The ultimate cupcake

Written Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 by TrishB

100 people for New Year's Eve dinner. 18 house guests. 29 items (or more) on the menu. 3 days later and I am still exhausted. That's correct, I did not accidentally add a zero to the number 10. On New Year's Eve I had 100 people for dinner in my home. I awoke this morning realizing that amidst the craziness of the last week I had forgotten to write my Sunday HHM blog post. So today's will be short and sweet. Of the 29 plus items on my menu one of the favorites of both adults and kids were the cupcakes I baked.

If you are a cupcake connoisseur, and know New York City, then you know the Magnolia Bakery. Their cupcakes are sinfully delicious and ridiculously expensive. Thankfully, they have a cookbook. So whenever I make cupcakes I use their easy to follow recipes. I cannot state with absolute certainty that this is exactly how they make them, but I do know that cupcakes made from their recipes get rave reviews. I think next year cupcakes will be the only thing on my menu, and a little bubbly, of course.

CUPCAKES

- 1 1/2  cups self-rising flour

- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

- 2 cups sugar

- 4 large eggs, at room temperature

- 1 cup milk

- 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In small bowl, combine the flours.  Set aside. In a large bowl, on medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. Ice with Vanilla Buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing (makes enough for about 2 dozen cupcakes):

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6-8 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla



Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of a good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.

If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly.  Use and store the icing at room temperature. Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Steak and Baked Potato Soup

Written Monday, November 16th, 2009 by Anne Coleman

I adore soup. In fact, I love it so much that I have a blog wholly devoted to soup. While I am admittedly selfish in wanting to keep my soup recipes for my soup blog, this one is in the 'under 30 minutes' department and as such deserves a spot here at Half Hour Meals.

One of my favorite ways to make up new soups is to disassemble a favorite dish and put it all into a big pot. If there are leftovers involved in the making, so much the better. This one uses leftover steak and baked potatoes as a base and with a few twists here and there, it comes together in one delicious potful of soup.

Steak and Baked Potato Soup
Serves 8
Ready In: 30 minutes

2 Tablespoons cooking oil
2 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 cup sliced green onions (a.k.a. scallions or spring onions)
8 cups beef stock
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 pound leftover steak - sliced
4 large baked potatoes - skinned
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
Salt to taste
4 slices bacon - cooked crisp and crumbled - optional

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add green onion and garlic and cook briefly until fragrant - about 2 minutes.
Add stock, Worcestershire and pepper and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and add sliced steak.
Mash 2 potatoes and cube the other two. Add mashed potato to pot and stir well. Add cubed potato and simmer for 20 minutes.
Combine flour and milk and stir until smooth. Turn heat up to high and pour in flour and milk, stirring constantly to keep lumps from forming. Once soup has thickened slightly remove from heat and add cheddar cheese and bacon if desired.

Member Recipe Review: Cucumber and Roasted Peanut Salad

Written Thursday, September 24th, 2009 by Anne Coleman

There's no doubt that summer is over here, but my cucumber vines didn't get the memo. Not only did they produce quite copiously this year, they're still flowering and wee little cucumbers are peeking out from beneath the blossoms.

After giving away all that we could without having the new neighbors whispering about the 'odd cucumber family', I soldiered on and dug deep within the recesses of my cookbook collection to find new and different ways to use up the prolific pepino production I had on my hands.

I needn't have gone so far, for there was a recipe right here at Half Hour Meals that filled the bill quite well; Jurate's Cucumber and Roasted Peanut Salad.

The bright flavors of cilantro and lime combined with cool cucumber and sweet red onion blend perfectly together to make a deliciously light salad perfect to help me use up the bounty I have on hand. Cumin seeds, black mustard seed and peanuts add a depth of flavor and crunch to the whole dish - a prime balance for the cool cuke.

Not only was it the choicest match to the soup I had for lunch today, but the kids thought rather highly of it as well. Give it a try yourself, the recipe can be found here: http://www.halfhourmeals.com/recipe/cucumber-and-roasted-peanut-salad