Sunday, August 16, 2009

Well I'm definitely not Martha...

So it's been an interesting weekend, to say the least.

On the more personal side, I went to my very first Yoga class early yesterday morning. During the week, a good friend was talking about yoga and how it might be good for me. I checked out the classes at the local Y and picked the one least likely to draw a crowd, early Saturday morning. I managed to get there (shocking) and made it through the class. While I was probably incredibly amusing to watch, I still enjoyed it. But I'm sore as hell today! LOL

On the baking front, a friend was coming in to town so I did some hardcore cupcaking. I made the margarita and chocolate cherry cupcakes that are always wonderful and then I decided to try some recipes from my new (although dog chewed courtesy of the Jakester) Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.

The first recipe I tried was for Meyer Lemon Cupcakes. Now I was kinda off from the start on this one since I had never heard of nor had any clue where to find Meyer Lemons. Apparently, they are a kinda cross between lemons and oranges. So after fussing with Not-So-Ex over whether or not they even existed, he presented me with a bag of lemons from Krogers. LOL

After baking all the actual cupcakes on Friday night, I just had Saturday to make the frosting and finish them all up. Well the Meyer Lemon Cupcakes aren't frosted, but are filled with meyer lemon curd with a bit spilling out on top. Once I started reading about the curd, I knew I didn't have the time or patience to make it so Not-So-Ex was kind enough to run back to Krogers and pick up some already made lemon curd. In the end, I loved the cupcakes, even if they were just plain lemon.

So here's the recipe (which I halved since it makes a crapload):
Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 1 to 2 Meyer lemons)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
7 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Lemon Curd (made with Meyer lemons; see recipe below for ingredients and directions)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in cream cheese. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating until just combined after each.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 28 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4. To finish, dust cupcakes with confectioners’ sugar. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a medium round tip (#8) with curd. Insert tip into top of each cupcake, and squeeze some curd below top to fill the inside, then lift the tip and squeeze more curd in a pool on top. Filled cupcakes can be kept at room temperature up to 1 hour (or refrigerated a few hours more) before serving.
Lemon Curd
Martha says: "A high proportion of lemon juice gives curd its intense flavor. As an acid, the juice also prevents the yolks from curdling when heated (unlike when making pastry cream, which requires the extra step of tempering). You can substitute an equal amount of juice from other citrus, such as lime, grapefruit, or blood orange."

Ingredients

2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
(Makes about 2 cups)

Directions

1. Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).

In addition to the lemon cupcakes, I also tried the peanut butter chocolate ones from the Martha cookbook. In the cookbook, the cupcakes don't have any frosting but I intended to put peanut butter frosting on mine. But, alas, I ran out of time so they were frosting-less. They were still ok. Not anything spectacular, but good.

Now this recipe only makes 12, so I didn't adjust it at all.
Ingredients

2/3 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Peanut Butter Filling (recipe below)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Put butter and chocolates in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted.

2. Whisk sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Add eggs, and whisk until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture; stir until well incorporated.

3. Spoon 2 tablespoons chocolate batter into each lined cup, followed by 1 tablespoon peanut butter filling. Repeat with another tablespoon batter and top with one tablespoon filling. Swirl top of cupcake batter and filling with a toothpick.

4. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, for about 35 minutes.

Peanut Butter Filling

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c confectioners' sugar, sifted
3/4 c peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Stir it all together until smooth.


2 comments:

Jacque Jo said...

Let me tell you, the lemon are awesome. I had one on the way back today. It was amazingly good.

They're all good. I am so thankful :)

Paige said...

Glad you liked em! I was a fan of the lemon too!