American Mac & Cheese she said "It was very good." Now will we be making it again? Probably, but more so because mac & cheese is quite inexpensive, and after all, we are hungry/poor college students. :-)

Dorm Room Dinner Night

So I'm all moved in to college! My dorm is spectacular. I have a huge room, a great roommate, and an awesome kitchen/common room. Sadly, I am in the one tower of my building that was not renovated over the summer, so the other towers are a tad bit nicer then ours is, but oh well. It's the people that counts, right ;-) Weeks ago, when all my suites mates and I first started talking on facebook - there are 6 of us - we decided we wanted to have a big dinner to share our love of baking and cooking with each other when we arrived in the dorm. Well, tonight was the night. As I said, our kitchen is rather small and the oven has some faulty temperatures, but it still turned out great. We had spaghetti, quiche, salads and some very yummy baked goods compliments of Shaina and myself. It was by far the best meal I've had since being on campus, although I have only eaten in the dining halls here twice, so I can't make so swift decisions quite yet on the campus food. We are hoping to make this weekly dinner/roommate bonding time a bi-weekly event, so I am greatly looking forward to what everyone holds in store for next time. I know I shall most likely continue to contribute some baked items, but after playing with the oven, I'm realizing that making a cake or anything that needs a more constant oven temperature might be a little difficult.

My cookies - macaroons

Katie and Jessica at the stove/sink

Shaina's oatmeal raisin cookies

Jessica, Sally, and Shaina

Mallory, Katie, and Charlotte

Long Time No Bake

So I haven't updated in ages and ages and ages. I'm sorry. But I like to think I have a good excuse - I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY!! Currently I'm living on the Upper West Side at my uncles apartment while working at Godiva in Grand Central Station. Needless to say, I haven't baked that much recently, although I have been to many many cupcake shops. After I move into my dorm next week - YAYAY - I'm hoping that I will be able to bake more. I have a kitchen in my dorm and it would appear that many of my suite mates - there are 5 more - enjoy baking and cooking too. So right now, I'm just going to put up some pictures of my baking and cooking expeditions from this past summer.

Dad's birthday cake Vanilla oreo cookies with pink frosting (it was going to raspberry, but that didn't work out so well) Super puffy homemade oreos.

Butter Lane cupcakes - my new favorite shop in NYC. Cupcake display at Whole Foods on Houston. Cupcake from Sweet Revenge on Carmine Street right above Houston.

Crumbs mint chip cupcake.

Grilled Salmon I made for dinner and burned my hand while making - still delicious though.

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

So I have begun the long and tedious process of figuring what is going to come up to New York with me in the fall and what shall not. My dad and I are going to drive up, so I have some freedom of what I can put in the car, but my dorm room is probably going to be pretty small, so I have to take that into consideration. I'm planning on getting a dorm that is apartment style which means I shall have kitchen. WOOT WOOT!! I already know who my roommate is going to be. She is AMAZING!! Not only does she like to bake, but she speaks French, has lived all over the world and basically seems like one of the most awesome people ever. I can't wait until I actually get to meet her in person. 

Anyway, back to packing and not packing. So since I'm hopefully getting a dorm with a kitchen, I have to bring all my cook books, which over the past fews years has grown exponentially. Most are baking books, but I have collected a few others so that if I ever feel the need to cook myself an actual meal, I can do that as well ;) So not only do I have cook books, I also have a binder where I collect recipes that I print or cut out from the newspaper and from said book is where I found this lovely recipe. It has not title, no author, no anything - just a page of ingredients and some instructions. I was little skeptical because if I do use a recipe from online, I usually like to look at the reviews, but no reviews needed for these because they were INCREDIBLE!! Chocolatey goodness with a strong hint of mint - some people might find the mint overwhelming, but I loved it. Even my dad and step-mom liked them too. This has made me realize that I need to be a bit more adventurous in my baking and not always follow a trail that has already been followed, but to start my own paths and back thinks that I have no idea how they turn out. 

Ingredients:

• 3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup all purpose flour (I used cake flour because I'm out of AP)
• 1/2 dutch cocoa
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (As I read the recipe again now, I realize that I used baking powder and it still turned out fine. Whoops!)
• 1 1/2 cup Andes Mint Chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add chocolate and whisk until combined. Add vanilla and set aside to cool. 
3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. 
4. In a mixer bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Mix until light and fluffy - 3 minutes. 
5. Decrease speed to low and add melted chocolate mixture. 
6. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. 
7. Fold in Mint Chips
8. Let batter sit in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up a bit. 
9. Drop 1 1/2 tbs portions onto a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-13 minutes. The cookies will be slightly under-baked, but will the centers nice and gooey. 
10. Remove cookie sheets and transfer parchment paper to cooling rack to cool completely. 
11. 

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I haven't posted in so long!! I'm such a horrible person. With all the graduation festivities and then I went to San Francisco and New York, I really have not baked in a long time. When I was in San Francisco and New York though, I did sample quite a few amazing cupcakes. I went back to my favorite shop Cupcake Cafe in New York with some friends and fell in love all over again. I also found a van that sells cupcakes around the Union Square area. I can't wait until next year

and I can get cupcakes from the van everyday. 

Anyway, the other day, I got the new Martha Stewart Cupcake Book. SO EXCITING!!! I've been waiting for it to come out since I heard it was announced months and months ago. Borders was one of my first stops when I got home from New York just to get the book. Of course, all the pictures are just as beautiful as the cookie book and it looks like the recipes are also just as yummy. Today, I made snickerdoodle cupcakes. I love snickerdoodle cookies and it was not your basic chocolate/vanilla cupcake. Also, I got cool little cupcake holders the other day when I was at Joanne's Fabric store which made me very excited because I had been looking for them everywhere. 

The result was A+. Now I'm not the biggest fan of meringue icing, but with the cinnamon sugar sprinkled over it, it was delicious. I made far much more icing than I actually needed - probably threw away about 4 cups of it since I didn't need anymore, but other than that, they were great. Excellent taste - just the right amount of cinnamon in the cupcakes but not overwhelming. I will definitely be making these again. 

So I'm way to lazy to write out the recipe today, but you can find it right here. 

Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO! Okay, so this post has no relation to the lovely holiday that is being celebrated today, but I just thought I'd mention it. An exciting that that did happen today - well exciting to some - is that there was a mother of all storms this afternoon. Tornado watches, lightning, thunder, and the most intense rain storm ever. I was at work, at it's a warehouse, which makes everything sound so much louder, and I seriously thought the building was going to fall down it was raining so hard. Anyway, I actually made these brownies the other night, but I'm just getting around to posting them now. I was really really wanting to make cheesecake brownies and then when I saw this recipe, I knew it was going to be amazing because I LOVE raspberry jam. I have it on toast practically every morning. They were pretty easy to make. I'm not going to lie, they looked rather gross when they came right out of the oven. The pockets where the jam was looked like oozing scabs, but once they cooled and I cut them up, they started to look much more appetizing. That evening when I ate them, they were delicious. Unlike some cheesecake desserts, the cheese wasn't overwhelming and the raspberry jam was subtle yet delicious. I had a few left over and put them in the fridge, but for future reference, I highly recommend just eating them ASAP and not refrigerating them, because they certainly did not taste as good a few days later. adapted from bakingbites.com

• Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter, room temp
• 2 ounces chopped dark chocolate
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

• 8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup raspberry jam (I guess you could really use any kind of jam you want)

1. Preheat over to 350 Degrees. Line 8x8 baking dish with aluminum foil and lightly grease. (I used 9x9 because that was all I had - they were just a little thinner, but not noticable.)
2. In a small bowl, melt chocolate and butter together. Mix until smooth. (I just microwaved) Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
4. Whisking steadily, pour chocolate mixture into sugar mixture. Stir until smooth.
5. Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into the bowl and stir until just combined.
6. Pour into prepared pan and set aside for the time being
7. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar egg and vanilla until smooth. Drop big dallops into chocolate (already in pan). Follow by spoonfuls of the raspberry jam.
8. With a knife, swirl cheese batter and raspberry around chocolate to give swirled look.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until knife inserted into middle comes out clean.
10. Cool completely before cutting.