Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Whereas most of the recipes I have posted are true recipes, this one is not really.  However, it is the starting point for what will likely be something far closer to a homemade recipe, so I am posting it as a bit of an evolution.  My younger son's birthday is near the end of August, so I have the luxury of planning and experimenting.  My older son'e birthday falls in April, so he is lucky if we are even in town, as many years that weekend is state competition for Odyssey of the Mind...

Anyway, the younger one's favorite flavors in most things are lemon and blueberry, so I decided to play around and see if I could make a lemon blueberry cake/cupcakes in a relatively simple fashion.  Ordinarily, unless there is a really good reason to do otherwise, I tend to use a cake mix for the cake itself.  Most often people cannot tell the difference, as the cake mixes tend to be fairly good.  I will often opt for the butter recipe mixes or other moist mixes.  This one is the Betty Crocker Super Moist Lemon Cake mix.  I will likely use this, even for the final cake, as it was quite good.

I usually have a pet peeve about frostings, however.  I almost always make the frosting from scratch because most canned frostings taste like preservatives.  However, when I decided how this cake should come together, I wanted to use cream cheese frosting, and I ended up with a can of it at some point, so I decided that while I was experimenting, I would use that.  (For his birthday, I will have homemade.

I did use fresh blueberries.  They are at the peak of their season and were running $1.50 per pint last week, so we had a bunch.

To see whether this would work, I made the cake batter according to the box, stirred in half a pint of blueberries, and filled the cupcake wrappers to about half to two-thirds full.  I baked the cupcakes and frosted with cream cheese frosting, decorating each with one fresh blueberry on top.  Everyone enjoyed them, and my younger one does want a lemon blueberry cake for his birthday.

The tentative plan for the cake - he would like a minion shaped layer cake.  He joked, asking if I could put a layer of blueberries under the frosting.  I explained that would not work, because they would roll off, but since it will be layers, I offered to put a layer of blueberry compote between the layers, so it gets that extra burst of blueberry.  He sounded quite excited about that idea.  I am thinking one round and two square pans (the round halves will layer with each other) so I am not sure whether to go with one or two mixes.  I will now start figuring out the details so I can make this work.  He did ask why I made them now with his birthday a month and a half away.  I explained that I didn't want it too close, because he might not enjoy it as much if he had just had it.  He nodded and declared that made a lot of sense.  I will post more once the cake has taken form...

New quiche recipe with pears and gorgonzola cheese

A couple of years ago, one of the moms at school made us lunch.  She made a variety of quiches and a salad and dessert.  One quiche which was particularly good was a pear gorgonzola quiche, so I decided to try to find one on the internet.  I found a recipe for caramelized pear and gorgonzola quiche at
http://www.closetcooking.com/2010/11/caramelized-pear-and-gorgonzola-quiche.html

The recipe called for a large shallot, which I could not find in the grocery store today, so I substituted half a small Vidalia onion.  It also called for thyme, which I realized I did not have as I was cooking, so I substituted nutmeg, as it seemed to fit well.  Here is what I actually used:

2 strips of bacon cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 small Vidalia onion diced (Or 1/4 large sweet onion, diced)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 pears, peeled, cored, & cut into bite-sized pieces
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup half & half
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese

Because the boys are allergic to nuts, I just used a store-bought pie crust.  When I make quiche, I always get deep dish crusts, because every time I have made a quiche in a traditional crust, it has been full to overflowing. This quiche was full to the top in a deep dish crust, so I strongly recommend that you use a deeper dish crust, whether made from your own recipe or store bought.

Heat the oven to 375.  Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and cook the bacon and onions till the onions are softening.  Add the butter, melt it, then add the brown sugar and cook it into the rest.  Then add the pears. Saute until tender.  I cooked a little beyond, and the pear juice mixed nicely with the butter, etc.  Beat the eggs then add the half and half and cheese and stir together.  Add the contents of the frying pan, then the nutmeg and mix all together.  Pour into your crust and bake until firm in center and golden brown.  Mine never became a true golden brown like I have come to expect from Lorraine, probably because there is not the layer of cheese that toasts nicely on the top of Quiche Lorraine.  It took around 40-45 minutes to fully cook.

Everyone in my family liked it, including my older son who does not usually like blue cheese or gorgonzola.  I think the combination of flavors worked well.

Pastitstio

This recipe comes from a children's recipe book - Emeril's There's a Chef in my World.

Ingredients

7 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
1 finely chopped onion
1 tsp. minced garlic

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 (14 oz.) can whole tomatoes crushed in juice

1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup flour

3 cups whole milk

1/4 tsp. ground white pepper

1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 large eggs, beaten
1 pound elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese

1. In a medium saucepan over high heat, melt 2 Tbsp. of the butter and add the ground chuck, onion, garlic, 1/4 tsp. of the salt, and black pepper.  Cook, stirring until the meat is browned and the onion is translucent. (About 6 minutes)  Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, and cinnamon, and bring to a low boil.  Reduce heat to simmer about 30 minutes or until sauce is thick and flavorful.

2. While sauce is simmering, make the bechamel sauce.  In medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 4Tbsp. of butter. Whisk in flour amd cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. (Do not allow flour to brown.) Little by little, add milk, whisking constantly.  Bring to a low boil and allow to boil for 5 minutes or until it becomes quite thick.  (It took a bit longer for me.) Add egg, white pepper (I used black for this instead), and nutmeg, stir until blended, cover, and set aside till ready to assemble.

3. Boil macaroni according to directions.

4. Position rack in center of the oven.  Lightly grease 13x9 casserole dish with remaining tablespoon of butter.  Transfer half of cooked macaroni to prepared casserole dish and cover with half meat sauce.  Repeat with remaining macaroni and remaining meat sauce.  Carefully spoon bechamel over meat sauce, using back of spoon to smooth into even layer that completely covers sauce.  Spread cheese evenly over top of casserole.

5. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes to 1 hour till cheese is golden brown.

6. Using oven mitts, remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Firework Cupcakes

For 4th of July, I made Firework cupcakes (from the Cupcake Heaven cookbook my mom gave me for my birthday).  Because of the boys' nut allergies, I had to get creative, as the cake part used ground almonds as a base.  I pulled a different cupcake for the base, but kept the frosting and they turned out very decadent and delicious - everyone enjoyed them.  Here is what I made:

Cake: (From the White Chocolate Devilish recipe)
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (I used dark, as that was what I had)
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet butter, softened (I did use unsalted)
2 separated large eggs
3 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C) Place 12 paper baking cups in muffin pan.

Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.  In medium bowl, cream butter and sugar.
Add egg yolks and beat well.  Add melted chocolate and vanilla, mixing well.
Add flour and milk alternately beating after each addition.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, and gently fold into batter.
Bake for 20 minutes, let cool in pan 5 minutes, then cool completely on wire rack.

Frosting:
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz.) of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
generous 1/2 cup of whipping cream.

Heat whipping cream to almost boiling, then pour over chocolate.  Let sit a couple minutes, then stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Allow to sit till thickened (about a half hour or so).
Spread frosting over cupcakes.  Decorate.  (The recipe recommended multi-colored dragees or silver ones.  I used red, white, and blue decorating sugar for the 4th.)  Stud each cupcake wth sparkler.  (The recipe recommended mini indoor sparklers.  I couldn't find any, so I used the ordinary ones and served the cupcakes outside.  Light and serve!  Lots of fun, but again if you use ordinary sparklers, I wouldn't serve them in the house!