Monday, June 18, 2012
Dueling Braids
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Hair Twists.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Key Lime Cupcakes
I love Key lime Pie. I like to incorporate its flavor into anything and everything. Cookies and cake being top priority. Cookies to come, but first...cupcakes or cake. I chose cupcakes because they are infinitely easier to give away.
Key Lime Cupcakes
1 3/4 C cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
6 tbls butter, room temperature
1 C sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp key lime zest
1 1/2 to 2 tbls key lime juice (depends on how tart you like your key lime pie)
2/3 C buttermilk
1 bag white chic chips (the smaller size)
Glaze
1 C confectioner's sugar
1/8 C key lime juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffing tin with baking liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer, blend together the butter and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, zest, and lime juice, and mix until combined. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk into the butter-egg mixture, mixing after each pour until all ingredients are blended together. First 1/3 of the flour, then 1/3 of the buttermilk, until you have added all of both. Fold in white chocolate chips.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full, or more if you like bigger cupcakes, and bake 18-20 minutes (12-14 minutes for mini-cupcakes). To test for readiness, insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, they're done! Allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, or until cooled.
To make the glaze, combine the confectioners sugar and key lime juice in a small bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. I even added a little zest to my glaze. You can also add as much sugar as you want to make the glaze thicker or thinner. AND, if you wanted to make this frosting instead, you would need to add about 2 tablespoons of butter and add an extra cup of confectioners sugar....at least. I am also guessing at this, since I didn't make icing, but you basically want it to have the consistency of frosting as opposed to a glaze....
Anyways, once the cupcakes are cooled to room temperature, you may spread on the glaze. Let sit for at least an hour to let the glaze set before putting them in an airtight container, or just eat them all.
Key Lime Cupcakes
1 3/4 C cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
6 tbls butter, room temperature
1 C sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp key lime zest
1 1/2 to 2 tbls key lime juice (depends on how tart you like your key lime pie)
2/3 C buttermilk
1 bag white chic chips (the smaller size)
Glaze
1 C confectioner's sugar
1/8 C key lime juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffing tin with baking liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer, blend together the butter and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, zest, and lime juice, and mix until combined. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk into the butter-egg mixture, mixing after each pour until all ingredients are blended together. First 1/3 of the flour, then 1/3 of the buttermilk, until you have added all of both. Fold in white chocolate chips.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full, or more if you like bigger cupcakes, and bake 18-20 minutes (12-14 minutes for mini-cupcakes). To test for readiness, insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, they're done! Allow cupcakes to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, or until cooled.
To make the glaze, combine the confectioners sugar and key lime juice in a small bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. I even added a little zest to my glaze. You can also add as much sugar as you want to make the glaze thicker or thinner. AND, if you wanted to make this frosting instead, you would need to add about 2 tablespoons of butter and add an extra cup of confectioners sugar....at least. I am also guessing at this, since I didn't make icing, but you basically want it to have the consistency of frosting as opposed to a glaze....
Anyways, once the cupcakes are cooled to room temperature, you may spread on the glaze. Let sit for at least an hour to let the glaze set before putting them in an airtight container, or just eat them all.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Caramel Latte
Mmmm my very own caramel latte. Thank you Nespresso machine for making all my dreams possible. I can make regular lattes and then drizzle caramel on top...homemade caramel too! Recipe is with the salted brownies. :)
What a nice morning I had for a change.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Chai Concentrate
I love chai tea, chai lattes, chai anything really. I will make anything involving chai. As much as I enjoy a nice chai latte from starbucks, I know there's better out there. So, I decided to endeavor to make my own chai concentrate. I originally took this from my pinterest account (http://pinterest.com/bosticme28/) and then I tweaked it to how I like it.
Chai Concentrate
4 1/2 C water
12 whole cloves
10 whole cardamom pods
2 sticks cinnamon
1 3 inch piece ginger, chopped
2 whole star anise pods
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
12 bags black tea (I mixed and matched)
1/2 C brown sugar
1 tbls honey
1 tbls vanilla
In a medium pot, bring the water to a boil. remove from heat and add: cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, black pepper, nutmeg, orange zest, and tea bags and let steep for about 20 minutes. The longer you steep the stronger the taste, so watch out! Once done with the steeping, strain the mixture into a bowl, and discard the spices. Add the brown sugar, honey, and vanilla and stir until the sugar dissolves. I let it sit until it cooled down some, then poured it into a jar and stored in the fridge. Then add 1 part concentrate and 1 part milk, hot or cold, and so much yummier than a store bought one. :)
Chai Concentrate
4 1/2 C water
12 whole cloves
10 whole cardamom pods
2 sticks cinnamon
1 3 inch piece ginger, chopped
2 whole star anise pods
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
12 bags black tea (I mixed and matched)
1/2 C brown sugar
1 tbls honey
1 tbls vanilla
In a medium pot, bring the water to a boil. remove from heat and add: cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, black pepper, nutmeg, orange zest, and tea bags and let steep for about 20 minutes. The longer you steep the stronger the taste, so watch out! Once done with the steeping, strain the mixture into a bowl, and discard the spices. Add the brown sugar, honey, and vanilla and stir until the sugar dissolves. I let it sit until it cooled down some, then poured it into a jar and stored in the fridge. Then add 1 part concentrate and 1 part milk, hot or cold, and so much yummier than a store bought one. :)
Hair Clip
A hair clip made by my lovely friend, Liz!
A round piece of blue felt painted with the water symbol from Avatar Last Airbender (the real Avatar). Don't forget a slit in the back for a hair clip! So cute!
Also...sorry for the lack of posts. Life is tough.
A round piece of blue felt painted with the water symbol from Avatar Last Airbender (the real Avatar). Don't forget a slit in the back for a hair clip! So cute!
Also...sorry for the lack of posts. Life is tough.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Salted Caramel Brownies.
I have never been good at making brownies. I can do the box kind no problem, but homemade is another story. To be fair, I've only tried once, but they came out really grainy. To top that off, I've also only attempted homemade caramel once before, and it's safe to say that tasted like rusty metal. So, I took this mission as one that I would not fail. Yet, after the 4th attempt at caramel, I was having misgivings. I didn't actually burn it once. I just continually messed up the ingredients. I was trying to combine three different recipes for caramel, and for whatever reason, my brain was not comprehending conversions very well. Anyways, I'm glad I didn't stop, because these brownies are offing delicious.
Brownies
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 C and 2 TBL unsalted butter, melted
5 eggs
2 C sugar
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and butter and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Place bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate in a microwave proof bowl. Or you can boil water and place the bowl above the water without touching. I do not have a bowl that will do that, YET, so microwave it is. I generally do 30 seconds, mix it up a bit, then do 20 seconds, and then mix the chocolate until it is completely smooth. The most I would microwave it after that is 10 seconds. Whisk in the butter, and let the chocolate-butter mixture cool slightly.
Place the eggs in a stand mixer with the whip attachment. On low speed, slowly add the sugar and beat for about a minute. The mixture should be frothy and somewhat thick. With a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate-butter mixture. In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; then fold in the flour mixture to the egg-chocoalte mixture until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan with the rubber spatula (it will be thick) and place in oven.
Bake for 30-35 minutes but start checking around 20. the knife check is a pretty sure way of knowing where your brownies are in terms of being cooked. If you stick the knife in and wet batter comes out, they need more time. If you stick the knife in and nothing is on the knife on the way out, then they are overcooked. Well, they will be more cake like and when they are done cooling will be harder. You want somewhere in the middle. I took them out when I got some gooey batter on my knife. And I'm usually the person who makes rock brownies, so I took a chance there.
Place the pan on a wire rack and let cool for at least 2 hours. The brownies must be completely cooled before you start slicing them. if you get impatient, then you will have a lot of yummy brownie bits. Once they are cool enough, I went ahead and covered the pan with plastic wrap and left them on my kitchen counter. Or you can cut them into squares and store in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days.
Caramel
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C water
3/4 C heavy cream
6 TBL unsalted butter
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
OKAY...here we go...
Make sure all of your ingredients are on hand. There is no time to be searching for them during the baking process.
Pour the sugar into a medium saucepan. Slowly add the water as well. Scrape any sugar crystals off the side with a wet pastry brush. Place the saucepan over high heat. The first step is getting the mixture to a rolling boil. It will start boiling vigorously and turn a very light amber color. This is good. If you think you smell burning you're wrong. It won't smell the best. Do not move the pan at all, or stir its contents. Let the sugar and water boil. The mixture will start to thicken and it will not boil so furiously and will start to slow down.
Soon the syrup will start to darken in color around the edge, gently swirl the pot around to evenly caramelize the syrup. As you swirl the pot, the mixture will begin to turn golden brown and then darker and darker. To check the true color of the caramel, tilt the pot forward, so you can see the bottom of the pan. It will be lighter, and you want this layer on the bottom to be a rich amber brown. You MUST check constantly because it is seconds before you had perfect caramel then rusty metal caramel.
Once the caramel is the right color on the bottom, reduce the heat to low, don an oven mitt, and pour the cream slowly into the caramel. You don't have to wear the mitt, but the steam that comes off the caramel is hotter than boiling water, and makes the cream warm in less than a second. Let the caramel and cream sputter for a few seconds then gently whisk them together. Turn the heat back up to medium and continue to whisk, the mixture will bet thicker, for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the butter, salt, and vanilla.
Remove from the heat and pour into an airtight, heatproof container. You can either let it cool or place it in the fridge at this point, but I suggest letting it cool because once refrigerated, it's quite hard.
You can then drizzle, spread, or whatever you want to do with the caramel, over the brownies. Then sprinkle sea salt across it all, and you're ready to enjoy!
**You can easily cut the caramel recipe in half (it makes a ton). I just have plans for this caramel with other things as well. The caramel can be stored in your fridge for a week.
Brownies
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 C and 2 TBL unsalted butter, melted
5 eggs
2 C sugar
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and butter and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Place bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate in a microwave proof bowl. Or you can boil water and place the bowl above the water without touching. I do not have a bowl that will do that, YET, so microwave it is. I generally do 30 seconds, mix it up a bit, then do 20 seconds, and then mix the chocolate until it is completely smooth. The most I would microwave it after that is 10 seconds. Whisk in the butter, and let the chocolate-butter mixture cool slightly.
Place the eggs in a stand mixer with the whip attachment. On low speed, slowly add the sugar and beat for about a minute. The mixture should be frothy and somewhat thick. With a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate-butter mixture. In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; then fold in the flour mixture to the egg-chocoalte mixture until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan with the rubber spatula (it will be thick) and place in oven.
Bake for 30-35 minutes but start checking around 20. the knife check is a pretty sure way of knowing where your brownies are in terms of being cooked. If you stick the knife in and wet batter comes out, they need more time. If you stick the knife in and nothing is on the knife on the way out, then they are overcooked. Well, they will be more cake like and when they are done cooling will be harder. You want somewhere in the middle. I took them out when I got some gooey batter on my knife. And I'm usually the person who makes rock brownies, so I took a chance there.
Place the pan on a wire rack and let cool for at least 2 hours. The brownies must be completely cooled before you start slicing them. if you get impatient, then you will have a lot of yummy brownie bits. Once they are cool enough, I went ahead and covered the pan with plastic wrap and left them on my kitchen counter. Or you can cut them into squares and store in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days.
Caramel
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C water
3/4 C heavy cream
6 TBL unsalted butter
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
OKAY...here we go...
Make sure all of your ingredients are on hand. There is no time to be searching for them during the baking process.
Pour the sugar into a medium saucepan. Slowly add the water as well. Scrape any sugar crystals off the side with a wet pastry brush. Place the saucepan over high heat. The first step is getting the mixture to a rolling boil. It will start boiling vigorously and turn a very light amber color. This is good. If you think you smell burning you're wrong. It won't smell the best. Do not move the pan at all, or stir its contents. Let the sugar and water boil. The mixture will start to thicken and it will not boil so furiously and will start to slow down.
Soon the syrup will start to darken in color around the edge, gently swirl the pot around to evenly caramelize the syrup. As you swirl the pot, the mixture will begin to turn golden brown and then darker and darker. To check the true color of the caramel, tilt the pot forward, so you can see the bottom of the pan. It will be lighter, and you want this layer on the bottom to be a rich amber brown. You MUST check constantly because it is seconds before you had perfect caramel then rusty metal caramel.
Once the caramel is the right color on the bottom, reduce the heat to low, don an oven mitt, and pour the cream slowly into the caramel. You don't have to wear the mitt, but the steam that comes off the caramel is hotter than boiling water, and makes the cream warm in less than a second. Let the caramel and cream sputter for a few seconds then gently whisk them together. Turn the heat back up to medium and continue to whisk, the mixture will bet thicker, for 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the butter, salt, and vanilla.
Remove from the heat and pour into an airtight, heatproof container. You can either let it cool or place it in the fridge at this point, but I suggest letting it cool because once refrigerated, it's quite hard.
You can then drizzle, spread, or whatever you want to do with the caramel, over the brownies. Then sprinkle sea salt across it all, and you're ready to enjoy!
**You can easily cut the caramel recipe in half (it makes a ton). I just have plans for this caramel with other things as well. The caramel can be stored in your fridge for a week.
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