Frosted Pickle Cupcakes

I was cruising the blogs yet again today and ran across one of the most intriguing things I have seen in a long time: Pickle Cupcakes. Yep, you read that right – pickle flavored cupcakes. I even added pickle frosting! Now 95% of you will think that these are the most disgusting things you could possibly fathom but I am here to tell you that I love them! Unfortunately my mom does not - she is of that 95%. Oh well! Can't win em all!!

I discovered this recipe on Cupcake Project's website and changed a few ingredients around to use up what I actually have in the pantry. So if you’re a member of that 5%, fire up those mixers and get baking!

Pickle Cupcakes
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground dill
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry chopped onion
3 tablespoons tahini paste
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup greek yogurt
1/3 cup dill pickle juice (straight from the jar)
1/3 cup finely chopped pickles (I used some sweet ginger gerkins but the recipe calls for dill)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, dill, salt and onion in medium bowl. In another bowl, cream together tahini, oil, sugar, yogurt and egg until well blended. Add in pickle juice and flour mixture, followed by the chopped pickles. Fill muffin liners 2/3 full and bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes about 8 cupcakes.


Royal Pickle Icing (makes just enough to frost the cupcakes)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons meringue powder
2 1/2 tablespoons dill pickle juice

Beat on high with hand mixer until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Add a few drops of green food coloring if desired. In the picture the icing is still wet, but it does harden as it dries.

Blue Tahini Muffins

So after the awesome success of those chocolate muffins I baked a few days ago I decided to try a different take on them. Same basic recipes, but substituting more exotic ingredients. I had tahini paste in the fridge and subbed that in for oil, adding more milk to balance the consistency out a bit. I'm a nut for grains, so I mixed it up in that department quite a bit. I've been storing the muffins I make in the freezer and even after a spin to defrost in the microwave, these muffins are still deliciously moist. In fact.. I'm craving another one now..

Blue Tahini Muffins
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup blue cornmeal
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar plus enough milk to equal 1 cup plus 1/2 cup
1/3 cup tahini paste
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup raisin bran cereal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin pan with muffin liners. Stir oats, cornmeal and milk mixture, set aside while other ingredients are combined. Whisk together tahini, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add egg mixture into oats mixture. Combine flours, cereal, baking powder, salt and baking soda, then add into wet ingredients until moistened. Fill muffin liners 2/3 full and sprinkle kosher salt on top. Bake for about 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Crockpot Garam Masala

Thanks to a recent trip to the grocery store, I finally had a chance to create my own chicken recipe using the garam masala spice mixture Kyle so thoughtfully sent to me. I've recently grown very fond of green peppers, but if you're not a fan you could substitute any other color you'd like. This recipe was rich in flavor, incredibly tender and would taste fantastic over a bed of rice. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Crockpot Chicken Garam Masala
4 chicken thighs
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 plum tomato, diced
1/2 vidalia onion, diced
1/3 green pepper, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 1/2 cups water (or chicken stock)
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse chicken thighs and massage garam masala and ginger into chicken. Set in crockpot. Add all remaining ingredients and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend. To prevent crockpot from cracking, allow dish to sit out for an hour before heating. Turn crockpot on low and simmer for around 8 hours. The chicken was so tender that the meat just fell off the bone. Pretty low maintenance, but definitely delicious in my eyes.

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins

More chocolatey goodness here - dark chocolatey goodness. Let's put it this way: this recipe is for the serious chocolate lover. I took a chocolate oatmeal muffin recipe I had found, used dark chocolate powder, and cut the sugar amount in half. I also added in some blueberries since I'm obsessed with fruit and chocolate combinations lately. I've actually been crumpling up the muffins, heating them in the microwave, pouring milk on top and eating them as cereal. Yes it's a bit strange, but man is it delicious!

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar plus enough milk to equal 1 1/3 cups
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Handful blueberries (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tin with the paper cups and set aside.

Stir together oats and milk mixture, allow to stand while you gather other ingredients. In another bowl, stir together oil, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add oats mixture and stir well. Mix together flours, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Toss in the blueberries now, too. Blend into oats mixture until just moistened. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

(Chili Pepper) Sugar Cookies

TADA! The surprise is revealed!



Cute huh??

So it took a few days to make these delicious treats, but boy were they worth the wait! I finally got to use my little chili pepper cookie cutter to make these little bite sized cookies to send to Kyle for Cinco de Mayo. I even made my own frosting - how very Martha of me! I had cookies coming out of my ears and was so proud I brought them everywhere I could think of! I adapted the recipe from Alton Brown's recipe on the Food Network's website, but I added some lime zest to give them some flair! I still have some of the original dough in the fridge and have since I've adapted the recipe yet again - chocolate with orange zest. So if you've got some time on your hands - I advise whipping up a batch of these buttery, limey, sugary treats! Enjoy!



Sugar Cookies with Lime Zest (original recipe courtesy of Alton Brown via foodnetwork.com)
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Zest of one lime
Powdered sugar for rolling out dough

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Whip together butter and sugar until light in color. Add egg, milk and lime zest, continue mixing. Turn mixer to lowest setting and slowly add flour mixture. Beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (now normally I'm not a very patient person when it comes to waiting and food, but it's definitely worth it)

Preheat oven to 375.

Remove dough from the fridge. I found that it was a tad easier to roll if it sat out at room temperature for 3 or 4 minutes. Sprinkle work surface with powdered sugar before setting dough down. Sprinkle the top of the dough with powdered sugar before rolling so the rolling pin doesn't eat the dough! The recipe says to roll the dough until it's roughly 1/4 inch thick. I'm horrible at knowing how thick my cookies are, so I just guestimated and rolled the dough out to my liking. Cut out the cookies with your favorite cookie cutter and place the dough on a greased cookie sheet, just far enough apart so they don't touch. Bake 7-9 minutes or until they start to brown around the edges. Let sit on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove and place on a cooling rack. Make sure the cookies are completely cool before frosting, or eat them warm (or cooled) without frosting! They're quite delicious!

(some more cookies I just "rolled out" last night to mail to a friend in Virginia!)

Alternate recipe:
Chocolate Sugar Cookies with Orange Zest
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract plus enough milk to make 1 tablespoon
Zest of one orange
Powdered sugar mixed with cocoa powder for rolling dough

Follow the above instructions, the outcome will just be CHOCOLATEY as all getout!