I Totally Scored.....

On this sweet purse.  Sicko.....

30% off at the "Black Friday in Canada" sale.

Check out the gorgeous lining.

I'm kind of jealous of myself.

Cupcakes A to Z: Apple Pie Cupcakes

They say there is nothing as American as apple pie.  And even though I'm a Canadian, I still love apple pie. 

The same day as the Lobster Soup, I made Apple Pie Cupcakes.  And I couldn't decide so I made two versions.

Let me start by saying that I HATE peeling apples.  Especially after I proceeding to ram a serrated paring knife into my palm, which was really fun by the way.  If, in the future, I'm ever making apple pie and applesauce in large quantities, I'm totally getting one of those do-hickeys that you stick the apple on a skewer and turn a handle and there's a little peeler thingy.  Totally getting one of those.

Yeah - one of these.  I love tools.  Especially funky ones that have only one use.  But maybe one that peels only.

My Dad says that "it's not a project until someone bleeds".  Yeah - I bled for these cupcakes - that's how committed I am people.  I'm seriously not messing around here.

Anyway. 

So the first version is a cupcake with cinnamon in it, cooked apples baked onto the top, and a cinnamon buttercream.

The second version is a vanilla cupcake with cooked apples in a cut-out and a vanilla buttercream.  I was really excited about this one because it was my very first "cored" cupcake.

I started out by doing both sets of apples so they'd be just ready to go as soon as the cupcake were.

Peeled and blood free.



Apples for Version 1

Apples for Version 2



All the junk for Version 1.  Um.  I kinda noticed that the yolks were two different colors.  I'm sure they're fine.  But that's weird right?  I'm not the only one thinking that?

 During the first version of these cupcakes, I accidentally sifted the sugar with the flour and the cinnamon.  I knew something was weird, but didn't discover what I'd done until I put the butter in the mixer.  Oops.  And it totally didn't help that my Mom called and I was busy talking to her instead of paying attention to what I was doing.  After I stuck the cupcakes in the oven I turned around and realized I forgot to put the apples on top.  But the cupcakes had only been in for like 30 seconds, so I ripped them out and topped them with the apples and put them back in.

Rescued from the oven and properly topped.

The recipe says to bake at 325F for 15-20 minutes, but they were in for quite a bit longer than that (like 25 minutes or so), and I'm slightly concerned that there's one floating around that's not totally cooked.  Gak.

Version 1 "baked"

Then top with a smooth and decadent cinnamon buttercream.  I kind of loved the cinnamon buttercream.  It tasted great, but the little flecks of cinnamon upped the cute quotient a whole bunch.

See the cinnamon speckles?  Cute right?

I did think that the cupcake was a little dry - but that's to be expected because it was in the oven for so freaking long.  And the frosting kind of slid around on the apples when I bit into them so I had to be a little careful to not drop it all over myself.

In the second version, you bake a vanilla cupcake and then cut a core out of it.

All the fixin's to make Version 2.  At least those two egg yolks are the same color.  Freak out factor is much smaller.

After the cupcakes are cored, you fill those empty wells with apples that were cooked in cinnamon and sugar.

Coring the cupcakes.  That's the dirty rotten scoundrel knife that "got" me earlier.  I'm keeping my eyes on that one.

All the cupcakes cored and filled.

Then you top with a vanilla buttercream.  I wanted to hide the apples so it was kind of like getting a little surprise!

What's with the weird lighting in this picture?  Oh well - here's a yummy treat.  Try not to jam it down your throat all at once.

And it was really delicious - you got all the lovely vanilla and the you got the burst of apple and cinnamon.  Yum, yum, yum.

So I was wondering, what if I put the cinnamon frosting on the version two cupcake?  But, I do think it might be a little too much cinnamon.

I guess if I had to choose, I would choose version two.

Once I had an apple pie that had maple syrup baked into the crust.  It was dang delightful.  I bet the apple filling would be awesome baked into a maple cupcake and topped with vanilla frosting.

Oh - and just so you know.  Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 was SO FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!

This is the Cane Girl - signing off.

Lobster Soup

On a very, very cold (-25 degrees C) Sunday, my Dad stopped by before heading back to Calgary.  I knew he would be coming, so I planned to make a lobster soup.

The stars of the show - 'cept for the cream because apparently he partied all night long and could not be reached.  And never mind the dirty dishcloths.  And the two apples peeking out from behind the milk - they were for later.

The only thing I have to say is that I was completely distracted with trying to entertain him, and there are only a couple of pictures.  And I forgot one of the ingredients....  I had hoped he would show up a little later than he actually did and that the soup would be simmering by the time he got to my house, but - the best laid plans never work out the way they should.

But before I start, I need to backtrack a little bit.  This recipe calls for celery flakes.  And I SCOURED my grocery store looking for celery flakes.  I know that McCormick's carries it cause I saw it on their website, and I'm sure it's available in the States, but not here in Canada.  And I didn't want to leave it out or substitute, so I googled celery flakes when I got home.

Turns out, it's pretty simple to do.  Strip some of the leaves of a bunch of celery, rinse them up, pat dry, and toss on a baking sheet and into the oven at 180 degrees F for a few hours or until the leaves are crispy.  I'm not gonna lie - they smelled GREAT!  And it's just CELERY.  The leaves smelled earthy and peppery and I was really excited to use them.

Fresh and ready to go in the oven.

Dried and crushed celery leaves.  Now - celery flakes!

Have you ever made a roux?  Just flour and butter and cook it a little while, and mix in milk or whatever and it helps the soup (or whatever) thicken.  And I think the "make a roux" - if you don't know how - can really freak a person out.  You'll see that in the recipe, it doesn't SAY "make a roux with the flour and butter".  Which I think in some small way helped me because I wasn't intimidated, I didn't think about it, I just did it.  And it WORKED.

The makings of a roux.  How fancy schmancy am I?

So you melt the butter, stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and celery flakes into the butter until well mixed.  I used about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper.  Or maybe it was an 1/8.  Now I can't remember, because the recipe just said to taste - so I just eyeballed it.  I actually thought I'd wrecked it, but I knew there was still a lot of liquid to go in, so I didn't worry about it.

Then you slowly pour in the milk and chicken broth.  I let this heat up a little bit until it started to steam and then added the lobster, onion, and parsley.  The instructions are to let it cook for about 10 minutes, but I let it lightly simmer for about 1/2 an hour - I would have liked to let it go longer, but I really didn't have time. 

I'm calling this picture "Distracted".  Because that's what I was.

After it had simmered for a little while, I took out a whole bunch of it and pureed it in the blender.  The recipe doesn't say to do this, but I thought it would be fun.  Now, I kinda wish that I had pureed a lot less - maybe less than half of the batch.  Then I added it backed to the pot and let it come to heat again.

Just before you serve, you're supposed to add cream and reheat - but I forgot.  And it was still REALLY good!

My Dad proceeded to have two bowls, even though he "ate a whole bunch of fruit at Cora's at breakfast and was stuffed".  And after he took one bite, he looked at me and said - "do you know what we're missing?"  And I knew exactly what he was going to say.  Buns.  Actually, this would be awesome in a bread bowl.

A scraped clean bowl for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy.

I have just enough for dinner tonight, so if you're feeding a few people I would make the whole recipe as it states.  As it was I halved this recipe.

Also, the recipe says to cook everything over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  If you like crunchy onions that's fine, but if you want soft onions you might want to cook them in a little butter for a few minutes and then add them to the soup.

And I have a confession - I used FAKE lobster.  Real lobster is EXPENSIVE as all get out in the Prairies and usually frozen (ick).  So fake it had to be.  Don't judge me.

As written - the recipe is really great - the celery flakes imparted that earthy peppery flavour without being too much. 

Who's scoffing NOW Mom?

This is the Cane Girl - signing off.

Boiled Raisin Cake

So, we're all sitting in the office one day and one of the guys I work with turns to me and says:

Guy: "You should Google Boiled Raisin Cake."
Me: "Is that a joke?"
Guy: "No, just Google it."
Me: "Are you sure it's not something dirty?"
Guy: "No, it's my favorite cake.  Just Google it."
Me:  "If it's something dirty I'm gonna be really mad."
Guy: "Just Google."

Just to be on the safe side, I put "Recipe" in front of "Boiled Raisin Cake". 

And it turns out it's an actual thing and not a cruel joke.  I found a recipe on Allrecipes that I thought should work.  I also looked up Guy's birthday in our files and conveniently he mentioned this cake a week before his birthday.

Coincidence?

Here's the sitch.

You boil some raisins in water, then add it to a mixture of flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.

Guess I shoulda taken this picture BEFORE it started to boil

And then you're supposed to pour it into a 9x13 pan and bake for 1 hour.  Well, my mixture didn't pour.  It was more the consistency of cookie dough.  So I spread it in the pan and baked away.

It probably could have been taken out of the oven up to 10 minutes before it was done.  The edges were rock hard and the top was pretty crusty - which I don't think is the point.

Obviously - I can't give it away, especially to Guy At Work.  I'd never live it down.  In the garbage it went.

Although I think it might have been a mistake on my end.  Remember how I told you that my pots get really really hot?  I think I should have reduced the heat on the burner and boiled the raisins at a lower temperature.  Because there should have been some liquid left.  So - I don't think it was the recipe's fault

Also - I really love Allrecipes, but I feel like there's essential information missing sometimes.  And you can't contact the recipe submitter and ask questions.  Like this recipe - maybe it should have mentioned that there should be some liquid left in the raisins, just reduced.  I don't know.  I'm starting to like the bloggers I follow more and more for that particular reason!

So, on my last day off, I started over - not typically something I'd do.  But I seriously need a win - after my failed attempt at Angel Food Cupcakes, the gross-bland soup, not being able to taste the Amaretto in that buttercream, and turning a cake into a rock.

I searched on foodblogsearch.com and a recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker came up.... And I thought, "why the heck not".  I follow Michelle's blog and I have yet to make something that she's posted - so that was going to be the day.

And I even had 1 1/2 cups of raisins....  I'm so glad I got extra the morning before I made this.  And when I got back home - I realized that I forgot to pick up vegetable oil.  So I had to go BACK to the grocery store the NEXT morning.

It was starting to be ridiculous.

So, in the afternoon - I started all over again.

I have decided that the reason people were skinny in the olden days is because making baked goods was a giant pain in the butt and people didn't do it very much.  Stirring thick batters and whipping meringue's is the stuff of nightmares.  I can imagine that women before the invention of the electric mixer had fantastic arm strength.  That said - if you know who invented the electric mixer, let me know - I would love to send that person flowers.  Okay - that person is probably no longer around, but my point is, mixing things by hand SUCKS.  That's 100% of the reason I didn't bake before I got a few key tools.  I will say again that I'm not lazy, but I don't have the patience for it.

Sorry about that little segue.  But everything was done by hand and I've discovered muscles that I never knew existed, or maybe just forgot about.

Anyway - back to Michelle's recipe.  She said that she came across the recipe in her Grandmother's files and her Aunt also used to make this cake all the time - old school - should be good.

Same idea as the recipe before, but add in two eggs, reduce the spices, and a few other changes.

Bake to a deep golden brown and let cool to room temperature.

I will admit - this one smelled so so much better than the previous.

And the result? 

I'm pretty sure this picture is from the "garbage" batch.  But - for my own sanity, let's pretend it was the good one.

Mmmmm - moist and chewy with a little bit of a crust.  I was totally surprised.  I completely expected it to be something I wouldn't like - but I did!  Though honestly I wouldn't make it all the time for myself.

And - incredibly terrified I presented Guy with a container full of Boiled Raisin Cake.  And he smiled and the next day told me that my cake was pretty good - he ate two pieces of it the night before.  And continued to eat it even though he was sick and couldn't taste anything anyway.

So - Happy Birthday to the guy I work with!  I'm glad you liked your cake!


This is the Cane Girl - signing off.