Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Pumpkin Crumb Cake - made November 23, 2014 from Ldylvbgr

Interspersing this with the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts (don't worry, tomorrow's post will be the Day 3 cookie) since I made this earlier and want to get it posted.

If, in the rush of the holidays, you don’t have time to get fancy and want to do an easy but delicious cake, here you go. Making the streusel is the “hardest” part and even that isn’t difficult. Make it first so once you have the cake batter made and spread evenly in the pan, you can just drop the streusel over it. Try squeezing the streusel into big clumps with your hands then breaking the clumps into chunks before dropping it on top of the cake batter. I’ve always preferred chunky streusel to streusel dust.

The original directions say to bake this for 55 minutes so I thought I would be safe if I popped it into the oven and went to do a 30-minute workout. I swear I was only gone for 35 minutes, 40 max (hey, I had to cool down and wipe the sweat off), but when I did the toothpick test on the cake, the toothpick came out clean which was panic time as I thought I had overbaked it. 55 minutes, my left eye. Fortunately, it turns out I had baked it just right because once the cake had cooled and I tried a piece, the texture was soft and fluffy like a good little cake and was still moist. Score. I also liked the streusel crumb topping although next time I think I would add a bit more butter and brown sugar just to make more topping. Because you can’t have too much streusel.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
2. To make the topping, combine 2/3 cup oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in processor. Add butter and cut in until crumbly. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons oats. Set aside. 
3. Sift the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. 
4. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar and 1 egg at a time. Add the pumpkin and vanilla extract to the wet batter mix. 
5. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the batter. Slowly add the milk and stir in the walnuts, if using. 
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread with the topping. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes (check at 40 minutes and every 5 minutes after that). 
7. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a rack and cool completely.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 2: Holiday Caramel Treats

Day 2: Holiday Caramel Treats

There are two things I love about these "cookies" and what makes them suitable for the holidays. First, they're just cute to look at. In a sea of desserts, they stand out both because of the rounded toothpick speared through each one and because they can be garnished as cheerily as you wish, either with red and green sprinkles or, as I prefer, with chopped toasted almonds.

Second, the round cookie balls are easy and quick to make, always a good thing during the holidays when you're likely pressed for time. And lastly (okay, make that three things), if you have little helpers or even big helpers, this can be a multi-person baking project you can all share in and that's part of the fun of the holidays, right? Not just eating the final product but the memories you make in making them together. One person can make the dough, multiple people can roll into balls and the same helpers can spear the toothpicks in, dip into melted caramel and roll in sprinkles or nuts. I originally blogged about these here so please check that post for my original notes. Otherwise, here's the recipe - enjoy.

Cookies

¾ cup butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon liquid maple flavor or almond extract

Dash of salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

48 round wooden toothpicks

Coating

36 caramels, unwrapped

¼ cup milk

1 cup finely chopped peanuts, walnuts or almonds

1.   Heat oven to 350⁰F.  Have baking sheets ready.

2.   To make cookies, beat butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla, maple flavor and salt.  On low speed, gradually beat in flour.  Form dough into forty-eight balls, about 1 inch in diameter.  Place 1 ½” apart on baking sheets.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes until balls are set, but not browned (tops may crack slightly).  Insert a toothpick into center of each.  Cool on wire racks.

3.   To make coating, melt caramels in milk, stirring often.  Keep warm over a pan of hot, not boiling water.  Dip each cookie into the caramel mixture, coating completely and drawing bottom of cookie across edge of pan to remove excess caramel.  Dip bottom of each in chopped nuts.  Place on sheet of wax paper to set.  Store loosely covered; best served within 24 hours.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 1: Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies

Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough November 16, 2014 from The Pinning Mama

Let's kick off December with cookies. Over the next 12 posts (or so), I'm going to blog some of my favorite cookies for the holidays (and often year round). Some will be seasonal suitable for the occasion while others will simply just be great cookies to make for holiday parties, social gatherings, care packages and gifts. Regardless, they're my go-to recipes for the massive amount of baking I do during the holidays. And if you want to know what I mean by massive, here's a picture of the inventory from one of my pantry shelves that I took while I was taking stock to see what I already had and what I still needed (mini chocolate chips in case you were wondering from the picture). Have to get ready for my baking season.

Not pictured: 72-ounce bag of Tollhouse semisweet chocolate chips

As you may know, I’m a sucker for a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. Even though I have at least 3 I love (Bakery-StyleChocolate Chip Cookies, Alton Brown’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and Averie’s Softand Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies), I still keep trying out new recipes. My friend, Annie the Baker, says it’s because I haven’t found the perfect one. I say it’s because I’ve found 3 perfect ones and I still have recipe ADD. Plus any excuse to make chocolate chip cookies…. Even though chocolate chip cookies are not really seasonal like pumpkin pie, gingerbread men, snowflake cookies or anything eggnog, when I unleash my holiday baking extravaganza every December, chocolate chip cookies still rank as a top favorite and request amongst my baked goods recipients. Some things are just timeless. 

I have very picky requirements for trying out new chocolate chip cookie recipes though. If a picture accompanies the recipe, the pictured cookie must be thick, chubby and moist-looking like it’s chewy, not cakey. If it’s so thin that the chocolate chips make bumps out of the flattened cookie, I move on. It also must be a purist cookie, i.e. no nuts, oatmeal, coconut, peanut butter or any other foreign substance. I’ll still bake with those ingredients but then they’re not a chocolate chip cookie. Butter, sugar, brown sugar, flour, eggs, leavening, salt and chocolate chips. Maybe something innocuous like a vanilla pudding mix. Otherwise, that’s it and the only difference between the recipes is the proportion of ingredients and the baking method.

This copycat Panera recipe met my criteria so I added it to my cookie experiments. I used mini chocolate chips as the recipe suggested. I’ve seen that suggestion in many recipes; the point is you actually get more chocolate in each bite since the mini chips are plentiful and more evenly distributed throughout the cookie. I have no issues with that concept but, being a milk chocolate-crazed eater, I wish they made mini chocolate chips in milk chocolate instead of just semisweet. I’m sure if I looked hard enough I could find milk chocolate mini chocolate chips but I’m going to guess they’d cost me half an arm more than the normal Tollhouse mini chips.

Let's cut to the chase on this one. Remember how I said I had 3 favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes? Make that 4. Yep, this one is amazing too. The dough handles easily and does not spread very much, Not only did it remain thick and chewy but it was also moist and had the perfect texture. I didn't even mind that the chips were semisweet. This is a good cookie. Plus, look at 'em. Cute, right?? Just make sure you underbake these or you won't get the wonderful, moist, chewy texture pictured here.

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Mix butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. 
2. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. 
3. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and mix together. 
4. Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well. Add in mini chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed. 
5. Using ¼ cup measure, scoop out dough and form into a thick disc (not a ball as these don't spread much). Continue until all dough is portioned out. Place dough in the freezer for 2 hours or overnight.
6. Place frozen cookies onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Let cool 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling

Almond Joy Tart

Almond Joy Tart - made November 22, 2014 from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

 As I gear up for holiday baking, I start thinking about tarts. I don’t know why except they’re a step away from pie (and Thanksgiving always seems to be about pie – except for me) and they can be classed up for the holidays. Plus, in all honesty, I was checking my “Still Need to Bake” files on my computer and I got sick of seeing the Almond Joy Tart file at the top all the time, mocking me that I hadn’t made it yet. Until now.

I still had some of the coconut pastry cream (my regular pastry cream recipe with coconut added to it) so it saved me the trouble of making the filling. I just had to make the dough which turned out to be the easiest thing ever. I don’t usually use my food processor to make dough but this came together so easily and quickly that I’m going to have to get over my aversion to use and clean my food processor (I live in terror of cutting myself on that wicked sharp blade) and just suck it up. Because this dough turned out fabulously in just a couple of minutes. Imagine that.

It was also very easy to work with. Because the dough was so malleable but not sticky, I ended up shaping it into the tart pans as soon as I had made it and then chilled it. Probably broke the Baked baking rules but I like to live on the edge.

Blind baked it then browned it, cooled it, spread the coconut pastry cream over it and poured the ganache over it. I do advise letting the ganache cool and thicken so it doesn’t run down the sides of the tart and look messy. Ahem. Yes, learn from my mistakes. Instead of garnishing with a whole almond, I ended up sprinkling chopped toasted almonds over the ganache and they added a nice crunch. Once again also scored on the parental taste buds as my mom praised the crust as “it’s not too sweet”. She even went so far as to suggest I use that crust recipe for anything else I make that requires a crust. Er, okay, Mom.

Someday I should probably make the filling from the original recipe but for now, I liked how this turned out. The crust was good, not too sweet (ha) or too buttery but with good flavor and texture, I always love the coconut pastry cream and the chocolate was just right as a blend of semisweet and milk chocolate. If you prefer more of a dark chocolate, ala Boston Crème Pie, you might want to make the ganache with all dark chocolate. If you bake this in individual-size tart pans like I did, it makes for a nice addition to a holiday care package or baked gift as it’s small enough to be part of a baked goods ensemble without dominating the gift pack.

Almond Tart Dough

1 large egg

¼ cup whole toasted almonds

¼ cup sugar

1 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

Coconut Cream Filling

8 ounces good-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tablespoon light rum

Chocolate Glaze

2 ounces good-quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped

½ cup heavy cream

6 whole toasted almonds

Make the Almond Tart Dough

1. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg and set it aside.
2. Put the almonds and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely ground.  Add flour and salt and pulse again just until mixed.  Add the butter and pulse just until sandy (about 6 to 10 quick pulses).  Pour in the egg and pulse just until the dough begins to cohere into a ball.  Form the dough into a disk, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Make the Coconut Cream Filling

1. Place the white chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.
2. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, heat the cream just to a boil.  Pour it over the white chocolate and let it stand for 30 seconds.  Slowly, starting in the center of the bowl, whisk the cream and white chocolate until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate this ganache for 4 hours or overnight before proceeding.

Assemble the tart

1. Dust a work surface with flour.  Place the disk of chilled dough on the work surface and divide it into 6 equal portions.  Shape each into a smooth disk. (Note: the dough will be sticky.  Make sure to turn it with a bench knife or offset spatula as needed and keep the working surface floured.)  Use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a 5 ½-inch circle just over 1/8 inch thick.  Very gently press each dough round into a 4-inch tart pan with removable bottom.
2. Place the tart pans in the freezer for 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375⁰F. 
3. Line the tart crusts with aluminum foil, and fill each one three-quarters full with pie weights or dried beans.  Bake them for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and weights and bake for another 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Transfer the tart pans to a wire rack to cool.

Make the Coconut Cream Filling

1. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the white chocolate ganache at medium speed until soft peaks form.  Do not overwhip.  Gently fold in the coconut and the rum.  Divide the filling evenly among the cooled tart shells and place them in the refrigerator while you make the chocolate glaze.

Make the Chocolate Glaze

1. Place the milk and dark chocolates in a medium heatproof bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream until it is just about to boil.  Pour it over the chocolates and whisk to combine.  Let the mixture set for about 10 minutes.  Remove the tarts from the refrigerator and spoon the glaze evenly over each one.  Top each tart with one almond and refrigerate again until the glaze sets up, about 10 minutes.
3. The tarts can be stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

French Apple Cobbler

French Apple Cobbler - made November 22, 2014 from Puttin' on the Peach Tree, Junior League of Dekalb County, GA

I'm not entirely sure where I got this recipe or recipe book (booklet?) from. All I know is this recipe has been languishing along with dozens of others on my computer, waiting for me to forego pinterest and remember the good old days when I used to get my recipes from more traditional sources like cookbooks. Or random baking pamphlets.

I was in the mood for a warm apple cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream so I threw this together. I didn't go to all the trouble of the elaborate filling below. Instead, I sliced some apples and tossed them with cinnamon sugar. Mounded them into 3 small ramekins then dropped dollops of the batter over the filling and baked them.

This isn't a traditional cobbler like I've made before that had more of a streusel crumb topping. It's also not like a pie crust. Instead, it's more like a sweet biscuit dough, just a bit lighter in texture. I thought it was a trifle too sweet for me though. I also wasn't wild about the cobbler topping, aka biscuit dough. I'd prefer either a real pie crust or a crumb topping. Oh well, at least now I know. And I can move this file out of my "still need to make" folder.

Filling

5 cups tart apples, peeled and sliced

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon margarine, softened

Batter

½ cup flour, sifted

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons soft butter

1 egg, slightly beaten

1. Filling: In a medium bowl, combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, vanilla and water.  Turn into a 9-inch square pan.  Dot apples with margarine.
2. Batter: Combine all batter ingredients.  Beat with wooden spoon until smooth.  Drop batter in 9 portions on apples, spacing evenly.  Batter will spread during baking.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes at 375 degrees F or until apples are fork tender, and crust is golden brown.  Serve warm with ice cream.

Thanksgiving 2014

November 27, 2014 - An American Thanksgiving, Filipino-Style

Lechon - Roast Pork

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope all who celebrate Thanksgiving had a good one today. We had ours at my parents' house this year, with extended family members all contributing delicious eats. I'm not quite in a food coma as I don't tend to eat a lot at any one meal but never fear, I'm sure I've consumed enough calories over the course of today to make the gym my second home for the next few weeks.

Lumpia - Filipino egg rolls

When my half-Filipino, half-Caucasian nieces are with us, we tend to go more traditional on the meal with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc. But this year they were with their dad and his side of the family so we went Filipino-style all the way since we don't really love turkey that much. My mom made lechon, a 10-lb roast pork that she cooked in the oven for a good 5 hours, wrapped in banana leaves with the last hour without the leaves so the skin could brown and turn crispy, the hallmark of a good lechon. And no Filipino gathering is complete without fried lumpia. During the holiday season, my mom makes dozens upon dozens of them to give away to our friends at church and for our own family gatherings. She also made pancit malabon, one of my favorite versions of the Filipino noodle dishes and I'm kicking myself that I forgot to take a picture of it - doh.

My uncle brought 6 meaty crabs to the feast. He went all the way to Half Moon Bay where the crab fishermen sell fresh crabs off their boat. The picture doesn't do justice to their size.

My cousin Ellen made clams and Mariner's Rice; my mom loves clams as does Ellen's fiance.

Steamed Pork Buns

To keep our international flavor going, my other cousin Miriam (Yammy) brought dim sum. This probably isn't traditional fare for most Thanksgiving celebrants but it suited our family quite well. Tradition is good but I also think you can't go wrong with great food eaten with gratitude amongst family.

Siu Mai

Har Gow

I also did not go traditional with the desserts. No pumpkin pie, no pecan pie, no mince pie. We did have an apple pie but I bought that (we'll get to that in a minute). At first I actually was trying to go for more traditional flavors, like when I pre-tested the Pumpkin Praline Bread Pudding, thinking I'd make it for Thanksgiving dessert but I changed my mind a few days ago.

Lofthouse-Style Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

When I bake for get togethers, I try to take into account the favorites of the people who'll be there. For my uncle, it was Buttery Tea Balls. My cousin Yammy's favorite is White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. Ellen's kids like Chocolate Chip Cookies. My parents like lemon desserts because they're "not too sweet".

Buttery Tea Balls

By the time I factored in all of those requests, my dessert list was longer than 10 adults and 4 children could conceivably eat so I had to cut back on my more grandiose baking plans. I did allow myself a few baking experiments with the Lofthouse-Style Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting (mainly so I could put the sprinkles on it for the kids), Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Lemon Tarts (recipes/posts to follow in the near future).

Lemon Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust

And I bowed to one tradition with apple pie. I did "outsource" it by pre-ordering it from Three Babes Bakeshop as they did another pop-up shop at work so all I had to do was pre-order it online, they came to campus yesterday and it was a short walk from my office to the pop-up shop to pick up my pie. The pie looked beautiful but a little too brown/(over?)baked for my taste. I had a piece for Thanksgiving dessert and I have to admit, I found it a little too tart for my sugar-loving taste buds. I love apple pie but I didn't love this one. However, Ellen's British fiance felt it reminded him of the pies he used to get in the UK and he loved it. Whew.

Apple Pie from Three Babes Bakeshop

And for the kids, of course I had to make cookies. I still had frozen cookie dough from when I tried the White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies before and last weekend I made the Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies (future blog post)

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies and Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies

Overall, another great Thanksgiving with much to be grateful for, not the least being bounty being shared with family.

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Pretzel Bread Boat

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Pretzel Bread Boat - made November 22, 2014

Since I eat breakfast, lunch and most dinners at work, I've fallen out of the practice of cooking for myself on the weekends. Usually it's not a problem as I typically meet friends for lunch or dinner then or am out running errands and will grab something while I'm out. But I was out one Saturday picking up a few things at Trader Joe's (hello, cookie butter, come with me) and passed a display that held individual-size pretzel "rolls". I'd never heard of them or seen them before but I was reminded of the sausage, egg and cheese "boat" I saw once on pinterest that I had wanted to try. Those boats used long baguette-style sourdough bread loaves but these pretzel rolls seemed like a good size for a 1-person meal so I decided to try them.

I've made real pretzels before, real meaning I was taught by a German master baker who'd started his apprenticeship in Germany at the age of 16 and we all know no one makes pretzels like the Germans. We would dip the pretzel dough into lye to form that outer crust that is only claimed by real pretzels; Auntie Anne would flee in shame next to a German pretzel. I tend to avoid pretzel rolls, thinking their outer crust would be too hard and chewy and that the inside would be dry. Besides, I preferred challah as my carb Kryptonite. But again, the size and shape of this roll seemed perfect for my cooking experiment. Everything I cook is an experiment, btw.

I made up this recipe and it isn't that complicated. Whisk an egg with a little milk and some cheese, grind a little salt and pepper into it, hollow out the roll, line the hollow with cooked sausage chunks and fill in with the egg mixture. Then bake until egg is cooked and roll is heated through. This actually turned out pretty well, color me surprised. I think I would use less milk and cheese and keep it more eggy next time though. I was happiest with the pretzel bread. I ate the part I had hollowed out of the roll and it had the soft texture of challah; it wasn't dry at all. The pretzel roll also has the advantage over a sourdough boule or batard because the baking time didn't make it as hard or crusty as the other bread rolls would've gotten. I might have to buy myself a few more of these rolls for the weekends.

I also think these would make handy little quick and easy breakfasts over the holidays as you only need buy as many rolls as you have people to feed, the egg custard takes a minute to whip up (and only that long if you're moving slowly) and 10-15 minutes in the oven. No fuss and they're delicious.

1 individual-size Pretzel bread (I got mine from Trader Joe's, they're about the size of a chubby hot dog bun)
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 sausage, cooked, chopped into chunks
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk egg, milk, cheeses and sausage together.
3. Hollow out the center of a mini loaf of pretzel bread. Pour the egg and sausage mixture into the center until almost but not quite overflowing.
4. Bake until egg is set, cheese is melted and "boat" is heated through, about 10-15 minutes.

Angel Cakes, Sprinkles & local cupcake deliveries

Angel Cakes - ordered November 16, 2014

My nieces celebrated their birthdays this month. I had already given them their "big gift" for their birthday and Christmas but also wanted to send something close to the day of. Being me, it had to be food. Normally I bake and send my own care packages to them but I haven't had time to do that in awhile and wasn't going to be able to pull it off before their birthday so I decided to outsource their baked gifts.

Cupcakes from Angel Cakes

And for me that means sending cupcakes since that's one of the things I wouldn't be able to send on my own without a lot of specialized packaging. Best let someone else do that. At first I checked out Crumbs Bake Shop in NYC because I'd once gotten their cupcakes as a gift and thought they were delicious. not to mention they looked spectacular and it was such a fun gift to receive. Unfortunately though, Crumbs being on the other side of the country meant shipping was exorbitant. Like more than $90 exorbitant for a dozen cupcakes. That was even more than the cupcakes themselves! I love my nieces dearly and there's nothing I wouldn't do for them. Except spend almost a hundred bucks each on shipping cupcakes to them. I'd rather give them that money in their birthday card than give it to FedEx.

Peanut Butter Banana (left) and Dulce de Leche (right)

So I turned to my friend Google and started searching for cupcake bakeries on the West Coast where I could order online and their shipping charges would be lower. And ended up finding something even better: local delivery. Turns out when you go to yelp, plug in the city you want, and search for "cupcake delivery", interesting things can pop up. Such as Angel Cakes which had great yelp reviews and delivered to the local area I needed. Cupcakes ranged from $2.75 - $3.25 each, depending on the flavor you choose and delivery was $20. Not super cheap but after the $90 quote from Crumbs, it felt like a bargain. As with most small cupcake shops, you could only order 2 flavors for 1 dozen cupcakes but some places only let you order 1 flavor so I took it as a gift that I could order two flavors. Anticipating my niece's flavor preferences, I ordered the peanut butter banana and the dulce de leche.

Ordering from Angel Cakes was really easy. I filled out their online form, Jen from Angel Cakes responded within a day to confirm my order, and sent me an invoice that I paid online. I had requested that the delivery be made to my niece's friend's house since she lived in a gated building where deliveries are harder to make and asked that she be sent a text to let her know the package had arrived so she could pick it up. Delivery and my niece's pickup of the cupcakes went smoothly and both she and her boyfriend gave thumbs up on the cupcakes, especially the dulce de leche. Although I haven't tried them myself, I'm going by their word and my ordering experience to give Angel Cakes my own 5-star yelp review. I was happy to discover another local small business to support and they delivered on service and product. And it opened a new range of possibilities in gift giving for the future as now I know of a local source for good cupcakes in that area.

For my other niece who lives half a state away, cupcake ordering and delivery was even easier. For her, I defaulted to Sprinkles after ascertaining there was one close enough to her that I could also get it delivered, again for a $20 delivery charge.

And because Sprinkles is a bigger operation with brick and mortar bakery locations, I had the luxury of choosing a number of different flavors for the dozen I sent her. The only drawback is on the day I had her cupcakes delivered, not all of the flavors were available and I only discovered that when I was trying to checkout. Their website ordering process was a bit more klugey but nothing insurmountable and I was able to put in my cupcake order, pay for it, and get confirmation within minutes.

The Sprinkles order also arrived on schedule as ordered and as tempting looking as when bought at an actual Sprinkles shop. I had both my nieces send me pictures of their bounty so I could use for this blog post. Now I want a cupcake.

So as you do your holiday gifting this season, here are a couple of ideas for local gift giving. Even if you don't live where I do or have a Sprinkles or an Angel Cakes nearby, be sure to check yelp and local businesses in your areas or the areas where you want to send a gift. People do it all the time to send flowers from local florists - why not cupcake businesses too?

Very Vanilla Cupcakes with Cookie Butter Frosting

Very Vanilla Cupcakes with Cookie Butter Frosting - made November 15, 2014, recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

We were having the monthly potluck at church earlier this month and, as always, I bring dessert to any potluck. There are five kids in Sunday School so I like to have kid-friendly desserts. What are more kid-friendly than cupcakes? Especially since I bought fall-themed sprinkles earlier the day I made these.

I wanted to make cookie butter frosting like I did for the Cookie Butter Cupcakes but this time I thought I'd made actual vanilla cupcakes instead of mistakenly making cookie butter cupcakes. Good vanilla cupcakes are sometimes hard to make because the ingredients are so simple and the cupcakes need to stand on the vanilla flavor alone.

Fortunately, I found a good recipe for them from Sally's Baking Addiction. These are easy to make, are straightforward vanilla, and taste pretty good. I cored a few and filled them with cookie butter (warmed up slightly for easier spooning into the center cavity), then piped the frosting onto them before dusting with the sprinkles.

I myself am not fond of sprinkles and prefer a simpler, cleaner look to my cupcakes but the sprinkles alone made these cupcakes seasonally festive so I went for it. And again, I was going for kid-appealing and kids like sprinkles, right? I did have to laugh at the potluck when I saw one of the kids snag a cupcake; later I saw she had eaten off all of the frosting and the top half of the cake. That was all she needed.

1 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 egg whites
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
seeds scraped from 1/2 split vanilla bean

Cookie Butter Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cookie butter
seeds scraped from 1/2 split vanilla bean salt, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in sugar - mixture will be gritty. Whisk in egg whites, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Split 1 vanilla bean down the middle lengthwise. Scrape seeds from half of the vanilla bean into batter. Reserve other half.
3. Slowly mix dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick.
4. Divide batter among 12 cupcake liners (or 24 mini) and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Bake for 8-9 minutes if making mini cupcakes. Allow to cool.
5. To make the frosting, beat softened butter on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for about 3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar, cream, vanilla extract, cookie butter and vanilla bean seeds with the mixer running. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add more powdered sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if mixture is too thick. Add salt if frosting is too sweet (1/4 teaspoon). Frost cooled cupcakes.