What's the Holdup, Sis?

This is mostly just so my mom and sister can see this amazing follow-up to the first Sweet Secrets commercial I posted, but I think you can all enjoy this brush that turns into a bed on SOME level - RIGHT?

I'm thinking this might turn into a series because I have been laughing about Kitchen Littles all day. Particularly the first line (maybe the only line) of the jingle that goes "just like Mom's only little...KITCHEN LITTLES!"

Fat Galaxy

Two weeks ago I was asked to create some sort of sweet treat for a co-worker's birthday. Wanting to make it kind of a personal endeavor I tried to figure out how I could incorporate all the things I know that he likes. The list is short:
Star Trek/Battlestar Galactica, caffeine, PHP programming, and candy.

At least there are a couple of things in there that I could use. With the help of the lady who writes this blog I decided to make....

Milky Way Cupcakes (get it???) - Makes 24, adapted from Kelly's Pink Apron, Adapted from Buttercup Bakes at Home

For the cupcakes:
5 or 6 2.05 oz (regular sized) classic Milky Way candy bars, cut up
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 tablespoons milk
20 or so ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons or more depending on your affection for nougat
3 cups (or slightly more) confectioners' sugar

Garnish:
Little piece of Milky Way bar for each cupcake.

Special equipment:
Piping bag

My favorite part of this recipe is the very first step: melt a stick of butter in with the candy bars.


Next, in a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda, powder, and salt.

Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and the remaining stick of the butter on medium speed of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Be careful not to overmix.

Stir in the melted candy (which should still be warm) and mix until marbleized.

Spoon the batter into the cups to about two-thirds full.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

For the frosting, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the milk slowly and blend until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and beat well. Add the vanilla and beat another minute or so. Gradually add the sugar to taste and beat until of desired consistency. Frost cupcakes once cool.

Load the frosting into your piping bag and with an even steady hand, squeeze out line of frosting around the perimeter of the cupcake and work your way inward in an elliptical motion so as to mimic the shape of a GALAXY.



You can do this recipe with really any chocolate candy bar. These were overall too sweet for my taste and very, very messy. But people at work liked them.

Off the Record

This is obviously in no way related to cooking or baking but today some of my co-workers stumbled upon a site called Ghost of the Doll. I am endlessly grateful that it brought me back to one of my best beloved toys: KEYPERS. If you were a girl in the 1980s, you probably had one of these. They made ladybugs, snails, kangaroos, penguins, and most importantly, swans, that had secret compartments somewhere on their body that you could store stuff in and lock up with a plastic key. My friend Sara noted that a lot of little girl toys of that era involved some sort of deception or concealment. I guess that's what little girls like but even so these are just....well read the premise

Really? No one at the toy store wanted a kitten but they DID want a parrot? A parrot with paws? A parrot with paws that is clearly a cat? These toys also purr when you hug them.

Anyway the KEYPER that I had was a swan. This swan.

The only thing left to say after that is this

Thanks for reminding me again and again how beautiful my jewelry is Dad!
It's true that this ENORMOUS hair clip that folds out into a baby is so discreet, you would never know that it's hair clip that folds out into a baby.

Dads don't know anything.

Berries for Sal

A bug has been going around my office.

I have been feeling it a little bit too but I thought I would be nice and bring some baked treats for people to have with coffee this AM. Unfortunately, Sara already had the idea to bring in doughnut holes from Sarah Jane's bakery so no one really wants a muffin.

That's cool, I had to do SOMEthing with my blackberries anyway.

Cardamom Muffins with Blackberries and Almond - Makes 12

Sift together in your dry ingredient bowl:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
roughly a teaspoon of freshly ground green cardamom pods

Whisk together in your wet ingredient bowl:
2 whole large eggs
1 cup milk
between 4-6 tablespoons of melted butter depending on WHEN you will be eating these. If you plan to serve them right out of the oven, you can use just 4 tablespoons of butter or vegetable oil. If you plan to serve them the day after, add an additional two tablespoons to ensure they won't be dry.
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of sour cream (optional)

In two shifts, add wet ingredients to dry ingredients being VERY CAREFUL to not overmix. Muffins will be tough, dry, and "tunneled" if you try to beat the batter until it's smooth. Muffin batter should be a little lumpy.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and fill muffin cups a little less than 2/3 full of batter. Place about a tablespoon of roughly chopped fresh blackberries (or whatever you have - and you can leave them whole, depending on the size of the berry), in the middle of the cup and then cover with an additional spoonful of batter. If you add berries to the batter in the way you would add chocolate chips to cookie dough, you will end up with greyish muffins. Truly unappetizing.

Sprinkle the very top of the muffin with raw slivered almonds and cardamom sugar.

Bake about 25 minutes. Take an Airborne.