Jul 4
I often take the kids to Kmart so they can have a look at the toys and I can have a look at the books – they often have some of the best cookbooks at the best prices. Last week, while browsing there, I found a book called “Macaroons“, with 30 macaron recipes, for only $9. Read more
I love tiramisu, but I haven’t had it nearly enough. In fact, I may have eaten tiramisu only twice in my life. The most recent tasting was amazing. Read more
Aug 14
Lately I have been obsessed with foods that go perfectly with tea or coffee. I’m particularly interested in scones. In fact, I chose a scone with jam and cream to go with my flat white coffee at Thyme Square Cafe yesterday morning while I was out with my two sons and mother-in-law. Can you believe that I chose a scone over cupcakes or a slice of delicious cake? I’m still in awe of my decision, because I’m not sure how it happened!
I’ve made scones before. They were easy and turned out quite nice. So when I saw the recipe for scones with jam and cream in Issue #3 of MasterChef Australia magazine – the same recipes they used on the show for the Country Women’s Association challenge – I was sure I could make all three components quite easily.
Jun 4
My current favorite show on TV is MasterChef Australia. I watch it almost religiously each night (except Saturdays, which is the only day of the week that it isn’t on). It’s gotten to the point where, anytime I’m actually cooking or baking something from a recipe it feels like Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston are looking over my shoulders, probably getting ready to play some mind games with me and ask if I think what I’m doing will turn out okay, or if I’ll finish in time.
I can’t say that watching MasterChef has made me any better in the kitchen. I have learned a couple of tricks and gained an ounce or two of knowledge about something or other. For instance, I don’t use a garlic crusher anymore; I use a knife and finely chop the garlic instead (Matt Moran is apparently disgusted with garlic crushers as they bruise the garlic). And if I need mayonnaise again, I’ll be making my own (Gary, George and Matt were obviously disgusted when one contestant used a jar of pre-made mayonnaise). Just things like that, I’ve learned. Nothing too life-changing.
My favorite parts of MasterChef are the Invention Tests (where the contestants have to make a dish based on one theme ingredient) and the Pressure Tests (where the 3 contestants of the least-liked dishes from the Invention Tests have to face off and one will be eliminated). One week, at one of these Pressure Tests, the dish they had to prepare was a black forest cake (recipe & photo here). This cake was 5 layers of sponge cake, chocolate ganache, mascarpone, hazelnut praline mousse, cherries, shaved chocolate, more cherries, it was like the black forest cake to end all black forest cakes.
My chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes are my favorite cupcakes that I’ve featured here at The Sweetest Kitchen. I didn’t really think that they could get any better. Well, I was wrong. They can get better. When I found out that Rebecca, over at Hello, Baker!, had made her version of the cookie dough cupcake, I noticed that she had used homemade cookie dough, rather than store-bought. She had used a chocolate chip cookie recipe called The Chewy by Alton Brown, which I had kept hearing rave reviews about and knew that one day I’d have to try for myself.
This past week I gathered up all my ingredients, baked a dozen of The Chewy chocolate chip cookies and loved them! and sent a few of them to my parents in the mail, who also loved them! I froze the rest of the cookie dough after rolling the dough in tablespoon-sized balls, not actually intending to bake cupcakes with them, but…
When the time came to bake cupcakes again, I suddenly remembered Rebecca’s post and had to do my chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes all over again with The Chewy. I used the same chocolate cupcake recipe as I had used previously, which is my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe.
I needed to use the rest of my mascarpone cheese that I had leftover from the Iron Cupcake Earth challenge; I had loved that frosting so much that I decided to make it all over again for these cupcakes.
Now, these cupcakes were spectacular. This particular homemade cookie dough turned out more gooey than the store-bought cookie dough, and those big chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips) were just to die for.
Because of the mascarpone frosting, I had to refrigerate the remaining cupcakes, which made those chocolate chips hard. For the rest of the cupcakes, I put them for 8-10 seconds on the defrost setting in the microwave to get that gooeyness and those soft chocolate chips back. So yummy!
So in the future, I am not ever using store-bought cookie dough for these cupcakes again!
Oct 15
I almost opted out of this month’s Iron Cupcake Earth challenge because of the bizarre ingredient. True, I could have just used cream cheese, but that wouldn’t have been quite so challenging. I wanted a cheese in both the cupcake and frosting, but I knew I didn’t want the average cream cheese… and well, I knew I didn’t want to make a savory cupcake. Hence, this was born…
A chocolate cupcake with a cherry ricotta center and frosted with mascarpone frosting. A dusting of cocoa powder sits on top, accompanied by a cherry. I can’t believe that it actually tastes quite nice! It’s the first time I’ve ever eaten a sweet ricotta, as well as the first time I’ve ever tasted mascarpone.
I’m quite proud of this cupcake, much more so than my entry last month for the basil challenge.
This month, the prizes for winning Iron Cupcake Earth are from Etsy artist Art On The Menu, Etsy artist Lots of Sprinkles, Bakelove Bakewear, Fiesta Products, Hello, Cupcake, Jessie Steele Aprons, Cupcake Courier and Taste of Home. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers.
Here are the recipes…
Martha Stewart’s One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
-recipe cut into thirds
Cherry Ricotta Filling
Ingredients
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 heaping tablespoons cherry pie filling (without cherries)
2 heaping tablespoons cherry pie filling cherries, choppedPreparation
Drain ricotta cheese if watery through a cheesecloth for 30-60 minutes. Mix ricotta, sugar, vanilla, cherry pie filling and cherries with a spoon until combined. Refrigerate about 30 minutes.
When cupcakes are completely cool, fill them with cherry ricotta filling using the cone method.
Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
4 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extractPreparation
Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Then mix in cold mascarpone cheese until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes.
Jamieanne has a passion for food and baking that dates back to her early childhood. She is the author of The Sweetest Kitchen blog, which features her favorite recipes from magazines, cookbooks and other food blogs. Keep up to date with Jamieanne and her blog by following on:
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