I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Recipes

Snowman Cupcakes

I have not been the holiday mood this year. We don’t even have a tree. We just have a simple advent calendar I made but it keeps falling down. Go figure. The only ornaments I have up are at my office on my cube. (I do love looking that them all day- Thanks Erin!)

So I have been a bit Grinchy lately and I decided that I had to get out of this by making something fun. What’s better than cupcakes? Cupcakes topped with snowmen! I’m not a big fan of the cucpakes that are filed high with frosting so I decided to use marshmallows for the snowmen. And I’d use chocolate covered pretzels as twiggy arms. hehe

So began my baking at 5.45am on Wed morning. I prepped the night before but I did not feel like baking then so I just decided to make them in the morning. I made a chocolate cupcake with an eggnog frosting. The chocolate was the frozen ground, frosting was the fresh snow where the happy snowmen sat.

These little guys were well received in my office. We were totally maxed out on sweets with a lot of furniture vendors giving us brownies, cookies, candy, cake, and pie, but some people made room for them or brought them home to their kids.

Snowmen Cupcakes

recipe makes 24 cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcake

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa power
3/4 cup of coffee
1/2 cup of cold milk
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 /2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 large eggs
6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, melted.
 

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 12-cup cupcake pans with liners.

Combine the first 4 ingredients together in a small bowl, set side.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.

Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.

Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture one at a time. Beat in the melted chocolate, mix thoroughly.

Add in the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the liquid ingredients.

Mix all until thoroughly combined. Divide the batter evenly into the 24 cupcake liners.

Bake 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick is cleanly removed.

Once the cupcakes have cooled frost them and decorate.

 

Eggnog Frosting

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup eggnog
approximately 1 1/2 pounds of confectioners sugar
 

With a mixer, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla  extract and continue to beat it.

Add in 1/2 the eggnog and then add in small batches of confectioners sugar. As the frosting begins to combine, add in the rest of the eggnog and then add enough sugar to reach the desired consistency.

 

Snowmen

12 10″ skewers, cut in half
72 marshmallows (2 packages)
Black and Orange- foodoodlers, gel icing, or markers
24 chocolate covered pretzels (1 package of Flipz is enough)
 

Using a scissor, cut all dowels in half to get 24 “spines” for the snowmen.

Put 3 marshmallows on each skewer. Do not pierce the end of the top marshmallow since it is the head.

Draw face on top marshmallow.

Cut 2 pretzel arms from each pretzel. Using a paring knife or scissor, cut 2 deep slits on each side of the middle marshmallow. Insert each arm into knife slit, marshmallow will “self heel” around pretzel arm.

Insert 1 snowman into each cupcake.

**If you don’t have edible food markers (aka foodoodlers), or forget your stuff at home like me, just use a marker and warn people about the top marshmallow.**

Apple Cupcakes with an Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting

From the first time I flipped open my October 2010 issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray, I knew I would be making the apple cupcakes in there. I love fall because of apples. Apple pie, apple donuts, apple cider, candied apples, caramel apples, apple and cheddar omlets… the list goes on. so when I saw apple cupcake I knew I would be trying these out.

The cupcakes sounded great as they were described in the magazine, but I decided to give them my own twist. I had spent the day prior to making the cupcakes canning various things, including apple butter. I loved spending the day in the kitchen, esp surrounded by the sweet smells of  fruit cooking down into jam and butter. Our whole place smelled like an intense apple pie for the whole day while the apple butter was cooking down. Once it was complete I canned some and left some for us to use immediately. And by use immediately, I mean eat right out of a bowl. Since one can only do that for so long I decided that I would need to eat it on toast for some ‘real’ substance and add into some recipes. Which resulted in the development of the apple butter buttercream frosting.

The cupcakes are really easy to make. I loved it since I did not need to make the mixer dirty for that. Just use 1 whisk for the cupcakes and you are all set. The recipe called for peeling the apples, but I did not think that was necessary, so I just grated them as is, and ended up with great results. Laziness can pay off.

I wanted my cupcakes to stay really moist so I slightly under baked my cupcakes by a minute or so. I tested the cupcakes with a toothpick and it came out pretty clean so I stopped it at that point. (You will note the toothpick in one of the cupcakes… Price was marking his because he felt that one looked the best. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.)

I typically store cupcakes in the refrigerator or in a cool place because of the milk in the buttercream. However, this frosting does not have milk in it so you don’t have to rush them into the big chill. That is one thing I really like about this frosting since I really dislike harden butter cream frosting. That being said, don’t leave them by your warm stove or you will have a frosting disaster on your hands.

Apple Cupcakes with an Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting

 -makes 24 cupcakes-
 
 

 Ingredients

Cupcake

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 4 baking apples (about 2 pounds), shredded
   
Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting
 
  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 5+ cups of powered sugar, sifted
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 – 1/2 cup of apple butter
  Process
  1.  Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cupcake pans with liners.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla extract.
  4. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. Add in the shredded apples.
  5. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and until almost full.
  6. Bake for 25- 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack.
  7. Prepare the frosting by: Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar in batches, mix completely. Add in the vanilla and apple butter and mix completely. Add more powdered sugar until reached desired consistency.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

New England has the highest ice cream consumption per capita in the US. I’m still so shocked to hear that since I’d imagine some hot place like FL or TX would rain supreme. Why would someone want cold ice cream in the middle of winter is beyond me but we do it anyway. So making ice cream in the fall is nothing strange. A pumpkin pie ice cream make perfect sense and is sooo good.

This recipe is really simple but produces great results. The ice cream is creamy and tastes exactly like pumpkin pie. Exactly like pumpkin pie- from the puree and spices. I’m the first person to pick pumpkin pie over apple of pecan but I really enjoyed this. This is just like pumpkin pie a la mode- just combined.

I prefer soft serve ice cream which is why the photo at the top is horrible. Fresh from the ice cream maker is not that pretty. At least it tasted amazing.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

adapted from Christie’s Corner

 
 
 
 
 
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt

 

 
 
 
Combine the pumpkin and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
Gently heat the cream, milk, sugar, spices, and salt over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and bubbles form around the edge of the pan.  Pour the milk mixture into the pumpkin, combine. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until cold.
Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions
 

Cranberry Ginger Margarita

Poe’s Kitchen at the Rattlesnake Bar and Grill is one of my favorite places to eat. Chef Brian Poe has transformed this bar and restaurant into a place that I actually want to go to. Prior to coming to the Rattlesnake the only reason to go was because of it’s roof deck, and since that was it’s only positive thing the line to get up there was maddening. Now, I don’t give a crap about the patio, I just want the food and drinks. We have been there for several birthday’s now, and  several ‘just because’ times. Just because I would like corn bread time. Just because I would like to go there for brunch, but incorrectly assume it opens at 11, and wait outside for 30 minutes time. Just because it’s Tuesday. (swoon)

When I saw a drink contest posted on their Facebook page, I knew I had to give it a try. I’ve spent the night making Cranberry Ginger Margatias for Price to try and give me feedback on. Such a difficult task!! ‘ Too Sweet” “Not enough tequila” “Needs lime?” “The sugar works, but…” So, I’m hoping that this recipe will make it into the top 3 for voting. Fingers crossed.


The first thing that came to mind was to make a margarita with cranberry juice. Why? Well why the hell not? But really it had everything to do with the upcoming season. The fall just screens cider and cranberries to me. Ruling apple juice/cider out I moved forward with the cranberry base. The second thing that came to mind was ginger. I have been on a major ginger kick this year, mainly making a lot of ginger infused simple syrup for seltzer. Instead of a ginger simple syrup, I decided to use Domaine de Canton, a French ginger liqueur. The combination of cranberry and ginger worked well, so full steam ahead. The rest fell into place- a gingered sugar for the rim, and a squeeze of lime to add tang.

The result is a margarita that has bite, since the cranberry brings acidity, much like the normal margarita. However, the sugar and liqueur bring some sweetnes, to cut the tartness. The Cranberry Ginger Margarita makes for a great fall cocktail because of it’s seasonal flavors. It can even been accessorized with some fangs for Halloween- this margarita has bite!

Cranberry Ginger Margarita

4 oz of cranberry juice cocktail
1 1/2 oz of tequila
2 oz of Domaine De Canton (ginger liqueur)
wedge of lime
cranberries (for garnish)
Sugar for the Rim
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Prior to mixing the drink, combine the sugar and ginger on a plate to rim the glass. Wet the edge of the glass with water, drip into the sugar mixture, remove and let dry while mixing the drink.

Fill a glass half way with cubed ice, pour in the cranberry juice and add the cranberries. Add the tequila and Domaine De Canton. Squeeze the wedge of lime into the mix. Pour drink into rimmed glass.

Enjoy!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

I previously wrote about Price’s birthday and how great a day it was. Well, the one thing that was missing was a birthday cake. I had originally planned on leaving early that day so I could make the cake before dinner, but that did not work out. Then, I intending to make it after dinner since I’m used to baking pretty late, but we drank quite a bit so that was scraped and we just went down the road for a little piece of cake. No worries, it all worked out but I still owed Pricer a cake. So the birthday cake became a First-Day-Of-Work cupakes. (I realized I left my can pans in CT in August for my dad’s Bday)

Back to Price… I told him to pick out a cake for me to make. So he picked out a few of my cookbooks and went to work. He picked a Hummingbird Cake from The Baking Bible: From the Oven to the Table. We had never heard of this cake before. I wanted to know why it is called a Hummingbird Cake, so I did a little research. My research yielded that the reason behind the name is unknown. It is suggested that is has to do with how sweet the cake is, being that hummingbirds eat nectar. The cake has Southern origins, but word spread about this cake when it was featured in Southern Living in the late 70’s.

The cupcakes were easy to make and produced a great result. The cupcakes were rich a moist- from the oil in the cake. While I like {cup}cakes with butter in them I appreciate baking with oil since I don’t have to wait for the butter to come to room temperature. And without having to cream butter and sugar together I didn’t need to use a mixer for the cake portion. The pineapple also made for a moist cake. However, the banana flavor was much more dominate than the pineapple flavor. I admit that just mashed up bananas and figured ‘close enough’… this just goes to show that measuring is really important! The frosting is a basic cream cheese frosting and it tied the whole thing together.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes
 
 
Cake
 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1  teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sunflower oil
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup pecans, finely chopped, plus extra for decorating
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3 bananas)
3 oz/85 grams canned crushed pineapple (drained weight)
4 tablesppons pineapple juice from can
 
 
Frosting
6 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 tablesppons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or line 2 12 cup cupcake pans.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda in a large bowl, set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the wet ingredients together. Incorportate the wet ingredients and chopped pecans into the dry ingredients. Mix throughly with a wooden spoon.

Divide the batter into the cupcake pans. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting by combining the soft cream cheese and butter. Add the sifted sugar and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost with the cream cheese frosting. Top all with chopped pecans.

 
 




Summertime Zucchini Bread with Honey Butter

Zucchini Bread with Honey Butter is going to be a summertime staple that you will love to make for yourself and for everyone you met. Spread the love! And the Honey Butter!

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Yesterday was the unofficial end of summer and it makes me so sad!

Summer is my favorite season, because I love the long days, hot afternoon sun, and fresh summer product. So I am bummed, but at least I have a ton of zucchinis now.

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Pure Summer: Watermelon, Tomato, Feta Salad

This Watermelon, Tomato, Feta Salad is a wonderful salad to serve all summer long. It shows off all the bright, wonderful flavors of summer in one bite.

This salad screams summer with every bite. Juicy watermelon, ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumber, zesty onion with a simple dressing- pure summer perfection.

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Watermelon Sorbet

 

Price is staying in CT again to work for the next 2 weeks. We miss each other but there are some ‘advantages’ to being alone. Like getting to make the food I like Price does not like- hello fish dinner! While Price is enjoying having an entire bed to himself since I’m a hot sleeper who ‘needs’ lots of blankets, making the bed sauna like.

 

 Also I get to make the food I really like without having to worry about Pricer eating it. Nothing’s worse than coming home expecting to find leftovers, drinks, 7days croissants, or sorbet but they are all gone. Well there are a lot of things worse but it is disappointing. If I remember, I try to get extra of things just in case or getting him his own so he won’t get mine.

 

So that leads me to this watermelon sorbet. I previously wrote that I love sorbet when I posted a recipe for Raspberry Sorbet. It’s completely true. I really love sorbet. So when I saw a watermelon at Trader Joes I knew what would be in store for (just) me this week…. Watermelon Sorbet. Just like the raspberry sorbet, this is really easy because it is just a few ingredients and steps. Basically just: 1) cut fruit 2) blend fruit 3) put in ice cream maker. The lime juice adds a slight subtle kick, which helps offset the sweetness from the watermelon and simple syrup.

 

 Now don’t feel bad for Price since I just explained that I don’t like to share. He knew what he was getting into. Besides, I am looking forward to making ice cream recipes and ice cream is meh to me so that can be all for him.

 Watermelon Sorbet

1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
approximately a 1/3 of a medium-sized watermelon- yielding approx 3 cups of puree
juice of 2 limes

1) Over medium heat, combine the water and sugar in a small pot. Cook until the sugar has melted. Cool completely!

2) Cut up chunks of watermelon and put into a blender to make a puree. Strain the puree for see bits and larger fibers.

3) When the simple syrup is cool, put into a 4+ cup measuring cup. Add watermelon puree until you reach 4 cups total.*

4) Add the lime juice and mix well.

5) Pour into your ice cream maker and chill according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

*This recipe is for a 1 1/2 quart ice cream maker. This amount works. Please don’t think that some extra watermelon is okay because it will overflow out of your machine!!*

It’s a wrap pizza

One night, while falling asleep on the Cos I was ‘watching’ a recorded episode of Everyday Food and I managed to actually take in the genius that was making a pizza with a sandwich wrap. Yeah genius. I love all the Martha does. Martha is hardcore. She is a Jersey girl through and through and will give you the stink eye on her show if you ‘f up the cooking/decorating segment. So going to prison just made her more bad ass to me.You know she had the best decorated cell in there too.  So I love her more now, esp since her staff made this amazing looking pizza starting with a sandwich wrap. Feel free to check out their Thinnest Crust Pizza with Mushrooms and Ricotta since I used that to inspire me for my own pizza.

I really like pizza but I’m not often in the mood for making dough or getting it at the store. It is so much work and is so heavy. While, I enjoy regular pizza, using a whole wheat sandwich wrap will be my go to crust for pizzas. Why? Inexpensive. Fast. Thin. And fast. In total you can assemble one of these thin crust pizzas in 30 minutes. It’s a quick assembly and pretty quick baking time too. It produces a light thin crust pizza that makes for a great appetizer for a party or a personal meal.

I really suggest getting a whole wheat wrap since it has more flavor than the regular white ones. It’s like getting whole wheat bread or Wonder. Put down the Wonder Bread. You can use a tomato sauce, pesto, or just cheese, but just be sure generously top it with thinly sliced veggies. The thinner the veggie, faster it cooks. So if you are considering mushrooms I suggest that you purchase them whole and slice them yourself to regulate the thickness. Don’t be cheap with the toppings either- you basically want to completely cover the wrap since unadorned spots will be naked and may burn.

Whole Wheat Pesto Pizza with Ricotta, Mushrooms, and Red Onions

1 whole wheat sandwich wrap
1 teaspoon olive oil
4-5 tablesppons pesto
5 tablespoons of part skim ricotta
4-5 white button musrooms, sliced very thinly
3 very thin slices of red onion
salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment or aluminum foil

Lightly oil the edge of the whole wheat wrap. Evenly coat the wrap with pesto.

Place 5 spoonfuls of ricotta on the wrap. Place your sliced mushrooms evenly, covering most of the surface. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the red onion on top of the mushrooms

Bake for 20-25 minutes.





Raspberry Sorbet

When every I hear or see Raspberry Sorbet I think of the Prince song ‘Raspberry Beret’. I guess I’ll be thinking about the song even more now since I have an ice cream maker. Yay!! I had actually been planning this purchase for a while so when we stopping into Trader Joe’s this week I knew I just had to grab some fruit for some sorbet. The raspberries looked the best, plus we has an amazing red raspberry gelato from Dolcezza when we were in DC. Perfect way to escape a summer thunderstorm while in Georgetown.

Back to the sorbet… I love sorbet because it is so simple. Just fruit and simply syrup. The fresher the fruit the better the sorbet tastes so sorbet is a summer time treat for me. While you can use frozen fruit I think the color and flavor is not exactly the same, compared to fresh fruit. While the fruit is ready for picking, pick it and use it.

Raspberry Sorbet

12 oz of fresh or frozen raspberries
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
juice of half a lemon
1) In a medium sauce pot, combine the water and sugar together. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is fully uncorporated. Let simple syrump COOL.
2) Puree fruit in a blender or food processer. Strain fruit to remove seeds from puree.
2) Once the simple syrup as cooled add the pureed fruit and the lemon juice. Combine completely.
3) Add mixture to your ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions.
makes 8 1/2 cup servings

Easy Spiced Carrot Soup

Easy Spiced Carrot Soup is a wonderful vegetarian soup that will warm your belly and soul with it’s bold flavors from the spices you blend in. Yum!

Healthy dinners don’t have to be complicated. This Spiced Carrot Soup is an easy recipe to make that is great for vegetarians and meat eaters alike because everyone loves rich bold flavors. 

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