Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

It's birthday time at our house, so I've been busy baking. We had both a family party and kindergarten girls party for my 6-year-old. Cake at the first party, cupcakes at the second and cookies (posted later) for the goodie bags. I wanted to make the Martha Stewart buttermilk cupcakes, but it was a huge recipe that made 36. I really only needed 12 and I was having trouble with the math!! I found this recipe at Baking Bites and ultimately decided to double it, just to make sure I had enough for the party. Kindergarteners love cupcakes!! But then I wound up making 36 cupcakes anyway. Ack!! Since I'm being really strong on my low-carb diet, I will be giving most of the rest away to my lucky neighbors. And I gave one to the mailman.


Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes (makes 12-24)
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour (I used cake flour)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ tsp almond extract
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Place liners in a 12 cup muffin tin. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until it looks creamy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla and almond extracts until mixture is smooth. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until almost combined. Add buttermilk and stir, again, until almost combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir until all ingredients are mixed in.

Divide batter evenly into muffin cups (2/3 full). Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the muffin pan. Cool completely before frosting.

The above picture is my finished cupcakes (goodie bags in the background). They may not be as beautiful as store-bought, but I think the kindergarteners will love them just the same. The more icing, the better! And the batter came out very light and fluffy (I did have just one bite without the icing). This recipe would also make a great cake.

UPDATE - What a realized today is that most kindergarteners will eat only the cupcake or the icing, but not both. Making from-scratch cupcakes for little kids probably isn't necessary!! But I'm sure everyone else will appreciate them. :)

Pear and Cherry Cobbler

My friend Amy is the lucky recipient of pears that do not belong to her. Her neighbor has two pear trees and said he just really doesn't want to pick them any more. And I am lucky to have Amy as my friend. We left her house the other day with half a grocery bag of pears, and I just knew I would have to make a cobbler. Looking back now, I think I was more in the mood for a crumble, but this cobbler did just fine. And just about now you're saying, but Kristin, what about that low-carb diet? Yes, I did have a few bites, but I shared the majority with family and friends. A girl's gotta live, right?

PEAR AND CHERRY COBBLER
(picture is before cooking)

• 2 cups sliced pears
• 1/2 cup cherry pie filling
  
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 1 stick butter
  
• 3/4 cup flour, 1 Tbls. flour
  
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Mix pears with 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbls. flour and let stand. Put butter in 2-quart casserole and place in 325° oven until melted. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and remaining 1 cup of sugar. Mix well. Whisk together the milk and egg; slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet to make a batter. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon pears over the batter. Put small spoonfuls of the cherry pie filling (trying to get more cherries than filling) over the pears. Do not stir. Bake at 325° for 50 to 60 minutes, or until light brown on top. Serve hot or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

Of course, you can probably use just about any fresh fruit you like - peaches, cherries, apples, nectarines. And if I had given this dessert a little more forethought, I would have used fresh cherries and just put them in the sugar/flour mixture with the pears.

Homemade Chocolate Covered Peppermint Marshmallows

Seems like there are two theories on homemade marshmallows - one with egg whites, the other without. After trying both, I'd say that the ones without egg whites come close to the kind you buy at the grocery and the ones with egg whites come close to the kind you might find in pinwheel cookies. I guess it's up to you which one you like best.

I chose the ones with egg whites (this one is from MarthaStewart.com - Momma Reiner's). I added peppermint extract and, after a couple of experiments, changed the order of when the gelatin was added.

Nonstick cooking spray
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (3 packets)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Powdered Sugar for dusting

1. Lightly spray a 9-by-13-inch dish or pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Sprinkle gelatin over a small bowl filled with 1/2 cup cold water; let stand to soften.
3. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together sugar, corn syrup, hot water, and salt. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Continue cooking, without stirring, until mixture reaches the soft-ball stage, about 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat.
4. While that is heating, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form.
5. Add gelatin mixture to egg whites.
6. With the mixer running, slowly add sugar mixture.
7. Add vanilla and peppermint and continue beating for 10-12 minutes until the mixture is not runny and looks like marshmallow.
8. Transfer marshmallow mixture to prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Spray a piece of parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray and cover marshmallow. Let stand overnight.
9. Remove parchment paper and invert marshmallow onto work surface. Trim 1/4-inch from edges of marshmallow. Cut marshmallows into 1 1/2-inch squares. Put marshmallows in a bowl and lightly sprinkly with powdered sugar to coat.
10. Dip in melted chocolate. (And I sprinkled them with Christmas non pariels.