Birthdays, Crawfish and Cupcakes

I'm feeling a bit under the weather with an upset tummy (can't stand it because it gets in the way of my eating), so this will be a brief post.

This past Sunday two friends celebrated their birthdays with a crawfish boil. I'm not into the little guys, but I went for the shrimp gumbo and the hurricanes. And since it is an unspoken rule that I bring dessert I took cupcakes instead of a birthday cake.

I've had a few ideas (and cravings) in the back of my mind for a while now. Over a year ago, my friend and at the time co-worker Miranda loaned me The Cornbread Book where I found a learned about popcorn flour. I copied a few recipes using popcorn flour and filed that information for a later date.

While thinking about different flavor combinations and ideas for cupcakes, this idea about popcorn kept coming back to me. I shopped for supplies online even before the final product was conceptualized. I went to the King Arthur Flour site and ordered assorted swirl colored muffin cups, a three tiered cupcake carrier (or courier), and brown tulip baking cups when it hit me, a caramel corn themed cupcake!

So, after working and reworking the plan and thinking about several recipes and becoming a little frustrated in the process, here is the final product: chocolate cupcakes filled with peanut butter frosting and topped with ganache, and popcorn-vanilla cupcakes topped with salted caramel frosting and caramel corn. The brown papers were tall enough so that they looked like cones of caramel corn. But to the eater's surprise-and delight!-there was more underneath. I had originally wanted to do a version of the Hostess Cupcakes, but after messing up a few trying to write the names on them, I went with a drizzle (which for some reason, the bag never clogged afterwards, go figure). The only drawback to the brown liners was that they unfolded a little during baking, though I used a muffin pan. I'm thinking that with a thicker batter, they would hold their shape better.




I didn't get a chance to take many photos because I was pressed for time and when I went to take photos at the party, well, guests had already dug in. Though they were a hit, I am still tweaking the popcorn cupcake recipe.

Learning the Keeblers' Secrets

My mother tells me that at a very young age, my diet was quite healthy. I ate wheat germ, "organic" produce, and did not touch a grain of sugar. Even my baby food was made by hand! Then I began spending summers with my grandmother who introduced me to cane sugar. She baked my birthday cakes (as did my mom) and cookies. I spent summers eating pints of Bluebell Pecan Pralines & Cream ice cream while watching Sanford and Son late nights. I'd return home at the end of those summers a little chubbier and asking for those things my grandmother supplied me I'm sure.

Somewhere along the way I met the Keebler Elves and fell in love with their Pecan Sandies. I can still remember how they felt on my tongue; dry to the touch, they crumbled between my teeth, crunchy and crumbly. Making sure I trapped each crumb between my lips (and those that escaped, into the palm of my hand where they were quickly transported to my mouth), I tasted the butter and nuts as I inhaled. Years later, I've eaten so many different cookies and cakes I can't remember (except for the German Chocolate Cake which is still a favorite of mine), but I'll always remember those sandies.

Last year, we had a group come in to our hotel wanting Pecan Sandies for one of their breaks. My chef asked what they were (his background is French pastries) and I tried to explain them to him. For the recipe, I turned to someone who hasn't let me down in the cookie department: Martha Stewart. My mom and I have baked cookies from her holiday cookie edition magazines for many Christmases, mailing and delivering them to friends and family. Pulling out my well worn copy, I wrote the recipe in my notebook, took it to work and made a sample for Chef. He liked them enough and I was reunited with an old favorite.

Now I keep a container of these cookies in my freezer, pre-scooped and ready to be popped into the oven for a quick trip down memory lane. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Pecan Sandies (adapted from Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies)

1/2 pound butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 ounces pecans, finely ground
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
pinch salt
confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

Mix the ground pecans with the flour and salt, and add to the butter mixture. Beat on low to mix, then increase to medium for about 1 minute.

Using a scoop, portion cookies with bottoms. Freeze on sheet pan, remove, place in freezer safe container, or bake 8 minutes, flatten slightly, turn, and continue baking, 8-10 minutes depending on the size, until lightly browned around the edges.

Remove from oven and dust with confectioner's sugar. Let cool (if you can!) and serve.

New Year, New Look!

Happy New Year!!

Someone recently asked me, working hard, or hardly working? A little bit of both actually! For a while we were very short staffed at my "new" job, which meant putting in long hours and long weeks, but we pulled through. Needless to say, that meant "hardly working" at home in my kitchen and on my blog. But I've put in my hours and am learning a lot, and I hope to bring more of that here in 2009.

In my seven months at this hotel, I've gone from learning the banquets menu, to establishing breakfast standards, to running breakfast, training others (thank goodness we got two new people in October), to running brunch. Now I'm learning another facet of the pastry business as well as honing other skills. I made it through another year and am looking forward to the next.

I really wanted to post something today, though it will be a brief one. As you can see, there are a few changes to the layout. Though I have neglected to post anything, I have been far from idle. I take pictures of the things we do at work, so there are lots of photos to share, but I may have to upload them another day. We had a super busy New Year's Brunch, so I had to run food between floors with a pulled muscle (I think it's my exterior abdominal oblique) and my shoulders are quite stressed. As a matter of fact I am typing this in bed, with only one heating pad and many sore body parts!

Ok, you twisted my arm. I will leave you with a photo of the gingerbread house I made for the holiday brunch candy table. Please check back for more pictures!

Work Funny

I spied this on the board in one of the kitchens at work:

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
--Anonymous

Returning to our pastry kitchen, I told my co-worker about the quote. Minutes later I asked her, "Are you wearing your running choux?" She was piping eclairs.

Happy Birthday to Me

I baked cupcakes to "celebrate" the occasion. Nothing too inspired, just chocolate cupcakes filled with a coconut caramel and topped with whipped milk chocolate ganache and salted toasted coconut.

Bye PHC!

I've finished my job at NoMI in Chicago, IL. It was a little less than 2 years. I've learned a lot and come a long way from my first week there. I started my new job today and the place is quite big; I need to leave a trail of bread crumbs just to keep from getting lost! I am excited for NoMI though, because they have a great new pastry chef, Andres Lara and I saw some great things from him my last few weeks there. As a matter of fact, the above picture is his Caramel Garden.

Starving Art

"I'm so hungry and the only thing in this purse is paper stuffing!"

Poor thing. She looks like she's starving (or suffering from cramps).

Sorry I've been MIA. I've been exhausted and ill (I can't bring myself to say "under the weather" we're all under it). I've been to the doc and she ran tests. I know what it is, and I am ashamed to say that I'm not taking such good care of myself, but I'm trying. It's not easy to eat right when you have no appetite. So, I've been relying on the odd strong craving for something to get myself to eat. It's almost like I've got a picky toddler to feed! As fleeting as these cravings are, after only a couple of bites, I'm turned off by what I wanted only moments before. Even when it comes to tasting stuff at work, I can't possibly imagine putting stuff I once ate pretty frequently in my mouth. But how can you create desserts without testing them on your palate? I truly am a starving artist! LOL.

Other than coming up with stuff at work, I've not been baking much. I do have three kinds of cookie dough in the freezer though: chocolate cookies that are crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy inside, peanut butter, and oatmeal with dried tart cherries. Perhaps one of these mornings I'll get up early and bake some to take in to work.