Remembering our troops - care package time again

It's Thanksgiving week and and one of the reasons Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday is it's a palpable reminder to express gratitude.  For me, I truly feel gratitude not only when I express it but when I share it as a means of that expression.  Sometimes it's sharing of positive thought and emotions, spreading happiness by being happy.  Other times it's a more tangible expression.  And this week, in thinking of our military personnel being away from their homes and families during the holidays, I wanted to do my own small part to help and express my gratitude for their service.

In the past I've used organizations like adoptasolider.org to send in donations and packages or else I've asked friends who had family and friends in the military what they would like and where I can send a package.  This year, I asked an online friend, Madeline, from my fitness forum who has a son in the military what items he and his unit would like and where I can send a package to him.  She thought it was nice of me but I'm not doing it to be nice.  In all honesty, I thought it was literally the least I could do and little enough in light of what he and our troops were doing for me.  This is just an expression of gratitude.
 
I've blogged before about care package tips to friends and to my college-age nieces.  This is a different sort of post because sending care packages to military personnel requires different items and packaging tips.

First of all, to preserve their safety, you're not likely to know exactly where your care package is going or what the conditions will be like in that part of the world.  So you don't know if it'll be blazing hot, freezing cold, humid,  or arid.  That means the items you send have to withstand any type of temperature.  Unfortunately that likely means no chocolate candy as it potentially could be a melted mess if it's going to a hot climate.  Send hard candies or non-meltables like Skittles, Jolly Ranchers, Sweettarts, etc.  If you send packaged food items with items like soaps, be sure to wrap each separately and buffer them with other items between the two.  Do not send perfumed soaps.  In very hot climates, the perfume will permeate everything else in the box and potentially ruin the food.  To be safe, seal them separately in ziploc bags, especially anything like liquid soap which could leak or burst out of its container.

Second, you don't know how long your package is going to take to reach its destination.  So everything you send must either be non-perishable or at least have a long shelf life.  Beef jerky is an often-requested item from our troops and should be able to withstand the journey.  Same with coffee and tea.

Package items closely so things move as little as possible

Third, safety of our troops is paramount so that means there are things you absolutely cannot send.  In more innocuous care packages, I thrive on sending the stuff I've baked.  Can't do that with a military care package.  While I know there's nothing harmful in my baked goods (except an excess of calories), the military recipients don't know that.  Just like you can no longer hand out homemade goods to trick or treating kids on Halloween night and can/should only hand out packaged candies and the like, only sealed, packaged food should be sent in a military care package.

Fourth, remember the contents of your care package are more than likely going to be shared within the unit.  Try to send individually packaged items or items that can be easily shared.  And remember women serve in the military as well so don't be shy about sending "feminine" stuff.

Lastly, in the US, the Post Office has flat rate priority mail packaging expressly meant for military care packages.  You can fit as many items as possible and pay only the flat rate, no matter how heavy it is.  See here for the guidelines, restrictions and rates on sending to an APO/FPO/DPO address.  As with any package, tape it securely and write the address legibly.  And whatever else you put in the package, don't forget a note to thank them for their service and that you're thinking of them.  I know I can safely enjoy my Thanksgiving with family and friends at home because of where they are and what they're doing.  And I appreciate and am grateful for that.

Happy Thanksgiving (week)!

The brownie version of Texas Fudge Cake

Essence of Chocolate Squares - made November 14, 2011 from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson

Have you ever had Texas Fudge Cake?  There are probably other names for it but it's essentially a chocolate sheet cake that's covered with chocolate frosting while it's still warm so the frosting melts into the cake then sets into a fudgy layer over the cake when it cools.  If you're a chocolate cake lover, it's a must-consume.  This is the brownie version of a Texas Fudge Cake.  And if you're a brownie lover or a fudge lover, I would argue this is even better than Texas Fudge Cake (ducking the cake lovers).  As you can see from the picture, the frosting melts into the cake and sets into what is essentially a layer of fudge on top.  Not "frosting" but "fudge".  This is pure unadulterated chocolate.  The brownies are moist and fudgy and the frosting is...well, to repeat, fudge.  Cut the pieces small as they're pretty rich and use a dark chocolate.  Otherwise it'll be too sweet.

I've made these before and blogged about them before so click on the title to go to the original blog post and the recipe.  Like I've said earlier, this isn't the time of year that I do a lot of experimentation so I may be revisiting and re-posting some earlier favorites.  This one is definitely a favorite and is already packaged up and sitting in my freezer waiting to go out in the next care packages or goodie bags I'm giving away.

Baking ahead

Now that you have a fully stocked pantry with all the baking ingredients you need, it's time to plan your actual baking and do as much ahead of time as you can.  Making things ahead of time alleviates stress and eliminates or minimizes wondering how you're going to get everything done in a compressed timeframe.

First, plan what you're going to make.  While I do a lot more baking during the holidays, I rarely try out new recipes unless I'm extremely confident they'll turn out.  Because I have too much to bake and too little time so I can't afford to have a recipe experiment flop and leave me without anything to bring a party or give to friends at get togethers.  Experimentation is for the rest of the year.  Holiday baking comes with a mission and nothing can jeopardize it.  Besides which, oftentimes, my friends know I'm giving them a baked gift and have specific requests of their favorites which I'm happy to accommodate.  After all, the gift is about the recipient, not the giver so my recipe ADD has to be set aside during the holidays.

Second, once you know what you're going to make, do as much ahead of time as possible.  Cookies are the best example.  Make your cookie dough(s) ahead of time, portion them out into individual cookie-dough balls and put them in ziploc freezer bags marked with the name, baking temp and time then place them in your freezer.  Or roll the cookie dough into logs, wrap wax paper and saran wrap and freeze them for slicing later.  Some people like to bake the cookie dough first and freeze the baked cookies as their time saver.  I have to admit, I'm not a fan of that.  I'm a super stickler for freshness and to me, a freshly baked cookie is better than a freshly thawed cookie.  Plus you don't have to worry about the cookies crumbling when you freeze, store and thaw them.  Cookie dough, if it crumbles, can be squished back together before baking and no one will ever be able to tell once they're baked.  You also have to remember that once you give away your cookies, you don't know how long it takes your recipient to eat them so if you had baked them beforehand, froze them, thawed them then gave them away, that's a long life you expect the cookies to have and most cookies have a shorter freshness lifespan than that.  It's better to freeze the dough and have it ready for last-minute baking and giving.

Cookie doughs that freeze well:
Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookies
Super Sugar Sparkles
Peanut Butter Fudge Cookies
Brown Butter Cookies

Brownies and bar cookies, on the other hand, (depending on the recipe), can easily be baked ahead of time and then frozen without their freshness being materially jeopardized.  What I like to do with brownies I'm giving away in individual care packages or gift bags is bake the brownies, let them cool, cut them into individual pieces then package them up, two squares to a package, wrapped in plastic wrap then put in freezer bags and stored in the freezer, marked with what kind of brownie they are.  If I bake enough in advance, when it comes time to put together the gift bags or care packages, I have an assortment of brownies to choose from and give away.  It's always nice for your recipients to get a variety.  If I'm taking brownies to a party or potluck, after they've baked and cooled, I'll wrap the whole thing without cutting it and freeze it whole.  When it's party time, I let it thaw then cut the brownies and arrange them on a nice plate.  Unless you're going to wrap each individual piece, it's best to leave the brownies uncut so the edges don't dry out.

Almost all brownies freeze well - here are just couple of examples:
Peanut Butter Surprise Bars
Nutella Crunch Brownies

I rarely freeze cakes.  The light, cakey texture I like in most of my cakes don't tend to freeze well or else if their flavor doesn't suffer from being frozen, sometimes their texture does.  The only exceptions are pound cakes which are a dense enough texture to freeze well and basque cake.  I love basque cake and I make them as individual-sized cakes which are the right size for giving away.  If you do freeze cakes, please freeze them unfrosted (make the frosting at the last minute) and wrap the cakes well.  Keep all frozen baked goods from odorous items in your freezer.  Don't cozy up even your most well-wrapped baked goods next to that package of frozen fish or overripe bananas or else the odors and flavors could permeate your baked goods.

Pumpkin Caramel Cake

Ooey Gooey Caramel Pumpkin Blondies - from Eat Cake for Dinner blog, linked from Sweets for a Saturday #41 made November 12, 2011

I discovered this on Sweets for Saturday, a link party hosted by Lisa that I usually participate in. The picture was enough to lure me to click on the link and go to Jenn's Eat Cake for Dinner blog. I'm so glad I did because this cake was scrumptious. Totally high calories but totally worth it, especially if you like pumpkin or caramel or both. Normally, when I try a recipe from someone else's blog, I link back to it so you have to go to that blog to get the recipe. That seems like good blogging etiquette to drive traffic to their blog.  However, I did make a couple of modifications to Jenn's version so I'm listing my changes and the modified recipe below. Please do visit her blog though to get the original recipe (you might like her version better) and check out her other delicious creations. I'm also taking the liberty of renaming her confection as mine turned out more like a cake than a typical blondie.

The main change I made from Jenn's version is I think it would be better if the bottom layer of batter was initially baked for a few minutes first.  When you have a caramel layer in the middle, the bottom layer tends to soak in the caramel without fully baking.  To keep the bottom from being overly moist, I recommend giving it a bit of a head start in baking.  I didn't do that and ended up having to put this back in for a second baking, even though the toothpick taste came out clean the first time.  The bottom was still too moist.  I also omitted any kind of nuts in the caramel-chocolate chip layer since I prefer cakes without them if they're mixed into the cake (as opposed to staying crisp on top).

This is one of the few confections that I prefer at room temperature rather than eaten warm.  When it was warm, it was a little too mushy/gooey for me.  When it was at room temperature, you can taste the pumpkin and cinnamon flavors better.  In fact, I think this was actually better the next day when the flavors had time to develop and meld together.  The texture was also more set; it was moist without being overly gooey.  Just general overall deliciousness - thanks Jenn!
 

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 extra large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (11 oz) package caramel bits

1/4 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 9x13 inch pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.  
2. Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add eggs, vanilla and pumpkin puree and blend until combined.  Slowly add cinnamon, flour, soda and salt.  Spread about 1/2 of the batter into pan evenly and bake for 6-8 minutes.  While it's baking, melt caramel bits and milk in a small saucepan until smooth, stirring constantly.
3. Remove baking pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Pour caramel evenly over chocolate chips.  Dot remaining batter over top and spread dollops out with a small spatula, gently covering as much of the caramel as possible.  Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  It might have caramel on it, but it shouldn't have cake batter.
4. Serve warm (might get oozing caramel) or cool completely.  Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.  

Stocking up the Baker's Pantry

Thanksgiving is next week!  Despite my being a Christmas fiend, Thankgiving is actually my favorite holiday, bar none.  It honors gratitude and if you're very fortunate, gets your friends and family together for celebration and formally remembering to give thanks for all of our blessings.  I love this time of year.  It can be stressful if you let it because of all the myriad of things involved in holiday celebrations but to me, if I get stressed over the holidays, I'm missing the point of them and the true spirit of celebrating them.

One thing I've learned over the years is to minimize the usual stressors.  This can be done by planning ahead.  As any Type A personality can tell you, there's much you can do to manage a long to-do list by thinking through what you truly need to do (as opposed to the want-to-get-done list) and giving yourself enough lead time to accomplish it.  Interspersed with baking posts over the next month, I hope to also put up some tips and tricks for getting through the holidays stress-free.  Ironically though, I'm late in putting up this kind of post since it's been so busy but that doesn't mean I haven't been preparing, just that I haven't written about it.

First up for any baker: stock your pantry early.  The last thing you want is to be in a frenzy, baking for a family celebration, hosting a dinner party, attending a holiday party, going to a company potluck, etc and realize you're out of a critical ingredient at an inopportune time.  If you're truly organized, you'd plan ahead what you want to cook and/or bake, make out an ingredient list and buy everything ahead of time.  If you're the more normal kind of person and not quite that anal-retentive, never fear, you don't have to be that far-thinking.  But you can and should stock up on some staples.  Here is what the typical baker should always have on hand for marathon baking sessions well ahead of time - these are what I consider the "base staples":

• Unsalted butter (Costco has them the cheapest in my area in four 1-lb packs)
• Large or extra large eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar (light and dark)
• Powdered sugar
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Vanilla extract (I buy this in "bulk" here)
• Cake flour
• Unsweetened baking chocolate
• Bittersweet or semisweet baking chocolate
• Unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Pernigotti from Williams Sonoma)
• Chocolate chips (semisweet, milk, white, mini, chunks - your choice/preference)

Many of the above go on sale at this time of year so be on the lookout and stock up when the prices drop.  I've bought 50 lbs of flour at one go when the 5-lb bags went on sale for $1.50 each.  Then I went back and bought 20 more lbs.  I bake enough that I know I'll use them well before the expiration date and that was the cheapest they've been in awhile.  Yes, I'm a baking ingredient hoarder.

Depending on what you like to make or flavors you want to use, I also suggest having on hand:

• Peanut butter, creamy and/or chunky - your preference
• Nutella
• Red food coloring (for red velvet-type confections)
• Lemons
• Cream cheese
• Cinnamon
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Marshamallows
• Rice Krispies (for rice krispie treats and nutella crunch topping)
• Nuts if you bake with them - they can be stored in the freezer until you're ready to use them
• Caramel
• Dulce de leche

More perishable with a shorter shelf life so you don't want to buy these too early but you should have a good sense of when you need them and purchase them accordingly:

• Whole milk
• Buttermilk
• Heavy cream (skip the half and half - you can use half whole milk and half heavy cream for any recipe that calls for it)
• Sour cream

Of course, the above isn't an exhaustive list and you may still need to make a last-minute grocery run when you need something for a particular recipe but if you have most of the above, there are many, many things you can whip up at a moment's notice right out of your pantry.  The added advantage of having a fully stocked baking pantry ahead of your holiday baking is you can avoid the long lines at the grocery store or Costco as holiday time nears and it fills up with people doing their last-minute shopping.  Not to mention you can spread out the cost so it doesn't run up against your Christmas gift-buying budget.

Lastly, if you plan to make any banana-flavored items, you should be buying the ripest bananas you can find now/yesterday so you can give them time to overripen.  If they turn black before you actually need them, just peel them and put the bananas in the freezer in a ziploc freezer bag.  Then when you need them for baking, you already have them ready to thaw and use.

Caramel Coconut Brownies with Oreo Crust - Take 3

Double Chocolate Brownies with Fudge Sauce - made November 7, 2011 from Chocolate Box by Linda Doeser (book #175)

Your eyes aren't deceiving you - the picture of these brownies don't match the original title of the recipe.  That's because I only used the brownie recipe part to make the top layer of the oreo caramel coconut brownies again.  I wasn't going to make this kind of brownie again but I had some coworkers in town last week and one requested that brownie.  To further my baking challenge along, I semi-cheated and just chose a random brownie recipe to make it again.  As mentioned before, I have recipe ADD: it's hard for me to make the same recipe twice unless it's a family or friend favorite when I could be trying out more new recipes. 

In any case, I think I've got the hang of these triple-layered brownies now so nothing really new or revolutionary to report on them.  I am, however, also getting sick of Oreos now so I may give these a rest.  But I did list the original recipe below as is in case anyone wants to try making them as the cookbook author intended. 

I was too busy last week to really bake much so I have to get myself in gear.  Holiday baking is coming up and that's my busiest baking season.  Not only do I bake for family gatherings but also when I go out with friends, attend parties and send care packages.  LOTS to bake.  More to come in the next few weeks....

½ cup unsalted butter

4 ounces/115 grams semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1 1/3 cups superfine sugar

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

½ cup white chocolate chips

Fudge Sauce

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup superfine sugar

2/3 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup corn syrup

7 ounces/200 grams semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1.     Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Grease and line a 7-inch/18-cm square cake pan with parchment paper.  Place the butter and chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted.  Stir until smooth.  Let cool slightly.  Stir in the sugar, salt, and vanilla extract.  Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well, until blended.

2.    Sift the flour and unsweetened cocoa into the cake batter and beat until smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips, then pour the batter into the pan.  Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is evenly colored and a skewer inserted into the center comes out almost clean.  Let cool slightly while preparing the sauce.

3.    To make the sauce, place the butter, sugar, milk, cream, and corn syrup in a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to a boil and stir for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is caramel-colored.  Remove from the heat and add the chocolate.  Stir until smooth.  Cut the brownies into large or small squares and serve immediately with the sauce.

Wedding in Winnipeg

You know it's been busy when I've barely baked and haven't blogged in over a week.  I was gone for a few days at my cousin's wedding in Winnipeg last weekend.  It was fun to have a mini family reunion with some of my relatives and I'm glad to have been able to be a part of the wedding festivities.  Her dress was gorgeous:

Being food-obsessed, I took almost as many pictures of the food as I did of the family and the wedding activities.

Mini quiches and stuffed mushrooms were 2 of the appetizers

Followed by mushroom soup

One of the entrees was beef tenderloin with scalloped potatoes and veggies

Dessert was "Flight of Mousse"

And of course the beautiful wedding cake - Red Velvet

 Congratulations to Romina and Nick!  Thanks for a beautiful wedding!

Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Coffee Cake - made October 29, 2011 from Crazy for Crust's blog

I think I've mentioned before that one of the things I enjoy about blogging is getting exposed to all the other foodie blogs out there.  Unfortunately I can't follow them all and even the ones I do follow, I don't always have time to read all the entries.  But when I'm lucky, I have the right timing to not only catch up on some of the blogs but also catch a yummy-sounding and looking recipe like this one from Crazy for Crust.  Dorothy has an awesome blog and I encourage you to check it out for not only some delicious goodies but also some very clever and creative concoctions.  When I saw this one for Pumpkin Coffee Cake (click on the blog title to go to the original recipe on Dorothy's blog), it looked too good to pass up.  I still had leftover pumpkin puree from the Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes and just enough milk that the recipe called for.  Plus I love streusel and coffee cake so it was a no-brainer to try this out.

I've learned to trust Dorothy's recommendations as she and I seem to have similar tastes.  This was validated by this recipe.  She loved this one and so did I.  It was super easy to make and turned out really well.  The cake is moist and the streusel on top crisped up to provide a nice contrast to the soft texture of the cake.  The only thing  I changed is I didn't have pumpkin pie spice so I substituted cinnamon instead.  Still turned out great - thanks, Dorothy!

Lemon Chess Bars

Lemon Chess Bars - made October 26, 2011 from The Cake Mix Bible from Publications International (book #174)

I'm getting close to the end of my baking challenge.  I think I have only a couple dozen more books to go.  At this point, I confess, I just want to be done with the thing.  Not really just to lift my self-imposed ban of buying new baking books but also because my enthusiasm for it is flagging.  It was a good idea for awhile and good discipline for me to stick with what I have and to understand I don't have to buy every shiny new object, aka baking book, that catches my eye.  Matter of fact, I'm so overwhelmed with what I already have that my enthusiasm for more baking books has waned a bit.  It's hard to keep being acquisitive when you look at what you've already bought yet rarely use.  I'm all for shopping and I support retail therapy when needed but at the end of the day, it's just so much stuff.  And I know something I buy with such enthusiasm today will likely be a Goodwill donation in the future.  It's just a matter of time until I like something better or do a purging declutter because I get overwhelmed by how much I have.  This isn't a complaint as I'm one of the lucky ones to have that problem.  But it is a factual observation of my patterns of behavior.  Fortunately I've managed to tone down that acquisitive behavior in recent years.  I just still need to purge some of the by-products of that behavior, aka "all this stuff" from past years.

This recipe came from one of those books - something I don't understand now why I bought it, considering I don't really believe in cake mix.  I also don't believe in cream cheese so I'm not sure why I picked this recipe to try, likely because it looked easy and because it seemed like something I would like.  I was wrong.  It was easy enough to put together but I don't really like cream cheese unless there's only a little of it and it's paired with chocolate.  That wasn't the case here.  Other people who like cream cheese might like these bars for the very reason I didn't care for it: tasted too much like cream cheese :).  On to the next recipe and the next cookbook in the challenge.

1 (18.25-ounce) package white or yellow pudding-in-the-mix cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1.    Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.

2.   Combine cake mix, 1 egg and oil in large bowl; stir until crumbly.  Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture.  Press remaining crumb mixture into ungreased 9 x 13-inch cake pan.  Bake 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

3.   Combine remaining egg, cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice in medium bowl; beat until smooth and well blended.  Spread over baked layer.  Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.  Bake 15 minutes.  Cool in pan on wire rack; cut into bars.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes - made October 23, 2011 from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Another recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book, mostly because I had it out and when I was flipping through it and saw the Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcake recipe, I also saw this recipe and wanted to try it as well.  Martha's version called for frosting it with vanilla frosting and dusting it with sugar and cinnamon on top.  I've included the frosting recipe below in case you want to try it Martha's way.  Or you can follow my version to make it a little more snickerdoodle-y.  That is to say, I brushed the top with melted butter then dunked it in a cinnamon sugar mixture, rolling it right around to get that mixture adhering to the melted butter.  YUM.  I liked my way better, not only because I'm not a frosting person but also because the cinnamon sugar topping really makes it more of a snickerdoodle cupcake to me.  The cupcake itself is a nice cinnamon-flavored cupcake, great texture, soft, moist and all a cupcake is meant to be.  But the melted butter-cinnamon-sugar combo really made the cupcake.  The only thing I would do differently next time is make these as mini cupcakes.  They'd be smaller but then you could roll the whole thing in cinnamon sugar rather than just the top for more all-over goodness.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus ½ teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until 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 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months.
4. To finish, combine remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (Ateco #809 or Wilton #1A), pipe frosting on each cupcake. Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon sugar. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners’ sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.