Vanilla Cupcakes

Why not start with the basics? The cupcakes are delicious, the frosting is out of this world, and the filling is so very versatile.

Vanilla Cupcakes
yield: about 16 cupcakes

    2 cups all-purpose flour
  3/4 tsp baking powder
  1/2 tsp baking soda
  1/2 tsp salt

    1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar

    3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
    1 tbsp vanilla extract

  2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2, 12-cup cupcake tins with 16 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Pour the batter evenly into the cupcake tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Remove the center of the cupcakes and pipe in the following pastry cream.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

    1 cup half & half
    2 tsp vanilla

  1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
    3 large egg yolks

    2 tbsp butter

In a medium saucepan, bring the half & half, vanilla, and 3 tbsp of sugar to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining sugar, cornstarch, a pinch of salt, and egg yolks until smooth. Temper the egg yolks by gradually whisking in about 1/2 cup of the hot half & half mixture. Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan, reduce the heat to medium, and whisk constantly for about 30 seconds to a minute. The mixture will thicken very quickly.

Remove the pastry cream from the heat and whisk in the butter. Pour through a sieve and into a bowl, letting it cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. Use as a filling in the vanilla cupcakes by removing the center of a cupcake and piping in the pastry cream. Frost with the frosting recipe that follows.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

  1 cup salted butter, softened
  4 cups confectioner's sugar
  1 tbsp vanilla
4-5 tbsp heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Next, beat in the confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time, beating completely until all four cups are incorporated. Mix in the vanilla followed by the cream. Add in the cream one tablespoonful at a time until it reaches the consitency you're looking for. Personally, I mixed in four tablespoons.

Notes

• My Vanilla Pastry Cream has, to date, filled a shortbread crust topped with strawberries and kiwis, been altered slightly into both a coconut pastry cream and a chocolate pastry cream, filled cream puffs (a combination pate choux and puff pastry concoction), etc... Like I said, it's a very versatile, and nearly foolproof, recipe.
• Use salted butter in the buttercream frosting. The salt in the butter brings out the sweetness of the frosting and actually contrasts with that very sweetness. I have yet to find a frosting recipe that combines salt with unsalted butter to such a similar effect, but salted butter seems to work perfectly every time. I have been converted to a user of salted butter in many of my frostings; the results are incredibly tasty and worth a try!

Crusty Bread

I came across this recipe for crusty bread from a friend on Facebook. So long as you have a dutch oven or any pot with a lid that can be put into an oven, this recipe is amazingly simple. The result is delicious crusty, chewy bread.

Rustic French Boule 

yield: 1 loaf of bread
  
    3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 3/4 tsp salt

  1/2 tsp highly active, "rapid-rise" yeast

1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and yeast.  Add water and mix until combined. It will be messy and more than a little unmanageable. 

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Don't knead the dough; simply shape it into a ball. Place the ball of dough on a piece of parchment. The parchment will make transferring the dough and removing the finished bread very easy. Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating. 

Remove hot pot from the oven and transfer the dough and parchment to the dutch oven. If the parchment hangs outside the lid, that's perfectly fine.  Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. 

Notes:

• Variations abound with this recipe. Plain is perfectly fine on its own, but it's fun to experiment.
• Rosemary Garlic: Add 1 tbsp of chopped, fresh rosemary and two cloves of minced garlic and you have a delicious, savory bread that's delicious with dinner.
• Cranberry Orange: Add 1 tbsp sugar, 1 cup dried cranberries, and the zest of one organic orange to the flour for a fruity bread that tastes delicious spread with lemon curd or toasted and eaten quickly while still hot.
• Honey Whole Wheat: use 3 cups of white whole wheat pastry flour (King Arthur brand worked wonderfully) and add 1.5 tbsp of honey to the water when you mix the ingredients together.
• Rye: use 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup white whole wheat, and 1 cup rye flour. Add 1 tbsp caraway seeds with flour, salt, and yeast. (You can totally just use Rye and all-purpose flour too, I just happened to have white whole wheat and thought it worked out really well).

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Pumpkin is very much like beans, tomatoes (for some uses), and corn: I have no problem using the canned version of this product because either it is out of season or, if it is in season, using it in its freshest form requires a labor-intesive process for relatively little return. Canned pumpkin is one of my pantry staples, and this is perhaps one of the most delicious and common ways I use it: pumpkin pie oatmeal.

Don't let the list of spices sound daunting. If you have pumpkin pie spice on hand, simply use 1 1/2 tbsp of it. Or frankly, you can simply use cinnamon in a pinch. 

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

yield: 4 servings

   1 15-oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

   3 cups water

     pinch of salt

   1 cup steel-cut oats 

 1/4 cup brown sugar, plus more to taste

   1 tbsp cinnamon

 1/2 tsp ginger

 1/4 tsp nutmeg

 1/4 tsp cloves

 1/4 tsp allspice

Open the can of pumpkin and, using a rubber spatula, spread it onto 4 paper towels that are folded over. Layer more paper towels to draw out some of the moisture from the pumpkin. The goal is to remove some, not all, of the moisture. Trust me, it won't stick to the paper towels and it won't add unnecessary liquid to the final product.

Bring 3 cups of water and salt to a boil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add the oats, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 5-7 minutes until liquid is absorbed, stirring regularly. Remove from heat.

Add in the desiccated pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices. Test for sweetness and add brown sugar by the tablespoon until you've reached the desired sweetness.