Banana Cupcakes with Plum Jam Frosting #OXOGoodCookies

Mmmmm. Cupcakes.

I love when I plan comes together. I had a banana that was past its eating best, and I had a new hand mixer I wanted to test. The mixer came from OXO, along with a decorating tool that's like a cookie press married to a pastry bag.

Oooooh. I love new toys!

This month is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and OXO usually sponsors Cookies for Kids Cancer events on blogs. I missed out on this year's official events, but I shoehorned my way in, got some gear, and decided that cupcakes are sort of like cookies.

Because that's how I am.

The Cookies for Kids Cancer is one of the blogger events I really like. Bloggers don't get anything except product, but OXO donates to charity. Plus, they donate for people who hold bake sales. All the details, straight from OXO, are at the end of this post.

Meanwhile, cupcakes and gadgets.

I had been curious about the kitchen electrics from OXO since they first announced them. My favorite OXO tool is probably my vegetable peeler, but I like a whole lot of other things, too, like their containers, and their mango splitter and their cherry pitter and their cookie press. What I like best about the cookie press is the extra plates you can buy for it. I think I have them all ... but I'm a little afraid to look!

Oh, and I totally LOVE the cold brew coffee maker (reviewed here; buy it on Amazon here). I use that coffee maker pretty exclusively for my everyday coffee.

But those particular gadgets aren't electric. I was curious if the OXOness of the electrics would match the thoughtful way they design their other products.

When the OXO hand mixer arrived, there were a number of things liked about it right off the bat. It stands up very steadily with no threat of tipping. It comes with both normal beaters and swirly beaters that are designed for heavy batters. And it has a headlight.

I wondered if the light was necessary. I mean, I've had plenty of hand beaters, and none of them lit up. It's not like I make cake in the dark, right?

But here's the thing.

I was really able to see what was going on in the bowl. I could see when things were fully mixed without stopping the mixer to look inside the bowl without the mixer casting a shado.

Is it essential? Well, obviously not, because we've lived without lighted mixers for a long time. But it really does make sense. I like it. A lot.

As far as the OXO decorating tool, I was a little confused by it until I put frosting into it and started using it. Then it made perfect sense. And nice cupcakes. I don't think I'd use the tool if I wanted to make one super-long unbroken line of frosting. But that's not something I see myself doing any time soon.

The tool comes with several tips, but the good news is that standard-sized tips fit, so if you've already got a collection of them, you can use them with this tool. Both the small and large tips fit, which is even better. And the whole thing can go in the dishwasher to be cleaned. After you disassemble it, obviously.

These banana cupcakes aren't similar in to a pound cake in consistency. Not as fluffy as a sponge cake, but not as dense as banana bread.

Banana Cupcakes with Plum Jam Frosting

To make the cupcakes:
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 mashed ripe banana

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line one 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt

In another medium mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Beat in the mashed banana

Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternately with two additions of the milk, beating until incorporated after each addition.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full (these don't rise spectacularly, so they're fine at 3/4 full, even at high altitude). Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean – about 18-20 minutes.

To make the frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese*
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons plum jam** (or to taste)
Powdered sugar, as needed (about a pound, depending on the thickness you're looking for)

Beat the cream cheese and butter until it's smooth, then add the vanilla extract and salt beat until incorporated.

Beat in the plum jam until it's incorporated.

Add the powdered sugar in increments until the consistency is what you're looking for. You can leave it softer if you're spreading the frosting on, but you'll need it firmer if you want piped designs to hold their shape. If you somehow manage to get it too thick, and more milk or jam.

*The cream cheese you choose does make a difference. I've tried making frosting with fat-free cream cheese, and I thought it tasted terrible. If you like it, go for it. BUT! The brand and type of cream cheese will affect the consistency of the frosting. You might need more or less sugar to get to a nice frosting-like consistency.

**You can use any any jam you like, or leave it out and make a vanilla frosting.

From OXO about Cookies for Kids Cancer:

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and it's a very important time for us here at OXO. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in the U.S. The reason, sadly, is simple: lack of funding for research specific to children. Even though pediatric cancer claims the lives of more children annually than any other disease, it receives less than 4 percent of the National Cancer Institute's budget.

In 2007, Liam Witt, the son of longtime OXOnians Gretchen and Larry Witt, was diagnosed cancer at the age of 2. OXOnians regard each other as family, and news of Liam's diagnosis hit all of
us hard. Motivated to help, Gretchen and Larry had the "crazy" idea to host a larger-than-life cookie
sale, gathering more than 250 volunteers (many of whom were fellow OXOnians,) to bake and sell
96,000 cookies. The larger-than-life cookie project raised more than $420,000 to fund childhood
cancer research.

Nine months later, Gretchen and Larry launched Cookies for Kids' Cancer as a national non-profit organization, inspiring grassroots bake sales and other events with the ultimate goal of funding research for new, improved, and less toxic treatments for children. Since then, the organization has granted more than $10 million, funding 80 research projects, 32 of which are therapies that children have access to today.

Everyone at OXO was profoundly impacted when Liam lost his 4-year battle. For years, Liam was a fixture in our office. He would visit frequently, riding his orange scooter, providing unsolicited (but always helpful) product feedback and sharing his vivacious energy with everyone. From a very young age he had a clear vision of what he wanted to do when he grew up: Become a chef and run OXO. We have no doubt he would have achieved both of his goals.


Through the years, OXOnians have devoted their personal time, energy and money to support Cookies, but the company wanted to play a larger role. In 2011, the year Liam lost his battle, OXO formalized its partnership with the organization, pledging to donate up to $100,000 per year through bake sale matches and other activities. Since then, we've helped inspire other "good cookies" to raise over $1 million and host more than 1,600 events in over 170 cities globally.

Awareness is one of the most important ways to create change, and we hope you'll support us in raising awareness around this very important cause. For more information and other ways to contribute - including hosting a bake sale of your own - visit Cookies For Kids' Cancer. If you register your bake sale and select "OXO" in the drop-down menu marked "How did you hear about Cookies for Kids' Cancer?", we'll match your proceeds for events held, before December 31st, 2016.

Thanks to OXO for sending the hand mixer and decorating tool for my use. The hashtag for this promotion is #OXOGoodCookies. Look for it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Iced Vanilla Cookies #OXOGoodCookies

Every year, I look forward to working on OXO's Cookies for Kids Cancer campaign. For every blog post in September about the campaign (limited to one post per blogger), they donate $100.

While I'd love to be able to donate cash to every worthy cause, it's simply not possible on my budget. But this makes it easy. I donate a blog post, they donate the real money.

Win-win for everyone.

PLUS, I get cookies, and you get a recipe.

AND ... if you buy any of the specially-marked OXO products, they donate even more. So if you were thinking about adding a few kitchen gadgets to people's Christmas stockings, now's a good time to buy.

For every stickered item sold, OXO will donate 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as part of its $100,000* pledge to Cookies for Kids' Cancer.

Look for specially marked OXO products at participating retailers in September:

For this promotion, OXO offered three different baking options - drop cookies, iced cookies, and cookie-pressed cookies. When I looked at the tools being offered, I chuckled a bit, because I had most of them. So, it really didn't matter which group I was in, if we're talking strictly about tool-acquisition options.

But like I said, I don't do these posts for me. I just wanna make OXO donate more money. I'm nice like that.

I ended up in the iced cookie group, which meant I was going to work with a 3-piece cookie cutter set (round, heart, and star) a blue cookie spatula, a cupcake icing knife, and a 3-piece spatula set, which is something I can always use..

I got one of the cookie spatulas last year (in green) and I'm constantly reaching for it. Since it's silicone-coated, I know it won't scratch my bakeware or nonstick, which is a big deal. And it's just the right size to wedge under a cookie on a baking sheet, even if I've placed them a little closer than they should be.

And even though spatulas and icing knives, I can always use extras. Those really are the sorts of things it makes sense to have more of. And cookie cutters ... well, I can always use a few more. The round cutter was pretty big, so it could be used for things like biscuits as well. Or maybe small hand pies.

So then this happened ...

To see how I made the bites, see THIS post.

This recipe isn't as sweet as some, which makes it good for cookies that will be iced. But they're also sweet enough for eating as-is.

If you're not planning on icing, these would be great cookies for sprinkling on a little bit of colored sugar, as well.

I used all three cookie cutters, because I wanted to try them out. The stars were the smallest, and the round cutters were pretty big. Since those round cutters were so large, I decided to cut stars out of the centers of them, and as the cookies spread (not a lot - just a little) the stars filled in to make an interesting pattern.

For icing, I used a buttercream that I had on hand. Royal icing could be great if you needed a more solid surface, for example, if you wanted to write on the cookies with edible markers.

Iced Vanilla Cookies

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups (15 3/4 ounces) flour

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream the shortening, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until they're incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat in.

Add the flour in several additions (to keep it from flying all over when you start mixing. Beat until combined.

Transfer the dough to a plastic bag and refrigerate until well chilled - at least 4 hours or overnight.

When you're ready to start baking, heat the oven to 375 degrees and line some baking sheets with parchment paper. Flour your work surface lightly and portion the dough into several pieces to make them easier to work with.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to between 1/8- and 1/4-inch thick. Thinner cookies will cook a little faster and be crisper, but it's your choice. If the dough tends to want to break apart as you roll it, you can knead it a little bit to warm it slightly so it will roll out without breaking.

Use cookie cutters to cut the cookies into your desired shapes, and arrange them onto the cookie sheets, leaving space between them. The thinner cookies won't spread quite as much as the thicker cookies.

Bake the cookies at 375 degrees until they are slightly browned on the edges, about 14 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Once the cookies have cooled, frost as desired.

For the frosting, you can use a buttercream or a royal icing. The royal icing will dry harder, so you could color the cookies with edible markers. The buttercream will get harder, but it won't be as brittle as the royal icing, and it won't be quite as sweet. A ganache or even a dip in melted chocolate would also be great.

* In 2014, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids' Cancer through specially marked baking tools, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts. Cookies for Kids' Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100 percent of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids' Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.

For more info, here's where you can hunt them down:

Twitter: @OXO / @Cookies4Kids
Instagram: @OXO / @Cookies4Kids
Facebook: facebook.com/OXO / facebook.com/CookiesForKidsCancer
Pinterest: pinterest.com/OXO / pinterest.com/Cookies4Kids

I received products from OXO to help me make cookies, but I'm really doing this for the charity.

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Buttercream Frosting (with variations)

It seems like I've been using a lot of buttercream frosting lately.

 ... on cupcakes ...

in ice cream... 

on cakes ... 

and on cookies.

But I've never published my basic buttercream recipe here. So, here we go. This recipe makes more than enough to frost a layer cake, but it's always best to have more than you need, right?

You can refrigerate the leftovers, and use them on something else. I'm not sure how long it lasts before it goes wonky - I'm always able to find a use for leftovers ... including putting it into ice cream.

This recipe will dry to form a somewhat hard surface, so it was great when I wanted to airbrush the cupcakes in that top photo. When I used it for the cookies and applied a very thin layer, it hardened most of the way through. Not hard like royal icing, but hard enough so the cookies could be handled.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter (2 sticks), or 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, or any combination to equal 1 cup*
1 2-pound bag of powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract**
Milk or cream, as needed, starting with about 1/4 cup, possibly up to 3/4 cup

Beat the butter/shortening (your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment is easiest, or use an electric hand mixer) to make sure it's soft, then beat in the sugar (a little at a time, so it doesn't fly all over the place!) and the salt until all the sugar is incorporated and you have a smooth mixture. Add the vanilla and beat well.

Add the milk, a little at a time, until you reach the consistency you're looking for, depending on your intended use. If you're planning on piping, it needs to be soft enough to run smoothly though the piping tip, For frosting cookies, it just need to be thin enough to spread easily.

Continue beating until the frosting is fluffy rather than dense.

If you mess up and it gets too thin, you can add more powdered sugar.

*Butter tastes better, but shortening holds up better in the heat and tends to give you better crusting/hardening, if that's important. For flavor and holding power, half butter and half shortening works well. If you need a bright white frosting, shortening will give you that. If you want the lightest-colored frosting possible using butter, use an unsalted butter - they tend to be lighter in color than salted. For no good reason. Or check out different brands. Some of them are lighter than others.

** I prefer pure vanilla extract, but if you need a bright white frosting, you can use the clear artificial flavoring instead. Also, you can add other flavors. For an almond-flavored frosting, use 1 teaspoon almond extract and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. If you use other flavors, start with less and add more until it's right. Some flavors can be pretty strong, so you don't want to add too much.

Want Cream Cheese Frosting?
If you prefer the flavor of cream cheese frosting, it's pretty simple. This frosting is less sweet, because there's more of the cream cheese/butter component in relation to the sugar, when compared to the buttercream frosting.

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese*
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 pounds powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter until it's smooth, then add the vanilla extract and beat until it's incorporated. Add the powdered sugar in increments until the mixture is the consistency is what you're looking for. If you need less sugar, that's fine. If you somehow manage to get it too thick, add a little milk or cream.

*The cream cheese you choose does make a difference. I've tried making frosting with fat-free cream cheese, and I thought it tasted terrible. If you like it, go for it. BUT! The brand and type of cream cheese will affect the consistency of the frosting. You might need more or less sugar to get to a nice frosting-like consistency.

Make it Your OWN!

Frosting isn't something that needs to follow an exact formula. It's all about flavor and consistency. If you look online, you'll find lots and lots and lots of variations when it comes the proportion of fatty substance to sugar.

You can't go too far off the beaten path or you'll end up with something that will drip instead of spread. But within a pretty wide range, you can adjust the frosting to your taste, adding more or less sugar, more or less butter, or more or less additional liquid. So, if you want to start with 3/4 cup of butter and just a little cream cheese, that's perfectly fine.

As far as flavor goes, you can use less vanilla (I tend to use more than most folks) or find some other interesting extracts. Add maple syrup or a splash of bourbon. Just taste and adjust until you have a flavorful frosting with the right consistency for piping or spreading.

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Almond Caramel Rose Cake

Here's a round cake!

So, my mother-in-law called up and said, "hey, three of father-in-law's sons are coming to town for his birthday. Could you bake him a birthday cake? I can only bake square cakes."

Well, hmmmmm, that's interesting.

"Any flavor but chocolate," she said. But if I was too busy, she'd go to the grocery store and buy a cake.

And I said, sure, no problem. And then I started plotting. If I'm gonna do a cake, I'm gonna do a show-off cake. So I hunted down a few recipes.

Right off the bat, I knew nuts had to be involved, because FIL loves nuts. Then I decided that caramel would be a good idea for a filling.

Betcha that's not chocolate!

And then I decided I wanted four layers, because I had a cake slicer I wanted to test.

First, I found this yellow cake on The Kitchn. It looked pretty good, and the recipe said it would fit a 9x13 pan or two 9-inch round pans. Well, okay, then.

First problem was that I didn't have two matching 9-inch round pans. Which is totally weird, but true.

So, I baked one layer in a dark pan and one in a light pan. The cake in the light pan took longer to cook, but the one in the dark pan browned a LOT more.

I wasn't really happy with the huge difference in color on the outside of the cakes, but as my husband pointed out, "It will all be covered in frosting, right?"

Those are 8-inch layers right there.

The worse problem was that the layers were much too thin to be sliced in half to make four substantial layers, and I didn't want super-thin layers for this cake.

On the plus side, the cake tasted pretty good and the texture was nice. So I didn't want to have to hunt down another recipe. I figured I'd make the cake AGAIN but this time in two 8-inch cake pans.

Guess what else I didn't have a matching pair of?

Yup, no pairs of 8-inch round pans, either. Don't ask me how this happens. I haven't a clue.

So I went out and bought two light-colored 8-inch cake pans with straight sides. I had to go to FOUR different stores before I found what I wanted. But I got them, and proceeded to make cake.

Oooooh, pretty! And tasty, too!

I used the same recipe from The Kitchn, but used 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Butternut flavoring and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Oh, and since I live at high altitude, I decreased the baking powder from 3 1/2 teaspoons to an even tablespoon.

Where the instructions said to add all the flour, then all the liquids, I added the flour in thirds, alternating with the milk in two additions. Just because. The cakes took about 35 minutes to bake.

Perfect! They came out of the pans flawlessly, and when they were cool, I evened out the tops, then sliced them in half, vertically, to make four even layers. Then I froze them to make the filling and frosting easier.

Four layers of cake. The caramel was PERFECT.

For the caramel. I wanted something thicker than a sauce, but not as chewy as a caramel candy. Soft, but not runny and drippy. So I found a recipe on Cake Central for a thick caramel sauce or filling.

It sounded perfect.

But, after it cooled, it seemed a little too dense, so I reheated it and added more cream. In all, I added an additional 1/2 cup of cream to get it to a state I wanted. So far, so good.

The almond filling was easy. I bought a can of SOLO filling.

Then came the buttercream. I knew that I wanted to decorate with roses like the ones I Am Baker makes, so I used her buttercream recipe.

Some assembly required.

Or sort of.

I started with her Perfect Crusting Buttercream, but used 1/2 butter and 1/2 butter-flavored shortening. Then I added 1/2 teaspoon of salt. For flavoring, I used 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon almond extract, and 1 teaspoon vanilla butternut.

The frosting was a pleasing cream color, which was nice. Not wedding white, and not too yellow or tan.

Assembly was easy.  Seriously. Much easier than I expected it to be.

The caramel got a little more dense as it hit the cold cake, but the frozen cake stood up to me spreading that caramel around. Another option might have been to use a slightly warmed caramel so it would have spread easier, but it still would have cooled as it hit the frozen cake, so I don't know if that would have made any difference.

I slathered the almond paste on the middle layer and used about 3/4 of a can. I had plans for the rest.

Buh-bye cake! Have fun at the party!

Since the almond paste was soft and I knew I'd be putting a bit of pressure on the cake to get that next layer of caramel down, I put the caramel on the next layer before I put that layer onto the cake.

One of my smartest decisions of the day.

I used about half of the caramel that I had made for the two layers of cake. I'm sure I'll think of some uses for the rest.

Spoon, maybe. It's insanely good.

Then, a crumb coat. The buttercream crusted quickly on the cake, so I didn't even need to freeze or refrigerate before I moved on to the roses.

This is my second attempt at making a rose cake using the tutorial from I Am Baker, and I have to say that these things are FUN.

The result looks good even when the flowers are a little off kilter, and you can fill in the holes with little frosting swipes or stars. I wasn't totally happy with all the stars, but that's just because I need a teeny bit more practice.

You wanted a slice, right?

I could see some flaws, but overall, I thought it looked pretty good. And really, who is going to study a cake that close? You slice, you eat, it's gone.

If you're wondering how I got photos of the sliced cake, my mother-in-law sent the cake to me for photos the day after the party, and then I returned to so they could keep enjoying it.

And ... this is probably going to sound a little weird, but when I got the cake back for photos, I saw a few smudges of melted birthday candle wax on top, and that made me happy.

I heard that all the guests were impressed with the cake, and my father-in-law was over the moon about it. Mission accomplished.

So ...

Remember those two 9-inch layers? Well, I decided that since I had no idea whether I'd get to sample my cake (it was attending the party without us), I'd use one of the layers to make a half-cake.

Six layers of cake, five layers of filling.

I split the layer into three very short horizontal layers, then cut the layers in half, so I had six half-moon pieces. I layered the cake with two layers of caramel, two very thin layers of almond filling, and one layer of buttercream.

I got a little boggled as I was making the layers. I had planned on having the buttercream in the center, but for some reason it ended up second from the top. No biggie. This was just for fun, anyway.

I didn't have a lot of frosting left, so I had enough for a super-thin crumb coat and then a thin top coat. No flowers or anything fancy. But that's okay. I like cake better than frosting, anyway.

The other 9-inch cake layer is in the freezer, waiting for me to be inspired. Or hungry. Whatever.

Want some cake?

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Cookistry Went After-Christmas Shopping - and this is what happened

I'm probably not the average shopper. Okay, I'm not normal. But we knew that.

Normal folks stock up on bargain wrapping paper, Christmas cards, and maybe some deals on lights, ornaments, candles, and decorative stuff.

Me, I go to the grocery store and see what deals I can score. And sometimes the items that go on sale aren't all that seasonal. Like chocolate chips. Seriously. Chocolate chips.

I also picked up some extra cupcake liners. Gee, the red ones will be great for Valentine's day and the green ones will be perfect for St. Patrick's day.

Speaking of red and green, in one of the stores there was a huuuge display of Duncan Hines "velvets" cake mix. It included two mixes - a red and a green. I usually don't buy cake mix, but I had some decorating tools I wanted to play with, and a two-toned cake mix sounded perfect for my evil plans. So I bought that.

And some other stuff.

And then I made cupcakes.

The first thing I wanted to fiddle with was the arrangement of the two batter colors. I tried several techniques:

I layered some of the cupcakes. It was simple and didn't require any extra tools, but to make it a little simpler for all of the cupcakes, I used two pastry bags to fill the cups - one pastry bag for each color of batter.

I used a cupcake batter divider from Good Cook to create cupcakes where the colors were split vertically. The divider stood upright on its own in the cupcake pan, so it was pretty easy to use.

Since these little dividers are cheap (particularly if you buy them on sale after Christmas, as I did) I'd suggest buying three or four of them so you can fill a row at a time of cupcakes, so you don't need to switch colors constantly. It wasn't horrible to fill one side, then the other, then move the divider to the next cupcake, but it would have been quicker to fill four red sides, then four green sides, then move all four dividers to the next row.

I used that same cupcake divider in a different way, too. Instead of removing it straight up, I twisted it to create a swirl pattern.

I used a small-diameter biscuit cutter to make cupcakes with one color in the center and a different color around the outside. It was a little fiddly to fill the inside if the biscuit cutter, since it had a handle on top, but it wasn't awful.

It was a little tough to gauge how much batter I had, and quite a bit stuck to the biscuit cutter, so I added extra batter to the tops of some of those cupcakes.

And last, I added red and green batter to the last few cupcakes and used a chopstick to swirl the batter. This was the simplest of all, but it's a pretty common technique.

Rather than using pastry bags, I think it would have been less messy and more precise to use squeeze bottles to dispense the batter. Maybe I'll give that a try next time. But they'd have to be squeeze bottle with a fairly large hole, or it would take forever to fill the cupcake cups. A decorating squeeze bottle with a large tip would probably make sense.

For the frosting, I pulled out another gadget - a pastry bag and coupler that I bought from King Arthur Flour that allows two different frostings to be piped at the same time through the same tip.

It took a few attempts before I figured out the best way to use it. For instance, you want to fill both sides equally, and the best way to do that is to put a little frosting in one side, then some in the other, alternating back and forth to fill both sides with about the same amount of frosting.

Once I figured that out, it worked pretty well.

Now that I think about it, it might have been interesting to use that to pipe the two batters into the cupcakes ... maybe next time.

So ... did you get an interesting food-related bargains after the holiday? Tell me!

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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