Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

Oh my gosh, I have really out done myself this time.  As I am sitting here writing this blog, I am suffering from a tummy ache from stuffing my face with one to many of these cupcakes.  I've always had an obsession with chocolate covered fruit, sign me up for the cheesy chocolate fountains at any major celebratory event.  Or heck, sign me up for one in my kitchen!  What's not to love about chocolate and fruit?  Two of natures sweetest treats mixed together could only mean more sweetness.
When I decided to try this cupcake the image I had in my mind was a cupcake that looked like a chocolate covered strawberry.  I kept it as simple as possible, a strawberry cake with a chocolate topping.  Here's what you need:
1 Box white cake mix (plus ingredients asked for on box: usually water, oil and eggs)
1 pint fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons water
melting chocolates

Clean your berries, remove stems and roughly chop them.  In a bowl mix the chopped berries with the sugar and water.

Let set for 1 hour, then strain and reserve the strawberry juice.

Make the cake according to package directions with the following alterations: 
1. Use your reserved strawberry juice in place of the water.  But make sure you have the correct amount of liquid.  For example if the cake mix calls for 1 cup water and you only have 3/4 cups juice, use the juice and supplement in 1/4 cup water.  Or if the mix calls for 1 cup water and you have a 1 1/2 cups juice, only use 1 cup.
2. Gently fold in your chopped strawberries right before baking.

Prepare cupcake pans according to box directions (with cooking spray or liners) and bake as directed.  When they are finished baking, remove them from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

 
Now, on to your melting chocolates.  The topping can be accomplished one of two ways, If you found melting chocolates at your local store you can melt them in a double boiler (a stainless steel bowl over a simmering pot of water) be careful to not allow any water to come in contact with the chocolate.  Or you can search out a microwavable version of dipping chocolate.  If this is the route you choose, follow the directions on the package.  

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, dip them in the chocolate.  make a swirl motion as you pull the cake out of the dip to avoid lines or streaks in your topping.  Give the chocolate time to set, then enjoy!  If you want a fancier cupcake, you can melt white chocolate as well and drizzle over top. 

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

 So I've recently come to the realization that if I want this blog to be taken seriously, I need to be more serious about it. Which mean spending some serious cash to upgrade my equipment.  This weekend I purchased a new camera. It isn't top of the line, but it is a huge step up from what I have been working with.  I can already tell I want to upgrade further but I will take it one day at a time, learning as I go.  Comments and encouragement are more than welcome as I move along in this journey.

The photos and recipes for today are for Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes.  I love this combination of flavors, the lemon is so refreshing and the blueberries give it a sour twist.  It is much more common to see raspberries paired with lemons to achieve the sweet and tart combination these cupcakes have.  Using blueberries instead of raspberries is a nice twist on tradition.  As a further surprise, I decided to make these stuffed cupcakes.  A beautiful lemon treat packed with a blueberry center.  The basics of this cupcake are a lemon batter, lemon curd and fresh blueberries.

The Lemon cake recipe is a modified version of one of Martha Stewards recipes.  This recipe will make 12 cupcakes.  Preheat your oven to 350, line your cupcake pan with parchment liners and spray the liners with pan spray.  (It will make removing them easier and cleaner)

For the lemon cake base you will need:

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup and 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

keep the sugars separate, they will be used at different times

1/2 cup skim milk

1/3 cup oil (canola or vegetable)

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons, plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Finely grated zest of 1 small orange 

4 large egg whites, room temperature

Mix together your flour, salt and baking powder, set aside. 

In a separate bowl mix together your first sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, zests and lemon juice.

In a electric mixer whip you egg whites until they begin to foam (medium speed works well for this). Slowly add your second sugar a tablespoon at a time at a high speed until you get silky smooth stiff peaks.

Now its time to mix together all the bowls you set aside. Use your milk mixture as your base, and starting with your flour mixture add the flour and eggs in three stages. Make sure your ingredients are fully mixed before adding the next, but be careful! The key here is to gently fold in your egg whites. You don't want to knock out all that air you just beat into them.
These cupcakes will bake for 8 to 10 minutes, be sure to rotate half way through baking. When a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, they are done. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack.
I tried two different recipes for the lemon curd filling and decided on the butter based version. It is not as healthy for you, but you cant beat the creamy texture. I got my butter based lemon curd recipe from The Joy of Baking, here is the recipe.
3 large eggs
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (do not use the bottled kind)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces at room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon zest
In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent it from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream). This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl. Add the butter one piece at a time, whisking while it melts. Add the lemon zest. Cover with plastic wrap, firm against the curd, not the edge of the bowl and refrigerate until completely cool.

Once your curd is cool, you can add your blueberries.  Lightly crush them but rolling a rolling pin over them on a hard surface.  Fold them into the lemon curd. 

Next, with a melon baller, remove the bottom of each cupcake.  Set aside the initial cake bottom, then very carefully hollow out the inside of your cupcake.  The insides are great for snacking on after you've finished assembling these.  

 With a pastry bag or small spoon, fill the insides of each hollowed out cupcake with the lemon curd blueberry mix.  Leave a little extra space to seal up with the cake piece you set aside.  

Serve with a light dusting of powdered sugar and fresh blueberries!  

Burger Star

Today was such a beautiful day, I spent the afternoon with the amazing Theary Meak and one of her old friends Treaven.  Our mission for the day?  Find a burger as satisfying as the afternoon was.  And with the brilliant blue sky, the warm sun and the light breeze, this burger needed to be just short of extraordinary to live up to our expectations.  Treaven suggested a little joint in Omaha called Burger Star.  I must admit, with out a recommendation I would have drove right past this place.  It is located on the corner of a strip mall, with a large bright red and yellow star as their logo.  Granted they do have a picturesque little patio, but overall the building seemed a little understated.  This ended up being a huge plus once we got inside, it was like a cool kids only zone. The crowd it attracted was a group of good people, looking for a good burger and a layed back afternoon.  It wasn't filled with a bunch of average Joe's trying to get a quick bite in between running errands.  It was decorated with smooth granted floors, big warm furniture and a mix of classic country and rock n' roll decor.  One of Treaven's favorite features about this place is the music selection.  They have dozens and dozens of live concerts on video and they will happily turn on your favorite artist.  Our music selection for our late afternoon lunch?  Non other than Queen.  Now we had great company, great music and a great setting to enjoy our lunch, all we needed were some great burgers.  Burger Star offers a build your own menu, you can choose a single burger, double burger or a grilled chicken sandwich with the toppings of your choice.  I built my single burger up with cheddar and pepper jack, jalapenos, BBQ sauce and fried onions.  Theary had a single with sauteed mushrooms, fresh pico, jalapenos and swiss.  Treaven had the biggest appetite, ordering a double stack with ketchup, mayo, grilled onions, tomatoes, pickles, lettuce and cheddar cheese.  His burger also came with enough fries for the three of us to share.  The fries deserved a little section of praise here....hand cut (thick with the skin on) and sea salt.  The sea salt was a wonderful bite of flavor without making you feel like you were on your way to a clogged artery.  But the burgers were the true star of the meal, hence the name of the the restaurant.  The first thing Theary and I noticed was the crispy edges on our burgers.  They tasted just like they had came off a backyard grill, which is such a hard flavor to achieve from an indoor industrial kitchen.  All the burgers came on soft roll buns, buttered and grilled.  The toppings were fresh; the jalapenos had the right amount of kick, the cheese was ooey-gooey melted and the fried onions had the right amount of crunch.  Theary finished her burger in record time, obviously no complaints from her end of the table.  Treaven slowed down a bit mid burger but was still unable to leave any of it behind.  Theary and I washed our burgers down with margarita's, they serve classic and strawberry with your choice of blended or on the rocks.  Treaven enjoyed a Mexican Pepsi, a favorite served in the glass jar.  I feel I must mention the wait staff too, I'm not sure what their hiring process is but I'm pretty sure 'cool' is a requirement.  All the staff we came in contact with fit the vibe of the restaurant; friendly, fun and welcoming.  Our only disappointing moment was when we had to leave.  It would have been so easy for the three of us to sit on the patio for a couple of hours, sipping margaritas, listening to great music and soaking up the blue sky and sunshine.

This restaurant comes with my full seal of approval, try it for yourself:
Burger Star
1222 S. 71 Street
Omaha, Ne
402-333-7827

Cute as Bugs

I saw these adorable little buggies on the cover of a magazine in the grocery story.  I thought they would be perfect for a spring photo shoot.  They were so much fun to make, just think of all the possibilities.  The magazine cover I saw was defiantly for spring, all pastel colors.  I wanted some of my bugs to have a bit more punch, hence the bright red lady bugs.  The butterflies didn't turn out as well as I had hope for, but still a cute little treat.  I definitely had all my 'mommy' friends in mind this day, what a fun way to spend the afternoon with your kids.   

Bake any flavor of cupcake you like and allow them cool.  With a serrated knife cut off the tops of each cupcake.  Cut the tops in half.  With a smooth icing (like a butter cream), ice the top of your cake and use the frosting to attach the wings.  For a bug, attach the flat side down with one tip of each wing connected and a the other tips about 1/2 inch apart.  For a butterfly, attach the wings curved side down, connected in the middle.  Ice your wings as you see fit.  If you're in a hurry use the same color that you started with.  If you've got some time, play around with complementary colors (purple and green, blue and yellow, ect...)  With a steady hand, a pastry bag and some tips you can add all sorts of details.  If you're not a crafty decorator, stick with sprinkles, sparkles and candies. 

These were so much fun to make, I must say I've been bitten by the baking bug.  I'm feeling very cupcake inspired so stay tuned for more fun decorating tips and yummy recipes.

The Simplest Treat

I was so excited to have my great friend Theary back in town for a few days.  She is one of my main supporters and was a huge help in getting this blog started.  Since this wasn't just another food project, but a day of catching up I knew we were going to need the essentials....Starbucks coffee, wine and something delicious to snack on.  Why snacks when we are already cooking a great meal?  A food and photo project takes way more time than simply cooking a meal.  You stop at several points during the preparation, move the food all over the kitchen, heat it, re-heat it, cool, turn, pause....you get the idea.  All the while smelling the food you can't wait to eat and staring at it, while it looks super delicious.  You start to feel like a little kid, after a few minutes that "I want it now!" mentality sets in.  However, if you have something to snack on this whole process is a lot easier.  Having said that, the snack must be quick and easy.  Since our meal was Italian inspired, I thought our snack should follow suit.  I picked up a loaf of crusty sourdough bread, some fresh on the vine tomatoes, a round of goat cheese and some fresh thyme.  I sliced the bread on the bias and tossed it in the broiler for a quick minute.  Once the bread was lightly toasted I spread a layer of the goat cheese on each slice.  Next came a sprinkle of fresh thyme, thinly sliced tomatoes and topped with a few crumbles of the goat cheese.  I put the bread back under the broiler to melt the cheese and soften up the tomatoes.  What a wonder snack with a glass of wine!  I would recommended it for anyone who needs a quick and delicious treat, especially if your looking to hold over a hungry crowd.

Keep checking back for additional recipes from this latest food adventure.  A recipe and photos for Chicken Parmigiana with herb noodles is next.  And as a extra bonus, a delightful spring inspired dessert.