Vanilla Mixed Berry Cupcakes

I thought I should make an accompaniment to the Peanut Butter Chocolate cupcakes. Vanilla is my preferred cake flavor and I really wanted to see if I could make entirely fat free cupcakes.

Everything went perfectly, except for one mistake on my part. I frosted the cupcakes before they were cooled, so the frosting is a little melty. Other than that the frosting held up pretty well. I liked the peanut butter/cool whip frosting from my last post, but I wanted to make something a little thicker and substantial.

Vanilla Cupcakes
1 1/2+1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 unsweetened applesauce
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients until well combined.
Place cupcake liners in cupcake tray and spray with nonstick spray (these cupcakes stick to their liners).
Bake for 20-25 minutes, and let cool before frosting.

Mixed Berry Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz fat free cream cheese, softened
4 oz cool whip free (half a tub)
3 tbsp sugar free mixed berry jam

Mix cream cheese and jam thoroughly and then gently fold in cool whip.
Transfer to a piping bag or gallon sized disposable bag and pipe onto cupcakes.
Refridgerate until serving.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

There are a lot of reasons for my long absence, most of them silly excuses. I'm back now, with several recipes. The first of which is... healthy. Crazy right? I still have a preference for the decadent and indulgent, but it feels like it's time to start offering a lighter option at our gatherings.

So I present to you Peanut Butter Cupcakes, 145 calories and 2 grams of fat per cupcake. I was surprised at how perfect the mix of Cool Whip and peanut butter was. It becomes a subtly sweet peanut butter mousse. A perfect accompaniment to the virtually fat free chocolate cake underneath.

The cake is a variation on my favorite vegan cupcake recipe, so the cake without the frosting is vegan. If you want to keep it that way, mix tofu and a little melted chocolate together in food processor. It'll become a perfect chocolate pudding texture and a great topping for the cupcakes.

I garnished the cupcakes with a little chopped peanuts and mini chocolate chips.

I could probably stretch the amount of frosting the recipe yields to 24 cupcakes, but if you need to double the recipe and you like a lot of frosting you might want to double the frosting recipe too.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients until well combined.
Place cupcake liners in cupcake tray and spray with nonstick spray (these cupcakes stick to their liners).
Bake for 20-25 minutes, and let cool before frosting.

Peanut Butter Mousse Frosting

1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip Free
2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter
3-4 tablespoons of skim milk

In a large microwave bowl mix the milk and peanut butter. Microwave for 30 seconds, and then whisk until smooth. (You're thinning out the peanut butter so it will be easier to add to the Cool Whip.) Let it cool for a few minutes and then gently fold in the Cool Whip. Transfer to a piping bag or disposable gallon sized bag (then cut off one of the bottom corners). Pipe onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Store cupcakes in the fridge to avoid melting frosting.

The Star Trek Party

We've been having some crazy movie marathon parties lately, and I've really been going all out food wise, but unfortunately I keep forgetting to take pictures. (If you have any food pictures from the Lord of the Rings or Star Wars party, please email me.) But finally at the Star Trek party, I remembered to snap a few shots.

The Star Trek cookbook didn't offer a whole lot of recognizably Star Trek themed food, so I had to improvise. There were originally going to be cake pops, my party staple, but my experimentation into brownie cheesecake pops was disastrous. Luckily in the 11th hour I remembered this recipe for blue velvet cupcakes, a little blue candy wafers for antennas and I was able to make cupcakes to look like Andorians (Star Trek aliens).
Also on the dessert roster and Star Trek themed, "blood pies". In Star Trek it's an organ pie eaten by Klingons, but that seemed pretty unsavory, so I opted to make tiny portable cherry pies instead. The dough gave me a little trouble, and I wish I could have used fresh cherries, but the end product was very tasty. The only real issue was that the name confused those at the party who haven't watched much Star Trek.
I've had a real love affair with ice cream sandwiches lately, and this time I decided no cutting corners. I made the cookies and the ice cream. Both are made with Earl Grey Tea (the favorite drink of Captain Picard), the recipe for the shortbread can be found here, and the recipe for the ice cream here. I like making ice cream sandwiches, but I feel like they get forgotten by the guests because they're in the freezer.
The dessert menu didn't feel complete though, I was convinced something was missing. Then I stumbled upon this recipe for chocolate tofu pie. I was intigued. I think it's time to start adding a healthy component to the menu, we have so many parties, I don't want to fatten up all my friends. The pie was delicious, who knew tofu plus chocolate equals delicious chocolate pudding? I used bananas instead of strawberries because of budget constraints and I think it was a better choice.
Alright time for savory snacks. I really had some super tasty Arancini (risotto balls), of course they aren't Star Trek, but a quick name change fixes that. I baked them instead of frying, because I hate frying food at parties (big mess, oil everywhere, food sits and gets greasy), so baking was an obvious choice. I think they were a little underseasoned, but I think that's just my over critical nature.
We used to make Taco Dip for our parties all the time, and I thought it needed a revival. If there's one thing I know, it's that people love cream cheese, they just can't get enough of it. However, they also don't notice if you replace regular with fat free (another attempt to lighten up the snacks), served with baked Tostitos Scoops it was practically guilt-free.
Now I don't want you to think I've gone entirely health crazy, the main event were the Photon Torpedos or meatball subs. Homemade meatballs baked and then smothered in marinara sauce in a crockpot. I wish I'd gotten a picture of one of the subs made, they certainly were delicious.Wait what's that in the corner of the photo? My dad mixed up a big batch of Romulan Ale (a distinctly blue Star Trek beverage). From the tiny sip I had, it seemed pretty tasty. I'm not sure what the amounts were, but I know the mix was Mountain Dew Voltage, Sprite, and Pineapple Parrot Bay. We served it in champagne flutes to give it a more alien look.

Halloween Treats Part 2- Ghostbusters Cupcakes

This post is SO late, I'm really sorry. (As soon as I finish it I'm writing up 2 more.)

As previously mentioned, I made these showstopping Ghostbusters cupcakes for our annual Halloween party. Everyone seemed really impresssed, at first by the adorable white chocolate logos and then by the surprise "slime" filling.

The original recipe is here, but of course changes have been made.

I cheated, as much as I love making things from scratch, but then I've got 3 other things to make and the party is quickly approaching, I turn to the boxed cake mix. Boxed cake mix is great, and with the homemade slime filling, no one could tell the difference.

The logos might seem a little daunting (and I wish I had more pictures of steps), but if you give yourself enough time and work slowly, they'll turn out great.

Ghostbusters Logos
(makes 24)
14oz of red candy melts
about a 1lb of white chocolate or white candy melts

Line two trays with parchment paper. Find a smallish cup about the size you want the logos to be. Trace the bottom twelve times onto each sheet with a marker. Flip the pieces of parchment (you don't want to get ink on the chocolate.)
Melt about half of the red candy melts (it's a lot easier to it in batches) in the microwave (30 second intervals will work). (I always use sandwich bags).
Pipe circles onto the parchment, using your tracing as a guide. Then put a slash through each like the Ghostbusters logo.
Let the red circles set completely, if you're impatient put them in the fridge/freezer.

Once they have set, melt some of the white chocolate and pour the chocolate into a pastry bag or a disposable plastic baggie. Fill in both sides of the circles and 4 lines on each side (for the hands). Next to each logo pipe out and fill in a tear drop shaped head. Let everything set up. Then take each of the heads and using a little white chocolate adhere them to the logos.
And that's it.
Now to the cupcakes!
"Slime" Lime Curd Filling
3 eggs
1/3 cup juice from about 8-10 Key limes
1 t. finely grated or chopped lime zest
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
green food coloring

Combine the lime juice, sugar, and eggs in a metal bowl. Heat up a couple cups of water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and place the bowl on top of that, heating up the mixture and stirring constantly. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken. Remove the mixture from the heat and immediately pour it into a fine mesh strainer to remove any pulp or eggs that could have curdled. (Never skip straining!)

Stir in the butter and the zest, and then add in a couple drops of green food coloring until you get the desired shade of “Slimer” green. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool in the fridge.

Mix up your favorite vanilla boxed cake mix (or if you're feeling ambitious your favorite from scratch batter).

Put cupcake liners in your baking trays and then fill each with 1/3 of the way with cake batter, then add about a teaspoon of the lime curd. Then fill it up with more cake batter, to about the 2/3 mark.

Bake as directed for the cake mix.

Frosting time! The Ghostbusters recipe called for a buttercream frosting, but I felt like using my old standby frosting recipe.

Vanilla Frosting
1 cup of Crisco (vegetable shortening)
6 cups of powdered sugar
a few tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Cream Crisco in mixer and slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla. Add milk to smooth it out then let the frosting whip for a few minutes to get airy.

To assemble the cupcakes, just frost and top with the candy logos.
Drizzle extra lime curd over the cupcakes just before serving.