Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Every year, I make birthday treats for my friend Chris and this year was no exception. His birthday is on Christmas Eve, so I usually make it for the last day of work before we're off for the holidays. I asked him if he had any requests and he asked for something mint chocolate.

This year was slightly different as we had a department holiday party last week and I decided to make his birthday treats then. I wasn't sure what I was going to make. Brownies with minty cream cheese swirled into it? I had initially planned to make peppermint mocha cookies for the holidays, and thought "Why not in a cupcake?"

Luckily, someone had already thought of it and there was a handy recipe available online.

For the Cupcakes

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Penzeys Natural Cocoa Powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 tablespoon Medaglia D'Oro instant espresso 
• ½ cup hot coffee
• 3/4 cup chopped mint chocolate (from a baking supply store, no brand name on the package)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with liners.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, instant espresso, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

3. Add in the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for one minute. 

4. Add half of the coffee into the mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add remaining coffee. Beat until the batter is smooth. 

5. Fold in chopped mint chocolate. 

6. Divide it evenly among the lined cups. Bake 18-22 minutes just until a toothpick inserted into a few of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes completely.

For the Frosting (I used the frosting recipe from the linked cookie recipe.)

• 9 Tbsp butter, room temperature
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 3/4 tsp peppermint extract
• crushed peppermints

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth. 

2. Add confectioners' sugar and beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined. Scrape down bowl. 

3. Add milk and peppermint extract and beat at medium speed until incorporated, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. 

4. Frost cooled cupcakes and immediately sprinkle each with crushed mints.

Long Time No Update

I haven't been the best blogger. Yes, I'm still baking and I still love trying new recipes.

About the last time I had posted was when I had a contact that was a baker at Whole Foods. She loved the products I made and appreciated the presentations I would attempt. I would say that I'm great at baking, but I'm still learning how to plate. I talked to her a great deal about making a career change, and she knew about this blog and that I love taking pictures of everything. She said this is a great platform to use as a portfolio, which I realize is ironic, considering I haven't been updating it.

In the meantime, people have been outsourcing baked goods to me, mostly coworkers who have asked me to bake things for them. It's been a good experience, as I have been toying with the idea of having a side business as a caterer. I have been compared to the sitcom 2 Broke Girls quite a bit.

So that, in a nutshell, is what I've been up to. Still trying new recipes, though not as often as I'd like. My day job has changed for me quite a bit the last year and a half, which is about when I stopped updating this blog. The changes have been fine, but it has left me with a lot less time to play in the kitchen.

I miss writing and blogging though. I hope to change that in the near future.

Baking + Hello Kitty + Birthday = New Tattoo

As an early birthday present to myself, I finally got my Hello Kitty tattoo. I've wanted a Hello Kitty tattoo since I was 15. I had a specific sketch in mind, and when I was finally ready to have it done, I lost it. It was of Hello Kitty looking sad, holding a sad teddy bear. Yeah, makes sense to a 15-year-old, not so much as an adult.

Now that there are a ton of Hello Kitty collaborations, I had seen some baking-related images. It made me realize I should update the Hello Kitty tat idea and make it relevant to who I am today. I decided on this one, which is based on a Johnny Cupcakes design. Not quite the same, as I wanted some tweaks to make it more personal to me. I'm quite happy with it.

Now, to decide when to get my cupcake tattoo... ;)

PB&J Cupcakes / Cupcake Corer

RJ had asked me a while ago if I could make him PB&J cupcakes. Since he was participating in this weekend's Warrior Dash, I made him some. This version is definitely custom-made for RJ.



I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from Penzeys; used a cupcake corer and filled it with Strawberry Polaner All Fruit with Fiber; topped it with natural creamy peanut butter. Yup, it's not even frosting. [Side note: RJ doesn't really like frosting.]



I wanted to share my user experience regarding the cupcake corer. I like filled cupcakes, but I do not enjoy filling cupcakes. I like my cupcakes uniformly filled so that you can expect consistency. I find jamming the tip into a cupcake and squeezing the pastry bag makes me feel like I'm doing it consistently, but the results say otherwise.

So I saw the cupcake corer during a quick errand of picking up random baking supplies and decided to try it. I didn't actually get to use it until last night since i haven't made filled cupcakes since purchasing it. Overall, the product worked exactly as it was demonstrated on the package.



The only drawback in the product is it's way too wide to use on a normal-sized cupcake. The first two cupcakes I cored pretty much fell apart after I cored, filled, and frosted them. In the subsequent cupcakes, I didn't insert the corer as deep, which helped tremendously with the cupcake's structural integrity. Ideally, if I could find a narrower corer which functions exactly like this, I would definitely pick it up.

Rhubarb Dream Bars

Craig bestowed upon me one massive rhubarb harvest from his garden. To thank him for his efforts, I made Rhubarb Dream Bars for him and his department.

For the Crust
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp Penzeys lemon peel + 1 tsp lemon juice

For the Filling
4 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
4 cups (1 pound) packed diced rhubarb

Crust: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Using your fingers, cut in the butter until crumbly. Add the lemon peel and juice, and press the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch pan.



Bake the crust in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until it's lightly browned. Remove it from the oven (leave the oven on) and allow it to cool slightly.



Filling: While the crust is baking, make the filling. Beat the eggs and salt until foamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating until the mixture is thick and light yellow. Blend in the flour, then fold in the rhubarb.





Pour the rhubarb mixture over the still-warm crust.



Return the pan to the oven, and bake the bars for 40 to 45 minutes, until they're lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and cool for several hours for easiest cutting. The top layer separates a bit from the filling when you cut; just press it back lightly.