Sunday, October 13, 2013

Powdered Brown Sugar (Yes, you can!) and frosting, too

Oops! Used up all the powdered sugar!
I've been on a bit of a cupcake binge lately, and that means I've been making a lot of frosting. And that means I've been using a lot of powdered sugar.

And then I ran out, and didn't want to run to the store. So I did what any normal person would do. I made my own.

Okay, skip that normal part. But ever since the nearby mom-and-pop grocery store closed, running out for just one thing has gotten a lot less fun.

To complicate matters even more, I was short on sugar. But I had a bag of raw washed sugar that I didn't have any plans for.

The raw washed sugar is sort of like brown sugar. It's brown(ish) and it has the same molasses flavor that brown sugar has. But it's not as wet as brown sugar, which is great when the goal is to make powdered sugar.

Making Powdered Brown Sugar

So all I did was toss it into my food processor and let it go.

By the way, this is a great test of how well sealed your food processor is.

It takes quite a while to get actual powder. I ran my food processor until it got hot. Not overheated, but toasty. Then I waited for the dust to settle and I poured the dust through a very fine-mesh sieve. The sugar that didn't sift through went back into the food processor for more torture.

The powdered sugar I got wasn't quite as fine as commercial white powdered sugar, but it was close enough, and the best I could do with the sieve I had.

If you're doing something like this and you want to store the sugar for a while rather than use it all at once, add a few teaspoons of cornstarch too the sugar.

And now for the frosting!

Brown Sugar Frosting

Brown sugar frosting. YUM!
4 ounces cream cheese
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
1 pound powdered brown sugar

Put the butter, sugar, and salt into a stand mixer bowl, with the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Add the powdered brown sugar.

Mix slowly until the sugar is mostly incorporated into the butter mixture, then turn up the speed and beat until the frosting is fluffy.

Use as desired

Purple and White Frosting
Here's another frosting I made recently. The color was pretty - and natural - and the flavor was subtle.

Stipy frosting and striped cupcake papers!
4 ounces cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1 pound powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon blueberry or grape jelly

Put the butter, sugar, and salt into a stand mixer bowl, with the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Add the powdered sugar. Mix slowly until the sugar is mostly incorporated into the butter mixture, then turn up the speed and beat until the frosting is fluffy.

Remove half of the frosting and set aside. Add the jelly and beat well. If you're going to be piping this through something like the "string" piping tip that I used, make sure there are no seeds or bits of fruit in the jelly, or you'll be a very unhappy piper.

Of course you can use these separately, but I thought it looked pretty nice when I had both in the piping bag at the same time.

Happy Halloween

I have to admit that I don't usually get this much into Halloween, and usually not this early, but Sweet Creations by Good Cook sent me a whole bunch of Halloween goodies and I got a little bit carried away with baking and decorating.

Like the Halloween-decorated Chocolate Mayonnaise cupcakes I made recently.

The BEST thing Good Cook sent was the Haunted House Cookie Cutter Set. You'll be seeing a whole post about that on Tuesday.

They also sent the orange and black striped cupcake papers you see up above and a Haunted Cupcake Display stand at the right.

I still haven't used the Halloween Cake Pop molds. I'm not a big fan of cake pops, but I was thinking they might make nice chocolate molds. I just haven't gotten quite that far in my madness yet.

If you're in the Halloween mood and you're looking for some supplies, you can get at 25% discount at the Good Cook website with the code HAUNTED23.

Yum