Something to remember

How to bake 300 cupcakes  (includes link to cupcake boxes)

Cars are sexy too....

Earlier this week, Mark & I were on an errand heading home and came across this serendipitous car show.  I suspect that they gather once a month, maybe once a quarter, in the parking lot.  Dad, if you can, let me know what kind/year these sexy beasts are:

We can't decide if this is a Chrysler or an Alfa Romeo...

Purple & Flames = AWESOME!

I think this is close to the color you want your car painted....

There were a slew of trucks, along with some newer cars as well.  All were sparkling and their owners were sparkling too, and rightfully so.  The rumble of big V-8's were heard easily a couple blocks away.

The next day, I was headed to work, and there on 880N in San Jose was this car (blocking traffic!):

For those of you, like me, who recognize EXPENSIVE when you see it - this is a Buggati Veyron.  Only 300 were pre-ordered, and they aren't finished building those yet.  Volkswagen is building them, and according to Top Gear, it costs $5M  to build.  Volkswagen is selling them for $2M - talk about a loss leader.  They have about 1000 horsepower, and top speed is estimated to be 400 Kph (about 250ish mph).  This poor soul was stuck at 50 mph in traffic. 

Le Sigh.

Flea Market Fancies

I found these goodies at the Santa Cruz Flea Market.  I think some of them may turn into some fancy-pants necklaces.  I was a good buyer and checked all of the pieces for missing stones (nothing worse!).  The only one missing anything is the enameled flower on the bottom, but it was too precious to leave behind.

Cupcake Test 14, "Cherry Almond Cupcakes"

Cherries and almonds just seem to go together.  If you take a google across the web, there are cupcakes, biscotti, scones, cakes, tarts, slumps, clafouties, pies, cookies, and just about any other type of baked goodie you can think of made with a combination of cherries and almonds.  And that just scratches the surface. 

These particular cupcakes are from Better Homes & Gardens, a link provided by the BtB.  It's a buttermilk cupcake with maraschino cherries and almond goodness.

Dark, Okay, Slumpy

Process notes:  I made the cupcake recipe (almost) straight up.  The only change I made was instead of putting a half cherry in the top of each cupcake, I roughly chopped 2 dozen cherries and stirred them into the batter before baking.  This is the first time I have had troubles with my oven baking unevenly.  One side of the trays of cupcakes were darker brown, and the other end of the tray slumped terribly due to raw batter when it was removed from the oven.  I'll be sure to turn my trays half-way through baking from now on.

I made both the almond frosting and the cherry frosting, straight from the recipe.  I put both frostings into one piping bag, hoping for a random striping when I frosted the cupcakes.  Evidently, I didn't do too well at that either, however, I do like the delicate shading when both frostings are present.

I had the extra large Costco sized jar of maraschino cherries, and it was less than half full by the time I had decorated the cupcakes.

Tasting Notes:  Me - Almond = Yum.  Cherry = Yum.  Almond + Cherry = Yummy!  I liked the cherries folded into the batter.  I think the cupcakes were delicately flavored with almond, and if it weren't for the bits of cherry in them, you wouldn't taste the cherry at all.  The cherry juice made for a lovely colored cupcake, but I don't know that it added much flavor to either the cupcake or the frosting.  The almond frosting was mmmmm wonderful.  If there is such a thing as cherry extract, it might be a good thing to add a smidge of that to both the frosting and the cupcake batter to boost the cherry flavor. No more than 1/2 a teaspoon in each though.  All in all, lovely, festive, and tasty too.

Mark - Although maraschino cherries are not his favorite, they were a nice counterpoint to the almond flavor found in the cupcakes and in the frosting.  Again with the "Yum!"

How I spent my weekend

In pictures....

As much time as possible...

From our very own trees

Making Cupcakes (not from our trees)

And maybe a few words...

We have never picked as many cherries from our two trees as we did this year.  We ended up making 23 jars of jam, as well as having enough to eat in our lunch and freeze some for future tasties. 

You may know I have a critter problem.  Comes with living in the woods.  Most of the time, I can live with it, however, when the ding dang squirrels start eating rose buds, tomatoes, and anything else I plant on the deck, I start trapping.  We've also got a resident 'coon family who wanders around the neighborhood tipping trash cans and generally being a nuisance.  Mark actually played tag with a raccoon who was adamant about being on the deck Friday night.

This weekend, before we managed to get out and pick the cherries, I noticed a fat squirrel hanging out in the tops of the trees enjoying the fruit.  I have no problem with the animals getting the high hanging fruit, but I get upset when they strip a tree in a little under 24 hours.  So I set up the squirrel trap and headed up to the roof line (their highway) to put it in place.  I noticed the branches of the cherry tree were wobbling pretty good and there was a patch of grey fur.  Come here, little squirrel...You know you want some tasty peanut butter... And then I see the mask of a raccoon!  I know raccoons can climb trees (knock him out john!), but this is a delicate cherry tree and the branches will break under his weight.  Now, there's a 'coon sized trap waiting...

Cupcake Test 13, "Cookie Dough Cupcakes"

Alternatively titled, "That's the way the Cookie (Dough) Crumbles".   Is there anyone (over the age of 20 anyway) who doesn't remember licking the beater after making a batch of chocolate chip cookies?  There's just something about the taste and texture of raw cookie dough that brings a smile to our hearts.  But, with the scares of "bad things" that raw eggs have brought in the years, seldom do we actually enjoy that childhood experience any longer.  Fear not, the cookie dough portion of the cupcakes (and the truffles too) are free of raw eggs.

The BtB pulled together a couple of links for cookie dough cupcakes.  The first from Love & Olive Oil, and another from Annies-Eats.  Love & Olive Oil is a non-dairy version, however, the egg-free cookie dough is the important part here.  I used the cupcake recipe from Annies-Eats, the cookie dough from Love & Olive Oil, and the frosting from both of them.

Process Notes:  I made enough of the cookie dough to make the truffles (also from Love & Olive Oil), and reserved 24 of them for the cupcakes, along with 3/4 cup of cookie dough for the frosting.  The cupcake batter made 29 regular size cupcakes, as well as 24 mini cupcakes.  The cookie dough made enough additional to roll about 4 dozen more small sized truffles.  Since I had only reserved 24 of the truffles, I did 2 dozen cupcakes with the cookie dough baked in them (L&O).  The remaining cupcakes were scooped with a melon baller after baking, and then a truffle was placed in the indentation (AE).  The cupcakes came out sunken in the centers where the cold cookie dough was.  These cupcakes also overflowed the baking cups quite a bit.  After sitting a while, the "ring" that was above the cupcake liner, well, it kinda fell down. 

No cupcakes were touched during this disaster.

I made the cookie dough frosting from L&O first, and it was just enough to cover about 15 cupcakes, as well as the 24 minis.  Then the brown sugar frosting from AE, which finished the rest of the cupcakes, with not much left over. 

The truffles were coated with melted milk-chocolate chips and placed on a rack to harden.  Note - don't do this.  When I pulled them off the rack, they cracked and left part of the chocolate behind, so they all looked like they had a bite taken out of them.  Use a silpat, wax or parchment paper instead.

Tasting Notes:  Me - The cupcakes were moist and tasty in spite of their tendency to fall apart.  They had the memory of chocolate chip cookies baked into them, most notably in the brown sugar and chocolate that were the main flavor ingredients.  I liked the taste of both the cookie dough and brown sugar frostings, however, I think there should be more cookie dough in the frosting than what the recipe calls for.  Either one would be appropriate with the cupcakes.  The truffles, well, they are the epitome of cookie-dough-ness.  A bit grainy, a bit raw, with chocolate chips inside.

Love the truffles and will definitely make them again.  The cupcakes, although they tasted fine, probably won't be making a repeat appearance.  I did like the scooped cupcake better than the baked cupcake.  The baked cupcake lost the "raw" flavor/texture, which only makes sense.  I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I didn't like.  Maybe the cupcake batter was too raw around the cookie dough center. 

Mark - Thought the cupcakes were "yummy" and he preferred the brown sugar frosting to the cookie dough frosting.  The truffles, were OMG! good and he refused to share them with his co-workers.

Up next, Cherry Almond Cupcakes...

Ohio, Part Two

Let's see, where was I?  Ah, yes, Sunday.

Sunday we had a quiet breakfast under the honeysuckle vines and then headed to the Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark to view an recent installation.  It's a nest of sorts, of woven willow branches, called "A Wiggle in Its Walk".  It's big enough to walk through, filled with windows and doors that frame the views.  The Wegerzyn Gardens is free to the public (sweet!) and not only has a formal garden, but there is also a wetlands, a children's garden, and a vegetable garden.  If this garden were in Dallas or in the Bay Area, I'm sure that it would be mobbed on a Sunday afternoon.  As it was, I think we encountered three or four family groups?  At least, until the Playhouse let out - they were putting on The Producers.

 
 

The Irises and Peonies were just starting to show bloom, but the hostas were out in full force.  There are more pictures at my Photo Blog.  After dinner and a thunderstorm (I miss those - occasionally!) at my Brother's house, we headed back to the folks' place for the night.

Monday found us shopping for most of the mid-day.  Gotta find some wedding finery for Mom too, doncha know?  I believe, fingers crossed, that we found a couple of outfits that Mom will be happy to wear to the event.  That night I met up with one of my nephews and his wife for dinner at a local steak joint.  We managed to stay and close the place down.  About mid-meal, we noticed the lights flickering, but didn't think much of it.  Found out later, there was a tornado in the area and most of the locality was without power. 


Tuesday was crafty day - Mom finished her sock, and we spent some time making jewelry.  I got to use memory wire for the first time and made some bangles, as well as some earrings and some stitch markers for yarn play.

I flew home on Wednesday, again through Las Vegas.  There were huge thunderstorms in the Chicago area, so the airport in Las Vegas was full of stranded travelers.  Normally, the flight from Ohio to Las Vegas wouldn't necessarily fly over the Grand Canyon (shout out!), but to avoid the thunderheads, we headed directly south and then across the panhandle of Texas and south of the Grand Canyon.  Of course, I was sitting on the wrong side of the plane to get a picture of that, but I did get a good view of the Hoover Dam and the new bridge they've built to go beside it.

Pending....

I just started a new gig last Tuesday - Yippee!!!

But, that means that posting is going to be sporadic at best, at least until I settle in.  I've got to finish my review of the Ohio trip, and then there's the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes to review.

Be back soon!