Back from a Vacation... Okay, a LONG Vacation

February:

Super Bowl Cupcakes

Beast Mode

March:

Red Velvet Cheesecake

April:

Blackberry Buttermilk Cake

May:

Fudge Cake

July: 

Gluten Free Banana Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

The reason for the six month break: 

I decided that I was focusing too much on my appearance online, rather my relationship with God. For lent I took a break from the internet, and after 40 days of not doing something, it's difficult to start it up again. I hope you all didn't miss me too much, and that you all stayed sweet. 

If you would like to here more of a description, or a recipe of one of the delicious desserts above, just comment below. I will reply in a post.

Kirsten

Molasses Cookie Recipe

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/soft-molasses-cookies/4e20528d-5cb1-45fb-b9eb-8e6cca62afac

Ingredients

• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup of shortening
• 1/4 cup of molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of sugar

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, shortening, molasses, and then egg. Stir in the remaining ingredients, except the sugar. (I like to beat the brown sugar and shortening until really smooth).
3. Shape the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Dip the tops into the sugar.
4. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet, with sugar side up, about 2 inches apart.
5. Bake for 13 to 16 minutes. Immediately remove from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack. 

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/soft-molasses-cookies/4e20528d-5cb1-45fb-b9eb-8e6cca62afac

Kirsten

Canning

This Christmas I made homemade apple butter (crock-pot style), and homemade blueberry jam (from the berries my husband and I picked this summer). There was a bit of a spice to the apple butter, and a little tang to the jam, but both were yummy. 

But we are not here to talk about the delicious contents that are in the jar, we are talking about the jar itself. 

Step 1) Prepare the Jar. In canning pot (or big pot) fill it with water. Have the water come to a boil. Place the Jar and lid in the water (carefully). Have it boil for 5 to 20 minutes (I usually have it just sit until I am ready to fill the jars). 

Step 2) Fill the Jars. Fill as much as possible. Wipe the outside and rim of the jar clean. 

Step 3) Preserve it. Gently put the jar back in the boiling water and have it boil for 20 minutes. If the middle of the top is able to move, the jar is not sealed, and therefore not okay to eat. 

Kirsten 

Welcome 2014: Gluten Free Banana Blueberry Muffins

Happy 2014 to all my readers.

I know, it's the 13th, but life has been a little bit busy since I got home from my family vacation. I have baked and cooked a lot of lovely goodies this Christmas season. I made these delicious molasses cookies, homemade apple butter and blackberry jam, and gluten free banana blueberry muffins. 

I will be sharing my tips for canning on Tuesday, and I will give the recipe for the molasses cookies on Wednesday. This post is going to discuss the gluten free banana blueberry muffins. 

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are both gluten free. After realizing my allergy to milk this last year, I feel a passion to create delicious tasting baked goods that people with allergies can enjoy. With my experience in eating gluten free baked goods, they are sometimes hard, or have an interesting after taste. There is usually a lack of moistness to them. 

During the New Year, my mother-in-law asked me to make muffins for our Christmas/ New Year brunch that we were going to have with her side of the family. The challenge was to make them gluten free, and taste good. 

I search for recipes for days, writing down ones I thought might taste good, or had interesting flour substitutes. I then came across this gluten free blueberry muffin recipe that looked pretty darn good; http://thelittlewhitekitchen.com/?p=238. 

I tweaked it a little by adding cinnamon, nutmeg, bananas, and using brown sugar, but they came out tasting really good. I was getting a lot of compliments on how good they tasted. Frankly, I think they would taste even better if you put some butter on top and heated it up in the microwave, so that the butter could make the batter even more moist. 

What did I learn, you may ask? That all my college experience was right. Do your research and then take what you learned, and what you already know to make something unique. 

I encourage you to do the same.

Kirsten

Katie's Cupcakes: Gingerbread Cupcake

Today I took a chilly walk down to Katie's Cupcakes.

 I walked into her shop greeted by a warm heater and a lovely display of cupcakes. I was going to do my tips/ review on the very vanilla cupcake, but the gingerbread one looked so good. I couldn't pass up the experience to eat it.

This cupcake had a gingerbread cake, whipped frosting, and a gingerbread cookie one top. The cookie and frosting, by themselves, where delicious. The cake by itself was not as moist as I expected and I wish it had more of a ginger or molasses flavor. However, when you take a bite with the frosting and the cake, the cake becomes moist. The frosting was perfect; not heavy or too sweet. I then tried the cookie with the frosting and cake to see if it had that ginger element that I wanted. It did, but I could have used more. I know some of my friends don't enjoy a heavy taste of molasses/ ginger, so for the general public it was probably a wise choice of not enhancing the flavor too much. The cookie also gave the cupcake and interesting crunchy texture.

 

All in all I was very pleased. Katie, you did your wonderful work again.

Kirsten

Katie's Cupcakes: Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Katie does this really awesome idea. At the end of her children's books she gives a recipe for one of her cupcakes. I love that she is willing to share her passion with the public, especially children. In the first book she wrote she shares her very vanilla cupcake recipe and here it is:

Veronica Vanilla 

One of the characters from the Katie's Cupcake books

Very Vanilla Cupcakes 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of sifted cake flour
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
• 9 egg whites
• 2 egg yolks

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar in until light and fluffy; about 10 minutes. 
2. Add egg yolks one at a time. Add vanilla.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
4. Alternately add dry mixture and milk starting and ending with the dry mixture. 
5. Whip egg whites until stiff and gently fold into batter until no big clumps remain. 
6. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake for 15 to 25 minutes at 325 degrees. 

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients

• 2 cups of butter
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Cream butter until light and fluffy; about 10 minutes.
2. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream. Mix until desired consistency.

The book from which you can find this recipe in the back of, and one of Katie's Cupcake t-shirts.

This recipe is brought to you by Katie Swanson of Katie's Cupcakes located in Bellingham, WA. She is a great inspiration to me and my fellow bakers. Check out her website at http://www.katiescupcake.com. 

Kirsten

Katie's Cupcakes

Katie's Cupcakes is a cupcake shop in Bellingham, WA. I remember the first time I visited Katie's Cupcakes and saying to myself that one day I will work there. Though that hasn't happened, I have always had this interesting relationship with Katie. On the one hand, I look up to her and I find her and her story so inspiring. On the other hand, I want to own my own bakery too, meaning that she is my competition. 

In October 2012, the episode of Cupcake Wars: Big Time Rush aired on television. Katie's Cupcakes was one of the four bakeries competing. No surprise, Katie won! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJtZGrIufKQ) It was such a great victory for her and her business. Instead of expanding her business to other locations with her winnings, Katie and her husband started to do merchandise. She writes and sells children book about her cupcakes, she sells kids t-shirts with the cupcake characters from the books on them, and she sells cupcake kits. Her characters are unique and the books adorable (after all, I have read them to my school-agers), but her products for me sometime vary. One day I could have a cupcake moist and delicious, the next time the cupcake is dry and not what I expected. I know not every single cupcake comes out perfect, and I should not be so harsh. 

So this week I am going to do something different. I am going to review one of Katie's Cupcakes, give tips on what she or her baker did well, and one of her recipes. I think that it is important to learn form the people you look up to. I hope you will be looking forward to seeing my week of Katie's Cupcakes. 

Kirsten