S'mores Cupcakes

S'mores Cupcakes

Although these cupcakes look really great, I kind of wish I had used something with a more marshmallow taste for the topping. I think I will continue to experiment with the recipe and see if I can't use marshmallow cream to make something a little more authentic! This boiled frosting is fine, but it's not really the true s'mores taste.

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/3 cup graham flour (I used Bob's Red Mill from my local whole foods store)

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/4 cup (2 1/2 stick) butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

6 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together both flours, baking powder, and cinnamon. In another bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and honey until fluffy -- mixture is quite thick. Add in eggs and vanilla, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake 13 min, turn, bake another thirteen minutes. Let cool.

Makes 24

Chocolate Ganache:

6 oz bittersweet chocolate

4 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp corn syrup

Cook all the ingredients in a saucepan until fully melted. Let cool.

Spread a generous amount on top of each of your cupcakes, covering the above-the-wrapper part completely.

Marshmallow Frosting:

1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

Sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/3 cup water in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, heat the 1/4 cup water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolve. Use a candy thermometer to determine when the mixture gets to 238 F (soft ball if you drip a bit in a cup of cold water). Remove from the heat and pour into the mixing bowl with the gelatin. Use an electric mixer to whip it until it's glossy and stiff. Use right away.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a wide tip and pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake. I didn't get my stiff enough, so as you can see my spirals kind of melted. 

But no matter! After the cupcakes are topped, use a kitchen torch to brown the marshmallow so it gets that campfire look.  As I said before, I was worried that there wasn't enough of a marshmallow taste, so for the last few cupcakes I torched some old marshmallows that we had lying around. I'm not sure I recommend it. 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Apricot-Glazed Black and White Cheesecakes

Apricot-Glazed Black and White Cheesecakes

If you're ever in need of a cupcake recipe that's quick and basically as easy as falling off a log, cheesecake is the way to go. It has approximately five ingredients, and it seriously takes very little effort, and everyone always acts so amazed that you did it. Great ego boost for no sweat.

Crust:

1 cup crushed chocolate cookies (she recommends Nabisco's, but my grocery didn't have any, so I wound up using chocolate graham. I've seen someone else say that oreos work if you scrape out the filling)

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix the sugar and the crushed cookies -- they can be more or less fine depending on how you like the texture -- then stir in the melted butter. Press about 1 tbsp into the bottom of each cupcake liner. You can also vary the thickness depending on how much crust you like in your cheesecake.

Bake about 7 minutes. Let cool.

Cupcakes:

1 lb (2 8 oz boxes) cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/c cup sour cream

Reduce the oven temp to 275 F.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, then the vanilla. Drizzle the eggs in a little at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure they're well mixed in. Add sour cream and mix well.

Fill cups almost full, then bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 10 minutes. The sides will be set but the middles will be a little wobbly, which tricks you into thinking you haven't baked them long enough. BUT YOU HAVE.

Makes 24.

To finish:

2/3 cup apricot jam

When the cupcakes are cool -- you can refrigerate them overnight for best results -- top them by warming the jam in a saucepan or the microwave until it's kind of liquidy. The recipe recommends straining it, but if you prefer a little pulp, don't bother. Spoon around 2 tsp onto the top of each cheesecake.

I used a homemade jam that my mother canned, and didn't strain it (I'm lazy); it looked pretty and tasted even better. If you don't like apricot jam, substitute one that you do like -- the cheesecake has no real flavor in and of itself, so you can modify the topping however you want. A cherry jam with big chunks in it sounds pretty super.

Or, if you're not a fruit person, you can always use fudge sauce or caramel. Cheesecake is great because it's so versatile!

Now if only I actually liked it. :(

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.

Raspberry Marble Cheesecakes with Graham Cracker Crust

Raspberry Marble Cheesecakes with Graham Cracker Crust

Crust:

1 1/2 cups fine ground graham crackers (if they come in one of those boxes with the three packets of about six crackers each? One packet is about right.)

3 tbsp melted butter

3 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Mix together the graham crackers, butter, and sugar. Press one tablespoon into the bottom of each of your cupcake liners. Bake for 5 minutes.

Raspberry:

6 oz fresh raspberries

2 tbsp sugar

Puree the raspberries in a food processor until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine sieve to strain out all the seeds; discard seeds. Mix the sugar into the raspberry puree.

Cupcakes:

2 lb cream cheese

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Beat the cream cheese until it's fluffy. I did not beat mine sufficiently, and there ended up being lumps in the finished batter. Don't be me!

Slowly pour in the sugar and continue to beat. Add vanilla.

Add eggs one at a time, beating until combined.

Spoon 1/4 cup of batter over each little crust. You can add more if you prefer a thicker cheesecake; it didn't affect the baking time for me. Put a small spoonful of raspberry over the batter, then swirl it into the batter with a toothpick or skewer. The picture to the right shows the process for this.

The recipe then asks you to take your tin and put it in a roasting pan, half filled with water, and bake like that. I wasn't sure why, so I did one batch as, and one just plain. The main difference that I saw was that the ones baked in water stayed puffier after they'd been taken out of the oven and didn't sink in the middles, but honestly it wasn't hugely significant? I'm not sure if it made a difference in overall moistness or something, but my conclusion was that you can if you want, but it's not vital.

Anyway, bake your cupcakes for 15 minutes, turn, and bake another 15 minutes (turning ensures wonderfully even baking). Remove from tins and place on wire racks to cool. Refrigerate after you're finished; cheesecake goes bad fast.

A final note: this recipe is a liar. It claimed to make 32 cupcakes; the actual result was around 45, and I ended up having to make another batch of crust. I would highly suggest halving the recipe so these suckers don't get gross before you can eat them all.

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.