DeViL's fOoD pUmPkIn CuPcAkEs

Not so good, i based this cupcake on a muffin recipe I saw on yahoo. I thinned it out with a little oil and water then made a frosting out of an organic mix. So lesson learned with this okay but not so great cupcakes is ADD SPICES NEXT TIME! Plus side, the pumpkin makes the cake exceptionally moist.

Cake mix-

box of devil's food cake mix

quarter cup water

few tbsp oil

can of pumpkin

pumpkin spices to taste

wHiTe ChOcOlAtE fRoStInG

for the frosting (four cupcakes):

a handful of white chocolate chips

a couple of tbsp of butter

cup or so of powdered sugar

a little milk*

melt butter, mix in chips till melted, slowly add powdered sugar.

*if needed

NUTELLA FrOsTeD cUpCaKeS

I used a cake mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen, and since I was using a mix I decided to experiment with the frosting. I bought Nutella for the first time this last week (and I love it) so I decided to try it out in a frosting. It was very good but there is something I will do different next time, use a bit of milk instead of half and half to liquefy the frosting when it gets to stiff.

Nutella experiment frosting (for six cupcakes):

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons Nutella

bit of milk

1 and 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

*melt butter and Nutella, slowly mix in powdered sugar, add milk when needed.

EgG tArTs

My husband asked me this morning, what's the difference between french vanilla and vanilla?
I had no idea so i went to the wonderful world of wikipedia and did a little research. French vanilla is not it's own time of vanilla, items termed 'french vanilla' are called this because they have gone under some preparation using vanilla and now carry a strong taste and/or aroma of vanilla and will also contain the vanilla-bean grains. It began with the french style of making ice cream with a vanilla custard base, soon followed the french vanilla syrup that aside from the rich flavor of vanilla custard (french vanilla's importance is the vanilla custard taste) also may contain the flavors of caramel and butterscotch (wikipedia).

So, the vanilla wiki article had many little links and i was able to look up creme brulee which is my favorite dessert, (besides cake in most forms), and learned as i suspected that creme brulee is the term for burnt cream. I also learned of the egg tart that is popular among China and some European countries. I think i am going to experiment with the egg tart to come up with some sort of interesting compact breakfast food. I was thinking i would try a sweet sausage and tomato egg tart, with a little rosemary too.

FrEnH tOaSt StIcKs

My first attempt at french toast sticks.

I first made a 'basic batter', i used some all purpose flour, sugar, an egg, and milk. I then cut a few pieces of bread into three strips, dipped them into batter, well more like soaked them in batter, then fried them in a small frying pan with warmed olive oil for about a minute/minute and half on each side. Then put the french toast sticks three to a plate and sprinkled with powdered sugar with a side of syrup for dipping.

PoEm

Upon her sitting and waiting,
she felt it was time for her to be baking.
She felt all of a sudden very antsy,
then gathered the ingredients of her fancy.
With chocolate, sugar, milk, and flour, found a spoon,
and she poured, mixed, and stirred til full-moon.
Then with paper-cups and drops of batter,
she quickly ran to the oven for her matter.
Followed by a timer's sound,
she quickly spun around.
Cupcakes she yelped, as she helped herself.

i think this is a work in progress :-)