Hummingbird Cupcakes

 nom nom nom

This is the first time I have made hummingbird cupcakes so I used a Martha Stewart recipe. I had to omit the walnuts since I am allergic but feel free to add them if you like them! I love these cupcakes. I've been eating them in the morning (unfrosted) with a cup of coffee and they are delicious. Go make these now!

Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes roughly 24 cupcakes
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for CUPCAKES

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas
8 ounces crushed pineapple
1 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

INGREDIENTS for CREAM CHEESE ICING

8 ounces cream cheese - room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 ounces (1 pound) powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS for the CUPCAKES

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. Using a mixer and a large bowl, beat the butter, vanilla and sugar until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well with mixer before adding the next egg. After all 3 eggs have been added, beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.

4. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas well. Add the pineapple, coconut and walnuts (optional) and combine. Add to the egg mixture and combine well. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, and combine all ingredients.

5. Divide batter evenly in the 24 cupcake pans. The batter should go almost to the top of the liners:

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes (rotate pans halfway through baking) or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before icing.

DIRECTIONS for CREAM CHEESE ICING

1. Using a mixer and a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until combined.

2. Add sugar, little by little, while beating with a mixer and combine well.

3. Put icing in a pastry bag or a heavy-duty freezer bag with the tip snipped off. Pipe icing onto to cupcakes.

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

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Apple Cranberry-Orange Pie

Apples, apples, apples...so many apples. I decided to make more pie. I adapted this recipe from the great Martha Stewart and changed it a bit. She calls it Apple Cranberry Pie but I decided it was necessary to throw in the word 'orange' because the orange flavor is quite prominent. In fact, next time I make this recipe I will only use half the zest and juice that this recipe calls for. I suggest doing the same unless you really don’t mind the strong orange flavor.

Just like with the apple turnovers, I used a pre-made pie crust. Martha would probably “poo-poo” me for not making homemade but, c’mon…it’s so easy to buy pre-made!

Apple Cranberry-Orange Pie

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for FILLING

5 medium-sized apples, peeled cored and sliced
The zest of 1 orange
The juice of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup fresh cranberries roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

INGREDIENTS for TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 rounded tablespoons of oats
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

MISC

1 pre-made pie crust
Aluminum foil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together all the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl. Be sure to stir well and mix evenly. Pour filling into uncooked pre-made pie crust.

Mix together all the ingredients for the topping until the consistency becomes crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over the pie.

Before going into the oven

Bake for 1/2 hour then remove from oven. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 1/2 hour.

Depending how thick you cut your apples will affect how long it will take to bake your pie. Obviously, the thicker the apples, the longer it will take. To test, I take a sharp knife and stick it into the pie. If the apples are tough, I bake it until they become soft and I can easily stick a knife in the pie.

Once the pie is thoroughly baked, remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool.

Once cooled, eat and enjoy!

Fresh cranberries, chopped

mmmm...orange

Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Martha never lets me down. I signed up for her ‘Cookie of the Day’ emails ages ago. I look forward each day to what Martha has in store. I haven’t made a lot of her recipes but when I do, they always come out well. One of my favorite recipes of hers is the Lime Squares with Graham Cracker Crust which I make frequently. There’s also the Maple Sugar Cookies that are perfect for fall. I can never get enough maple and pumpkin flavored baked goods in the fall. A couple weeks ago her cookie of the day was a pumpkin swirl brownie. I knew right away I had to make it! Since it’s Martha’s recipe I’ll just post a link to it here. I omitted the cayenne pepper since I didn’t have any. I also put chopped almonds on the top instead of the hazelnuts. I have a severe allergy to walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts so obviously I couldn’t put those on top. I thought the almonds added a great crunch to the brownies and the chocolate and pumpkin tastes great together. I recommend this to anyone who likes chocolate and pumpkin.

Before going into the oven

Chocolate....mmmmmm

Maple Sugar Cookies & I Love You Martha

Martha Stewart is fabulous. I used to watch her show a lot in the days when I worked retail. I was usually off at least one day during the week and I worked a lot of afternoon/night shifts so I was able to catch her show. I loved to snuggle up on the couch with a cup of coffee and see what lovely and fabulous things were in store. I almost never watch her show now since I work during the day. So upsetting! I need TiVo! But I still have a love for her that will never be broken.

I receive personal emails from Martha everyday. Okay that's a lie. But a while back I subscribed to her 'Cookie of the Day' emails.  I got one last week for Maple Leaf Cookies. I was in the mood to make something maple flavored so it was muy perfecto. But I'm calling them Maple Sugar Cookies because I don't have a maple leaf cookie cutter. But I do have a pig:

Much more appropriate in my opinion

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light-brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff!)
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1/3 cup sanding sugar

DIRECTIONS

Mix flour and salt in a medium sized bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a mixer until creamy.  Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and add the egg yolk and maple syrup.  Add flour mixture and mix until all ingredients are combined.

 

Mix Master action shot

Once mixed separate the dough into two equal sized disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Once refrigerated, roll the first disc onto a lightly floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with whatever cookie cutters you like. I used acorns, pigs and pumpkins.

 

 Acorns, pigs and pumpkins oh my!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking oil spray. Lay a single sheet of parchment paper on the tray. BTW...I love parchment paper! I'm going to do a whole blog post about parchment paper I swear.

Evenly space cookies about a half an inch apart on the tray and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven by simply lifting up the parchment paper and placing on a cooling rack. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes then brush the cookies with maple syrup and immediately sprinkle sanding sugar on them.

 

I think these cookies are much better the second day. They were a bit hard at first but on day 2 they were nice and soft and the maple flavor was stronger. They're perfect if you're in the mood for a maple treat!

Martha Cracks Me Up

Anytime I'm not feeling well or in a bad mood I watch this video.

Lime Squares with Graham Cracker Crust

Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh this recipe is so good! As you may or may not know the winning recipe for the latest recipe poll was for Martha Stewart's Lime Squares with Graham Cracker Crust. I am so glad that this recipe won. Since I have an allergy to certain nuts I replaced the pistachios with oats since that is what I had on hand. I wasn't sure at first how the crust would taste with the oats but honestly you couldn't even taste them. It did however give it a really good texture. I also would like to add that this would make a perfect tart recipe. So when I make it next (and that will be soon) I will make them as tarts!

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2/3 cup oats
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large egg yolks
14 ounces sweetened condensed non-fat milk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking pan with butter like so:


Just like with the Banana Bread and the Raspberry Loaf, line the bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper hangs over the sides.


In a food processor, finely grind the graham crackers until you have one cup worth.


Then in a large bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, oats, sugar and lime zest.


Melt the butter and cool for about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla to the butter and blend into graham cracker mixture. Vanilla is not called for in the original recipe but since I love it so much I couldn't control myself-I had to add some.

Press mixture into the bottom of the pan and about 1/2 inch up the sides of the pan. Bake for about 8 minutes then set it aside to cool completely-about 30 minutes.


To make the filling mix together the egg yolks, condensed milk and the lime juice. Mix well then pour onto cooled crust.


Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Set aside and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, refrigerate for one hour before serving. The parchment paper makes it so easy to lift out of the pan. You can set it on a serving tray and slice it as needed. I swear, parchment paper is my new best friend. For recipes like this it's wonderful!



Now if you want to make the recipe with pistachios measure 2/3 cup and grind them in the food processor along with the graham crackers. It's that easy!

Also, don't forget to vote in the new poll!

Martha Stewart, I Love You.

No, it's not in the way you might think. I'm not going to ask her for her hand in marriage any time soon, she's not quite my type. I can just totally relate to her love of perfection and cooking and that's why I like her. I was home sick recently with a lovely flu/cold/I don't want to get up off the couch type sickness and was watching her show. She made Lime Meltaways. I needed something to make myself feel better so it seemed like the perfect thing-and it was! The recipe calls for dipping the cookies in powdered sugar after they have cooled, which is delicious. But for a slightly different twist and flavor I used my butter frosting recipe:

Butter Frosting

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons butter softened
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
2-3 drops food coloring (if needed)

Directions:

Combine the confectioners' sugar, butter, vanilla and milk. Beat until creamy. If needed, thin with a few more drops of milk until you reach the desired consistency. Stir in optional food coloring. Spread frosting over cooled cookies.

Spring is upon us and this is the perfect cookie to celebrate with!

Enjoy!