Rum Cream Cheese Frosting

Well this was delicious, but a little too liquid. It dripped down all the cupcakes it was applied to. But it was very tasty, and after I was done frosting the cupcakes, I put some on some matzo, and that was good too.

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. margarine
• 8 oz. cream cheese (I used fat free, I think this was a mistake on my part)
• 3 1/3 c. powdered sugar
• 1 T. rum
• 1 tsp white chocolate Godiva

Methodology

1. Mix margarine and cream cheese.
2. Add sugar slowly. If you want it less sweet, add less sugar.
3. Add the liquor.
4. If it is too soft, try refrigerating it.

Notes

This goes on chocolate cupcakes, of course.

I refrigerated this and it didn't actually help, I think because I used fat free cream cheese and margarine instead of butter. Even after having been in the freezer overnight, it is still not going to go in a piping bag. But it is delicious, I cannot help but stick my fingers in. Which brings up another point - do not drive under the influence of this frosting. I kept adding rum, trying to get a bit of a "kick", and finally added the Godiva for that (it was Meyer's rum, so pretty high quality stuff). And then all of a sudden it was almost too much.

Almost is the operative word here, I guess.

I can't think of any really good ways to fix it when your frosting is too runny. Maybe cornstarch, if I'd had any (I didn't) would have thickened it. Anyway it worked pretty well if you didn't mind getting frosting all over your fingers. So the moral of the story is that if you want decent frosting, don't try to skimp on calories.

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

From here, with some changes.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. white whole wheat flour
• 1 c. quick oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
  
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. margarine
• 1/2 c. + 2 T (6 oz) low fat plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. + 1 T. dried cranberries
• 1/2 c. + 1 T. chocolate chips

Methodology

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.

3. Mix brown sugar, margarine, yoghurt, vanilla, and the egg in another bowl. Stir the wet into the dry until all combined, adding a little extra flour if necessary.

4. Add the chips and cranberries. Drop in heaping teaspoons two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until brown.

Notes

*Makes about 30. I forgot to count before I got into them, but I think it's about 30. With my changes, it works out to about 104.5 calories/cookie.

*Very fluffy and cake-like. I was worried that they weren't good, but then my taste-testers ate about 8 of them between the two of them, so I figure they're okay. Next time maybe I'll use actual butter and just leave out the yoghurt, see if that makes them a little crisper. Also regular oats instead of quick oats.

The Remarkable Ice Cream Cake

So I have this idea that major life changes should be rewarded with cake. It seems like a good way to let people know that you approve of their choices - in this case, quitting an awful job.
This recipe has a lot of parts and takes a while to put together, but it's not actually very difficult. It's vegan because the friend I baked it for is vegan, but it doesn't have to be.

Ingredients

Cake:
1 1/3 c. flour (I use white-whole wheat)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger (or a bit more)
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. pureed pumpkin
2 T. oil (like vegetable oil or canola oil)
1/2 c. molasses
1/2 c. hot water.

Ice cream:
1 quart vanilla soy ice cream (I used "It's So Delicious" brand because it was on sale)
1 package candied ginger (you can get this at an Asian food store, esp. around Chinese New Year)

Compote:
1/2 c. frozen berries
2 T. orange marmalade
2 T. grand marnier
1 T. brown sugar

Crust:
4 sheets cinnamon graham crackers
1 T. oil
1-2 T. brown sugar

Methodology

1. Cake: Preheat oven to 350*. Combine wet ingredients (pumpkin, sugar, molasses, oil, water) and dry ingredients (everything else) in seperate bowls. Mix dry into wet. Put in an oiled bread pan and bake ~35-40 minutes (I recommend checking after about 25).

2. Ice Cream: take the ice cream out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter. Open the package of ginger and chop it up in the food processor (or cut it by hand) into bite-sized pieces (think small, like raisins). By the time you finish, the ice cream should be softening but not soupy. Scoop it out into a large bowl, then add in the ginger and mix. This may take a bit of muscle to combine it well, but it shouldn't take too long. If it's really difficult, wait a few minutes until the ice cream is softer. When combined, scoop the ice cream back into the carton, cover, and return to freezer.

3. Compote: In a small sauce pan over low heat, put the berries, the marmalade, the grand marnier, and the brown sugar. You may want to add a little water, but not more than a tablespoon or two. Keep an eye on this, stirring occasionally, until the berries are melted, then turn up the heat to medium and let it simmer until you have something a bit less stiff than jam but more stiff than, oh, strawberry soup or something. This is called a reduction, incidentally. If you have corn startch, you can add that as a thickening agent (maybe a teaspoon?) when you turn the heat up, but I'd go slowly with that. When the berries are reduced, turn off the burner, put them in a container, and stick it in the fridge to cool. Incidentally, you may want to use your spoon to break up some of the larger berries to create a more uniform sauce.

4. When the cake is done, turn it out of the pan to cool. After about 30 minutes, wrap it in foil and stick it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Wash the pan.

5. So everything is cool. Line the pan with cling film, leaving the pieces long so plenty hangs over (later on, you will wrap these pieces across the top of the cake). Take the ice cream out of the freezer and (when it is soft enough) spread a layer about an inch thick on the bottom of the pan and a little ways up the sides.

6. The cake is sort of wedge shaped, since the bread pan is a flat-bottomed, gradually widening V-shap (like this: \____/). Cut the cake in half and put the bottom half in the pan (by this I mean the same part which was touching the bottom of the pan when the cake was baking.

7. Drizzle a teaspoon or two of grand marnier on the cake, then spread the layer with berries. You should have just enough to go across. You could also use raspberry jam or something here.

8. Put another thin layer of ice cream over the berries.

9. Put the last piece of cake on. I had to cut mine somewhat thinner to make everything fit in the pan. You can drizzle this with liquor if you want, then cover with ice cream. Put the whole thing in the freezer.

10. In a dish, crush up the graham crackers. Add the oil and sugar, mixing until you get something like a graham cracker crust. Spread this across the bottom of the cake. Cover the whole pan with cling film and return to freezer for about an hour.

11. To serve, unwrap the cling film. Put a plate on the bottom of the pan and invert, then remove the pan and cling film. You can add frosting on top now, if you wish.


Notes

*If you are not vegan, you can use regular ice cream, change the flavours around, etc. This was ginger + gingerbread because my friend really likes gingerbread. If I were making it for myself, it would probably be coffee+chocolate+rum with orange/raspberry in the middle, something like that.

*0/7. There were no problems at all, and I've been asked for the recipe a number of times already.

Banana Bread Recipe, perfected

A few changes to this recipe to make it better. Yes.

Ingredients

• 1.5c white whole wheat flour
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1.5tsp baking powder
• 1tsp salt
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 3 very ripe bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3c. buttermilk
• 6 oz low fat plain yoghurt
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips, or until it looks right

Changes are bolded. Mix dry and wet as before, combine and bake at 350 for ~1 hr. If veganizing (which I haven't tried), I would replace the buttermilk with soy milk + vinegar and add plain or vanilla soy yoghurt or about 1/4 c. soy margarine. I will have to try this sometime.

Lazy Brownies with Rum Glaze

What do you do when you don't want to go to the store, but you are craving fudgy brownies like woah? Improvise.

This is based on my mother's parve mayonnaise brownies recipe.

Ingredients

Brownies

• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 3/4 c. cocoa powder (unsweetened, non-dutched)
  
• 1 1/4 c. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 T. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/3 c. mayonnaise
• 1 small container (~6 oz.) low fat plain yoghurt
• 1/4 c. mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries and raisins
  

Glaze

• 1/3 c. rum
• 2/3 c. powdered/icing sugar (approx.)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• a sprinkle of cardamum

Methodology

1. Preheat the oven to 350*.

2. Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cocoa, and spices.

3. Add in mayo, water, and yoghurt. You may need to add more water to bring it to the right consistancy.

4. Add chips, cranberries, and raisins. Put in a greased 9x13 pan and bake for ~30 minutes.

5. Mix glaze ingrediants while brownies cool. Cut brownies, then drizzle glaze over with a fork. Eat.

Notes

*Not quite what I expected, but rich and fudgy. Also, rum + running is maybe not my greatest idea ever. Or perhaps it is. Mmm.

*Could have plumped raisins first with hot water. Hm.

*Had to call Daniel to ask him how long mayo keeps for. Apparently a long time.

*2/7 on the disaster index.

ETA: These keep well in the fridge, becomng even more fudgy. I recommend serving them with whipped cream and fresh raspberries. Going to try freezing them to see how that works.

Of Brownies and Bribes

The first rule is, when you don't know how to do something, get a book from the library.

The second rule is, when that doesn't work, bribe one of your brothers until he does it.

This bribe took the form of brownies. I made them from a box because I'd heard that you could do this. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit to having tried it, and more embarrassed that it worked.

Ingredients

• a box of brownie mix. I used Betty Crocker because it was the cheapest and lowest calorie. I never make brownies from mixes, so I don't really have a preferred brand or anything.
• about 12 oz diet Coke
• a pan, greased
  

Methodology

1. Preheat the oven as directed on the box.

2. Put the mix in a bowl. Add coke until it is mixed to the right consistency. Do not add eggs, oil, or water.

3. Put the brownies in a pan and bake according to the instructions on the box. This went so fast my oven didn't preheat completely, so it took about 30 minutes as opposed to the 25 the box suggested, so keep an eye on it.

Notes

*These are sweet, and not very brownie-like. They taste a lot like vegan chocolate pudding cake (a delicious treat which, if you have vegan friends and you have not tried it, I suggest you force them to make it for you, since they are obviously holding out on you). The sweetness may be a problem for some people. However, it doesn't taste like nutrisweet (or whatever Diet Coke is sweetened with these days), which is a plus.

*The caloric content is equal to whatever the unmade mix was, since Diet Coke has no calories to add. Mine was 1 brownie = 100 calories. This was great to know, because I ate about 5.

*Did I mention I was really hungry after aikido for some reason?

*My youngest brother, for whom the bribe was prepared, seemed to like it, though he only ate two. I served it with whipped cream - maybe better with vanilla ice cream or frozen yoghurt?

*Anyway, 1/7 on the disaster index, losing a point for not actually being brownies. I wouldn't, for example, bring them to a pot luck if I were trying to maintain my reputation. But delicious to have at home.

Mango Sticky Rice

Cleaning out the files. Here's a recipe from 22 March 2007.

Called Khao Niaow Ma Muang in Thai, this could be seen as a variant of rice pudding. Regardless, it makes a nice warm dessert with fruit, which means it's healthy and you don't have to feel bad about eating it. =] Hurrah.

Stuff you need:

• 1-2 mangos, ripe
• 1-2 cups rice. You're going to want "sticky rice", which is more glutinous; risotto rice would work, also possibly sushi rice. You should look around.
• 1-2 Tbs brown sugar
• 1 tin coconut milk (actually you want "coconut cream" but it's about the same)
• 1 cup water
• spices, including salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom

Procedure:

1. Peel the mangos, or if you have a fucking imperialist vegetable peeler that doesn't work for left handed people, make your roommate do it. Cut the mangos off the pits, then slice them into smallish bits.

2. Measure rice into pot. Add water and coconut milk in a 1:.5 ratio, so 1 cup of rice would get 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 cups would get 1 and 1, and so on. Turn it on over low.

3. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, salt, brown sugar to taste. Keep stirring so it doesn't burn. When it starts to bubble and thicken, add the mangos.

4. Keep cooking, stirring a lot. This will cook up very quickly, so be careful; also, be ready to add more coconut milk/water as needed if it starts running out of liquid.

5. Eat! Yum.


Notes:

Possible variations: You could add...sliced roasted almonds, raisins, pineapple instead of mango, papaya instead of mango, possibly cantaloupe melon instead of mango, grass jelly (uh, I don't know how to explain what this is. It's...green?)...Bananas might also be nice.

I'd recommend that you use powdered cardamom instead of the whole type if this is possible. Whole cardamom is really nice in theory, but in practice I always wind up biting down on the pods, which is gross. Also, you could add chili powder if you were into it - I think that would be good, and surprising.

Hmm, now I'm thinking of a dessert with cocoa powder and chillies...

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

People who know me, or who read this blog a lot, know that I have a weird thing about eggs. It's not that I'm worried about the cholesterol or calories (at 70 calories per egg they're actually pretty healthy), I just don't like to keep them around. I have this weird sense that if I leave them unattended for too long, they will start to explode and fry themselves on the counter...

What I did have was overripe bananas, so I decided to make banana bread. But what to do without eggs?

Turns out it's not that hard. Recipe based on one from Dan and Claire.

Ingredients

• 1.5c whole wheat flour
  
• 1tsp baking soda
  
• 1.5tsp baking powder
  
• 1tsp salt
  
• 1/2c brown sugar
  
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1tsp vanilla
  
• 1 T. margarine
• 1/3c. + 1/4c. + 1 T (about 11 T. total, or a little less than 3/4 c.) buttermilk
• 1/4 c. nonfat yoghurt (fat free, maybe?)
  
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
  
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips, or until it looks right

Methodology

0. Preheat oven to 350°.

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, chips). Set aside.

2. Mix wet ingredients (buttermilk, sugar, vanilla, margarine, yoghurt). Add bananas; mash with a fork.

3. Add wet into dry (mostly because the bowl the dry was in was much larger). Mix together and don't overstir.

4. Put into a greased bread pan (5"x9" is standard, I think). It will be quite full. Bake for about 1 hr, until a tester comes out clean. Turn out of pan to cool.

Notes

*Very easy. The baking time seemed a bit lengthy (read, I don't like to wait), but it came out almost exactly at 1 hour, done perfectly.

*Part of this was a bribe for Sean for helping me wrestle a chair up into my apartment. He liked it (the bread, not the chair).


*Fantastic and easy; 0/7 on the Lupton Disaster Scale.

*Make sure you check out today's comic!

Apple Brown Betty

Oh man; if you do a google you'll find that everyone and her brother has a recipe for Apple Brown Betty, and all of them are different. This was my attempt to 1) use some stale cake and 2) split the difference on a bunch of conflicting recipes.

Ingredients

Approximately 1/2 of a cinnamon sponge cake, slightly stale, cut into 1/4" cubes
1.5 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c. brown sugar
rind of 1 lemon
2.5 lbs apples (suggest Granny Smith and McIntosh)
8 T. apple juice or cider
1.25 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice, salt
about 2 T. butter

Methodology

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Peel, core, and slice apples. Combine sugar and nutmeg and set aside about 2 T.

2. Mix spices and cake. Put a layer of cake at the bottom of a casserole pan, then a layer of apples, then pour about 4 T. of apple juice over. Put another layer of cake and sugar, another layer of apples, more juice. End with cake and sugar, then sprinkle the reserved 2 T of sugar on top.

3. If you are paying attention, dot the top with butter. Otherwise just put the lid on the casserole (or cover with foil) and put in the oven for about 45 minutes.

4. After 45 minutes, take lid off (dot top with butter now if you forgot earlier) and let it bake until brown, about another 15 minutes depending on how long you spend gaping at it with the oven open.

5. Serve with vanilla frozen yoghurt or whipped cream.

Notes

*Though the top layer was a bit dry, the other layers were extremely delicious. Next time I will cut some margarine in with a pastry cutter to help this problem. Perhaps even make a more apple crisp-like topping.

*About a 3 of 7 on the disaster index.

*Well received, though.

Cinnamon Cake with Grand Marnier Whipped Cream and Raspberry Compote

Made up by me, based on this recipe at Epicurious. Very loosely based.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 T. molasses
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. Grand Marnier
cream of tarter

Whipped cream

1 pint whipping cream
3 T. confectioners' sugar
1 T. brown sugar
1/2 T. Grand Marnier
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Compote

about 1/2 bag frozen raspberries (it is January in Wisconsin, what do you want?)
1.5 T. brown sugar
~1 T. lemon juice

Methodology

1. Preheat oven to 350*, grease cake pan. Sift flour, baking powder, and cinnamon together. Whip egg whites with cream of tarter until foamy, then add sugar slowly. Try to make peaks. Fail miserably.

2. Add egg yolks. Mix (by hand). Fold in flour mixture. Add vanilla. Put cake in oven. Bake for ~30 minutes.

3. Drizzle 1 tsp of Grand Marnier on the bottom of the cake; turn cake out of pan and drizzle another tsp of GM on the top. Let it cool.

4. Make the compote. Put fruit, sugar, and lemon juice in a small sauce pan over low heat, stir until it turns into sauce, about 5 or 6 minutes. Taste and add more sugar if you want.

5. Make the whipped cream. Put cream, sugar, vanilla, and GM in container and whip until stiff.
6. Serve a slice of cake with whipped cream and sauce. Since it's a sponge cake, it's especially effective if you put some sauce on the plate, then plate the cake, then whipped cream and more sauce. Eat.

Notes

*This was well-received. Part birthday present, part "thanks for playing Queer Eye with my apartment".

*The cake is about 150 calories/slice for 12 slices. I didn't work out the whipped cream and raspberries, but I'd put the finished product at about 250, which isn't bad.

*Would have been better had I gotten the egg whites to whip. Also next time I will put in a little pumpkin pie spice I think. But in terms of stuff I was really worried about all afternoon that came out well? This cake. Yes.

*Disaster index: 3/7.

Ginger Fudge

In which I set nothing on fire.

Ok, yes. I made up this recipe based on the last fudge experiment which I admit did not turn out quite right - the top layer didn't set up quite and the bottom layer was a bit hard. So back to the drawing board.

Ingredients

2 bags semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tin (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (I used Ong Tho because I was at an Asian food store undergoing a fit of nostalgia while I was buying it. I think this is less sweet than the typical American stuff. Also in Vietnam they sell low fat Ong Tho, which would have been great here, but they didn't have any at the store.)
1/2 c. marshmallow fluff (I feel dirty just typing that, but you need some corn syrup and I didn't want to actually own corn syrup so this has it in it. Does that make sense? Probably not. Sorry.)
1 box (~ 200g) candied ginger (you can find this at an Asian grocery store, which is why I happened to be there. It will be easier to find around Chinese New Year/Tet, so in late January-mid February, because dried fruits are very popular at that time of year; if you were feeling really daring and could find it, candied lotus root would also be good to add in to the mix.)
1/4 c. skim milk (approx.)
1 tsp. vanilla
a pinch of salt
spices to taste: cinnamon, Cayenne pepper, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, etc.

Methodology

1. If, like me, you have little strips of ginger, chop them into reasonable sized pieces. Put in a bowl and set aside. Cover 2 round 9" cake pans (or whatever) with tin foil and spray the tin foil with cooking spray.

2. Put the condensed milk and the chips in a pan over low heat. As they melt, stir in the marshmallow, the skim milk, the vanilla, the spices. Still stirring, bring it to a boil.

3. When it boils, turn off the heat and stop stirring. Count to 20 or something until it has stopped boiling and then stir in the ginger. Divide the mixture into the two pans, smooth the top, and put it in the fridge for two hours.

4. Cut and enjoy, or put back in the fridge to worry about.

Notes

*Initially I was too scared to estimate the number of calories. Then I figured out if I cut it into 40 pieces, it would be 130 calories/pc. Not too bad. But then when I cut it, I actually cut it into about 120 pieces, at about 50 calories per piece. The advantage and disadvantage of using a round pan is that at the edges the pieces are a bit smaller, so this is an average. Also when you're transferring the fudge to a container it's very tempting to eat the small bits from the edges.

*I will totally someday soon stop with this baking binge. At least from New Year's to Lupercalia, I promise. As it is, this is getting kind of dire. I've started stalking people primarily because if they're home I can give them baked goods to get rid of them.

*Most of the fudge is destined for Claire's family in St. Paul, as are the cupcakes I'm going to make tomorrow. Next year I'm going to find a boyfriend who celebrates this damn holiday so I'm not left up to my own devices for this long. Goddamn.

*The fudge came out pretty good - not too firm, but with a certain tensile strength. Next time I'm going to use an actual candy thermometer and it will be better.

Fudge

So, life is awful and you're having anxiety attacks all week. What to do?

Make fudge.

Ingredients

1 bag (12 oz) dark/semi-sweet chocolate chips
about 1 cup grated semi-sweet chocolate
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
2 T milk
2 tsp. vanilla
the zest of an orange
a couple tablespoons of Grand Marnier
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. almonds
Cayenne pepper

Methodology

1. Melt chocolate chips over low heat with 2/3 c. condensed milk, 1 T milk, and 1 tsp vanilla. Add the orange zest and liquor. When everything is melted, add the walnuts and remove from heat.

2. Spread on the bottom of a 9" pie pan that you've covered in foil and sprayed with cooking spray.

3. Melt the other chocolate with the rest of the condensed milk. Add the rest of the milk and vanilla. Add almonds and Cayenne pepper to taste.

4. Spread on top of the previous layer of chocolate.

5. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Notes

This was a project Claire and I got into while Daniel was studying for an exam. Because neither of us follows directions well, this didn't come out anything like the way the recipe was. I've tried to reproduce what we actually did as opposed to what it said to do. It was edible though. Actually quite delicious. But it would have been better if we hadn't done pepper on top and orange on the bottom and instead done, oh, cinnamon and pepper, or something like that.

Disaster index: 4 on a scale of 0-7.