Sweet and spicy

Just as I'm about to leave San Diego, I discover a lounge that was literally made for me! It's sad, but I've been making up for lost time and making as many trips to Starlite Lounge as my end-of-school schedule will allow. The atmosphere is beautiful and classy without being pretentious, and both the food and drink menus are very reasonably priced but high quality, inventive and absolutely delicious. Once I tasted the Velvet Diablo cocktail on my first trip, I knew that no other cocktail would ever measure up. It blends spicy and fizzy ginger beer, sweet creme de cassis, zesty lime and the punch of tequila - in other words, perfection. 

I had never really thought of using ginger in combination with a sweet and tart berry flavor, and when I was thinking of what to bake for my last weeks in San Diego, I knew that I had to somehow incorporate the Velvet Diablo. The result is below - buttery shortbread with a little zing of ginger sandwiching the creamy tartness and sweetness of fresh blackberry. Great for impending summer weather and even better for my last memory of baking in San Diego. 

NOTE: The buttercream needs to be refrigerated in order to stay relatively solid, so make sure the cookies are completely cooled before piping the filling and put them in the refrigerator after assembling. Don't leave them out for more than 10-15 minutes before eating :)

Velvet Diablo Shortbread Sandwiches

Adapted from Evil Shenanigans

Yields about 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Ginger shortbread cookies
1 1/3 C all-purpose flour

1/3 C cornstarch

1/2 tsp baking powder

10 Tbsp butter, room temperature

2/3 C powdered sugar

1-2 tsp ground ginger (depending on how spicy you'd like the cookies)

Blackberry buttercream

5 Tbsp butter, room temperature

2 Tbsp finely diced fresh blackberries (pull out the chunks of stem)

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking sheets with parchment. Combine all ingredients for cookies in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, and mix on low speed until the ingredients just come together. Increase speed to medium-high for about 30 seconds, until the dough starts to clump around the paddle. If you can't get it to incorporate after a couple of minutes, add water (maybe 1-2 tsp) to bind the dough better. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut with a cookie cutter (I use a shot glass!) and place cookies onto baking sheets about 1/4 inch apart. Continue re-rolling and cutting until all dough is used. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies are slightly puffed and just golden on the bottom edge. Cool completely on pans.

For buttercream, cream butter and blackberries then add powdered sugar. Blend until smooth. Add extra powdered sugar until the filling has the consistency of cake frosting.

Once the cookies are cool, pipe a dollop of filling onto the undersides of half of the cookies, then sandwich. Refrigerate until serving!

Baking pyrotechnics

Well, almost. While visions of impressive, show-stopping flames jumping out of my cupcakes danced through my head when I first read this recipe, the result was more of a subtle, often hilarious experiment in lighting things on fire.
I must say that the recipes for chocolate cupcakes and buttercream are DIVINE, and especially the cupcake is probably the best chocolate one I have ever made (and the easiest)! The recipe calls for cutting strawberries in half and filling them with a strong liquor (over 80 proof), then lighting the wells of alcohol on fire. Megan and I were skeptical about the idea of using a lighter as the recipe suggested, as we thought the butane would "flavor" the strawberry, but our attempts at using matches yielded strawberries that tasted like, well, like licking an ashtray. Moral of the story: save some strawberries to eat on the side and toss the burned out ones as soon as you can. Gross. But we did have a fun few minutes playing with matches, and turning off the lights and watching our cupcakes flame was pretty darn cool. Try this recipe out the next time you're bored and hungry - it provides entertainment and SUPER yummy cupcakes to boot!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream and Flaming Strawberries
From Sprinkle Bakes
Yields about 20 cupcakes

Cupcakes
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 C hot water
3/4 C heavy cream
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting
2 sticks butter, softened
4 C powdered sugar
4 Tbsp sifted cocoa powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare muffin tins with liners or nonstick spray. Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. Divide batter between muffin tins, filling a little over half full. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the top of the cupcakes spring back to the touch. Let cool completely before frosting.

Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, cream together all frosting ingredients - begin with low speed and move to high speed. Beat until fluffy and light, then pipe or spread onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Wash and hull strawberries carefully, so you don't have holes for the alcohol to leak out. Press each strawberry into the frosting with the hollow end up, then fill with a small amount of 80+ proof liquor (apparently Bacardi 151 is the best) just before lighting. Use a grill lighter or matches to light the flame! Turn off the lights and prepare for the oohs and aahs :)

Birthday blowout - Part II

And the celebration continues... with the bright, tart sweetness of lemon! I've fallen deeper and deeper in love with everything lemon flavored, and I think this recipe is pretty much the pinnacle of lemon-ness. I love my boyfriend so much that I will even candy lemon peel for him... If you'd like a touch of color and texture, add blueberries or raspberries!








I'll let the recipe and photos speak for themselves, but I'll sum it up by saying that these little pillows of heaven are best eaten the day they are baked, and just after being frosted. Refrigerating will make the cake very dense and a mere shadow of its former light, fluffy, crumby texture. With a recipe like this I don't think they'll last long!


Triple Lemon Cupcakes


Lemon Cupcakes
From Joy of Baking


1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
2/3 C granulated
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 large lemon
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C whole milk

frozen blueberries or raspberries (optional)
lemon curd (I like Trader Joe's brand)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin with cupcake liners or nonstick spray. Rub lemon zest into sugar so the sugar is completely coated. Beat butter and sugar in electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition, then add vanilla extract. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then add the mixture alternating with the milk. Make three additions, beginning and ending with flour. Fill muffin cups with batter and top with blueberries. Bake for about 20 minutes - until lightly browned and the tops of the cupcakes spring back to the touch.

When cupcakes are cooled, top with a small amount of lemon curd and spread to make a thin layer over the top. Pipe on whipped cream frosting and top with candied lemon peel.

Whipped cream frosting
whipping cream
granulated sugar
vanilla extract

Directions: Beat whipping cream at high speed until soft peaks form. Add granulated sugar and vanilla extract to taste (I use about 1 Tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp vanilla).

Candied lemon peel
From Epicurious

2 lemons
granulated sugar

Directions: Wash lemons well and peel skin off in thin vertical strips using a vegetable peeler. Place peels and 1 C cold water in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Pour off water, pour in another 1 C cold water, and bring to a boil again. Repeat a third time, then pour off the water, remove peels and let cool.


Combine 1 C sugar and 2 C water in the saucepan, and whisk over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Add lemon peels and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let the mixture simmer uncovered until the peels are tender and translucent, about 10-15 minutes. Drain peels and let cool.
Toss peels in granulated sugar to coat, and shake to remove excess. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Birthday blowout

I'm a big believer in birthdays, and an even bigger believer in eating everything unhealthy that you possibly can on your birthday because... it's your birthday! With that said, it makes a lot of sense that I would take full advantage of the opportunity to go all out and stuff my lovely boyfriend full of his favorite sweets on his 22nd. This only comes around once a year, though, so don't get used to it...

Not to toot my own horn, but I think I may have outdone myself this year (almost wish I hadn't set the bar so high...). The most effective way to fit in as many baked goods as possible is to insert them at every meal. You don't have dessert with breakfast? Time to start.

Raspberry Creme Brulee Coffee Cake
Makes 2 8-inch round cakes

Creme brulee
1/2 C heavy cream
3/8 C whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1/8 C granulated sugar

Directions: In a small saucepan, heat cream, milk and vanilla until just before boiling. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until smooth. Stir hot cream mixture into egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Set aside and let cool while preparing coffee cake batter.

Coffee cake 
Adapted from Food Gal

For streusel:
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2/3 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C granulated sugar

Directions: Melt butter. Stir in flour and sugar to make crumbly mixture and set aside.

For coffee cake:
1 1/2 C granulated sugar, divided
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs + 1 egg yolk
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cake pans with nonstick spray. Whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture and eggs alternately to butter mixture, combining well in between each addition.

Pour half of the batter - divided evenly- into the pans and spread to coat evenly.

Layer frozen raspberries over cake batter, then divide the creme brulee mixture between each pan. 

Top with the rest of the cake batter and spread to distribute evenly...  

...then top with streusel.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and the cake is set. 

Let cool in pan, cut and serve - warm in the microwave if you'd like!

Peanut Butter Toffee Bites

 Sometimes experiments go horribly wrong, sometimes they're perfect, and sometimes they're not what you planned just as delicious! These cookies definitely fall into the latter category. I was trying to modify the traditional Chocolate Crinkle cookie recipe to work with new flavors, but adding peanut butter soaked up the powdered sugar and eliminated the "crinkle" part of the cookie! Not to worry, the final product was like a little crunchy, gooey, sweet peanut butter ball.

The texture was definitely not what I expected, but the flavors of toffee and peanut butter are a killer combination and the end result was met with much nodding and thumbs up while chewing. I'm sure you could make these crispier if you prefer, but why would you want to miss out on the chewy goodness of slightly under-baked peanut butter?


Peanut Butter Toffee Bites
Makes about 20 cookies


2 eggs
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 C peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, you know which one you like!)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
~1/2 C chopped Heath toffee bar (about 3 bars)
~1/2 C powdered sugar

Directions: Beat eggs and sugar together in an electric mixer until thick, pale and fluffy. Then beat in vanilla extract and peanut butter until completely combined. Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl, then stir into peanut butter mixture until just combined, adding toffee bits just before it's done. Refrigerate dough for about 1 hour until firm enough to shape into balls. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Roll a small amount of chilled dough into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll in powdered sugar until thoroughly coated, then place on baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until dough is solidly set (they taste great a little bit under-baked).