Everyone Loves Cupcakes~ Especially Cream Filled Ones~

Cupcakes are fun to make and to eat, especially since they are a crowd favorite. I love to bring cupcakes to work or serve them for a delicious and perfectly portioned dessert for a dinner party. Over the holiday break, I took some time to experiment in the kitchen with cupcakes. I have always wanted to make filled cupcakes (since an old vice of mine was to consume those terrible little Hostess chocolate cupcakes as a freshman in college), but haven’t had the time nor patience to figure it out.

So, the closest to a cream filled cupcake I have made were these Devil’s Food chocolate cupcakes with a tangy, sweet cream cheese icing, topped with mini snow caps or non-perils.

Instead of scooping out the bottom with a mellonball, I sliced them down the middle (horizontally) and smeared icing in the middle. It’s like a cupcake sandwich! If you’re not used to making your own batter from scratch, any Devil’s Food box mix will do. You can top your cupcakes with sprinkles or other small candies~ I just adored the look of the snow caps especially for a holiday gathering.

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened @ room temp
• 1/2 cup butter, softened @ room temp
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of fresh orange zest

Adventure in the Kitchen: Peach Crisp

Apple crisp. Pear crisp. Peach crisp? No matter the fruit, crisps are not that difficult to make and are delicious with or without ice cream. I grew up eating fruit pies and crisps that my mother would make on a whim with fruit that was in season. Peaches; however, are an interesting fruit to turn into a crisp, because they are so juicy and have the potential to be either very sweet or just a little too tangy.

The other day, we picked up fresh peaches from Kingsland, TX, the same stand where we purchased the tomatoes. Some of them were a bit bruised, but they were easy to peel and slice away any funky parts.I decided to make my first peach crisp and this is how it turned out:

First: I marinated them in brown sugar, a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon in the fridge for about an hour. You don’t have to do this, but they became super juicy and the sugar created a nice glaze over the peaches. These were tangy peaches so I should have tossed in some honey perhaps or white sugar to cut the “sourness”.

Second: Make the crumble. Flour, butter, brown sugar. Get your hands messy and squeeze the pads of butter (cold out of the fridge is OK). You can release some agression while creating an amazingly sweet topping.

Third: Set the oven to 350 -375 degrees. Bake for 20 min or until bubbly and golden brown.

Wonderful to serve with vanilla bean ice cream. Don’t bother with the whipped cream unless it’s homemade. I can’t stand whipped cream and I hate it in the can. Oh, and I hate Cool Whip too.

Enjoy.

Pie Social at Evangeline Cafe

On this delightfully sunny, Sunday afternoon, I attended my friend’s birthday and Pie Social at a cafe in south Austin called Evangeline Cafe. When my friend first told me about the pie social, I was a little skeptical. The vision in my head was of rows and rows of cream pies, pies filled with ready made filling or perhaps even a tub or two of Cool Whip, all the things that I will never consume.

But when she told me that it was also a fund raiser to benefit the South Austin Museum of Popular Culture, I figured I’d drag along Kate and head on down south for some pie eatin’. The point of the social was to bring two pies, sweet or savory: one pie for sharing and one pie for selling. Each pie was set at $20.00, and I happen to think that might be a little steep for my pies at this point.

I’ve only been baking pies this past year or so. I have mastered quiches and berry pies and I have yet to venture out into whipping clouds of meringue or glazing fruit tarts. I don’t consider myself a novice in pie-baking, but I have learned first hand the disasters of not blind baking the bottom crust, under flouring my filling and napping while baking.

Regardless of the pressure I had put on myself, I baked a new concoction of mine: cherry, blackberry in red wine pie. It sounds incredibly rich, but the red wine tangyness just compliments the sweetness of the cherries and berries so well. So, i baked three: one to test on friends at their lake house, one to sell, and one for everyone to *hopefully* eat.

Evangeline Cafe is quite the place. As soon as I walked in, I was reminded of my New Orleans roots: a small, generally poorly lit bar with patrons from all walks of life, Mardi Gras paraphernalia on the walls, and a Zydeco band blaring familiar songs.

I also noticed the rows of pies that were for sale and was amazed at how delicious and unique each of them were. Lemon, Key Lime, Pecan, Pear, Tomato Basil…almost every kind of tasty fruit, nut, cream and vegetable combination you could think of was waiting to be taken home and consumed.

And then there were more pies….tiny ones, big ones, deep dish ones, slightly overcooked crust ones, sweet smelling ones, savory ones…it was overwhelming frankly.

I shuffled my pie over to the sharing area and hoped that people would take a slice, approach me for the recipe and ask me if I had a food blog they could read every day. Well, I can dream can’t I? My friends liked my pie, but with so many others there, It got lost in between an apple and a cherry, two all-American favorites which were sure to go first.

However, if you have the time and the pie know-how, I highly suggest trying out my recipe for Cherry Blackberry Shiraz Pie. (you can use Merlot if you wish).

You will need:

• 2 Frozen Pie Crusts
• 2 cans of good blackberries and cherries
• Lemon
• Super fine sugar
• Flour
• Red Wine of choice

First, blind bake your bottom crust according to the directions. Next, drain one can of cherries and add the blackberries and about half a can of the syrup into a bowl. No more than 3/4 cup of sugar added. Add about a 1/2 cup of red wine. 1 cup of flour, juice of 1/2 lemon. Mix together and let set in fridge 30 min. Fill pre-baked pie shell with filling, top with other pie shell. Doesn’t have to be perfect! Bake at 400 for about 30 min. or until golden brown. Do not burn edges! Wrap tinfoil around the crust if need be.