Appetizer & Dessert

Last evening, Tall Child and I tried out a recipe new to us, and a slight variation of one that I have tried in the past.

The new recipe was Pioneer Woman's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. They were awesome, and really, really easy. We will definitely be making them again. We added a little grated cheddar before wrapping them up in the bacon. Next time I think we might try adding some herbs to the cream cheese. Or topping them with various grated cheeses.

The recipe variation was of Berry Bundt Cake. I made it a while back and have been dying to try it again with different berries. This time we used blueberries, and instead of making in it a bundt pan, we used the mini muffin pan. They were incredible. Tasty, sweet, little morsels of cake, stuffed with yummy blueberries. I know this recipe will be getting a lot of use in the future and will be the subject of experimentation and of course, taste testing.

No photos this time, everything went way to fast, and I missed the opportunity.

Rest, Relaxation & Rolls

Today being my day off, I took advantage of what will probably be the last Monday I will have to myself until the next school year begins. I lounged in my comfy clothes, planted a couple of plants I had picked up on Saturday, tried out a recipe for Dinner Rolls that I found through Food Gawker, and baked and iced a batch of Pink Lemonade Minis for an event at Megz school.

All in all, today was quiet and relaxing. The cupcakes turned out adorable. The dinner rolls were tasty, but I am still on the look out for a recipe more to my liking. No photos, I forgot to take them earlier, and now the light just won't very flattering ... nothing like orange tinted dinner rolls. I did take a few photos of a few plants, but they have yet to be uploaded. My time online this evening has been limited by the fact that I share it with two teen girls, one of them who happens to be an Anime loving Tall Child.

Cupcake Porn

Nothing to say today, instead I will share this weekend's cupcakes. Carrot with cream cheese buttercream. I used this recipe for the cupcakes and made the frosting up as I went along. This photo was me being inspired, or my attempt at artsy, whichever. It is also our current desktop.


Cupcakes at Sunset

Identitiy Crisis

I very often think this blog should probably be titled "Moonlit Kitchen", since it seems to have way more food related entries than knitting ones. However, being the Gemini that I am, I would have great difficulty blogging about just one thing. Who knows, if it were Moonlit Kitchen, most of the posts would probably be about knitting, or sewing, or reading, or one of my many other loves. On that note, today I will share the products of my Moonlit Kitchen, which does actually have a lovely view of the moon this time of year.

Dual Focaccia Pizza

This is the pizza before going into the oven. I couldn't make up my mind what kind of pizza I wanted, so I went dual. I used a rosemary & onion focaccia. topped one half with asiago artichoke dip, rotisserie chicken, sliced capicolla, boconoccini and parmesan. I topped the other half with chipotle bbq sauce, rotisserie chicken, mushrooms and shredded monterey jack cheese. Both sides were very tasty.

Since making the Mojito cupcakes earlier in the week, I have been dying to make some chocolate cupcakes to go with the leftover mint buttercream. Today was that day. There were both mini cupcakes and regular sized cupcakes, and when smothered in the mint buttercream they were even more delicious. It was like eating a moist fluffy Andes mint. Come to think of it, Andes mints are sort of like a teeny, tiny, mint version of Nanaimo bars.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes



Chocolate Cake Recipe

1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare pans, either grease and flour or line with parchment or cupcake papers. Sift together first five ingredients in large-ish bowl. Mix buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla in large measuring cup. Pour into dry mixture, mix well. Add one cup boiling water, stir just 'til combined. Pour into pans and bake.

30-35 minutes for cakes
12 minutes for mini cupcakes
18 minutes for regular cupcakes

This recipe is extremely versatile. Today I used it for cupcakes, 24 minis & 12 regular. In the past, I have used it for both 2, 8 inch round cakes, or one 9 x 13 inch cake.

On the note of mine and my blog's apparent identity crisis. The first two times I tried to type Moonlit Kitchen, I wound up typing Moonlit Knitchen. Maybe my Freudian slip is trying to tell me something.

Lime & Lime Again

In the beginning, there was pie.

After a couple of viewings of Waitress over the weekend I now have pie recipes dancing in my head and my baking demon needed to be fed, so today there was a modification of a lime meringue pie recipe I found online. I used a purchased crust, due to not having any graham crumbs. I reduced the sugar in the filling by a 1/2 cup and added about a tablespoon of toasted coconut. Oh, and I skipped the meringue and went for whipped cream with a sprinkle of lime zest. I thought it was very tasty, and the kids must have agreed as there is only half a pie left. Next time I'll try more lime juice, or maybe key limes, to bump up the limeyness. I think it will be a perfect summer dessert. Oooh, it would also make really awesome tarts. The colour is a little off, but that's probably because I left out the food colouring.


Lime Pie Filling, my adaptation:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
3 egg yolks
2 tsp, butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 tsp lime zest

Combine sugar, cornstarch, water and lime juice in a medium saucepan, whisk until smooth. Stir in yolks and butter until well combined, gradually add boiling water. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce and simmer for 1 minute, remove from heat. Add zest and pour filling into crust. Bake 15 minutes @ 350 F. Chill and serve topped with whipped cream.


Today also brought cupcake recipe experimentation. Of course, I had to use up the egg whites left over from the pie, so Pink Lemonade Cupcakes, were the logical choice. Being that I am not always logical, I instead went with Mojito Cupcakes, a variation I dreamed up that I have been dying to try. I substituted frozen limeade concentrate for the pink lemonade concentrate, added rum extract to the batter and topped them off with a mint butter cream frosting and lime zest. My daughters quite liked them and I will be taking a few off to work tomorrow for my guinea pigs friends.

My next adventure in lime will probably be this cupcake.

(Note: I have no idea what is going on with the text spacing, maybe it's on my end. Hopefully it's just some temporary blogger glitch.)

Sneak Peek

Mini Pink Lemonade Cupcakes for Friday at work. I think I may do a little experimenting with this recipe on the weekend.


Made a stop at Winners again today, thanks to the kindness of my friend Kim, who drove us. I bought a broom I had seen on my last visit. I love it, my twelve year old daughter hates it. She was actually horrified in the store that I was indeed buying it.


On a side note, Em, aka: Tall Child, informed me today that her friends have named her president of PETMA. "People for the Ethical Treatment of Marshmallow Animals." Apparently after being appointed, she celebrated by eating a pink Peep bunny. The VP celebrated by putting a Peep in the microwave. I'm so proud that my crazy gene will not end with me, and has obviously been passed to my offspring.

Btw, Em loved the broom.

Banana-riffic

To beak up the possible monotony of lists, the March theme for NaBloPoMo, I bring you Banana Cupcakes. I used to have a fabulous recipe for these, but sadly, it was lost during the time of no oven. Fear not though, I have found a replacement. Dare I say, I think it may even be better than the lost recipe.

Banana Cupcakes
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. soda
4 tbsp. sour cream
1 c. mashed bananas
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips(optional)

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Dissolve soda in sour cream, add to creamed mixture and beat well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour into cupcake papers. Bake at 350 degrees, 20 - 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Makes 1 dozen large cupcakes or 3 dozen mini cupcakes.

These are equally yummy with or without frosting.