Veggie-ful Spice Cupcakes

I can tell that the weather is getting colder by what's showing up in my CSA box.  We've gotten a lot of squash and root vegetables lately.  This has meant getting pretty creative, since Boyfriend HATES squash.  And I mean HATES squash.  I've successfully hidden it in chili and mac and cheese so far.  The risotto was not successful.  We've also been getting beets.  And I HATE beets.  I had two bunches of beets, again from the CSA box, sitting in my fridge, staring at me.  The only thing that I have made in the past where I could tolerate beets were cupcakes.  So, I decided to run with that again.  When I made them last time, it was basically like a spice cake or carrot cake, but with beets instead of carrots.  So, since my mom makes the best carrot cake EVER, I decided to adapt her recipe, and just sub beets for carrots.  But, I was making them for my dance instructor's birthday, and he's constantly complaining that he's on a diet.  So, I decided that I needed to lighten up the recipe a bit.  My mom usually substitutes applesauce for some of the oil in her recipe, but I didn't have any applesauce lying around.  I pondered a bit more and remembered that I've heard of people using baby food or other fruit/vegetable purees instead of oil, too.  And then the seed of an idea formed.  I could roast and puree that acorn squash that I'd been trying to figure out how to surreptitiously feed to Boyfriend and use THAT instead of some of the oil!  I'd hide not one, but TWO hated vegetables in these cupcakes!
I made sure to make them when he wasn't around and not to tell him what the secret ingredients were until AFTER they were all gone.

Mission accomplished.  We both liked the cupcakes, AND I got rid of two bunches of beets and an acorn squash.  So, next time you're dreading a vegetable, try to figure out how to turn it into a dessert.  Butter and sugar make everything taste better, right?

P.S., Mom, I'm sorry for bastardizing your cupcakes.  But not really.  Because they were tasty.

Veggie-ful Spice Cupcakes (adapted from my mom's carrot cake recipe)

• 1 c. applesauce or pumpkin, sweet potato, or acorn or butternut squash puree
• 1/3 c. canola oil
• 2 c. sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 c. spiced rum (optional)
• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbl. cinnamon
• 3 c. shredded beets or carrots

Combine the oil, sugar, and puree, and mix until thoroughly combined.  Beat in the eggs, two at a time.  Mix in the spiced rum, if desired.  Sift together the dry ingredients, add them to the wet ingredients, and stir until mostly combined.  Stir in the shredded beets or carrots until everything is mixed.

Evenly divide the batter into greased muffin tins (an ice cream scoop works well for this!), and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350* F.  You'll get ~two dozen cupcakes out of this recipe.  Alternatively, pour into a 9x13-in cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes for a single-layer, rectangular cake, or divide between two 8- or 9-in round cake pans and bake for 30-40 minutes for a two-layer round cake.

Top with your favorite cream cheese frosting, caramel frosting, brown butter frosting, or whatever floats your boat.  Just don't do Greek yogurt frosting in an effort to get the tangy effect of cream cheese without running to the store to buy it.  It will never set up.  Ever.

What's Baking: Peach Bread

Time for another What's Baking post!  This month's challenge was to make a quick bread.  Quick breads are breads that are not made using yeast--since there's no rise time, they're quick to make!  I made this one in one bowl, so the cleanup was quick, too!

I have been subscribed to Horse and Buggy, a CSA, since the spring.  Basically, I pay a set amount to have whatever produce the lovely folks at H&B are currently harvesting delivered to my door each week!  The freshest local produce, delivered right to my door!  It doesn't get any better than that!  We also get meat and eggs from them, too.  If it weren't for dairy, I'd never have to go grocery shopping any more!  It has been a fun challenge trying to come up with meals that use up the produce, and it has been really interesting seeing how the offerings change seasonally.  Colder-weather veggies, like winter squashes, have started to appear in the box, and last week was the last week for fruit boxes.  I took advantage of the opportunity and used my end-of-the-season peaches, nectarines, and raspberries in a delicious quick bread to fit the What's Baking challenge!

I forgot to soften my butter, so I swapped it out for canola oil.  I don't recommend this.  I could REALLY taste the difference, and the butter is SO important to complement the delicate flavor of the peaches and raspberries.  So, don't forget to soften your butter!  You can always throw it in the microwave for 10 seconds, in a pinch, if you forget, though!  Also, the original recipe called for orange juice concentrate, but I wanted to make it really peachy, so I substituted peach wine.  You could use milk, a sweet white wine, syrup from a can of peaches, peach nectar, or the original orange juice concentrate, instead!

Peach Bread (adapted from Food.com)

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons peach wine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 medium peaches, diced
• 1 clamshell raspberries

Cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Beat in vanilla extract and peach wine.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Stir dry ingredients into the wet ones until mostly combined.  Gently fold in fruit.

Pour batter into a 9x5" loaf pan that has been greased and floured.  Bake at 325* F for 60-75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool completely.  Wrap up and deliver to friends!  ;)

You could also bake this as muffins, for a change!  That's the great thing about quick bread batters--they're very versatile!

What's Baking: Pasticiotti

This month's What's Baking? challenge was to bake your happy place.  Bake something that reminded you of a happy time.  That didn't take too much thinking on my part!  Sitting down with my whole family to a big pasta dinner is awesome in and of itself, but when it's followed up by a tray of Italian pastries, then it's REALLY my happy place!  So, I decided to make one of my absolute favorite Italian pastries--pasticiotti.  Pasticiotti are little tarts that have a sweet, almost sugar cookie-like crust and are filled with either vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, or ricotta filling.  The ricotta is my favorite, so that's what I made here.  My dad likes the vanilla pudding.  It's all up to your taste!  I customized the recipe a bit to suit my tastes (of course), but I haven't strayed too far from the original, and I've kept pretty traditional Italian flavors.  These were not difficult to make, and they really weren't very time-consuming, either!  The pudding fillings would take a bit longer to make, so be sure to factor that into your plans!  I was really happy with the way these turned out.  The one thing I would say is to make sure that you seal them well--I had the tops start to lift off on a few of them!  But, so long as the South has a tragic lack of Italian pastry shops, these will help keep my cravings at bay in between trips to the North to get my fix!

Pasticiotti (adapted from Diana's Desserts)

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1/4 cup milk 
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg, well beaten 
• 2 lbs ricotta (low fat works fine)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift or whisk together the first 4 ingredients (flour through salt).   Cut the butter into the flour using two knives, a pastry cutter, a food processor, or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Mix together the milk, almond extract, and egg until well combined.  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, and stir to combine.  Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Meanwhile, make the filling.  Stir together the ricotta, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.  Told you it was easy!

Separate the dough in half.  Roll half of it out to about 1/4" thick.  Use a biscuit cutter to cut rounds out.  Fit them into the bottom and up the sides of your tart pans (muffin tins would work in a pinch, too!).  Fill the tart shells most of the way with filling.  Roll out the remaining dough, and cut rounds for the tops of the tart shells.  Make sure you seal them well!  An egg wash might help here.  The original recipe also recommends an egg wash on the tops, which I did not do, and I should have--they were not nicely browned.

Bake pastries at 425* F for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.  This makes about 1 dozen 3-inch pasticiotti.

Leave the gun, take the (baked) cannoli!

So, I had been eyeing Joe Pastry's recipe for cannoli shells for quite some time.  They're one of my favorite pastries, but I'm incredibly picky about them and so the opportunity to make my own grants maximum opportunity for customization.  There was only one problem--it was way too hot to fry.

This lead me to a fantastic innovation--cannoli cups!  I rolled out Joe's dough recipe using my pasta machine, sliced it into squares, and baked them in a mini muffin pan until they were golden.  I was surprised how crunchy and realistic the texture ended up being.  The bottoms of the cups did puff up a bit during baking, so it's not a bad idea to throw some rice or beans inside to keep them flatter.

Here's Joe's recipe, with my edits in parentheses:
6.25 ounces (1 1/3 cups) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted)
1 tablespoon superfine sugar (I used powdered)
2 tablespoon vegetable shortening
6 to 7 tablespoons Marsala wine (I subbed brandy + wine)
1 to 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten (You don't need those if you're baking)

It's made very similarly to an enriched pie crust--cut/rub the shortening into the flour (with the salt if using).  Beat in the wine until the mixture becomes cohesive.  If you're using a pasta roller, this will do some of the kneading for you, but you should let it rest (just like a pasta dough) before using the machine to make it thinner.  My pasta roller goes to 7, I do ravioli on 6, and on that scale, these should definitely go to 7. 

Cut squares (about 2 inches each works for mini tins) and press into muffin pans.  Bake at 375 degrees until the tips begin to brown (12-18 minutes).  Sorry for the cell-phone photos and lack of food styling--this is my office kitchen.

Pipe with your preferred ricotta cream recipe just before serving (make sure you press/drain the ricotta for at least 3 hours, and use powdered sugar, not granulated).  If you want to add mini chocolate chips or citron, I recommend doing that after you pipe the cream (they clog the tip).  Here I just garnished them with a few chips on top.  If you plan on going the traditional route, I highly recommend checking out Joe's page--he has a hilarious rendition of "Paulie the Sicilian" that makes for great reading.  But if you want a one-bite no-fry cannolo, give this method a try!

Watermelon Un-Margaritas

So, I'm breaking slightly from desserts, the usual focus of this blog, to tell you about one of my other favorite parts of the meal--the drinks!  Given the fact that I have 5 recipes tagged "wine" (and don't even get me started on the Baileys, bourbon, brandy, champagne, Chardonnay, rum, tequila, and Triple Sec tags), you've probably figured out that I like my drinks.  This particular one is a great fruity drink for a hot afternoon or sitting out on the porch watching the sun set.  It's refreshing, potent, and relatively healthy, for an alcoholic drink, anyway (there's no added sugar)!

Now, I've called these drinks un-margaritas because I made mine with rum, since I'm not the biggest fan of tequila.  The boyfriend made his with tequila.  The recipe is written so that you can pick your poison.  If you're using rum, you may want to rim your margarita glass in sugar.  With tequila, salt will, of course, work.  I like my drinks pretty strong, so feel free to decrease the amount of liquor to suit your tastes.  Without further ado, here's the recipe!

Watermelon Un-Margaritas (adapted from We Are Not Martha)

• 1/2 medium seedless watermelon, cubed
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 1/2 c. lime juice
• 2 c. Triple Sec
• Tequila or rum
• Lime wedges
• Salt or sugar

Puree the watermelon in a blender (you may have to do this in batches).   You'll want about 8 c. watermelon puree.  Combine the watermelon puree, lemon juice, lime juice, and Triple Sec in a pitcher.  Refrigerate until cold.

Run a lime wedge around the rim of the margarita glass.  Pour salt (for tequila) or sugar (for rum) onto a small plate.  Invert the glass onto the salt or sugar and twist a bit to coat the rim.  Add a few ice cubes to the glass, then up to 1/4 c. tequila or rum and 1 c. of the watermelon mix.  Stir to combine, and drink up!

What's Baking: Fresh Blueberry Pie

Woo hoo!  It's time for another What's Baking? post!  This month's challenge was to bake with summer fruits.  I am really excited to share this recipe with you because it showcases one of my absolutely favorite desserts: blueberries!  And even better, what makes this blueberry pie recipe unique is that most of the blueberries are left uncooked, so it really showcases their fresh flavor.  So while frozen blueberries might be fine for traditional blueberry pie where the whole thing is baked, don't you dare use them in this pie.  I mean it!  And be sure to check out the full lineup of seasonal fruity goodness over at Sweet Beginnings!

Fresh Blueberry Pie (from Andrew)

• One pre-baked pie crust (see this post for a recipe)
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbl. cornstarch
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. water
• 4 c. blueberries, divided
• 1 Tbl. butter
• Sprinkle of cinnamon
• 1 c. heavy cream
• 3 Tbl. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Whisk together salt, cornstarch, sugar, and water in a small saucepan.  Add in 1 c. of blueberries, and bring mixture to a boil.  Boil until mixture thickens considerably.  Remove the mixture from heat, and stir in the remaining 3 c. blueberries, butter, and cinnamon.  Pour into the pre-baked pie crust, and refrigerate overnight or until set.

Meanwhile, whip together the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.  Spread the whipped cream over the pie, and enjoy this fresh taste of summer!

What's Baking?: Berry Rhubarb Pie

I'm back!  I hope you enjoyed Brownie's contribution to last month's What's Baking? challenge!  This month, the challenge was to bake something using seasonal ingredients, chosen by Adventures in My Kitchen.  This was actually pretty simple for me, because I recently signed up for a CSA through Horse and Buggy Produce!  Every Wednesday, I get a box of fresh, local, seasonal produce delivered straight to my doorstep!  And because of it, I have tried kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, and a whole host of other yummy vegetables for the first time!  When last week's box arrived, I received rhubarb and some frozen blackberries from a previous year's harvest.  That was all the inspiration I needed!  I've never made a rhubarb pie before, and the boyfriend said that he had a great recipe, so he and I tackled this one together!  There wasn't a whole lot of rhubarb in the box, so we adapted his recipe to use some berries in it, too.  It turned out deliciously!

Berry Rhubarb Pie (from Andrew, original source unknown)

• Your favorite double pie crust recipe (or two store-bought refrigerated pie crusts if you're starting this project at 9 pm on a weeknight)
• 4 Tbl. butter, divided
• 6 Tbl. flour, divided
• 1 c. sugar, divided
• 2 c. chopped rhubarb
• 2 c. assorted mixed berries (we used blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries), drained of excess liquid if they were previously frozen
• 2 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 450* F.  Put one of the pie crusts into the bottom of a 9" pie plate.  Melt 2 Tbl. of the butter, and lightly brush the crust with it.  You may not need the full 2 Tbl.  Chill the crust.

Combine 2 Tbl. of flour with 2 Tbl. of sugar.  Sprinkle over the chilled pastry.  Mix the rhubarb and berries together, and then mound them in the crust.  Mix the remaining flour and sugar with the eggs, and pour this mixture over the rhubarb and berries.  Dot with the remaining 2 Tbl. of butter.  Fit the top crust over the bottom one, trimming and sealing the edges.  Make sure to cut steam vents!

Bake the pie in the preheated oven at 450*F for 15 minutes.  Shield the edges of the pie with foil or a metal pie shield.  Drop the temperature to 350*F, and continue cooking for another 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.  Enjoy a new way to get your vegetables!