the ultimate cupakes
As I’ve told you many times before, I am NOT a baker.
I don’t like to bake.
I don’t have the patience to bake.
I am not skilled at baking.
That being said – I baked these cupcakes… and they are The BOMB!
Seriously! I gave Connor one to sample and his eyes rolled back in his head with delight! He made me promise him that I would make them for his birthday in May. That is a promise I intend to keep!
The recipe came from HERE.
If every recipe on bakersroyale.com is as scrumptious as these cupcakes, and if YOU love to bake, you should be going to this site every day from here on out!
All I did was change them from standard cupcakes to mini cupcakes. Otherwise, I followed the recipe almost as written and they were perfection! So much so, that I could eat the caramel frosting, with a huge spoon, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
OK, maybe not! The frosting alone has a pound of butter – but to be fair, there was quite a bit of frosting left over, even after all the cupcakes were made.
To prevent me from using a spoon to eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I put it in the trash and then dumped the nasty contents of my Roomba on top of it!
I can’t have that sort of temptation around here!
December 19, 2013 2 Comments
Tenth Day of Christmas Gift
One word about today’s gift from the kitchen. Bacon!
Almond, Chocolate, and Bacon Toffee to be exact. Yes, BACON in toffee!
It’s not something new. I didn’t dream it up. In fact, I’ve spoken of it before. I even made bacon peanut brittle just over a year ago. This year, I’ve decided to give the toffee a go at it.
You and your very lucky, and soon to be grateful, gift recipients will love it! Just be certain to chop your crispy cooked bacon fine … into little bitty pieces. I left mine a bit too big and although I still love that batch of toffee, it is better chopped finer, as I discovered on my second batch.
On the tenth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Tins of Bacon Toffee
Rum Glazed Eggnog Bread
Fennel Cured Salmon
Spicy Guinness Mustard
Two Jars of Mustard
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Homemade Kahlua Liqueur
Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust
Silvered almonds are used in the recipe. You can find untoasted silvered almonds and toasted slivered almonds at Trader Joe’s. You will need toasted almonds.
To toast the untoasted almonds; place nuts on a dry baking sheet and into a 350-degree oven for about 12 to 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times until nicely browned. That’s it, now you have toasted slivered almonds and you are ready to make your delicious toffee.
[Read more →]
December 9, 2012 1 Comment
there’s bacon in that?!?
Remember my Maple-Bacon Cupcakes? They are SO good, that even skeptical Marissa fell for them. Well today we have another sweet item featuring bacon… toffee. Trust me, it works. I’d heard of toffee with bacon before, but had yet to taste it. I’ve decided to give bacon peanut brittle a try. Trust me again, it’s good… I promise.
September 20, 2011 5 Comments
the toffee queen
My friend and co-worker, Kim Howard, makes the very best toffee every Christmas. I was a lucky recipient of a tin of her toffee this year – but after days of picking away at it, it’s all gone. I was at her beautiful home yesterday and saw 4 new pans of the detectible toffee sitting on her counter, ready to be cut and packaged for her other happy friends and family – darn, why did I eat all of mine already?! There is an upside though, it reminded me of the recipe for these wonderful toffee scones and I just knew I had to share them with you! Kim, “The Toffee Queen” would want me to!
Barbara Pool Fenzl and Kim Howard at our amazing spa trip at Rancho LaPuerta in 2008
If you don’t have the good fortune to be in line for a tin of Kim’s toffee, or if you have sadly already eaten your share – Trader Joe’s sells a couple of great options. The type of theirs I like the best is not only chocolate-covered but also covered in nuts. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s in your area (I am truly sorry and feel your heartache), Heath bars work perfectly well for these scones.
The only liquid in the scones is cream, whipped to stiff peaks. The way to find out if the whipping cream has stiff peaks and is ready; while beating, once the cream begins to look fluffy, remove the whisk attachment from the mixer, dip it into the whipped cream (or egg whites, when whipping them for a recipe) pull out the whisk and turn it upright. If the peak flops over, you have soft peaks.
Return whisk to machine and continue to beat. If the peak stands straight up, you have stiff peaks and are ready to fold the whipped cream into the dry mixture.
Another fantastic thing about these scones – is they qualify as “easy-breezy”!
[Read more →]
December 17, 2009 No Comments