Pistachio Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Makes about 4 cups

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into tablespoons
Sweetened pistachio paste, to taste
Green food coloring (optional)

Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees).
Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add 1/4 cup pistachio paste and mix until incorporated. Add more if a stronger flavor is desired (I used about 1/2 cup).

Sweetened Pistachio Paste
Makes about 1 cup

1 cup pistachios, skins removed (if pistachios are salted, rinse them well)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup hot water

In a food processor, grind pistachios and sugar until it becomes a fine meal. With the processor still running, Slowly add hot water, one tablespoon at a time scraping the bowl often, until a thick but spreadable paste forms. Transfer to a bowl and press plastic wrap against the surface. Cool to room temperature.

Credits: How to Eat a Cupcake blog

Spumoni Cupcake

Slight adapted by a recipe I got off of "How to Eat a Cupcake" blog. Only difference is I didn't use cherry extract and opted to do a mix of maraschino cherries and canned cherry because I thought the canned cherries tasted too much like prunes plus when I eat the maraschino cherry, that tastes more like the cherry ice cream in spumoni to me. I also halved the recipe to make only twelve cupcakes.

This cupcake is half cherry batter and half chocolate batter topped with pistachio buttercream to finish off the three classic flavors in spumoni ice cream.

Cherry Batter

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup + 6 tbsp. flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon cherry extract (I didn't have any)
  
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/8 cup chopped cherries (canned or frozen, thawed)

Chocolate Batter

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon cherry extract (I didn't have any)
  
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/8 cup chopped cherries (canned or frozen, thawed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan, or use paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add cherry flavoring and mix until combined. On low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, followed by milk; end with remaining flour mixture and chopped cherries. Mix just until incorporated (do not overmix).
Fill muffin cups with 3 tablespoons of each batter, side by side. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Cupcakes

Super delicious and moist I made these cupcakes for Jackie's 26th birthday. I originally was going to do a tres leche cupcake but had 3 overly ripen bananas that I had to do something with. I topped it with my new Swiss meringue buttercream recipe and added around 4 tablespoons of mashed bananas to it at the end to make Banana Swiss Merginue Buttercream. The results were delicious!

(Cupcake recipe from Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella.)
Makes 18-22

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (About 2 bananas)
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs to the creamed mixture and beat well. Add the bananas and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add all the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix until completely integrated.
5. Add the milk and vanilla. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed.
6. Fill cupcake liners one-half to three-quarters full (take this seriously, I underfilled and they didn't rise enough) with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream II (Less Butter)

[Updated 2011-03-30]

Makes about 4 cups (enough to frost 24 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 4 large egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1 1/4 cup (2 sticks + 1/2 a stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into 1 tablespoon portions
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Put egg whites and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly. Tip: Remove the upper vessel of the double boiler from the steam source periodically while continually whisking when it gets too hot to touch. When the upper vessel is cool enough to touch, but still very warm, return upper vessel to steam.
2. Cook egg white and sugar mixture until sugar has dissolved and mixture is hot to the touch (about 160 degrees). Tip: Using your fingers, pinch a portion of the mixture. The mixture should fill smooth and not grainy.
3. Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until fluffy and cooled, from 5-7 minutes. Tip: The egg white mixture should form stiff peaks.
4. Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Tip: While adding the butter, the mixture may begin to break. This is OK. Continue adding in the remaining butter.
5. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low; add vanilla extract and continue beating 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles. Tip: At this point, the mixture should appear thick and continue to become more frosting like. If this does not happen after a few minutes of mixing, you may need to add additional butter. If additional butter is needed, add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time (in 1 tablespoon portions) and mix well before adding each 2 tablespoon portion. Check after each 2 tablespoon portion addition if the mixture is beginning to thicken. If so, there is no need to add additional butter.

Note:

When doubling the recipe, use the following ingredient list:

• 8 large egg whites
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
  
• 2 1/2 cup (5 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into 1 tablespoon portions
  
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Credits:
How to Eat a Cupcake blog

Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

I tried it...I baked from scratch. Besides breads and cookies, I like the semi-homemade approach to things but for some reason, I felt like trying it so I started slow with this easy recipe from Martha Stewart. It was easy to do and yielded a pretty moist cake!

Makes 18 to 24

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons safflower oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
2. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Basic Waffles (Heart-shape recommended but optional)

Alton Brown's recipe from Foodtv.com:

Ingredients

• 4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup
• 4 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1 cup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• 16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature
• Vegetable spray, for waffle iron

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl beat together eggs and melted butter, and then add the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
3. Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the iron according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Close iron top and cook until the waffle is golden on both sides and is easily removed from iron. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

Baked French Toast Casserole

Photo courtesy of Food Network.

We ate too fast for me to take a picture. LOL

I wanted to make breakfast during our Mammoth trip without having to stand and flip pancakes or French toast the entire time. I decided on this Paula Deen recipe due to the high commenting and ratings on FoodTV.com. I changed it a big (substitute white sugar for corn syrup because I didn't have any). In an effect to streamline packing for our trip, I did the egg mixture and praline mixture (san butter of course) before hand. When we got to the cabin, I just sliced the bread, pour the egg mixture on top, then melted the butter, mixed it with the praline mixture and spread on top! (I didn't do it overnight in fear that it would be too soggy...maybe I'll try it next time, that would make it even easier!) So easy and so delicious. Very fluffy, almost like a bread pudding:

Ingredients

• 1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
• 8 large eggs
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt
• Praline Topping, recipe follows
• Maple syrup

Directions
Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Praline Topping:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.