Friday, December 10, 2010

Bread and cupcakes

This is Austen. She kind of looks like a boy in this picture, but she's not :P she's a girl and she's five. She also goes by Chick, Chicken, Banana, Tiny, and Banan (short for Banana). Apparently she wasn't hungry, she just likes eating pasta out of the sink...

So I've been baking a LOT lately. I didn't bake anything yesterday, but the day before yesterday I made more almost vegan ginger cookies. Today I made soup (which I didn't take a picture of), bread, and cupcakes. I called in sick to work because I felt like crap, but then was so jumpy that I just baked :P The soup was basically the same as last time.

I am very proud of this bread, it's the first bread that I've made that actually turned out well (besides cinnamon swirl bread). I didn't have a sharp enough knife, so they sort of expanded on the bottom instead of the top... but they still tasted good so it's totally cool :P



Here is the recipe!
I made these for a Christmas party that I'm not going to because I'm sick. They are gingerbread cupcakes frosted and filled with lemon cream cheese frosting. Filling cupcakes is my new favorite thing ever. I wish my family liked sweet things more.
I know my photography (and writing) skills leave a lot to be desired, sorry :P



Gingerbread cupcakes
adapted from Epicurious
Makes 24 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon lemon or orange extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup molasses
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda


Into a bowl sift together the flour, the ground ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves, the allspice, and the salt. In another bowl cream the butter, add the brown sugar and beat the mixture until it is fluffy. Beat in the molasses and the eggs, beating until the mixture is smooth, beat in extracts. In a measuring cup combine the baking soda with 1 cup boiling water and stir the mixture to dissolve the baking soda. Stir the mixture into the molasses mixture (the mixture will appear curdled) and stir the molasses mixture into the flour mixture, stirring to combine the ingredients well. Line 24 1/2-cup muffin tins with paper liners and spoon the batter into the liners, filling them halfway. Bake the cupcakes in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. (The cupcakes will be flat or slightly indented on top.) Transfer the cupcakes to a rack and let them cool.- Mostly copied from the website I got it from.


Cream Cheese frosting
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and lemon, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.
This made just over the amount that I needed to frost and fill the cupcakes.

Ginger cookies... NOM NOM NOM! :D

PS- Thanks for the comments on previous posts! :) So glad I'm not the only one who has atrocious kitchen days xD thankfully today was not one of those days!

1 comment:

  1. I think your photos have a nice dreamy quality. I like it. :)

    ReplyDelete