Zucchini Spice Delight

when i was home i took advantage of a vegetable in the garden.  ZUCCHINI!  i wish i had a garden all the time.  it would be so much more fun to cook when i am using fresh fruits and veggies.  i decided to make the zucchini spice cupcakes since we had too many ripe zucchinis in the garden.  they were soooo good. and just like the blueberry ones, i felt like i was eating healthy when i ate them!  haha. well if i at them without the cream cheese frosting on top.  

the best part was i had plenty to take back to utah with me so i was able to enjoy them for days.  :)  i even brought two to fresno this weekend to share with everyone out here. i think they were skeptical of them being so old. but they were still moist and yummy. 

my favorite frosting in the world is cream cheese frosting.  that's why i love sprinkles so much. they use cream cheese frosting.  mmm... :) when i went to sweet tooth fairy cupcakes i was so disappointed. there frosting was nasty.  there oreo cupcake tasted too much like coconut. sick.

i remember having a birthday cake covered with coconut shavings when i was little and i cried because i didn't like it.  the only thing coconut i like is ocean water from sonic.  love that blue tongue goodness. :)

Enjoy!!

Zucchini Spice Cupcakes
Yields: 24 cupcakes 

3 cups all purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 cups packed grated zucchini
1 cup walnuts (about 3 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use an offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.

blueberries and cream

i went home to beaverton for a few days last weekend.  it was so much fun. probably one of my favorite trips there because i feel like there was always something to do.  of course right when i got in we went to the nordstrom sale and my mom bought the nicest jacket ever.  totally an sjp jacket. i CANNOT wait for the fall. THANK YOU MOM!!!  i also got a few necklaces.  i love my juicy locket necklace that my grandma got me.  this weekend i put a picture of emma and ava in it until i find one that i want to keep in there forever.  

i also got my hair done.  LOVE IT!  part of my loves to go blonde. but then once fall hits i go back to brunette.  this time i will keep it for a while. i really like both the cut and color. best part of the cut was the hand massage afterward.  

among all the other things i did while in beaverton, i shared my cupcake making skills. :)

i chose to make blueberry cupcakes because we have blueberries in our garden.  nothing better than fresh berries! :)  these ones were by far the best batter i have ever had!  grandma and i loved it!  sometimes when the batter is that good, the cake doesn't turn out well. but that was not the case this time. 

these cupcakes were bomb!  they came out of the oven looking so good.  i cooked the second batch just a few minutes longer, but i couldn't really taste the difference in the two.  

fresh blueberries. 2 cups go into the batter.  then another cup for decorating the tops.  howard picked lots of them.  plenty for eating while baking too! 

fresh whipped cream tops the cupcakes. i don't do cool whip from the store, so i whipped up my own.  

don't they look delicious!!?!?  they almost look like they are a healthy snack too!  it was hard not to eat all of them!  i am glad there were plenty of people around that wanted to try them.  plus we took them to my friend allison and her family.  kelli got to taste them too!  lucky peeps :) 

overall. these cupcakes were delicious.  i would say the best ones i have made so far, but i LOVE peanut butter more than most things in this world. :)  but they were definitely good enough to share the recipe.  enjoy!  

Makes 30 standard or 60 mini

For the cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature

2 cups fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish

Whipped cream

For the whipped cream

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Method

Make the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line standard or mini muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each. Fold in blueberries by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until pale golden, about 25 minutes for standard and 15 for mini.

5. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Make the whipped cream

1. Whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add confectioners’ sugar, and whisk until combined. If not using immediately, whipped cream can be refrigerated, covered tightly, up to 3 hours in an airtight container.

2. To finish, dollop cupcakes with whipped cream, and garnish with berries. Serve immediately.

A Peanut Butter Lover's Dream

aka my dream.

i love peanut butter

i just found lauren's blog and read her ode to the red chair. 

i am tempted to write one for my peanut butter cupcakes now. but i will spare myself. and you.

pb cookies are my favorite.  so when i saw martha's recipe for pb cookie cupcakes i thought wow. combine my 2 favorite things. this oughta be good! and they were!

I had one right after i made them.  and i planned on that being enough for the day. which i was able to do.  but the next day... a whole other story. what made it worse was that i was reading out of my history textbook all day to catch up on missed reading.  so of course i am not paying attention to what i am reading, but rather the pb cupcakes upstairs.  so i had to give myself goals.  30 pages= another cupcake.  :) thank goodness i only got to 30 pages that day!

I went home last weekend and was able to take the remaining dozen to people that would actually eat them.  everyone enjoyed them.  except grandma didn't like the pb frosting on top...

i definitely recommend anyone that likes peanut butter to try these. i used a WHOLE 16 oz jar of pb for them.  :)

PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES

1. 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
5. 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
6. 1 1/3 cups sugar
7. 2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
8. 3 large eggs
9. 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
10. 1/2 cup sour cream
11. 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
12. 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more for decorating
13. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
14. 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 3 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Make the cupcakes: Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Mix in peanut butter. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Mix in sour cream.
3. Spoon scant 3 tablespoons batter into each muffin cup. Bake until pale golden and a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely.
4. Make the frosting: Put cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and butter into the clean bowl of a mixer fitted with the clean paddle attachment; mix on medium- high speed until pale and fluffy. Stir in peanut butter with a rubber spatula.
5. Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons frosting onto each cupcake. Refrigerate until frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Using tines of a fork dipped in confectioners' sugar, score each top in a crosshatch pattern. Cupcakes can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Katie's Cupcakes

Currently I am jobless.  While it is not fun to have no income right now, it is kind of fun to have time to do whatever I want, whenever I want.  So one day while strolling through Costco -for some free samples :) - i saw a book that i just needed to get. 

i am OBSESSED with cupcakes. and i always will be. this obsession will not go away when the popularity of them decreases. i think they are the perfect treat.  just enough to satisfy the craving.   mmmm.... 

so i have made it a goal this summer to use this free time to prefect my baking skills.  lots of friends have already volunteered to test the cupcakes.  of course.   i will post each time i make a new batch of cupcakes and share the recipes of the ones that were my favorites.

my favorite cupcake from sprinkles is their chocolate marshmallow.  

i could have one of those a day.  the marshmallow creme inside is just to die for.  so when i got the book i looked through it for a similar recipe. they were the first cupcakes to try out.  i was unhappy with them.  the marshmallow creme was too buttery tasting so i tried just adding a little bit of butter instead of how much the recipe called for. still the buttery taste. then i tried just doing straight marshmallow creme and the consistency was not good.  so i have searched for a new recipe for just the marshmallow filling and will retry them again another time.  

Baby JJ Is Here!

Joseph Jack Vincent Greene

7lbs 4oz  20 3/4 in long

I CANNOT wait to meet him!  

I spent the morning looking at flights to Fresno for later this year.