Prize Winning Cupcakes

From Taste of Home Magazine:

GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Special Mocha Cupcakes
PREP: 25 minutes
BAKE: 20 minutes + cooling

Topped with a fluffy frosting and chocolate sprinkles, these extra-rich, extra-delicious cupcakes smell wonderful while baking and taste even better!
— Mary Bilyeu, Ann Arbor, MI

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup cold brewed coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons cider vinegar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

MOCHA FROSTING:
3 tablespoons milk chocolate chips
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1/2 cup chocolate sprinkles

In a small mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, coffee, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients; mix well.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool.

For the frosting: In a small, microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt chips and stir until smooth. Add butter and beat until blended. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar and coffee. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes. Top with sprinkles; gently press down. Yield: 1 dozen.



I also saw something on that site that said if you want to pack a cupcake in somebody's lunch without making a mess, cut the top off and turn it upside down on itself before you put it in the baggie....not bad!

helpful $ stretching hint by accident

I remembered this hint this morining as I was attempting to frost some cupcakes with tub icing. (eg Pillsbury). Would have been nice had I recalled it 10 cupcakes earlier...
Put the entire tub of icing into a medium to large mixing bowl and mix on medium high speed til the volume has roughly doubled in size. Now you suddenly have enough icing :) Light, fluffy, and enough! YAY!
This not only saves $, but calories as well; the calorie thing is just a fluke, trust me.

The reason I ran short of icing to begin with:

I let the kids use tub icing and animal crackers for homemade "dunk-a-roos". It is less expensive and I can control the portion size per child. I serve them in individual applesauce containers I save and use for everything under the sun. I also use the empty icing tubs for a multitude of things. That's another story for another time..:)

Just don't decide you need the icing for something else before checking the amount in the tub. ( I am rolling my eyes , just incase you're wondering )

I am Whatshername

And I am everything Aud has said I am..and some that she was kind enough to leave out. She is sweet to me like that. :)

I am here to have fun..hope you are too!

I am going to give my newly purchased Kitchen Aid a work out this afternoon; if I like the results, you'll be the first to know. Wait..that's a lie. Audrey will be the first..but you'll always be the next to know, I promise.

SuperVanilla

Did you know you can supercharge your vanilla for cookies, cakes, whatever? It's great with anything that needs a boost, I do oatmeal cookies with it, it's easy. You need a sharp knife, exacto knife or a razor blade (ow.) You'll need a really nice vanilla bean or two, maybe the bourbon type. Rinse off the bean and pat dry. Slice the vanilla bean(s) all the way down the length of it, and scrape out the little black seeds. Put those little black seeds, and when you're finished, the husk into a store bought bottle of real vanilla. Shake like crazy. Reshake when you use it, and be careful not to pour out the husks. Too Chewy. As long as there's enough vanilla in the bottle, the alcohol seems to keep the beans pretty well for a long time. I'm not kidding, people will flip out over your baking, and they won't know how you did it.

Oven Crunchy Onion Rings

Not soggy frozen ones, from http://www.cookingforengineers.com
Man, this site is great, conversions, retentive attn to detail.
Lots of Pics, step by step. Click this title.

Get Yer Squid On!

I know you'd pick this one first out of the bin, wouldn't you. Get it at Flax! Click the title for the link.

Gimme Fun or Gimme a Restaurant.

Hi, I'm Audrey, and Whatsername is around here someplace, I started this blog without her permission, and just told her she was going to do it. Why the heck not, we spend stupid amounts of time looking up stuff here on the web, and we both love to cook, we have appreciative audiences, and whats a few more people.

We trade recipes back and forth, and some of those recipes are just plain fun, odd, or incredibly good. I didn't say easy, but its a plus. Things that make my 9 year old's eyes bug out is another plus. Hub doesnt have much of a sweet tooth, but I do. I always had the feeling about pastries in Europe, that if it was a dessert, and it didn't rot your teeth, what good was it.

She hates chili, oatmeal and other stuff I like, so we're a good mix. She's a hummus/grapeleaves type of woman, and i've yet to figure out how the heck she got so good at cookies, as she won't mail me any so I can't tell for sure, but I will take her family's word.

She's up North, I'm in Florida, and between us, we burn up more Yahoo Instant Messenger bandwidth than United airline FF miles. I think she just likes looking at my funny typos, really. Phone calls aren't carrier to carrier, so why take 5 mins to do a conversation on the phone, when we can have that same conversation on the IM and it takes an hour, but its free. Thats how it is.