Eggnog Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I had a few friends over last weekend and I knew I wanted to make cupcakes. The chocolate mint cupcakes from a couple of weeks ago had already been requested but I wanted to add something different, but equally Christmasy to the mix. I had noticed a link to eggnog cupcakes on Twitter so I decided to take a closer look at the recipe. Here is what I ended up with.

I modified the recipe for the cupcake from Bakers Royale and used my standby cream cheese frosting and added cinnamon and nutmeg.

Eggnog Cupcakes
modified from Eggnog Cupcakes with Spiced Rum from Bakers Royale
makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• splash of rum (optional)

Measure out flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and set aside.

Combine eggnog, vanilla, and rum in a measuring cup or small bowl.

Add sugar and butter in a bowl and cream on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs in 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the eggnog and vanilla. Mix after each addition until just incorporated.

Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes from tins to cooling rack. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
modified from Martha Stewart
makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

• 1/2 package cream cheese (4 ounces), room temperature
• 1/4 butter, room temperature
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy. Mix the cinnamon and nutmeg with the icing sugar. With the mixer on low, slowly add the sugar 1/2 a cup at a time. Increase speed to high for 10 seconds after each addition has been incorporated. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.

And here is the finished product...

I was a little heavy handed with the frosting on the first few so I had to spread the icing on the last four. I topped them off with some gingerbread man sprinkles to try and hide the messy spreading job but they didn't look quite as good as I'd hoped. All in all, I think these were pretty good. I'm not super familiar with what eggnog even tastes like on its own but these just tasted like mildly spiced vanilla cupcakes. If I were to make them again, I'd go a little heavier on the spice in the cake and definitely add more spice in the frosting. Something to consider if you take these on for yourself.   

Apologies for the lack of a staged final picture. You'll notice in the next few posts from my holiday party that I got caught up in the baking and cooking and totally forgot to properly photograph the final products. I think you can get the gist of things regardless. 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I have been waiting for quite awhile to make a pumpkin cinnamon roll pancake recipe I found online. This morning I came up with an idea to make the whole process easier. I removed the pumpkin from the equation and used my favorite President's Choice "just add water" buttermilk pancake mix instead of making them from scratch.

I know pancakes from scratch aren't difficult. I just figure, why make them from scratch when I like the results from the box just as much? I'm usually only making one large pancake and the mix lets me make just enough for myself without wasting a ton of extra ingredients. In an effort to spice things up a bit I added cinnamon filling and maple syrup glaze to my standard boxed mix.

Cinnamon Sugar Filling

Half the recipe as posted on RecipeGirl

enough for about 8 5 inch pancakes

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• In a small bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip baggie and set aside until cooled and thickened
• It's best if it becomes a consistency similar to toothpaste

 

Use your favorite pancake recipe or mix. Pour the batter into a preheated pan. Let the pancake cook for a minute before swirling the cinnamon filling around the top of the pancake. Flip when the bubbles pop and the surface looks dry.

I ended up having to use a disposable piping bag after busting the seams on two different baggies. Only made four 5 inch pancakes so I had quite a bit of filling left. I wrapped it up in the piping bag and put it in the fridge. There isn't anything perishable in it so I'm going to see if I can keep it and use it another time.

Icing Sugar Glaze

1 teaspoon butter, softened

1 tablespoon maple syrup

a splash of milk

1/2 cup of icing sugar

• Mix all ingredients together with a fork or whisk until smooth
• If the mix is too thick, add a tiny bit of milk at a time until you reach the consistency you like
• If the mix is too thin, add icing sugar by the tablespoon until you reach the consistency you like 

Top your pancakes with as much, or as little, glaze as you'd like and enjoy!

  

I thought these were pretty tasty. I did feel like the filling was a little bit of a pain to make. However, I probably feel that way because I was starving and the filling took awhile to get to the "toothpaste" consistency the recipe called for. I would recommend making the filling about half an hour before you want to make the pancakes to give it time to cool down. I ended up throwing mine in the freezer for a few minutes because I was so impatient. If you're planning to feed a crowd for brunch I think the effort would certainly be worth the reward. 

What's your favorite breakfast for a lazy Sunday?

Share Your Sweets: Apples

The theme for Serious Sweets this week is apples. Since I don't have a go-to apple recipe in my repertoire I did a little search for something new and I came up with these - baked caramel apple doughnuts.

This recipe (available here) came from Tracey Benjamin's website, Shutterbean. I had never really checked out her site before but was familiar with her stuff from her podcast with Joy from Joy the Baker. The recipe called for apples and a doughnut pan so it seemed perfect. 

To begin, peel and then shred up three apples with a box grater. It goes reremarkably quickly once you get started.

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in a second. Mix the wet with the dry until just combined. 

Add the apples and combine.

Into the pan and bake for about 18 minutes. 

Too quick trying to get one out of the pan

Since I only have one doughnut pan with six holes, I got impatient and also used a muffin tin so I could bake more than six at a time. It's basically just a sweet muffin batter anyway, so no real difference. In fact, if you don't have a doughnut pan, there's no reason not to make these. Almost everyone has a muffin tin.

While I was waiting for the doughnuts to cool I started getting the caramel topping together. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take any pictures of this step. It was extremely simple. Unwrap the caramels, put into a microwaveable bowl or large measuring cup and add the milk. Microwave at 10 second intervals until everything is melted.

I think the final result turned out really well. I took a cue from a comment Tracey made in her post and added a little bit of fleur de sel to the top of a few of the doughnuts and it was amazing.

I only made half the batch of caramel because I thought it was going to make too much. I was wrong. For the rest of the doughnuts, I mixed up a bit of cinnamon and sugar so they wouldn't be left naked. 

I would certainly make these again. If I did, I think I would add the salt to all of them. It was interesting to see that the caramel completely soaked into these overnight. So I would suggest, if you're planning to make them for company, make them the same day or you'll lose the visual appeal. They were just as tasty the next day. 

What's your favorite apple dessert?

Plenty of Pumpkin: Cinnamon Rolls

I love pumpkin. I don't really know what it is about it that I love so much. For as long as I can remember, pumpkin pie has been one of my favorite foods. Every year I look forward to the Fall. Nothing goes with cool weather like pumpkiny treats. It's probably the spices that make everything so tasty, but I love it nonetheless. 

I've already posted one pumpkin recipe this season. On with number two - pumpkin cranberry cinnamon rolls from King Arthur Flour. This is the first recipe I've featured on here that uses yeast. I'll admit, I don't use it very often. It's as intimidating to me as pie crust (which I'll have to try soon) but I made this recipe once a couple of years ago and I knew the time and effort required was worth it for the results.

We all learn from our mistakes, right? The first time I made these I messed up big time. The King Arthur recipe calls for instant yeast and I used yeast from the Bulk Barn that must have been regular yeast. Poor choice. Since I hadn't dissolved the yeast in anything there were little bits left in the dough and it didn't rise well. This time, even though I was using instant yeast, I dissolved it for a few minutes in 1/4 cup of slightly warmed milk (substituted for the water and milk powder) before adding it to the rest of the wet ingredients.

Kneaded dough

The yeast definitely did its job this time. I left the dough to rise for a little more than an hour and it more than doubled in size. I added the post-it after a few minutes so I could mark where the dough started out.

Before rising

After rising

The recipe calls for the dough to be rolled up along the short edge and cut into nine rolls. I found this made for HUGE cinnamon rolls so I cut it in half to make 18 smaller rolls. I also decided to add cranberries to half and leave the second half plain. 
 

There was a lot of room left in between the rolls when I put them into a parchment lined 13"x9" pan. I was a little concerned that they weren't going to fill the pan but, after the second rising, everything looked great. 

Before the second rising - lots of empty space

After the second rising - nice and snug

Since I made smaller rolls, I reduced the baking time to about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

The finishing touch to these pumpkin beauties was the simple icing on top. 

• 1 cup glazing or confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons milk, or enough to make a "drizzlable" glaze

I had some maple syrup in the fridge so I substituted half of the milk with syrup. I don't think it really added anything to the taste, so don't worry about trying to fancy it up. 
 

Yum

All in all, these took about three and a half hours to complete but I think they're definitely worth it. To quote one of my co-workers/taste testers, Andra - "That was, without a doubt, the absolute best cinnamon roll I have had the privilege of eating. EVER." If you're looking for a twist on a basic recipe, I recommend you give these a try. 

What's the one seasonal food you look forward to most?

Delicious Doughnuts

As much as I love making cupcakes, I've been looking for something different to try out lately. I can't remember where I first saw the idea but baked doughnuts seemed like a good thing to tackle next. They're relatively healthy, just a customizable as a cupcake, and who doesn't love doughnuts??

I'd had my eye out for a doughnut pan for a while and happened to come across one at HomeSense (for a great price) not too long ago. You can also find them them at Amazon and other online stores. 

The next step was to decide on a recipe to start out with. I went with a classic nutmeg and cinnamon cake doughnut recipe from King Arthur Flour that seemed relatively simple and had great reviews. I also liked that it required ingredients that I always have on hand. I used buttermilk powder and water as recommended in the recipe, but I think it might have worked out better with yogurt or sour cream. I'll have to try them that way the next time. 

 

  

When the recipe tells you to fill the cavities 2/3 full and grease the pan generously, they're not kidding. I filled these way too far and had a hard time getting them out of the pan because they rose over the middle bit that makes the whole. They were also hard to get out because I didn't use cooking spray to grease the pans. I think that is key. There is very little fat in the batter to the doughnuts tend to stick. I did grease the pan with oil but I found it really just beaded off the non-stick coating and pooled at the bottom of the pan.

The finished product was quite tasty and looked like "real" doughnuts! I covered them in cinnamon and white sugar after I pried them out of the pan. I didn't use anything to get the coating to stick. I just threw them in a bowl and hoped for the best. I'll admit - I didn't love the first one I had. I found the flavor and texture improved overnight. They got good reviews at the office as well. The texture is definitely similar to a cake doughnut you would find at a coffee shop. There's definitely no mistaking them for a classic, deep fried doughnut but they're good in their own right.

I think the doughnut pan is a winner. I have a lot of ideas for this contraption.

What's your favorite kind of doughnut? And how do you spell it - doughnut or donut?