small batch baking

September 27, 2017

{Small Batch} Apple Turnovers.

Apple turnovers are a fantastic fall and winter dessert. Honestly, they’re good any time, but I tend to make them more during the fall and winter months. Of course the weather is still a bit whack in St. Louis at the moment, but a girl can dream, eh? I have made these turnovers a number of times, and I’ve been neglecting to share them with you [such a shame, honestly]. Butttt I figure it’s always better late than never when it comes to sharing foodstuffs on the blog. These turnovers are pretty similar to the pumpkin turnovers I made a while back. They use a small-batch puff pastry dough, and a simple apple filling. The glaze is also really easy; I usually add vanilla bean paste to it because I love the little brown specks that the vanilla bean seeds lend the glaze.

The best part about these turnovers is that they can easily be a make-ahead project. In fact, that’s exactly what I often do for these: I make the puff pastry and cook the apples one evening. The following morning, I assemble and bake them for my family. It’s pretty much perfection, and it’s really much easier than you might think.

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// Small Batch Apple Turnovers.
Yield: Four large triangular pies.

Ingredients:

For the quick puff pastry:

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. fine salt
10 TBSP. high-quality butter (5 ounces), cold {I use unsalted Kerrygold.}
⅓ cup ice cold water

For the apple filling:

2 cups diced apples (from about 3 small apples, or 2 medium)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
dash of ground nutmeg {Just something I like to add here.}
1 TBSP. freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 TBSP. unsalted butter
pinch of salt
1 large egg yolk, beaten
coarse sugar (turbinado sugar) for sprinkling

Instructions:

Make the puff pastry: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
Next, cube the butter and then add it to the flour bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dough. It will be very crumbly, and you’re done when the butter is in uniform pieces all about the size of peas.
Next, make a hole in the center of the dough and pour in all of the water. Using a fork, stir to combine the dough. It’ll be a shaggy dough, similar to pie crust. This is okay.
Flour a cutting board and rolling pin, and place the dough on the board. Pat it into a rough square. You will still see chunks of butter and it will seem too dry, but do not add extra water. The dough will come together with each roll.
Roll the dough out in front of you into a rectangle about 10″ long; you don’t need to be especially precise at this point.
Fold the bottom third of the dough over the middle of the dough. Fold the upper third of the dough on top of the middle too, like an envelope. Rotate the dough one-quarter turn, and repeat. Use additional flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
Roll out, fold, and turn the dough at least 6 or 7 times. If the dough is starting to seem elastic-y and difficult to roll out, that means it’s time to leave it alone for awhile [see step 3 in my collage above].
When done, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.

When you’re ready to make the turnovers: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
To make the apple filling: First, peel, core, and dice the apples. You should have about two cups of diced apples; a bit less is fine.
Add the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, sugar, butter and salt to a sauté pan, and cook over medium heat until the apples soften and caramelize, about 7 minutes. Stir frequently.
Remove the apples from the heat and let cool.
Meanwhile, roll out the pre-made pastry dough into a 12-inch square. Use flour as you go to prevent sticking.
Divide the apple mixture into four piles in the corners of the dough, but leave about ¾” of border. Cut the dough into four equal squares. Fold the edges of the dough over each of the apple piles. You will have four triangular pies.
Crimp the edges closed with your fingers and the tines of a fork.
Carefully move the pies to the baking sheet.
Brush each pie generously with the beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.
Bake the pies for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and puffy. Serve immediately. {Note: You can add a quick vanilla glaze by mixing some powdered sugar with milk and a little vanilla extract/paste. Stir to get the desired consistency, then spoon over the cooled turnovers. Or you can add it to a little Ziplock bag and pipe stripes over them.}

+ Recipe from Dessert for Two.

August 15, 2017

{Easy} Small-Batch Macarons.

Anyone who’s a baker can confirm that macarons are one of the trickier beasts of baking. Well, baking can be a bit of a tricky beast in general – which is precisely why I love it – and probably why many people hate it.

But macarons. Oh man. They’re just on another level of sorcery. Macarons are finicky little buggers to begin with, and the errors involved with making them are often difficult to troubleshoot.

{This photo captures the detail of the “feet” that properly made macarons should form. Notice the crackled part that surrounds the bottom of each cookie? That’s the “foot.” A slather of Nutella and sprinkles between the feet of each cookie make for a nice sammich here.}

I have attempted to make macarons at least twice in the past several years, but they were riddled with problems: too chewy, the tops cracked, the “feet” didn’t setup as they were supposed to; I did a horrible job piping them into a nice circle, etc. Honestly, I got quickly frustrated, and gave up. For a solid year, I tucked my seemingly grandiose macaron fantasies into the [very crowded] back burner of my brain.

{Here’s Helen rocking the hand modeling job with our vanilla buttercream-filled macs.}

Finally, one day about six months ago, I stumbled upon a small-batch macaron recipe from Dessert for Two. It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to try making a smaller batch of them; surely that had to reduce some of the intimidation, right?

Turns out that I was indeed right: making a smaller quantity was more approachable, and of course, Christina had many great tips to ensure success. I attempted to make them once by myself, and much to my surprise, I succeeded. Then my friend Helen asked if I’d show her how to make them again, so we had another friend baking date. The photos in this post are the ones that I captured from both my solo macaron baking session + the macaron session with Helen.

{I just love this jadeite plate; it pairs so nicely with my treats.}

If you’re ready to give macarons a go, might I suggest making them in a small batch? It might make them easier and more approachable for you. Let me know if you try them out; it’s a great bucket list item to cross off your baking to-do list; trust me! 🙂

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{Easy} Small-Batch Macarons.

Ingredients:

For the macarons:

2 aged egg whites, at room temperature*
68 grams almond flour*
153 grams powdered sugar
2 tablespoons meringue powder*
3 drops vanilla extract

For the filling: We used a mix of berry preserves and homemade vanilla buttercream as our filling. Feel free to use any kind of jam/preserves, buttercream, a ganache, Nutella; whatever your heart desires!

Instructions:

First, let the egg whites come to room temperature in a medium bowl. Using a food scale, measure out your dry ingredients in separate bowls.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or a silicone mat, if that’s your thing). Make sure the paper fits into the pan perfectly: any buckled paper around the edges will make the cookies spread unevenly and slide.
Meanwhile, sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl {Sifting them is NOT an option!}.
Begin to beat the egg whites on medium speed using a hand-mixer until foamy, about 10 seconds. Then, start slowly adding the meringue powder while constantly beating.
Beat the egg whites and meringue powder until soft peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. This will depend on your mixer speed, but be careful not to over-mix. The peaks are soft when you lift the beaters and the egg whites flop over.
Once the egg whites have soft peaks, turn off the mixer.
Add 1/3 of the almond-sugar mixture and begin to gently fold it in using a small spatula. Take your time: proper folding technique is carefully folding around the sides and cutting through the middle occasionally. The idea is to not stir too hard and deflate the air you just whipped into the egg whites.
Repeat with the remaining almond-sugar mixture two more times, until completely incorporated.
Scrape the batter into a piping bag with a 1/2″ round tip (or use a plastic bag with the corner snipped off). The batter will be thick.
Pipe the batter into 1″ little mounds (about the size of a large Hershey’s kiss), and let sit. While they sit, they should flatten out. Leave 2″ between each cookie for air circulation.
Let the cookies rest on the baking pan for at least 30 minutes. Test to see if they are tacky–if you touch the cookies gently and the batter sticks to your finger, they’re not ready. They should be dry to the touch. {Note that humidity plays a big factor in how long it takes for them to dry out. So it may take longer on some days than others.}
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F [or 290 if your oven runs hotter; many gas ovens do]. Bake the macarons for 13 minutes, until their little feet have risen and the tops are dry.
Remove from the oven and let cool near or on top of the oven [drastic temperature changes can cause cracks].
Once cool, pop the cookies off the sheet, spread with your desired filling, and gently sandwich the best-matching ones together.

*Notes:

Aged Egg Whites: To age your egg whites: separate the whites from the yolks [be sure there are absolutely no yolks in them!], cover them and refrigerate for at least one week. Allow them to come to room temperature before using. {Additional note: It is crucial that you give the egg whites time to “age” in the fridge. Fresh egg whites will not work.
Almond Flour: I use the Bob’s Red Mill brand, which can be found with the specialty flours in most grocery stores, or via Amazon. It works well, but do not forget the sifting step. It’s essential for properly made macarons.
Meringue Powder: I prefer the Ateco brand (can be found on Amazon), but you can also use the Wilton brand (can be found on Amazon and/or craft stores, e.g. Michael’s).

+ Recipe Source: Macaron recipe via Dessert for Two.

December 19, 2015

Single Lady Banana Bread.

One of my favorite guilty pleasure* hobbies OF ALL TIME includes listening to copious amounts of rap and hip-hop. Usually I can be found listening to lots of modern songs, but I am gonna go ahead and throw it out there: I have a “2000s Hip-Hop” station on my Pandora account, and it’s one of my favorite playlists to throw on when I wanna get pumped up.

*I actually have zero shame, tbh.

I mean, let’s be honest: who doesn’t like “Laffy Taffy,” “Salt Shaker,” “U and Dat,” and other songs?! They’re just classics for those of us that grew up in the early 2000s.

On the topic of 2000s Hip-Hop, do you remember the song “Independent” by a dude named Webbie? The lyrics are below:

“I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T.
Do you know what that means, man?
She got her own house, she got her own car.
Two jobs; work hard.
YOUSA BAD BROAD!”

Secretly, I’ve always liked to think that song was meant for me. I’ve always been a bit independent to a fault. I have two jobs right now, and I have my own car, and I pay my own rent. I like to think that makes me a “bad broad.” 😛

If you’ve made it this far in this post, you’re probably wondering what in the heck hip-hop music has to do with a food blog or better yet with banana bread. Well, this isn’t just any ol’ nanner bread recipe. This recipe is for one single miniature loaf of banana bread. It’s an adorable, delicious little loaf, perfect for a badass, independent chick (or dude) such as yourself. You could technically share it with your significant other, if you have one and felt so inclined. But it’s also a nice amount for one person.

Well, I’m not gonna lie. I ate the entire loaf in what was probably more than a 24 hour period but less than a 48 hour period of time. It’s juuust the right amount of banana bread to satisfy a craving, plus use up that single overripe nanner that’s sitting on your counter, daring you to use it for something (but of course, one banana is never enough for a regular-sized loaf of bread).

Alright, now that rambling is over, go make a miniature loaf of nanner bread and listen to some good ol’ 2000s hip-hop songs while you’re at it. It’s a great way to use up a banana and feel like a total badass. Winning. 😎

nannerbreadslices — {Cute little slices of nanner bread on my favorite yellow gingham tray!}

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Single Lady Banana Bread.
Yield: One small loaf (a miniature loaf pan’s dimensions are usually about 5 ¾” x 3” x 2”).

Ingredients:
– 1 small (6-7”) over-ripe banana
– 3 TBSP. unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus extra for pan)
– 3 TBSP. granulated sugar
– 2 TBSP. honey
– 1 large egg yolk
– ½ cup all-purpose flour
– 1 TBSP. flax seed meal [Christina uses wheat germ, but I don’t ever keep any on hand. I always have flax seed meal, though. Personally, I think a tablespoon or two of flax seed meal adds a nice, nutty flavor, with the added benefit of some extra nutrition!]
– ¼ + ⅛ tsp. baking soda
– Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 5 ¾” x 3” x 2” mini loaf pan with butter or cooking spray (and a little parchment paper!). Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mash the banana into a puree using a fork or potato masher, if you have one. Next, add the butter, sugar, and honey to it and stir well.
3. Stir in the egg yolk well. Finally, sprinkle in the dry ingredients: flour, flax seed meal or wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in the pan slightly before moving it to a wire rack. Enjoy!

+ Recipe via Dessert for Two.

December 2, 2015

[Small Batch] Pumpkin Turnovers.

Note: I’ve had this post “baking” [ha, I’m punny!] for quite awhile now, but as aforementioned, I have not been feeling well at all. Therefore, it is a bit delayed, but pumpkin and 30-minute puff pastry never get old in my book, so I hope you enjoy it all the same. 🙂

You’ve heard of apple turnovers, and chances are you’ve even heard of cherry turnovers. What about pumpkin turnovers? Probably not as common, but they do exist. The idea popped into my head a few weeks ago, after I first learned how to make small-batch, 30-minute puff pastry. I was always under the [very mistaken] assumption that making puff pastry was difficult and definitely not something I’d ever be able to conquer.

That all changed a few weeks ago, when I took a class at Kitchen Conservatory with the Dessert for Two blog author, Christina. In the class, we made homemade apple turnovers, complete with homemade 30-minute puff pastry. I volunteered to help make the puff pastry, as I had never done it and I was obviously intrigued. Immediately I was blown away by how easy it was, and perhaps more importantly, how delicious the turnovers tasted.

Needless to say, I have been absolutely obsessed with quick puff pastry ever since that class. I have officially seen the light: puff pastry is the shiznit [as Snoop Dogg would say], and it’s really not that difficult to make!

I digress. After the class and my new-found puff pastry enlightenment, I made apple turnovers for a friend a few days later. Then the idea for pumpkin turnovers hit me, so I had to do a quick Google search to see if anyone thought of the idea before I did. Of course, someone already thought of it. But that’s okay because the recipe where I found the pumpkin filling (All Recipes) lists store-bought puff pastry as an ingredient, rather than homemade. I’m not snobby enough to tell you to not use store bought puff pastry, but I will just say this: homemade puff pastry is not out of your reach. There’s just something so satisfying about making your own puff pastry. I was seriously blown away, and I still am. I just want to eat puff pastry all the time for every meal, but then I’d probably gain 20 pounds and turn into a stick of butter. 😉

So, with all that to say, you know what to do. Make yourself some turnovers from scratch, and impress everyone with your amazing skillz.

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Small Batch Pumpkin Turnovers.
Yield: Four turnovers.

Ingredients:

For the 30-minute puff pastry:

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. fine salt
10 TBSP. high-quality butter, such as Plugara or Kerrygold (5 ounces), cold
⅓ cup ice cold water

For the pumpkin filling:

1 cup canned pumpkin puree (Just the plain stuff; not the pumpkin pie filling!)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I make my own, but you may also buy it.)

For the turnover topping:

One large egg, lightly beaten
Turbinado sugar

Instructions:

Prepare the puff pastry dough first (you’ll need to prepare it in advance, as it takes some time to chill): In a medium bowl, add the flour and salt. Stir to mix.
Cube the butter and then add it to the flour bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the dough. It will be very crumbly, and you’re done when the butter is in uniform pieces all about the size of peas.
Next, make a hole in the center of the dough and pour in all of the water. Using a fork, stir to combine the dough.
Flour a cutting board, and add the dough. Pat it into a rough square. You will still see chunks of butter and it will seem too dry, but do not add extra water. The dough will come together with each roll.
Flour the rolling pin, and roll the dough out in front of you into a rectangle about 10″ long. No need to be too precise here.
Fold the bottom third of the dough over the middle of the dough. Fold the upper third of the dough on top of the middle too. Rotate the dough one-quarter turn, and repeat. Use additional flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
Roll out, fold, and turn the dough at least 6 or 7 times.
When done, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour, or overnight. Dough may be frozen, too.
When you’re about ready to roll out the dough and bake, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
For the pumpkin filling: Simply mix together all four ingredients in a medium bowl until combined, and set aside until ready to fill the turnover dough. {Note: You’ll probably have extra pumpkin filling. Stir the leftovers into some oatmeal or just eat it with a spoon. :)}
To make roll out and shape the turnovers: Roll out the chilled dough into a 12-inch square. Use flour as you go to prevent sticking.
Divide the pumpkin mixture into four piles in the corners of the dough, but leave about ¾” of border. Cut the dough into four equal squares. Fold the edges of the dough over each of the pumpkin filling piles. You will have four triangular turnovers.
Press the edges closed with your fingers (feel free to use a bit of the beaten egg as a “glue” to seal the turnovers closed), and crimp with the tines of a fork. Carefully transfer the turnovers to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.
Brush each turnover generously with the beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.
Bake the turnovers for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy on the outside. Allow to cool for a bit on a cooling rack, then dig in!

+ 30-minute puff pastry recipe and original apple turnover recipe from Dessert for Two.
+ Pumpkin filling recipe from All Recipes.

September 21, 2015

Small-Batch Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes.

It’s September, and I’m on the pumpkin train. Truth be told, I have been on the pumpkin train since about August. I’m one of those people who wishes fall would hurry up and get here. Yeah, I even wish away summer at times. I get why some of you summer lovers probably hate people like me, but that’s okay. Fall is the best season, and pumpkin is so delicious in every form. These cupcakes are no exception to that pumpkin rule.

This recipe is one of those small-batch baking recipes, of which I am a huge fan. The recipe claims to make four cupcakes, but I got five. I’m okay with that. The pumpkin flavor shines through superbly in these; often, I find that some pumpkin baked goods are not pumpkin-y enough. But these were really, really good. I took one bite of my “cupcake sandwich” [the only way to eat cupcakes, obvz], and I was immediately impressed. Me being immediately impressed with baked goods does not happen often, as my roommate can attest. The texture of the cake is perfect, super pumpkin-y, and the chai spices shine through beautifully.

The chai buttercream is also really tasty. I love chai flavors, and they pair so well with pumpkin! I gave one of these cupcakes to a friend, and he exclaimed, “Wow, these taste like they were made by a professional, like at a professional bakery!” I just looked at him nonchalantly, and said, “I am a professional.” 😉

Yes, they’re that good. And the small quantity means you can make them for yourself. Or you could be nice and share them with your friends and/or significant other. Just make ’em if you’re on the pumpkin train, because they’re delicious. Thanks to Christina from Dessert for Two for her awesome recipes. I always know that her recipes will turn out fantastic; this woman is legit. And I’m also really excited to be meeting her in about a month!

PS: I also think these would make great muffins. Then you have an excuse for eating them for breakfast (sans frosting)… Or just eat cupcakes for breakfast, buttercream and all. I’m not telling anyone. 😀

cupcakesammich1 — {Cupcake sandwiches are the best kinds of sandwiches.}

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Small-Batch Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes.
Yield: According to the recipe, it makes four cupcakes. I got five, which was fine by me! 😉

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
– 7 TBSP. all-purpose flour
– ½ tsp. baking powder
– ⅛ tsp. baking soda
– ¼ tsp. salt
– ½ tsp. cinnamon
– ¼ tsp. ground ginger
– ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg [I used ground.]
– 1 large egg
– ½ cup pumpkin puree [NOT pumpkin pie mix. Plain pumpkin puree.]
– ¼ cup brown sugar
– 3 TBSP. granulated sugar
– 3 TBSP. vegetable oil

For the chai buttercream:
– 1⅓ cups powdered sugar
– 4 TBSP. softened, unsalted butter
– 1 chai tea bag + 2 TBSP. boiling water [Or 2 tsp. chai concentrate syrup.]

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line a muffin tin with four (or five) cupcake liners. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until combined, being careful to not overmix.
4. Divide the batter between the cupcake liners, and bake for 28-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. {Note: Mine only needed to bake for about 25 minutes.} Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
5. While the cupcakes are cooling, pour the boiling water over the chai tea bag and let it steep for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until it’s light and fluffy, or for about 3-4 minutes. Add the (cooled) steeped tea (or chai concentrate syrup), and mix well. Frost the cupcakes when they are cool, and serve. Enjoy!

+ Recipe via Dessert for Two.

June 24, 2015

Small Batch Iced Sugar Cookies.

My poor, poor blog. I’ve been neglecting her a lot lately [yes, my blog has a gender, and is a “she”]… I have been back in the U.S. from my Germany adventures, so I don’t have much of an excuse. Shit happens, I guess.

Anyway. June and July seem to be months of change for me. I fell off the bandwagon with my original New Years’ resolutions – big surprise there, huh? Leave it to me to get behind then try to catch up in the middle of the year. Ha! Better late than never, though. Right? Right.

I have had a lot going on and as usual, I’ve been over-thinking everything lately. As I said, I’m working on making some changes. I’m working on improving myself in many ways, and I’m looking forward to continuously evolving as a human being. It’s not always easy to work on self-improvement; sometimes that means we have to drop certain people/things/activities in order to move forward. That can be painful, as I’ve recently discovered.

On the flip side – even though it’s important to continuously adapt and grow – it’s also important to remember where you come from. It’s good to forget the past mistakes, and learn to forgive yourself. However, it’s perhaps equally important to also recall where you’ve been and where you’re from. This blog post is a tribute to that balance. The balance of recognizing how far you’ve come, and appreciating where you’re from – while simultaneously trying to continuously move forward and grow.

I made these small batch, crunchy sugar cookies with a simple frosting as a tribute to where I’m from. I grew up in a small – and what some might call shitty – town in central Illinois. Would I ever move back there? Hell no. I’ve become quite accustomed to the city life, and I couldn’t move back to such a small town, especially with my IT career. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate where I was raised. Danville wasn’t a bad place to grow up, and I’ll forever cherish all the memories I have. Since I basically lived there from birth to the age of 21, it obviously had a huge impact on who I am now.

So… To the lovely town of Danville, Illinois: Here are some Illinois-shaped cookies, topped with heart-shaped sprinkles to rep my hood. They’re super cute, and tasty too. Here’s to never forgetting where I came from, even if I never live there again!

Note: I got my Illinois cookie cutter from Etsy. You can find any of the state-shaped cookie cutters on Etsy, and most likely on Amazon, as well. I’m going to purchase a Missouri cutter to dedicate some cookies to my new home in St. Louis, and a Tennessee cutter to rep my parents’ new life outside of Nashville. Stay tuned for more state-shaped cookies!

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Small Batch Iced Sugar Cookies.
Yield: Approximately one dozen, depending on the size of your cutters and the thickness of your dough.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
– ¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
– ½ tsp. baking powder
– Pinch of salt
– ¼ cup (half stick) unsalted butter, softened
– ¼ cup granulated sugar
– 1 large egg yolk
– ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
– ⅛ tsp. almond extract

For the icing:
– 1½ cups powdered sugar
– 3-5 tsp. milk
– A few drops of vanilla
– Heart sprinkles (Optional, if you want to make some state cookies!)

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat together with an electric mixer: the butter and sugar, until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and extracts, and mix until well incorporated.
3. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and beat until no streaks of flour remain. Be careful to not over-mix
4. On a lightly floured surface, dump the dough out, and press into a two-inch thick round disk. Flour your rolling pin, then roll out the dough thick enough to cut out your shapes. Gather the dough scraps and re-roll to cut out more shapes as needed.
5. Place the shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat, then place in the freezer for about five minutes while preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies have just started to turn brown. Allow them to sit for a few minutes, then, move to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. When the cookies are completely cool, make the icing. Whisk together all of the ingredients, and add more milk as necessary to achieve your desired consistency.

8. Ice your cookies by outlining the shape with a small piping tip or squeeze bottle, then flood the icing. Place heart sprinkle on top as desired.

– Recipe via Dessert for Two.

March 22, 2015

Small Batch Vanilla Bean Cupcakes.

Have I mentioned how much I freaking love small batch recipes? Especially these days. As I have mentioned before on the ol’ blog, most of the time, my coworkers and friends reap the benefits of my baking shenanigans. However, there are times in which one of the following scenarios occur: a) I’m not in the mood to share; b) I just have a sweet tooth and need a quick but homemade fix [I’m pretentious like that, I guess]; c) I want sweets but do not need to eat ten cookies; d) I have no desire to frost more than four cupcakes; or e) all of the above.

Small batch recipes come in handy for all of the aforementioned situations. Now, I’m no recipe expert, so I generally don’t like to screw around with baked good recipes very often. Once I have made something a few times, I’ll make my own alterations, of course. And, I usually have no issue with cutting recipes in half. However, I am not quite brave enough to scale recipes way down. But that’s where the Dessert for Two blog comes to save the day. Christina – the blog’s author – has experimented with recipes enough to scale them down to make just enough tasty baked goods for herself and her man. Then she shares them with the world. I’m telling you, she’s a genius. Every recipe of Christina’s that I’ve ever tried has always impressed me, and I’m kind of hard to please when it comes to baked goods.

singlecupcake — [Do you see those little flecks of vanilla bean?! Love it.]

I have ~~stalked~~ followed Christina’s blog for quite awhile now, but I just recently purchased her new cookbook. These vanilla cupcakes are the first treat I decided to make from the book. As expected, they turned out awesome! Also, her cookbook is just lovely. It never really occurred to me until recently that no other such book really exists for small batch baking. And I think that it’s a really awesome concept, especially for bakeaholics such as myself. Sometimes it’s just really nice to bake only a few treats, and then enjoy them by myself [or I share with Brian when I really feel like it… hehe].

The cake is really tasty; it’s simple, which I love, and it’s just plain good. I whipped them up on my lunch break while I was working from home last week, and I just love how quick they are to make. These cupcakes get a bit more browned on the tops than I was expecting, but they are really good. I added vanilla bean paste to mine in lieu of the extract, just because I love those little vanilla bean flecks. I have a feeling that these cupcakes would do well with a few little adaptations, such as making small batch chai cupcakes, or perhaps small batch snickerdoodle cupcakes! Let’s just say that I’ve got some inspiration up my sleeve. 😉

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Small Batch Vanilla Bean Cupcakes.
Yield: Four regular-sized cupcakes.

Ingredients:
– 4 TBS. unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 1/4 cup granulated sugar
– 1 large egg white
– 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste [You can use vanilla extract in lieu of the paste, but I love using vanilla bean paste whenever I can! Note: The quantities of both are interchangeable.]
– 2 TBS. sour cream [I use whole fat sour cream. I’m just not about that non-fat stuff.]
– 6 TBS. all-purpose flour
– 1/2 tsp. baking soda
– Pinch of salt

Instructions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with four cupcake liners [Note: Use the cups on the outside of the pan}, and set aside.
2. Using an electric hand mixer [Note: You can use a stand mixer; I did, because I’m lazy, but that’s kind of overkill for such a small amount of batter], cream together the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg white, vanilla bean paste, and sour cream to the butter/sugar, and beat until combined.
4. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt into the wet ingredients, and mix until combined. Divide the batter among the four prepared cupcake liners. Bake the cupcakes for about 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean [or with a few moist crumbs]. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack, then once they’re totally cooled, frost as desired. Enjoy!

Recipe Source(s):
– Vanilla cupcake recipe barely adapted from Dessert for Two: Small Batch Cookies, Brownies, Pies, and Cakes, by Christina Lane. She’s also the author of the lovely blog, Dessert for Two. I would highly recommend buying this cookbook, though. It’s totally worth it!
– Vanilla bean frosting recipe was basically just made up by me, but here’s an actual recipe that’s similar to what I did for the frosting.