Tablespoons, teaspoons... same thing!

Well, I believe Wednesday's may officially be the best baking day. Mainly because the expert baker Lauren from NeedleWork+Seedlings agreed to bake with me today! Oh, and what a fabulous day it was. Lauren not only turned up with delicious Italian beer (what is up with my beer+frosting lunches?) but with the most heavenly cupcake recipe. The malibu and coconut Cupcake Recipe #30 which turned out PERFECTLY. Lauren and I decided we needed to give the cookie monster cupcakes another shot... so we trotted off to the grocery store down the road. Lauren forgot we needed to bake cookies as well so she suggested "we just pick up some from here". I swear, the world around me turned dark, and the words rolled off her tongue in slow motion. So to my ears, it came out as "PPPIIIIIICCCKKK UPPPP SOOMMMEE FROMMMM HERRRE"... to which I replied with an EPIC bolly-wood-style"NOOOOOOooOoOOOOoOOOO" . True story. The whole aisle went silent, the world stopped moving and Lauren just blinked at me. Alright, my epic NOOOOO might have been an over-reaction but no. This blog is about baking from scratch. So, after clearing up that little misunderstanding, we ran home and got started. And I've realized the secret to Lauren's awesome baking skills - she sticks to the book. She wouldn't let me experiment (except with deco, which I aced... obviously.) but the funniest point was when I was left in charge of the cookie batter and I said "good! there was exactly 1.5 tablespoons of vanilla essence left!" and she just dropped her jaw and stared at me with an exasperated "but we only needed 1.5 teaspoons!". Alright, so tbsps, tsps... same concave substance-holding things. But fortunately, it was just a slip of the tongue, although Lauren's reaction was priceless. All in all, she had the brilliant idea of dyeing coconut shreds blue and miraculously found white chocolate buttons. That girl is brilliant.

Anyway, the cookie monster cupcakes speak for themselves!


PS: It also helps that I now have a friend, who upon trying them, has sworn to do anything for me just for more cupcakes. Muahahaha, my evil plan to take over the world. One person at a time.

Yours truly,
The Baker's Apprentice.

Peanut-butter BLASTERS!

"Marvellous!"

"Delicious!!"

"Edible."

- words from a famed critic
(a.k.a. a neighborhood friend)

Well, the kitchen quite literally is a war-zone but I wouldn't have it any other way! Today's baking project happened to be inspired by mingmakescupcakes' filled cupcakes (before clicking the link, caution!: make sure you've a tissue nearby for those droolicious cupcakes!): chocolate, chocolate cupcakes filled with peanut butter creme and frosted with white chocolate cream cheese. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, I followed this cupcake recipe from Hello Baker! (teeheehee, I suppose that's me now!) but didn't have toffee or cream, so I basically winged the filling and frosting and went by my tastes. Well, first things off, I very very carefully double-checked the recipe and double-checked my baking powder and my baking soda because you know, beginner bakers (which is hardly me, of course) always mix up the rules. "Oh ho ho", went I, "I shall neverr be caught on such treeck" (with a french accent apparently) and I proceeded to measure out the required amounts... only to realize that I was so careful to check 1/4tsp vs. 1/2tsp on the website and to check that I was using the right ingredients that I forgot to check which teaspoon of my multi-tsp set I was using. Yeah, that's right... just don't ask me how or why I had doubled my baking powder but I figured (after much googling of "too much baking powder help") I would just double the other ingredients. And I'm so glad I did! The mix was oddly thick and only filled 9 of my giant cupcake liners so I ended up using all the batter. Also, I didn't have any bitter sweet chocolate chips (at least, I didn't think I did) so I just added more cocoa. And my goodness did these cupcakes turn out deliciously! They were quite dense though, more like brownies... but sooooo nom-ilicious!

And I definitely got to put my experimental cooking skills to the test... YAY! For the filling, I used about 4 tablespoons or peanut butter, creamed with 1/2cups of butter and powdered sugar until I got the consistency I was happy with. For the frosting, I used about 1/2cup cream cheese, some leftover butter, more powdered sugar and about 1/2 cup of melted white chocolate.

Mmmmmm... these are definitely cupcakes I will try again and ones I'd recommend to anyone. I mean, if I can cook 'em, you sure can. They didn't come out too sweet or too dry but perfect (although my cone cutting and filling needs practice)! Well, knowing my track record, I totally can't be judged for my victory dancing around the kitchen. So w00000ts!

Yours,
The Baker's Apprentice.

PS. Here's a little love from The Rural Alberta Advantage...

Cottahging

Well, after spending a long rainy weekend at the cottage with the family, I decided to stay on for a few days on my own. It continue to dribble-drabble outside but gosh, was it beautiful. Being in a vacation cottage baking mood with nothing but ready-made bran muffin mix, I decide to skin and chop up some apples (apparently, I'm allergic to apple skins!) and add some nutmeg and cinnamon to the Quaker's Low-Fat Bran Mix that was yelling to me from the kitchen cabinet. The muffins turned out yum (as all mixes do!) but what was more impressive was the weather on the morning after. After a very hectic couple of summer months, the cottage was a perfect way to unwind between baking, Petit Nicolas, Bananagrams (!) and a serious jam sess with a friend... aaaaaaaah, simply a dive into bliss.

Yours truly,
The Baker's Apprentice.

PS. I couldn't stop humming this Louie beaut... but I blame that on my friend, Talia.