Cupcake Project

Honey Nut Cupcakes for Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:52:00 +0000

These honey nut cupcakes for Valentine's Day are just the Valentine's Day treat for the special nut lover in your life. I gave a honey nut Valentine's Day cupcake to one of the biggest nut lovers in my life - a man who will forever be my Valentine - my dad. He said without hesitation that this was the best cupcake he had ever tasted. That's strong praise from my father. He doesn't mince his words.

The honey nut cupcakes for Valentine's Day are dense, with gobs of nuts and honey squirreled away inside. The cupcakes are "frosted" with honey (to act as a tasty glue) and then rolled in chopped nuts. Nut lovers will "nut" miss the buttercream, instead they'll go nuts for the huge mound of their favorite stuff.

Honey Nut Cupcake Recipe for Valentine's Day

Yield: 14 cupcakes

Cake Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups coarsely chopped unsalted nuts (Use whatever nuts and/or seeds you like. I used a mix of pistachios, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and pecans.)

Topping Ingredients:

3/4 cup finely chopped unsalted nuts (Use whatever nuts and/or seeds you like. I used a mix of pistachios, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and pecans.)
3/4 cup honey

Cake Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
Mix in honey until fully combined.
Mix in butter (if you are using an electric mixer, mix on high for about three minutes).
Mix in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until fully combined.
Mix in nuts.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Topping Directions:

Spread a thin layer of honey over cooled cupcakes.
Dip honeyed cupcakes into a small bowl filled with the chopped nuts.
If the nuts don't stick to any part of the cupcake, add more honey and spoon nuts onto the cupcake until the whole top surface of the cupcake is covered in nuts.

Special Thanks to Sucre and Spice

Special thanks to my friend Brooke from Sucre and Spice for creating the adorable forks to use in the this post and her door-to-door service. She's the best! Go check out her Etsy shop!

Honey, I'm Nuts for You - Easy Honey Nut Valentine's Day Cookies (Gluten-Free)

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:43:00 +0000

If you're nuts for a nut lover, this is the Valentine's day cookie to make them. These honey nut Valentine's Day cookies are super simple to make - they have only three ingredients (an assortment of nuts and seeds, honey, and a couple of egg whites to help hold it all together in a chewy granola bar sort of way) - and they are gluten-free! The best thing about these cookies is that you can use whatever nuts your Valentine loves. Does your hubby crave cashews? Use them! Does your child pine for peanuts? They'll work too!

I shaped the Valentine's day cookies like hearts using a cookie cutter, but if you are less concerned with presentation or do not plan to make the honey nut cookies for Valentine's Day, you could save time by making honey nut blobs instead.

Honey Nut Valentine's Day Cookie Recipe

Cookies about to go in the oven.

Yield: 20 cookies (about two inch diameter)

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/4 cup honey
2 cups assorted nuts and seeds (You can use any kinds that you like. I used equal amounts of pecans, pistachios, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts.)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized, bowl, whisk together the eggs whites and honey.
Coarsely chop the nuts and seeds.
Mix the nuts and seeds into the egg whites and honey until well-combined.
Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
Place a heart-shaped cookie cutter (or any shape you like) onto the Silpat or parchment paper and fill it halfway with the nut and seed mixture. Use your hand to pack the mixture into the cookie cutter so it looks like the photo above. Carefully lift the cookie cutter. The mixture should retain the shape of the cookie cutter. (If you prefer, you can form the mixture into balls instead of using a cookie cutter.)
Repeat until you have used all of the nut and seed mixture.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies just start to brown on the edges.
Don't remove the cookies from the baking sheet until they cool. If you pick them up prematurely, you run the risk of them losing their shape. Once they cool, they will be easy to pick up and they will retain their shape well.

Coming Soon

You know there's a cupcake coming soon! Honey nut Valentine's Day cupcakes are coming soon!

Cupcake T-Shirt Giveaway and Coupon Code

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:37:00 +0000

Update: The contest is now closed. The winner is Rather Crafty Mary. Congrats! Thanks to everyone who entered. I loved reading through all of your fun stories!

The other day, I found my journal from age eight hidden in a pile of boxes that had recently been moved from my dad's basement to my basement. Have you had the conversation with your parent when they point out that you now have your own basement and should be storing your own crap? Reading the journal was a peek into my childhood self. It's unnerving how much I didn't remember.

I hated to write. I documented it over and over again in printed pencil in my little brown notepad that I must have been forced to write in each day at school. I can't wrap my brain around it. My journal reveals that I was shy, but I recall that - I worked hard to reach the point where people look at me all cross-eyed when I tell them I never opened my mouth. However, I can't remember a time when I hated to write.

As long as I can remember, I have found writing to be cathartic. When I'm stressed and done venting to everyone I know, I work it out with a pen (a keyboard will also do) and - just having written it down - I feel better. Who was this girl who didn't like to write? Could she have imagined that she would bake and write for a living and that the writing would be her favorite part?

We do still have a few things in common (me and the little redheaded girl - see the middle of my Shirley Temple cupcake post for a visual):

"I love to sing, tap dance, and kiss."

Check, check, and check.

I also loved getting presents. One night for Chanukah, I got five presents! One was silly putty, one was a 1983 calendar, and one was a T-shirt that had hearts on one side and my name on the other (I did not record the other two).

To this day, I have a silly putty egg on my desk (it's not the same one, but clearly it's a shared joy with eight year old me), I still use calendars, and I still enjoy a cool T-shirt; which brings me to the T-shirt giveaway and coupon code that I alluded to in the title of the post.

When I first saw the Red Velvet Love T-shirt from Dressing on the Side on Pinterest, I knew I had to have one and I had to share it with you! The folks from Dressing on the Side thought so too, sent me one to review (thanks!), and are offering one up as a giveaway to a Cupcake Project reader.

Coupon Code

The shirt that I'm wearing in the photos is not the only adorable food-themed shirt that Dressing on the Side sells. Head over to their Etsy page to check out all of their offerings like the "Cupcakes Make Everything Better" shirt and the "Have Your Cake and Wear it Too" shirt. I adore them all.

From now until Feb. 14, you'll get 30% off of any item from Dressing on The Side using the code "cupcakeproject". Happy shopping and Happy Valentine's Day!

T-Shirt Giveaway

I realize that you can't see the text of the shirt in this photo,
but it is the only photo that gives you a good idea of the fit of the shirt.
I'm wearing the red tank under it (it's not part of the shirt).

To win the T-shirt from Dressing on the Side that I'm wearing in all of these photos:

Leave a comment on this post with either a quote from your childhood journal that you find perplexing or amusing. Or, if you don't have a journal, just think of something that you might have said as a kid and share it. I think these will be fun for us all to read.
Be sure your comment includes a way to contact you if you win.

All entries must be in by 11:59 PM CST Thursday, Feb. 2. I will randomly draw the winner on Feb. 3 and add the winner's name to this post. I will also contact the winner directly. If I don't hear from the winner within one week of contacting them, I reserve the right to draw a new winner.

Good luck!!

Parmesan Sour Cream Cupcakes with Raspberry Whipped Cream Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0000

Cross a cheese biscuit with angel food cake and you get Parmesan sour cream cupcakes. They're buttery, airy, sticky and sugary on the edges, and they have a tang from Parmesan that works in a cupcake so much better than you would ever expect. If you like the combination of sweet and salty, this is a cupcake for you.

The Parmesan sour cream cake recipe came from Susan at LunaCafe. She was inspired to develop the recipe after trying Parmesan pound cake at Metrovino in Portland, Oregon. Susan had the following to say about her version of the Parmesan cake:

This is one of the most delectable butter cakes in my repertoire. It’s unlikely that anyone will detect the parmesan if not told in advance of its presence. It adds an extra something though that is irresistible (umami), and yes, possibly addictive.

After reading her description of the Parmesan cake, I had to turn it into cupcakes and share the recipe with you!

Parmesan Sour Cream Cupcake Recipe

As noted above, the cake recipe came from LunaCafe. I am printing it below with my notes, conversion to cupcakes, and my original raspberry whipped cream recipe.

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Cake Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 ounces very finely grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cool room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 large eggs, cool room temperature, beaten lightly
1/2 cup sour cream, cool room temperature

Raspberry Whipped Cream Ingredients:

2 cups heavy whipping cream
about 16 raspberries (I used defrosted frozen raspberries)
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Cake Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, Parmesan, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream the butter briefly until smooth. (If you don't have a stand mixer, don't despair. You can still make this recipe - just mix with whatever tool you have. Your cupcakes just might not end up quite as fluffy.)
Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix on medium speed for 5 full minutes, until the mixture is light in color and fluffy in texture.
With the mixer still on medium speed, slowly drizzle in the eggs, tablespoon by tablespoon. If the mixture begins to curdle, stop adding the eggs and increase the speed until batter is again creamy. Then decrease the speed and resume adding the eggs. Continue to cream, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times, until the mixture appears fluffy white, velvety, and increased in volume, about 3 minutes.(Note: "drizzling teaspoon by teaspoon" is how Susan put it. I bake with my toddler, who just dumps the whole egg in. My recipe came out fantastic. Maybe it would be better if I did it her way, but I always like to remind people not to stress too much about baking. Have fun!)
Stir in 1/4 of the flour mixture.
Add 1/3 of the sour cream, stirring until blended.
Repeat the procedure, alternating dry and liquid ingredients, ending with the final addition of flour.
Divide evenly among the cupcake liners.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.

Raspberry Whipped Cream Directions:

Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
Smash the berries until you have a liquidy raspberry paste.
Mix in the berries and powdered sugar until just combined.
Spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes.

Baking With Cheese

If you like the idea of cheese in your cupcakes, I've got many other cheesy cupcakes for you to explore:

Business Time: Announcing New Save Recipe and Pinterest Buttons - Plus a MOO Card Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:12:00 +0000

My MOO cards

Update: This contest is now closed. The winners are: commenter 1 (Erika), commenter 122 (Mandra), and commenter 104 (Kittie). Thanks to everyone who entered!

Let's talk business for a few minutes. Cupcake Project has a couple of new features designed to make your life easier. First, I'll share them with you, and then I'll tell you about a sweet MOO card giveaway (MOO cards are business cards, but you'll love them even if you don't have a business - I'll explain why later).

Saving Recipes

I've teamed up with ZipList to add a new feature to Cupcake Project that allows you to save recipes and create shopping lists (both on Ziplist's site and also using their free mobile app). To save Cupcake Project recipes, just click the new "Save Recipe" button found at the top of each post. ZipList will ask you to sign up for their site the first time you click the button. Signing up will not only allow you to save my recipes, but you'll also be able to save recipes from all of their partner sites, including MarthaStewart.com, Bakers Royale, and Joy of Baking - and they'll all be saved in one place.

I had to share a screen shot of ZipList's shopping list feature because I think it's particularly good. The list above is for my butternut squash mac and cheese cupcakes. Notice that the shopping list displays everything you need to buy and separates out pantry staples that it guesses you may already have.

Once you sign up, you can easily access your recipe box and shopping list from either the recipe box on the top right-hand side of this blog, ZipList.com, or by using ZipList's free mobile apps.

I hope that you use ZipList and love it! Let me know what you think!

Pinterest

Some of you have already been pinning photos from Cupcake Project. Love it!

I know that many of you are already using or have become completely addicted to Pinterest - a website that allows you to bookmark photos from across the web, organize, and share them. If you are not yet using Pinterest, have a peek at my pin boards to get an idea of how it can be used.

I've now made it easier for you to pin photos from Cupcake Project by placing a pin button at the top of each post.

MOO Card Giveaway

I've purchased my business cards from MOO.com for years. Whenever I hand someone a MOO card, they comment on the cards and ask where I got them (unless they already are using MOO themselves). What makes MOO cards stand out (aside from their high quality paper and options like rounded corners) is that you can put a different photo on every card. This is super fun for my cupcake cards and an important selling tool for Jonathan's photography business (his cards act as a mini portfolio).

Here's a screenshot of the editing process for Jonathan's new business cards.
You can see the many different photos he plans to use on his cards.

I know that some of you may think that you don't need business cards. Even if you don't have a "business", having MOO cards can come in handy. I always hand out Cupcake Project cards to new friends that I meet just so we can stay in touch.

There are also a million creative uses for MOO cards. For example, you can use MOO cards to make a personalized game of memory for kids. Pick photos that are relevant to the child, print two of each card design and have fun playing!

MOO is giving away three sets of 100 business cards to Cupcake Project readers. Full disclosure: MOO also gave me some free cards in exchange for running this giveaway. Normally I wouldn't work with a company that didn't have a direct baking tie-in, but I've been using and loving MOO cards for so long that I was excited for the chance to share them with you.

To encourage you to try out the new Cupcake Project features, I'm giving you three ways to enter (one involves saving recipes through ZipList and one involves Pinterest). You only have to do one to enter, but you have the option of entering all three times.

Entry 1: Leave a comment on this post telling me why you want the cards. How would you use them? Don't forget to leave a way to contact you.
Entry 2: Find a recipe you love on Cupcake Project and use the "Save Recipe" button to save it. Leave a comment on this post letting me know which recipe you saved. Don't forget to leave a way to contact you if you win.
Entry 3: Pin something from a Cupcake Project post using the Pin button. It can be a photo from this post (telling people about the MOO card giveaway), or any photo you love from Cupcake Project. Then, come back to this post and leave a comment telling me what you pinned and your Pinterest username.

Fine Print

The contest will run through 11:59 PM CST on Friday, Jan. 27.
I will randomly draw three winners on Saturday, Jan. 28. I will contact the winners and post their names on this post. If I do not hear back from a winner within one week of contacting them, I reserve the right to draw a new winner.
Cards with rounded corners are not included in the giveaway, but the winners may pay an upgrade fee if they would prefer that style.
International readers are welcomed to enter. MOO is happy to ship the cards anywhere in the world!

Good luck!

One Final Thing Because I Can't Help Myself

Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes for the Super Bowl

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:05:00 +0000

After hearing that I was going to bake buffalo chicken cupcakes for the Super Bowl (with hot sauce and blue cheese in the cake and a blue cheese buttercream frosting), one of my friends asked if I would be baking the cupcakes as as a joke. "Are they just supposed to be funny, or will you actually enjoy eating buffalo chicken cupcakes?" Having not yet baked the Super Bowl buffalo chicken cupcakes, I told them that I was baking them mostly for the fun of it. I didn't expect them to be particularly good.

When my house started to smell like buffalo wings (there was no chicken involved at this point), I knew I had the flavor right. When I took a lick of my cupcake batter-laden finger, I began to suspect that I was going to like the buffalo chicken cupcakes. When I tasted the cupcakes hot out of the oven, I realized that I had created a new crowd-pleasing Super Bowl tradition.

Answers to Your Super Bowl Buffalo Chicken Cupcake Questions

Q. Are the buffalo chicken cupcakes sweet?

A. They are sweet in the way that cornbread is sweet. They have sugar, but they wouldn't make a satisfying dessert.

Q. Are buffalo chicken cupcakes a dessert or an appetizer?
A. I'd serve them as an appetizer.

Q. Is there chicken in the cupcake?
A. No, just on top.

Q. Are the cupcakes spicy?
A. It depends on which hot sauce you use. I used a medium hot sauce and they were just a tad bit spicy.

Q. Is the blue cheese overwhelming?
A. Blue cheese can easily become an overpowering flavor. I put just enough blue cheese in the cupcake and frosting to give them some tang without making the whole thing taste like blue cheese.

Q. Which team are you rooting for?
A. Since the Rams are already out of the running, I've got to go with the Giants. I grew up in New York so they were the team my family always cheered for.

Buffalo Chicken Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 10 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cake:

1/2 cup hot sauce (I recommend a hot sauce that is typically used for Buffalo chicken. Frank's is the classic choice. I used Bella's Medium Wing Sauce.)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

For the blue cheese buttercream frosting:

2 ounces crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar

Steps

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized saucepan on medium-high heat, heat hot sauce and butter until butter is melted.
Add the blue cheese and mix periodically until blue cheese is melted.
Remove from heat and mix in the sugar.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and egg.
Once the hot sauce mixture is cool enough to touch, mix the sour cream mixture into the hot sauce mixture.
In another small bowl, mix together the flour and baking soda.
Fold the flour mixture into the hot sauce mixture.
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make the blue cheese buttercream frosting:

Mix blue cheese on high speed until smooth.
Add the unsalted butter and mix on high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Slowly mix in the powdered sugar until fully combined.
Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

The Buffalo Chicken Drummette on Top of the Buffalo Chicken Super Bowl Cupcakes

Just before serving, top the cupcakes with buffalo chicken wings or buffalo chicken drummettes. Imagine the frosting as a sweet blue cheese dip and dig in!

Shoofly Pie Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:25:00 +0000

If you saw my post on shoofly pie bars, you now know what shoofly pie is (if you didn't see the post, have a look). I could say that shoofly pie cupcakes are my cupcake interpretation of shoofly pie. But, it's more fun to say that shoofly pie cupcakes are the cupcake version of shoofly pie bars, which are the bar version of shoofly pie.

Shoofly pie cupcakes are sticky sweet cupcakes made with sugar syrup and brown sugar crumbs. They are best served warm with whipped cream or à la mode.

Shoofly Pie Cupcake Recipe

The recipe for my shoofly pie cupcakes comes from Sallie's guest post on Not So Humble Pie. Here's my adaptation of her recipe.

Yield: 15 cupcakes

For the crumbs:

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

For the syrup filling:

3/4 cup syrup (I used Lyle's Golden Syrup. See my post on shoofly pie bars for other options.)
3/4 cup hot (but not boiling) water
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the whipped cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons crumbs (from above)
2 tablespoons sugar

Steps:

Prepare the crumbs.

In a small mixing bowl, mix all of the crumb ingredients together. I do this part by hand. The crumbs will be small and loose, like fine breadcrumbs.
Set two tablespoons of crumbs aside to use in the whipped cream.

Prepare the syrup filling.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all of the syrup filling ingredients.

Prepare the cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Fill the cupcake liners one third full with packed down crumbs.
Pour about 3 tablespoons of the syrup over the crumbs. I used four tablespoons on mine and some of them overflowed in the oven.
Top the syrup with another layer of crumbs.

Bake for 10 minutes.
Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes.
Prepare the whipped cream.

Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
Mix in crumbs and sugar.
Pipe on warm cupcakes and enjoy!

How Much Whipped Cream Do You Like?

In the photo at the top of this post, I featured the shoofly pie cupcake with a huge mound of whipped cream. I (and the majority of people in the Cupcake Project Facebook community who I polled) think it looks best this way. However, if simplicity is your style, check out the alternate presentation of these cupcakes with just a small dollop of whipped cream that I shared on the Cupcake Project Facebook page.

Shoofly Pie Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:04:00 +0000

Shoofly pie (or Shoo-Fly pie) bars are a modern twist on the classic Pennsylvania Dutch pie made with sugar syrup (more on which kind of syrup later). Shoofly pie bars start with a buttery oatmeal shortbread base - solid enough for you to hand-hold the bars. Above the shortbread is a blend of spiced brown sugar crumbs and sugary syrup that solidifies into a moist/spongy cake layer (it's what coffee cake wishes it could be). The top is scattered with a few more of those brown sugar crumbs for good measure.

Though you may never have tried shoofly pie (and I can almost guarantee that you've never had shoofly pie bars), shoofly pie bars are one of those desserts that feels familiar and homey (after all, they're mostly butter and sugar) - nothing avant garde like cucumber juice. Shoofly pie bars taste like a timeless dessert: a simple, sweet touch to end a meal.

But, the way your shoofly pie bars taste has a lot to do with what syrup or syrup blend you use.

What Kind of Syrup Can You Use in Shoofly Pie Bars?

Since the predominant flavor the the shoofly pie bars comes from the syrup that you use, you want to make sure that you choose a syrup you love. Ideally, you should use some kind of sugar syrup. These syrups range from light to dark and have a stronger (some say more bitter) flavor the darker they get. From light to dark, here are your choices:

Golden syrup (light treacle) is produced from the first boiling of sugar cane juice. If you live in the U.S., you may have never tried golden syrup. It's very popular in the U.K.
Molasses (dark treacle) is produced from the second boiling.
Blackstrap molasses is produced from the third boiling.

Any of these products (or a combination thereof) will work in shoofly pie bars. You just need to choose the one that tastes best to you.

Which Kind of Syrup Did I Use?

I used a golden syrup - Lyle's Golden Syrup, to be specific. I found it at an upscale grocery near my house, but it is also available on Amazon. An Amazon review describes it well:

I bought this to use in a couple of recipes I have that call for corn syrup (which I refuse to use!). This is a much more natural option and has a really wonderful, light caramel-y, slightly nutty and slightly citrus-y sweet flavor! It is sublime.

Having made shoofly pie bars with Lyle's, it's hard to imagine making them with anything else. I'm sure that they would be good, but their flavor profile would be completely different. Some may say that shoofly pie should always be made with molasses and that using molasses rather than golden syrup is what distinguishes shoofly pie from treacle tart (the British dessert shoofly pie is based on). I say, "Bah humbug!" If you must call my shoofly pie bars tart treacle tart bars, then go ahead and do so. I'll just say that I'm taking shoofly pie back to its roots.

If you can't get a hold of golden syrup and want a similar experience, you can try a blend of 1/3 molasses, 1/3 light honey, and 1/3 light corn syrup (as recommended by Sallie on Not So Humble Pie). Sallie also suggests using either King's Syrup or Golden Barrel Table Syrup (both are blends of corn syrup and sugar syrups that are not overly sweet).

Shoofly Pie Bars Recipe

I wanted to convert shoofly pie into hand-held bars and (do I even have to say it?) cupcakes, but I needed a starting point. The recipe that ended my search for shoofly pie, the one I knew I must try, came from Sallie's guest post on Not So Humble Pie. Here's an excerpt:

Harold Jamieson missed his Shoo Fly Pie. His mother had made it. His ex-wife had made it. His sister made it. However, they had either passed on or still lived in Pennsylvania. So armed with Harold’s mother’s recipe, his daughter-in-law’s recipe, an antique booklet from the Dutch Pantry in Selinsgrove, PA and a version of the pie from the Farm Journal Pie Cookbook, I baked and tweaked for weeks. By the time I had Shoo Fly Pie the way I liked it, my family was Shoo Fly Pied out. But I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the syrup and molasses based breakfast pie. Yes, you read that correctly, it’s a breakfast pie so guilt no more about eating “dessert” first.

Do you see what I mean? Do you have any doubt that Sallie knows her Shoofly pie? Here's my adaptation of her recipe.

Yield: A 9" x 9" baking pan of shoofly pie bars

For the shortbread base:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats

For the crumbs:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

For the syrup filling:

3/4 cup syrup (see section above on which syrup to use)
3/4 cup hot (but not boiling) water
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda

Steps:

Prepare the shortbread base.

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a small mixing bowl, mix all crust ingredients. I like to do this by hand. Stop when the ingredients start to stick together; do not over mix.
Press the mixture into the bottom of a baking pan.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Prepare the crumbs.

In a small mixing bowl, mix all of the crumb ingredients together. I also do this part by hand. These crumbs won't stick together the way that the shortbread crust did. The crumbs will be small and loose, like fine breadcrumbs.

Prepare the syrup filling.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together all of the syrup filling ingredients.

Put it all together.

Preheat oven to 400 F.
Place about 1/3 of the crumbs over the pre-baked shortbread base.
Pour half the syrup over the crumbs.
Place another 1/3 of the crumbs over the syrup. It will all glom together. Don't worry. You're not trying to create distinct layers.
Top the whole thing with the remaining 1/3 of the crumbs.

Bake for 10 minutes.
Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes.
Wait for the shoofly pie bars to cool and then cut, eat, smile, and share.

Cucumber Martini Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Cucumber martini cupcakes are sophisticated - fresh, not cloyingly sweet, and graced with gin and vermouth in both cupcake and frosting. Cucumber martini cupcakes are not for everyone (a few tasters balked at the unusual flavor and promptly discarded their cupcakes). Yet, if you relish cucumber martinis or the crisp feel cucumber imparts to any beverage (even simple cucumber water), you'll likely be fond of cucumber martini cupcakes - a dessert destined for a trendy bar's small sleek menu alongside local cheeses, charcuterie, mini scoops of house-made ice cream, and a bowl of truffled popcorn.

Cucumber Martini Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 16 cupcakes

1 cup granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons gin
1 tablespoon vermouth
2/3 cup cucumber juice for the batter + 3/4 cup cucumber juice for infusing the cupcakes after they are out of the oven (I used about two cucumbers and got the juice by using a juicer. If you don't have a juicer, you can still make cucumber juice following the directions from Livestrong.)

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, gin, and vermouth until smooth.
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
Slowly add cucumber juice and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be liquid. (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. It's supposed to be that way.)
Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. If they are not done, test again in two minutes. If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
While the cupcakes are still warm, use a toothpick to poke holes in them. Drizzle about two teaspoons of cucumber juice on top of each cupcake. The cucumber juice should get absorbed into the cupcake and enhance its cucumber taste.

Martini Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon gin
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vermouth

Mix cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
Mix in powdered sugar until fully combined.
Mix in gin and vermouth until just combined.
Spread onto cooled cupcakes. Note: This frosting will be too thin to pipe.

Candied Cucumber Topper

The candied cucumber topper makes these cucumber martini cupcakes extra special. Check out my post on candied cucumber for the recipe.

Candied Cucumber - This is No Pickle

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:05:00 +0000

Cucumbers are clean, crisp, and refreshing. Why do we often sour them, turning them into pickles? Although candied cucumbers resemble bread and butter pickles, I assure you that they taste nothing alike.

Candied cucumbers taste like candy! They are sticky, sweet, and - since I added some fresh mint when I candied them - minty fresh! These candied cucumbers made a gorgeous topper for my cucumber martini cupcakes (coming soon). But, they would also steal the show on an after-dinner cheese plate or perched on the side of a glass of an actual cucumber martini.

How to Make Candied Cucumber

I found the instructions for making candied cucumber from Cluracon on Instructables. Here's her recipe in my own words:

1 cucumber
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/4 cup finely chopped mint

Thinly slice the cucumber. I found that 1/4" slices worked the best. I tried using 1/8" slices and many of them broke when I lifted them off of the baking sheet. I used the crinkle cut blade on my mandoline to cut them, but you could certainly cut them by hand (and not obsess about making them all equal thickness).
Fill a large pan with sugar and water. Try to use a pan with a large diameter (don't worry about it being tall) that can fit many cucumber slices without them overlapping. Don't worry if they won't all fit. I did mine in two batches.
Heat the sugar and water on medium-high and mix periodically until the sugar completely dissolves.
Turn heat down to medium-low and toss in the mint and as many cucumber slices as you can fit without them overlapping.
Cook the cucumbers for 20 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or with parchment paper.
Scoop the cucumbers out of the syrup and place them in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Return any large chunks of mint to the pot (because the candied cucumber slices look better without big green chunks stuck to them).
Repeat steps 4-8 for the second half of your cucumber slices.
Bake cucumbers at 180 F for two hours.
Carefully remove cucumbers from the trays and enjoy.

Mystery Photo

I posted the above photo on Facebook and asked people to guess what it was. I had over 100 guesses. Many of you were close - you could tell it was a cucumber or a pickle and you knew it was dehydrated. But, no one guessed it was candied.

It's time to start thinking of cucumbers as sweets. Give candied cucumbers a try and let me know what you think!

Laddu - A Gluten-Free Indian Cookie that Doesn't Require an Oven

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:18:00 +0000

Laddu is a gluten-free Indian cookie most commonly prepared in small balls (laddu literally means small ball in Sanskrit). Although laddu can be spiced with anything, mine were flavored with orange, cardamom, and a touch of nutmeg and were drizzled with a chocolate coconut ganache.

Laddu are prepared differently than most American cookies. The process begins by roasting chickpea flour with ghee or butter (use ghee if you can get it as it will give the cookies a richer flavor). You then mix in the spices, honey for sweetness, and a touch of powdered milk. Roll the batter into balls and you're done - no need to touch the oven.

Laddu has a Mexican wedding cookie-like texture - it's hard on the outside, but when you bite into it, it crumbles in your mouth as if you were eating a ball of refrigerated cookie dough.

Laddu Recipe

I got the recipe for this laddu from Pure Vegetarian by Lakshmi. Her blog is gorgeous and her laddu look like works of art. If you are an artsy type, go check out her post to see how pretty laddu can look. The recipe below is her recipe, but I've translated it to U.S. measuring units and added my own notes.

Yield: My only complaint about this recipe is that it made a very small number of laddu (about 6 big handfuls of small balls). If I made it again, I would double or even triple the recipe.

1/2 cup unsalted butter or ghee (I used ghee because I love the flavor of ghee, but butter would definitely work.)
2 cups chickpea flour (you may see this called garbanzo bean flour or besan flour)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
finely grated zest of one large orange
1 tablespoon powdered milk
1/4 cup honey

Melt the butter or ghee in a small saucepan on medium-low heat.
Add the chickpea flour and mix well to make sure there are no lumps.
Roast for 10 minutes, mixing regularly to prevent burning.
Mix in the cardamom and nutmeg.
Roast for another five minutes. Lakshmi said in her instructions to look for a "golden color" and a "pleasant aroma." I didn't notice much of a color change and I didn't smell anything (this could be because I had a cold), but the laddu still came out just fine.
Remove from the stove and mix in the orange zest, powdered milk, and honey.
As soon as it is cool enough for you to touch, roll the laddu into balls.

Chocolate Coconut Ganache Recipe

Although laddu isn't traditionally frosted, I adored the taste of this chocolate coconut ganache Lakshmi suggests topping the laddu with. I did a light drizzle, but you could also completely cover the balls with the ganache (cake ball style). If you plan to cover the balls in ganache, you may need to make more than the recipe below calls for.

1/4 cup coconut butter, melted
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all of the ingredients.
Drizzle ganache over laddu or dunk laddu into the ganache.
Fill your cheeks with as many balls as you can fit in them and eat them throughout the day (see this hamster video below if you need some pointers on how that works).

What to Do With Leftover Chickpea Flour?

I was excited to discover laddu because it was a great use for my leftover chickpea flour (purchased when I made gluten-free chocolate cupcakes - which are still some of the best chocolate cupcakes I have ever made). If you want to try laddu and are worried about buying chickpea flour and never using it again, I highly suggest that you try those chocolate cupcakes - whether or not you are gluten-free.

You could even use laddu to top the chickpea flour cupcakes (or any cupcakes) - they would make cute cupcake toppers! You could make the laddu more festive by dyeing them with food coloring or rolling them in sprinkles.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:15:00 +0000

When I told my son that we were having noodle cupcakes for lunch, he was super excited: "Noodle cupcakes!! Noodle cupcakes!!" he repeated again and again. All noodles are the same to my son at this point (there is one exception to this, which I'll detail below), so I didn't bother specifying that they were butternut squash mac and cheese cupcakes.

Since my son helped me prepare the mac and cheese cupcakes, he knew that they were actually butternut squash mac and cheese cupcakes. He loves squash of all kinds, so this is a plus for him. Non-squash eaters, however, can safely be left ignorant of the vegetable's presence in the cupcakes. If you don't tell tasters that there are 20 ounces of butternut squash in the recipe, they would never know it - it blends into the mac and cheese completely.

The butternut squash mac and cheese cupcakes are wonderful to eat just out of the oven. You'll need to use a fork as you are still dealing with hot, melty cheese. They are also surprisingly good cold. If you serve them straight from the refrigerator, they become a snacky finger food (like a cupcake). Most of us are not used to eating noodles cold; just think of the noodles as any other starch - imagine "bread and cheese" or "cheese and crackers" or, for the college students out there, "cold pizza" - and take a bite.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese Recipe

I got the recipe for the butternut squash mac and cheese by adapting a butternut squash mac and cheese recipe made by Brynn of WikiKitchen (she adapted it from Ellie Krieger of the Food Network). Brynn entered a contest on the Cupcake Project Facebook page to have one of her recipes turned into a savory cupcake. She won! Brynn is a college student and she calls WikiKitchen a place where "college students and other busy people can find quick and healthy recipes." Brynn is also a Trader Joe's junkie. If you regularly shop there, you'll enjoy reading her recipes that call out ingredients purchased there.

Brynn's version of butternut squash mac and cheese used whole wheat pasta. She explains in detail in her post why that is the healthy choice. I would have used whole wheat pasta, but when I mentioned above that there is one kind of pasta my son doesn't like - well, it's whole wheat. I'm not done trying to serve it to him, but I thought I'd stick with the classic white pasta for this recipe. The other changes that I made to her recipe include removing the peas (I thought about replacing them with bacon. I didn't, but someone should try it; it would be delicious.), switching the cheese to a smoked Fontina, and turning the recipe into cupcakes!

Yield: 10 jumbo cupcakes or 20 regular cupcakes

1 pound elbow macaroni
20 ounces butternut squash (I went the lazy route and bought the frozen pre-cubed stuff.)
2 cups milk (Any milk will do. I used soy milk. Whole milk would probably taste the best.)
2 cups grated soft cheese (I went with a smoked Fontina that I had to grate myself. Obviously, it would be much easier to buy a bag of pre-grated cheese.)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup grated hard cheese (I used a mix of Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago.)
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs (To play up the cupcake nature of this mac and cheese, you could color the panko as I did in my post on panko sprinkles.)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions. Don't overcook it. It should be tender, but firm (5-8 minutes).
Drain the macaroni and transfer it to a large bowl.
Place the squash and milk in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally and bring to a boil.
Transfer to a blender or food processor and combine until smooth.
Transfer back to saucepan and stir with grated soft cheese and ricotta until the cheeses are all melted.
Remove from heat and add salt, mustard, and cayenne pepper.
Pour cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to combine.
Mix in the garlic and onions.
Fill cupcake liners with the mixture. Because this is mac and cheese and not cupcake batter, you don't need to worry about the mixture rising. Don't be afraid to fill the liners in a heaping mound. The mac and cheese cupcakes will look more fun that way.
In a small bowl, combine grated hard cheese, panko breadcrumbs, and oil.
Sprinkle mixture over the top of the mac and cheese cupcakes.
Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until topping is lightly browned.

Winterfresh Cupcakes Made with Mastic and Lime

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:53:00 +0000

It's nearly midnight and you are ready to move in for that New Year's kiss. Your palms start to sweat as you realize that you've eaten one too many Cool Ranch Doritos. You need to do something about your breath, pronto. Sure, there's always a breath mint, but why not solve your breath debacle with a cupcake?! You reach for a winterfresh cupcake made with mastic and lime and enjoy every bite (see What Is Mastic if you you have no idea what mastic is). You mouth feels fresh and tingly, but you want to be sure. You cup your palm over your mouth and exhale. Phew, you smell like a pine forest. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Happy New Year!! You lean in with no fear.

One of my life's small pleasures is making my friends guess cupcake flavors. I had a group of people do just that with these winterfresh cupcakes. Of course, none of them had ever heard of or tried mastic, so there was no way they could guess right (~~mean~~ extra-fun). Most tasters pointed out the intense flavor (a few thought it was too intense) and how different and indescribable the taste was. As my friend Andrew (amveats) put it, the winterfresh cupcake was the "stealth bomber of cupcakes". He really liked them, but had no clue what the flavor was. A few tasters came close to getting it right - describing them as refreshing and pine-y (mastic does taste a lot like pine, so that's the closest anyone could get without knowing about mastic).

I had originally planned on putting mastic in both the cake and the frosting, but the cake had such a powerful mastic punch that, to avoid mastic overload, I opted for a sweetened condensed milk buttercream frosting. That frosting just added a sweetness to the cupcakes without increasing the mastic flavor or introducing a competing flavor. I couldn't have been happier with my choice.

Cupcake Roulette

Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to let you know that there are still available slots on the Cupcake Roulette wheel. If you've got a food blog, stop by the Cupcake Project Facebook page for the details and to grab a spot before they all fill up.

Winterfresh Cupcakes Recipe

Yield: 12 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lime zest (about 3 limes)
1 tablespoon mastic powder (finely crushed mastic tears)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lime zest, mastic powder, and sugar.
Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
Mix in the eggs, ricotta, and oil until smooth.
Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined
Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. If they are not done, test again in two minutes. If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Buttercream Frosting Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 cup powdered sugar
Decorative sugar (optional)

Whip butter until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes on high speed).
Mix in sweetened condensed milk and powdered sugar.
Spread on cooled cupcakes. Note: The frosting will not be thick enough to pipe.
Optionally, top the cupcakes with decorative sugar to give them some bling.

Mastic Cookies

In learning how to work with mastic, I made two different mastic cookies that I found on food blogs:

I'm still enjoying Linden Tea's little butter cookies made with mastic. The only thing that I would change about the recipe would be to up the amount of mastic just slightly from the original recipe. You can barely tell that it's in there. Leave the amount alone if you prefer a very subtle flavor.
The mastic sesame cookies from Yogurt Land are dry, but in a good way (like biscotti). They are really good with coffee or hot chocolate. I would also suggest increasing the amount of mastic in that recipe if you want to be able to really taste it.

What is Mastic?

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:42:00 +0000

Mastic is a resin extracted from the trunk of the mastic tree. The mastic drips out of the mastic tree trunk as if the tree were crying - so the resin is called mastic tears. Although mastic starts as a liquid, it hardens to the yellowish crystals shown above. Just like Champagne can only be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France, true mastic must come from a specific location - the Chios island of Greece.

How Is Mastic Used?

Have you ever seen a photo of chewed gum on a food blog before?
I don't think I have.

Gum: Mastic is the original Winterfresh gum. Mastic has been used as a breath freshener for thousands of years. Pop a mastic crystal (or two or three) into your mouth and start chewing. The mastic will taste bitter for the first few seconds, but then it turns into a refreshing gum with a flavor that most closely resembles the scent of a pine forest on a winter day. The more you chew, the more the pine experience intensifies. After thirty minutes of mastic chewing, I felt like I was lost deep in the woods. The gum hadn't shown any signs of flavor loss.

Sadly, since mastic is only produced on one small island in Greece, it's too expensive for most of us to use as an everyday chewing gum. The small jar of mastic shown at the top of this post cost $11 and was kept behind the counter at my local international grocery store (they've had problems with people stealing it).

But, mastic isn't only used as a gum...

Mastic Powder: If you grind the mastic tears with a mortar and pestle, you end up with fine cream-colored mastic powder. Mastic powder can be used to flavor custards, cookies, and cupcakes. I'll be posting soon about the Winterfresh cupcakes that I created using mastic. Not only are they unique and tasty, but after eating one, my mouth feels tingly clean.

When using mastic in powdered format, the small jar will go a long way and the $11 will no longer seem like such a large investment.

To Learn More About Mastic

To learn more about mastic, check out the mastic post on Wikipedia (it talks about some interesting health benefits) and the post about mastic from Greek-Islands (which has some informative photos of mastic harvesting).

Where to Buy Mastic

Look for mastic at Greek or international grocery stores. You can also buy mastic online (Amazon and eBay).

Special Thanks

Special thanks to reader Eric. He's from Cyprus and suggested that I try baking with mastic. I had never heard of mastic prior to his comment.

Shout Out

I told the Cupcake Project Facebook community that I was using a new-to-me ingredient that started with the letter "m" and I let them guess what it was. Debbie Cahill guessed it right! There were lots of other good guesses, though - have a look.

Cupcake Project Featured on Today.com for National Cupcake Day

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:54:00 +0000

Happy National Cupcake Day - the holiday for cupcake lovers everywhere! Although I don't demand presents, I got the second best present* I could have asked for "today": my honey baked ham cupcakes are featured on Today.com!

I am totally honored to be in such incredible company in the article. Also featured are cupcakes from America's Test Kitchen, Food and Wine, Giada De Laurentiis, Cupcakes Take the Cake, and Katherine and Sophie Kallinis, the bakers of Georgetown Cupcakes, stars of TLC’s “DC Cupcakes” and authors of “The Cupcake Diaries.” Thanks to Today for making my day!

Did you get any presents for National Cupcake Day?

*Why second best? The best would have been if I were actually on The Today Show (TV vs. the blog). Maybe that will be my present next year. I'll ask Cupcake Klaus real nicely.

Chocolate Gingerbread Fudge

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:38:00 +0000

Gingerbread men (make that boys) with their red candy buttons and innocent smiles are cute treats for kids. When they grow up, gingerbread boys become smooth, dark chocolate gingerbread fudge. They are a bit less sugary sweet, but they still win you over with the allure of their ginger, cinnamon and clove cologne. They're not softies on the outside, but when you go in for the kiss, they melt in your mouth.

This weekend I'll be attending a girls-only solstice-themed birthday party with a fudge contest. Not that it matters who wins (umm, whatever), but I hope the ladies agree that chocolate gingerbread fudge is where it's at.

Chocolate Gingerbread Fudge Recipe

I based this chocolate gingerbread fudge off of the chocolate balsamic fudge that I made a few years ago. That recipe was based on a fudge recipe from Joy of Baking. I experimented with another recipe, but found that this one produced the best results with the least opportunity for error.

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Line the bottom and sides of an 8 x 8 x 2 inch pan (20 x 20 x 5 cm) with parchment paper. Make sure you go up the sides. You can then easily lift the sides to take the fudge out of the pan when it's done. I used a little honey under the parchment paper to make it stay in place.
Combine the sweetened condensed milk, chopped chocolate, and butter in a stainless steel bowl and place over a saucepan of simmering water.
Melt the chocolate mixture, stirring frequently. Make sure the mixture doesn't get too hot or the fudge may be grainy.
Stir until all of the chocolate is melted. It will be very thick
Remove the bowl from the pot and stir in the molasses and spices.
Spread the fudge into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
Let stand at room temperature for a couple of hours.
Carefully remove the fudge from the pan by lifting the edges of the parchment paper. Cut the fudge into pieces.
Store in the refrigerator for several days, or freeze, well wrapped, for several months. Be sure to bring the fudge to room temperature before eating.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes

If you like the idea of chocolate and gingerbread, you may want to try my chocolate gingerbread cupcakes. You might even want to experiment with putting the orange glaze that I used on the cupcakes on this fudge.

Something is Missing

Prior to posting this, I asked my Facebook community what they thought of the first paragraph. Thanks to a comment by Stephanie Johnson, I removed one line. If you are wondering what got cut, head over to Facebook and have a look. Leave a comment there, letting me know if you think I should have kept it.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:25:00 +0000

I've made gingerbread cupcakes before, but this month for my guest contributor post on Paula Deen, I wanted to take gingerbread cupcakes to the next level. I added chocolate, a splash of coffee, and a bold, ginger orange glaze - and ended up with an unforgettable, sophisticated holiday cupcake.

I totally fell in love with the handmade paper gingerbread toppers from Etsy seller LOVE2STAMP4U. If you'd rather use edible toppers, these chocolate gingerbread cupcakes would be adorable topped with real gingerbread men or homemade gingersnap cookies.

Ready to bake? Head over to Paula Deen's website for the chocolate gingerbread cupcake recipe!

Dear Santa, I Want a Cupcake Cruise

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:03:00 +0000

'Tis the season for dropping hints about what you might want as a holiday gift. Now's the time to tell someone who loves you about the Cupcake Cruise.

The Cupcake Cruise is bound to be a joyous cupcake love fest! It's a seven day cruise to the Bahamas (from August 19-26, 2012) for cupcake bakers, authors, enthusiasts, and eaters. You'll get to meet and learn from cupcake superstars like Cupcakes Take the Cake editors Nichelle Stephens and Rachel Kramer Bussel, Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, New York Times bestselling authors of Hello, Cupcake! and What’s New, Cupcake?, Baked bakery owners Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, authors of the cookbooks Baked and Baked Explorations, and Allison and Matt Robicelli of Brooklyn's Robicellis.

Am I Going On the Cupcake Cruise?

Clearly, the cupcake cruise would totally float my boat. However, I'm not yet sure if I'll be able to go. But... you can help. If you decide to set sail for cupcakes, please mention Cupcake Project when booking your room. If 15 cabins are booked through this blog, my husband and I get to sail for free. If I go and you are in one of those 15 cabins, you will be my bestest cruise friend. I will seek you out and hug you, let you pick my cupcake brain as we lay on deck chairs basking in the sun, and declare your greatness on the blog.

How to Book Your Cupcake Cruise

Go to cupcakecruise.com for more information.
When you book, tell the agent that you heard about the cruise through Cupcake Project.
Leave a comment here letting me know that you booked so that I can double-check their list.

Hope to see you at sea!

Cupcakes are Vegetables? Congress Says Yes

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:23:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Congress wants to add cupcakes to school lunch lines, fighting back against an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.

A new bill would allow any cupcake, regardless of fat content, to be counted as a vegetable, as long as it has a small sprinkling of dried greens on top of the frosting. USDA had wanted to prevent that.

Bakeries around the country, the sugar industry, and kids everywhere requested the change, and some conservatives in Congress say the federal government shouldn't be telling children what to eat.

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee said the change would "prevent overly burdensome and costly regulations, provide greater flexibility for local school districts to improve the nutritional quality of meals, and improve overall school morale."

Nutrition advocate Frannie Bean of the Healthy Persons Organization said Congress's proposed changes will keep schools from serving a wider array of vegetables. "Are you kidding me? If cupcakes are the vegetable, what will kids eat for dessert, deep fried butter?" she says. Ms. Bean also questioned whether children would be willing to eat cupcakes with greens on top of them. In an informal study, the Healthy Persons Organization found that 3 out of 4 school-aged children would be more willing to eat a piece of broccoli than a cupcake topped with greens.

A group of retired generals advocating for healthier school lunches also criticized the spending bill. They have called poor nutrition in school lunches a national security issue because obesity is the leading medical disqualifier for military service. The retired generals are also advocating for airport TSA screenings to check for cupcake eaters in order to add them to no-fly lists. They see cupcake eaters as huge risks to our national safety.

Bakeries who have fought the USDA standards say the standards were too strict and neglected the nutrients that cupcakes and other baked goods do offer. "Some kids," they say, "don't eat lunch at all. Having cupcakes on the lunch line will encourage children to take the in the calories they need to get them through the day." They also point out that by providing cupcakes in the school cafeteria, they can lessen the heavy risk of homemade cupcakes being brought to the school. Cafeteria food, they point out, is always safer than food baked in a home kitchen.

Note: If it's not entirely obvious, the content of this post is meant as a satirical news story poking fun of the recent congressional decision to continue to count pizza as a vegetable in school lunches due to its tomato paste content.

During my recent stay at a HomeAway condo in Washington, D.C., I wanted to create a Washington, D.C. inspired cupcake. I asked every local I encountered about what food, drink, or dessert was unique to D.C. and no one had an answer. I even put out a call on Cupcake Project's Facebook page seeking ideas; check them out and you'll see that most people suggested patriotic or red, white, and blue cupcakes - not cupcakes using specific local flavors.

After much thought, a visit to the Dupont Circle farmers' market (an easy walk from our condo), and an inspired idea by Elizabeth (the girlfriend of one of my husband's oldest friends), I decided to go with a cupcake that provided some snarky political commentary. Mixing politics and cupcakes can be dangerous, but I hope you enjoyed the choice I made.

Although I bake and eat a lot of cupcakes, I strongly believe that our schools should be teaching children about healthy eating and real food.

If you haven't already seen it, Jamie Oliver's TED talk about our ignorance regarding food is a must watch. To see what our kids are actually eating, I'd also recommend the The School Lunch Project where a blogger and now author of Fed Up With Lunch went undercover eating and blogging about school lunches.

About The Cupcakes

The cupcakes shown in the photos are honey cupcakes made with both honey and honey-flavored Greek yogurt. They were the best honey cupcakes I have made to date. I rolled them crushed kale chips (I used Russian red kale, which is smaller than most supermarket kale varieties) as a joke. However, they actually ended up tasting quite good. If you try them, serve within a couple of hours or the kale chips will get too soggy and affect the flavor of the frosting.

Honey Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 16 cupcakes

1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1/3 cup honey-flavored Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Mix in honey until fully combined.
Mix in butter (if you are using an electric mixer, mix on high for about three minutes).
Mix in eggs, yogurt, and vanilla until fully combined.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.
Bake at 350 F for 18 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Honey Yogurt Frosting Recipe

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons honey
3 tablespoons honey-flavored Greek yogurt

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whip butter until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Mix in honey and yogurt.
Spread on cupcakes. Note that the frosting will not be thick enough to pipe.

Cinnamon Sugar Kale Chips - Easy and Addictive

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:47:00 +0000

Cinnamon sugar kale chips audibly crackle when you first bite into them. Then, they silently dissolve in your mouth, leaving behind a fresh green flavor and a smidgen of sweetness. Throw kale chips in a bowl for a quick, easy snack or use kale chips for something crazy like topping cupcakes. Don't hesitate to eat as many kale chips as you'd like, as often as you'd like - they're entirely guilt-free.

Buy more kale than you think you'll want. You'll be happy you did.

How to Make Cinnamon Sugar Kale Chips

Wash and dry the kale.

Note: I used a special variety of kale called Russian red kale that I purchased at the Dupont Circle farmers market in Washington, D.C. (You can read all about the trip in my post about my fun HomeAway stay in D.C.) If you are using a common variety of kale with a thick stalk, remove the leaves from the stalks and cut them to a size that you like.

Mix the kale with a little oil and a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. I used two teaspoons of vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of granulated sugar for every packed cup of kale.

Spread the kale on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Bake at 300 F for about 10 minutes or until crispy.

Devour. Repeat.

Cupcakes with kale are coming soon. Don't be frightened. :)

Baking in a HomeAway Condo in Washington, D.C.

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Just before Thanksgiving, my family and I headed to Washington, D.C. to visit friends and family. We rented a HomeAway condo (the link there is to the British site, but there is also a U.S. site that you can use) with four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a fantastic kitchen with Viking appliances. Jonathan laments daily that we don't have a gas stove, so he was in guy-gadget love with the place from the moment we walked in and saw the Viking range.

Clearly, the little girl, Elsie, is showing everyone
her favorite cupcakes on Cupcake Project.

I love staying in HomeAway vacation rentals because when I do, I don't feel like a tourist. Rather, I get a chance to live, shop, and bake like a local. One of the biggest benefits of vacation rentals is the communal living space. Hotel lobbies can be nice, but they are never the same as a living room. In the photo above, my son, Myles, and my friend's daughter, Elsie, are playing in the condo's living room with my amazing mom who drove in from NY to babysit so we could go out at night. Mom's the best!

Because my mom babysat, Jonathan and I were able to enjoy an incredible meal at Founding Farmers with our friends and family from the D.C. area. Founding Farmers is owned by a collective of American family farmers - and those farmers sure know how to cook. The maple-glazed cedar plank salmon, the bacon-wrapped dates, and the hot beignets with caramel dipping sauce were all stellar. We also got a chance to meet up with Rachel, the blogger behind Coconut and Lime and the author of several cookbooks. I have corresponded with Rachel online for years and it was a joy to finally put a face to the writing and to meet her hubby!

I made these lemon ice box pie cupcakes
during my HomeAway stay in Charleston, SC.

During my visit to Washington, D.C., I wanted to use local ingredients and come up with a regionally-inspired cupcake - as I had done during our HomeAway stay in Charleston, SC. In Charleston, I had lots of Southern cakes and ingredients to select from. Washington, D.C. proved to be more than a bit harder. I asked every local that I encountered about what food, drink, or dessert was unique to D.C. and no one had an answer. I even put out a call on Cupcake Project's Facebook page seeking ideas; check them out and you'll see that most people suggested patriotic or red, white, and blue cupcakes - not cupcakes using specific local flavors. D.C. did not make my job easy.

Our friends Elizabeth and David not only helped me come up with the
cupcake idea, but they also helped with the shopping and baking.

After much thought, a visit to the Dupont Circle farmers' market (an easy walk from our condo), and an inspired idea by Elizabeth (the girlfriend of one of my husband's oldest friends), I decided to go with a cupcake that provided some snarky political commentary. Mixing politics and cupcakes can be dangerous, but I think you'll be with me on this one.

I'll be posting about the cupcakes soon. First, here are some photos Jonathan took of our trip to the farmers' market. Some of the items featured ended up in the cupcakes and some didn't. Feel free to guess which ones I used!

This is Russian red kale.
It's sweeter and less bitter than other varieties of kale that I've tried.

Turkey, anyone?

The most beautiful Brussels sprouts that I've ever seen.

The sign in the photo says it all.

This vendor from Blue Ridge Diary Company was selling Greek yogurt and butter.

Spring Valley Farm and Orchard had gorgeous produce and honey.

How cool is this variety of cauliflower? It's called Romanescu.

Check back soon to see what I ended up baking!

Full disclosure: My condo in D.C. was subsidized by HomeAway U.K.. in exchange for writing this series of posts. I thank them immensely for the opportunity. They are a wonderful company to work with.

Small Business Saturday - Vanilla Bean Giveaway and Coupon Code

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:25:00 +0000

Photo courtesy of IndriVanilla

When the Cupcake Project Explorers and I came up with the recipe for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes, we learned that nothing gave the cupcakes as much of a true vanilla flavor as a real vanilla bean. Although I am a tremendous fan of vanilla bean paste (it makes the best vanilla buttercream frosting - read the comments on the post if you are a doubter), in the cupcake itself, nothing works like a bean.

Beans, however, can be pricey. I've seen vanilla beans sold for as high as $7 for one bean. For a quality bean at a cheaper price, I've recently turned to IndriVanilla. IndriVanilla is a small business owned by Whitney, a PhD student who wanted a cheaper, better-quality bean. She found a way to procure the beans and decided to create a business out of it. "Middlemen, referred to by the farmers as 'traders,' pay vanilla farmers very little for their prized beans. IndriVanilla was born to provide more people besides myself with high-quality, low-cost vanilla. I buy direct from the farmers at their asking price."

IndriVanilla charges just $0.50 for individual beans and as little as $0.30 each if you buy in bulk. Plus, IndriVanilla is offering a 10% discount to Cupcake Project readers; just enter the code "thecupcakeproject" at checkout. (Full disclosure: supporting her small business also supports mine. I get a small commission every time that code is used.)

How to Win Some Vanilla Beans

Update: The contest is over. The winners are Maegyn and Pat R. Congrats to to you both!

Today is Small Business Saturday. It's a day that has particular meaning to me. As a blogger married to a photographer, I have a vested interest in supporting small businesses. But, small businesses are nothing new to me. Both sets of my grandparents were small business owners and my father is a small business owner. Dad owns a shop in Forest Hills, NY that sells second-hand designer bags, clothing, jewelry, antiques, and collectibles. He doesn't have a website or Facebook page and telling you that the shop is called Instant Replay won't make it too much easier to find (there isn't even a sign out front). His shop survives because of loyal customers, foot traffic on his street, and people that like to shop at businesses that have a face.

Today (and every day), I encourage you to support the small businesses in your neighborhood and the millions of small businesses online. Now, I'm going to give you one more reason to do so. For a chance to win a first prize of two dozen premium vanilla beans or a second prize of one dozen premium vanilla beans, leave a comment on this post with the answer to the following question:

What small business did you shop at today? Although it's not required, feel free to also tell us a little bit about that business and share a link to the shop to show them some love.

The fine print:

All comments must be posted by 11:59 PM CST on November 30, 2011.
Be sure that your comment includes a way to contact you if you win.
Limit of one entry per person.
I will randomly draw two winners on December 1, 2011. I will contact the winners and update this post with their names.
If I don't hear from a winner within one week to claim their prize, I reserve the right to choose a new winner.
Prizes can only be shipped within the U.S.

Good luck!

(Psst - There will be two more chances to win vanilla beans coming up soon: one on Cupcake Project's Facebook page and one on IndriVanilla's Facebook page. Make sure that you "like" both pages so that you don't miss the announcements.)

Cupcakes Benedict - Maple Cupcakes Topped with Black Forest Bacon, Poached Eggs, and Maple Hollandaise Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:42:00 +0000

While cupcakes get some frosting lovin' on a regular basis, sometimes they get jealous of English muffins (or as I call them, stud muffins). Stud muffins are a key player in Eggs Benedict, where they are topped with bacon, eggs, and drippy, buttery hollandaise. Cupcakes are used to playing it safe with perfectly coiffed frosting, but after years of dreaming, they were ready to get a little dirty. They came to me for help and I arranged a cupcake and Eggs Benedict liaison - Cupcakes Benedict.

Start with jumbo, Texas-sized cupcakes (a regular-sized cupcake isn't big enough to please its new partner). You can use any flavor cupcakes that you like - but I recommend maple cupcakes (see the recipe below).

Top the cupcake with the sweetest bacon you can find. I used Black Forest bacon. Don't overcook it. The cupcakes don't like bacon that's all shriveled up.

Top the bacon with a poached egg. It takes a bit of practice to learn how to make a poached egg. If you've never made one before, check out the tutorial from Simply Recipes and purchase more eggs than you will need - you will undoubtedly waste some in the learning process. Because the eggs won't be fully cooked, I highly recommend Safest Choice pasteurized eggs to those concerned about food safety (which may be you after reading the Safest Choice page about egg safety myths). You can eat Safest Choice eggs completely raw with no worries! Getting sick from the eggs would totally kill the sexy moment.

Top the poached egg with maple Hollandaise sauce. English muffins everywhere are now feeling a bit burnt with envy. They are stuck with plain old Hollandaise - boring!

Grab a fork.

Dig in!

Maple Cupcake Recipe

Note: The cupcake shown in the photos above is an earlier version of the recipe below that I didn't like quite as much. The recipe below will yield a slightly lighter-colored cake. I wanted to let you know so that you don't over-bake your cupcakes trying to match the color in the photo.

Yield: 6 jumbo cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperautre
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon maple extract (optional for a stronger maple flavor)

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Mix in the sugar and maple syrup until fully combined.
Add the butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.
Mix in the eggs and vanilla until just combined.
Mix in the milk and maple extract until just combined.
Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

My Inspiration and Full Disclosure

My inspiration for this post came from a call put out by Sarah from Tastespotting for recipes using Safest Choice eggs. If you have never been to Tastespotting, check it out now (unless you are really hungry). It's a gallery of the best of the best food photos - all of which link to recipes. Sarah told us that if she picked our Safest Choice egg idea, it would be featured on the top of Tastespotting for a month. She picked these cupcakes and I was sent some egg coupons for writing the post.

Maple Hollandaise Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:22:00 +0000

I'm a carbs girl - as if you couldn't have guessed that. Come brunch time, you'll find me ordering the French toast, waffles, pancakes, or crepes (I barely take the time to the read the eggy options). Because of my one-track brunch thinking, I rarely encounter hollandaise sauce. Until I made it myself, I never even bothered to find out that the thick yellow sauce was made of egg yolks, butter, and lemon. There I was, thinking that I was the unhealthy one eating a cake made in a pan and then dousing it with maple syrup (funny how we justify eating huge pancakes by not thinking of them as real cakes), when all along the person sitting across from me was making just as dubious a choice with their eggs slathered in butter-based Hollandaise sauce. It's a good thing brunch isn't an everyday thing.

For me, brunch isn't brunch without maple syrup. Despite my proclivity toward carbs, if eggs were more regularly paired with maple, I would show them more love. This leads me to my creation: maple Hollandaise sauce - a thing of beauty. Maple Hollandaise sauce tastes just like traditional Hollandaise, but with a distinct maple flavor and a bit milder lemon flavor. Maple Hollandaise makes eggs happy.

But, not just eggs...

As I was preparing my maple Hollandaise for the third time (I had to get it right so Jonathan could get the perfect photo), I happened to be making my dinner - a sweet potato prepared in the microwave. Yes, this food blogger often has a simple, unadulterated microwaved sweet potato for dinner, sometimes with a bowl of Cheerios on the side. On a whim, I dipped my sweet potato in the maple Hollandaise sauce. Screw eggs. This maple Hollandaise was made for sweet potatoes. You may already put maple and butter on your sweet potatoes; maple Hollandaise is the same thing but with the thick and satisfying addition of egg yolks. Have sweet potato and maple Hollandaise for dinner if you like, or fancy up a Fall brunch by serving a sweet potato hash topped with this maple Hollandaise.

Maple Hollandaise Sauce Recipe

I created this maple Hollandaise sauce recipe by slightly modifying Tyler Florence's Hollandaise sauce recipe. Note that Hollandaise sauce should not be made in advance. For best results, it should be served within one hour of preparing it.

4 egg yolks (Because the eggs won't be fully cooked, I highly recommend Safest Choice pasteurized eggs to those concerned about food safety. You can eat Safest Choice eggs completely raw with no worries.)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons real maple syrup
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Whisk the egg yolks, lemon juice, and maple syrup together in a stainless steel bowl (or any bowl that you won't melt when you put it on top of a hot saucepan) until the mixture is thickened and doubled in volume.
Place the bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler). The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl.
Continue to whisk rapidly. Slowly drizzle in the melted butter and continue to whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. Be careful to not let the eggs get too hot or they will scramble.
Remove from heat, cover, and place in a warm spot until ready to use.
If the sauce gets too thick, whisk in a few drops of warm water before serving.

Cupcakes

You knew I was going to go there: cupcakes with Hollandaise sauce are coming soon.

My Inspiration and Full Disclosure

My inspiration for this post and the related cupcake came from a call put out by Sarah from Tastespotting for recipes using Safest Choice eggs. If you have never been to Tastespotting, check it out now (unless you are really hungry). It's a gallery of the best of the best food photos - all of which link to recipes. Sarah told us that if she picked our Safest Choice egg idea, it would be featured on the top of Tastespotting for a month. She chose my cupcake idea! Both this recipe and the cupcake coming soon feature Safest Choice eggs and I was sent some egg coupons for writing the post.

How Do You Make the Egg Dish in the Skillet?

The dish in the skillet is one of Jonathan's egg bakes. If you really want the recipe for it, you should pop over to the J. Pollack Photography Facebook page and ask him real nicely.

Giveaway - Ice Cream Happy Hour Book and Sucre and Spice Ice Cream Spoons

noreply@blogger.com (Stef) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:32:00 +0000

If there were a Greek system for desserts, ice cream and cupcakes would definitely be sorority sisters. Ice cream made it into my list of top ten frostings, and each May I hold an Ice Cream Cupcake contest on this blog (start thinking about your entry now!).

As you know, I like taking cupcake flavors to unexpected (often alcoholic) places, and the book Ice Cream Happy Hour does the same thing for ice cream. In fact, many of the boozy cupcakes I have created mirror the ice cream flavors that are found in this book. Here's a list of some of my cupcakes that have related ice cream recipes in Ice Cream Happy Hour:

I know how much I loved these flavors as cupcakes and I'm looking forward to trying them all as ice creams! I already tried the butter pecan ice cream with brandy and highly recommend it!

Lucky for you, you've got a chance to win Ice Cream Happy Hour and give the recipes a try yourself. As a bonus (read this in your best infomercial voice), the winner will receive a set of 20 totally adorable ice cream spoons from Sucre and Spice - in any style that you like!

How to Enter
Update: The winner has been chosen. It is Alanna Dawn. Congrats! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Leave a comment on this blog post (not on Facebook, e-mail, or Twitter) telling me what drink you'd most like to try as an ice cream flavor or what alcoholic ice cream you have tried and loved.
Be sure that your comment includes a way to contact you if you win.

Fine Print

All comments must be posted by 11:59 PM CST on November 15, 2011.
Limit of one entry per person.
I will randomly draw a winner on November 16. I will contact the winner and update this post with their name.
If I don't hear from the winner within one week to claim their prize, I reserve the right to choose a new winner.
Prizes can only be shipped within the U.S.

Good luck!

(Psst - I'll be posting soon on Facebook about a second chance to win the book and spoon prize pack. Make sure that you "like" Cupcake Project on Facebook so that you don't miss the announcement.)