Willow Bird Baking Challenge #4: Autumn Cupcakes

Let's talk a little bit about great ideas, shall we?

I have them all the time. Ideas, like bolts of lightning, that seem to come out of nowhere and light up your brain with unlimited potential for success.

One of my most recent great ideas for the blog was starting my Tailgate Thursday series. When it came to mind as the end of the summer wound down, I could barely contain my excitement.

Fast forward to the beginning of football season, around the time of my second post. My enthusiasm for the project was still going strong. But oh, how I had underestimated the amount of time it would take to put together a cohesive post... every week... for TWELVE weeks. {P.S. We are now on week 8... but I skipped a week. So really I have 5 more schools to go.}

What am I saying exactly?

Well, I still love my idea. You seem to like my idea. Everyone seems to be fond of the idea.

But ever since I started working on my idea it seems that I Just.Can't.Catch.Up.

Wednesdays have become a mad panic of last minute grocery shopping, cooking, photography, editing, and writing {not to mention occasional cursing & tooth gnashing}. Thursdays now arrive at alarming speed. Fall snuck up on me while I was busy fact checking information about college towns and mascots.

And so... as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I have just not been on top of Fall baking around here. I still have full cans of pumpkin puree sitting in my pantry. And my collection of warm spices stare back at me with this pitiful look saying, "What have we done wrong?"

{Ok, maybe they don't actually say anything, but if they could talk, that's what they would say.}

But today, I'm making up for lost time, because this cupcake creation is basically autumn in cupcake form.

A tender Vanilla Bean Cupcake, filled with a gooey Caramel-Pear Butter center {I told you I'd put that stuff to good use!}, topped with a seductive swirl of Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Frosting.

I'm waiting for Bath & Body Works to call me any day now and ask permission to use this combo as one of their autumn candle scents. {Have your people call my people, B&BW.} ;)



I still have tons of stuff to do for Tailgate Thursday, but you can thank Julie from Willow Bird Baking for her autumn cupcake challenge this week for this creation... because she nudged me into the kitchen and unknowingly caused me to liberate my sad, sad Fall spices. {You can also thank my friend and reader, Trina, for the inspiration because she wanted me to make a Pear & Caramel Cupcake... LAST YEAR... and that popped into my head when this challenge arose and materialized in the form of this cupcake.}

 Anyway, enough chatter. If you're still waiting for Fall to arrive in your kitchen, this is definitely a good place to start... and there's no doubting that it's a VERY good idea.


Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Caramel-Pear Butter Filling
and Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Frosting
Cake adapted from The Cupcake Project, Caramel-Pear Butter from Epicurious

For Cake:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake tins with liners. Set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine granulated sugar and vanilla bean seeds until well blended. {No major vanilla bean clumps.}

3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to vanilla sugar. Mix until well blended.

4. Beat in softened butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, canola oil, and vanilla. Pour liquid into flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Pour milk in slowly, mixing until just combined. {The batter will be liquidy. That's how it should be!}

6. Fill each liner a little over halfway full. Bake for 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack.

For Filling:

1/2 cup Caramel-Pear Butter

For Frosting:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
About 3 cups confectioners' sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

1. Beat butter, sugar and cinnamon together until smooth and sugar begins to blend in. {This may take a few minutes.}

2. Slowly add in confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time until well blended.

3. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. {Some of the brown sugar crystals might still be visible. It's ok.} :)

Assembly:

1. With a sharp paring knife {or an apple corer... it's my favorite tool for this task!}, cut a well in the middle of each cooled cupcake. {Save the cake for snacking. :) }

2. Fill a piping bag or zip top storage bag with the tip snipped with about 1/2 cup of filling. Fill each cupcake to top of well.

3. Fill a separate piping bag with frosting and desired decorative tip. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.

4. If desired, sprinkle lightly with extra cinnamon and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Willow Bird Baking Challenge #3: Black Widow Bite Cookies

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope the weekend was filled with all sorts of good stuff for you and that you're recharged for the week! :) I am super excited to announce that the winner of the NatureBox giveaway is... Christina Fitch!

Congratulations, Christina, I hope you enjoy your prize... and that you report back to us & let us know what you receive in your NatureBox!

{If you didn't win this time, don't be bummed...remember you have access to a 25% NatureBox discount code - APPLE25- just for being a reader of The Kitchen Prep!}

Well... we are halfway through October and and I'm just going to come right out with it and be straight with you: Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays.

There, I said it.

I know a lot of you are probably super disappointed by this confession. I can tell because I see something come over many of you around this time of year... something that turns the sweetest, classiest people I know into gore-seeking, ghoul-loving, walking-dead-watching fiends.

We all have our things. I won't judge.

I've thought about why I'm not particularly fond of Halloween, and I've only been able to come up with one good reason: One of my earliest memories of having the bejeezus scared outta me.

A 3-year-old me. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Not being mentally mature enough to understand that it was fake. And a lifelong fear of dead people, cemeteries, and pretty much anything dealing with ghosts or scariness thereafter.

I have enjoyed some parts of Halloween throughout the years. In fact, when I was in elementary school, I couldn't wait for the Halloween Carnival we'd have each year {though I'd stay away from the Haunted House put on by the 8th graders at all costs. Not a "double dog dare" could get me step foot near it until late middle school.}. I loved trick-or-treating in my neighborhood. Adored being allowed to wear makeup & high heels outside the house for no real reason. Thoroughly enjoyed coloring pumpkins and bats and black cats.

But that's about as far as my Halloween appreciation grew. {Except, of course, for that short time in college when Halloween was an excuse to go out mid-week in minimal clothing and maximum makeup without anyone so much as batting an eye. Sort of.}


Nurse Kristin, me {Officer D.}, & Kelly the Kitty at The Swamp in Gainesville. Hey, I didn't judge you.

So, yeah, I am not the biggest fan of spooky things. I still avoid horror movies because I will have nightmares for months on end {and because under-eye bags are not my best look}. I save my money for general "Fall" decor rather than on mummies, vampires, and goblins.

Go ahead, you can say it: I'm a party pooper.

But, since I like you guys so much, and I know that lots of you are Halloween Lovers... I decided to bake up a little something just for you.

This week's Willow Bird Baking Challenge was to make stuffed cookies. So, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone {no pun intended!}, and whip up a little something that would serve both purposes.

These Black Widow Bite Cookies are about as creepy as you will see me get for Halloween. {Mostly because spiders are extremely frightening to me in general.} These dark chocolate cookies are stuffed with raspberry jam so that when you take a bite...

You get your gory, Halloween special effect. ;)

I am not going to lie to you, the cookies pictured above were the only 3 cookies I decorated this way out of the entire batch. I have no patience for this type of decorating, and I don't know how some of you out there make such gorgeous and elaborate baking creations!

Though I threw in the towel after 3 black widows, you are welcome to make an entire family of creepy crawlers if you please. As for the rest of my cookies, I turned them into lovely Dark Chocolate-Raspberry  Thumbprint Cookies...

That's as dark as my "dark side" gets.

Whether you're into the spooky fun, or are a scaredy cat like me, I hope these cookies will satisfy your sweet tooth!

Black Widow Bite Cookies

1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dark chocolate cocoa powder {I used Hershey's Special Dark}
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

For Filling:

1/2 cup raspberry jam

For Decoration:

1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
Malted Milk Balls {about 15}
Semi sweet chocolate chips for faces {about 15}
Red sprinkle balls for eyes {about 30}
Red decorating icing
Other helpful tools: Piping bags, toothpick

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a sheet pan by lining with parchment paper or a silicone backing mat. Set aside.

2. Sift together all dry ingredients.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and egg yolks until smooth. Slowly add dry ingredients a little at a time until fully incorporated.

4. With a cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure, scoop out a ball of dough. Make an indentation with your thumb and fill with about a teaspoon {maybe a little bit less} of raspberry jam.

5. Scoop out a half tablespoon or so of dough and flatten between hands to form a "cover" for your cookie. Place on top on filled half of cookie and carefully seal the edges completely. Place on lined baking sheet.  Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough. {Or if you get lazy, just make Thumbprint Cookies!} ;)

6. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until set.

7. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10-15 minutes on the baking sheet before moving. Once slightly cool, move to a baking rack to cool completely.

8. To decorate:

• Using the red decorator's icing, make the classic black widow "hour glass" on each malted milk ball. Set aside and allow icing to set slightly.
• Squirt a small dot of melted chocolate in the center of each cookie as "glue" for the body. Place decorated malted milk ball on top and push down lightly to adhere.  
• Squirt a small dot of melted chocolate in the front of the malted milk ball. Place a chocolate chip there as the spider's head.  
• Adhere red sprinkles as eyes onto chocolate chips using melted chocolate, or use red icing if desired. 
• Create long "legs" by drawing 4 lines of melted chocolate on either side of the malted milk ball body.

Get as creative as you want, no two spiders are alike! ;)

Willowbird Baking Challenge #2: Brie & Jam Braid with Candied Walnuts

Did you get a chance to check out all the fabulous, innovative recipes from Willow Bird Baking's "Cinnamon Roll" Challenge last week? Seriously creative bakers, I tell you. {Uh, Guava & White Chocolate Cream Cheese Rolls?? I die.}

I participated in the first challenge because I like to give myself extra projects when I barely have time to breathe liked the idea of challenging myself with something I don't usually make. And the end result was great. But upon completion, I thought to myself, "Ok... that was fun. But no more challenges for a bit."

Well... I lied. To myself, that is. Because after I watched Julie's Challenge #2 video, I had a flood of ideas that I wanted to try out. I just couldn't resist.

The challenge this week? A braid. No, not like the fancy ones for hair that you see all over Pinterest... the ones that look like they might require a few extra limbs to accomplish. But a Cream Cheese Braid, like you might see served at a brunch or tea party.

I've actually made something similar before {back when I didn't know you were actually supposed to post recipes on a cooking blog. Duh.} , and it was pretty delicious.

This time, I decided to go with a stroke of savory/sweet inspiration and came up with the Brie & Jam Braid with Candied Walnuts.

I LOVE brie. It's quite possibly one of my favorite foods. Ever. And around the holidays, I start wanting to serve it at every party, get together, and gathering I have so that the leftovers will remain in my fridge for me to snack on. {They don't last very long.}

If you've ever had Brie en Croute, you know of the buttery simplicity of a wheel of brie enveloped in puff pastry and baked to melty perfection. Many times, you'll also find it topped with nuts or fruit jam. The combination of sweet and savory, crunchy and flaky, gooey and jammy, is divine.

{Pardon me while I mop up the drool puddle on my keyboard.}

So, for my braid, I decided to wrap up some of those flavors and textures in a neat little cream cheese dough package.

Brie. Apricot jam. Candied walnuts and a brown sugar syrup.

For some things, "Yum" is the only appropriate response. This is one of those things.

I'm not sure if I'll go for the next WBB Challenge, but I'm glad I decided to try this one because I have a feeling this recipe will be making an appearance again in the near future!

Brie & Jam Braid with Candied Walnuts

Willow Bird Baking Cream Cheese Dough Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
3 ounces best quality cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup milk, minus 1/2 teaspoon

Filling:

4 oz. {approximately} brie
1/4 cup apricot jam {or your favorite jam... raspberry or apple butter would be amazing!}
1/3 cup brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Glaze:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, diced butter, and cubed cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Pulse a few times until large chunks are no longer visible and the flour resembles coarse meal.

Slowly add milk through feed, pulsing a few times until a ball of dough forms. {Do not overprocess.}

Turn sticky dough out onto a floured piece of parchment or wax paper. With floured hands, lightly knead a few times {not too many or you'll get a tough dough!}. Place another sheet of parchment or wax paper on top and, using a rolling pin, flatten and roll out into approximately an 8x12 inch rectangle. {Or amoeba shaped, as the case may be. I just can't seem to roll out dough into a rectangle!}

Slide onto a sheet tray coated with non-stick cooking spray. {If you are using wax paper, you will want to slide it out from under the dough. For parchment, you may keep the paper underneath the dough. DO NOT bake wax paper!}

Follow Julie's directions for marking & cutting the dough.  {She has great pictures over there that serve as a guide for you visual ones out there!}

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spread jam in the center third of the dough. Top with slices of brie. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of water. Until sugar is melted and begins to bubble slightly. Add in chopped walnuts and stir to coat. {If the sugar hardens, you may want to add another tablespoon of water to loosen it up again.}

Pour coated walnuts and brown sugar syrup over brie.

Beginning at the top of your dough, take the first flap and fold it over diagonally toward the opposite side. Do the same with the flap on the other side. {It will look like flaps of dough hugging the center.} Continue doing this all the way down the dough until you have what resembles a braid. {It's ok if it isn't perfect... it will still taste good!}

Bake braid for 12-15 minutes, until dough is cooked through and slightly golden.

Meanwhile, place butter & brown sugar in a microwave safe measuring cup. Heat on high for about 1 minute, for 30 second intervals until butter and sugar melt together into a thickened syrup.

Pour over top of braid.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Willowbird Baking Challenge: Cuban Sandwich "Cinnamon" Rolls

I'm sure it's pretty easy to surmise from reading this blog that I'm in the kitchen a lot. I can't even imagine the actual amount of hours I've logged researching recipes, mixing up batters, baking up goodies, and taste testing. {And let's not even talk about the actual amount of calories consumed. Yikes!}

When you do something that often, it's nice to have a little push from an outside source to get creative and challenge yourself to a new technique.

Except, ironically, most of my close friends aren't remotely as into cooking and baking as I am. I'd even say some have a slight aversion to it! And while they are all super supportive of my passion {and always willing to taste test the latest invention out of my oven}, I don't expect them to be nearly as obsessed enthusiastic about kitchen related matters as I am.

For inspiration and motivation, I read other cooking blogs. And there are SO many good ones out there. What I've found in all my reading is that, much like in the "real" world of interpersonal relationships, certain blogs appeal to me more than others because of the writers behind them.

When I read a blog, I like to get a sense of the person who is sharing such carefully crafted information, pictures, and stories with me. Some blogs I find intriguing because their writers live such a different type of life than I do that it's sort of fun to peek into a different world {voyeuristic much??}. With others I feel instantly connected to the author because I think to myself, "I would totally do/say/cook/feel that way!" in reading their adventures. You know how sometimes you meet someone {or browse their Pinterest boards} and you just know that you could be besties? Yeah, that happens in the blog world, too.

So anyway, all this rambling is just setting you up to tell you how I came to make these:

Cuban Sandwich "Cinnamon" Rolls

What?

No, they're not as weird as they sound, I promise. And they don't even contain cinnamon, but I'm not sure what you call a cinnamon-bun-style savory roll-type-thing. {And aren't you glad I didn't decide to call them that instead?}

Julie from Willow Bird Baking, a blog that I stumbled upon a while back, challenged her readers to step outside the usual and innovate cinnamon rolls. {In case you are interested in seeing the video call-to-action, click here. She is just adorable.} Why? Well... why not?

If you take a look at her blog's tag line, it says right there across the top that part of the blog is about teaching "Kitchen Confidence". {Which I love and, am not going to lie, wish I came up with myself.}

So yeah, once I saw her challenge, I knew I had to take part in it. {Even though, seriously folks, I am up to my eyeballs in other things I should be doing right now. But whatever.}

After the initial thought of "Maple Bacon Rolls", which she totally mentions in her video, I came up with Cuban Sandwich Rolls... because, isn't that the next logical thought?

I have no idea what possessed me to think of such a thing {except for the fact that my family is Cuban, I live near Miami, and I love Cuban sandwiches, of course}, but I have to tell you that I am pretty sure you're going to love me for it. Or hate me. Because Julie's recipe for dough {which was a required element of the challenge} calls for shortening and we all know there is just no healthying that up.

Challenge yourselves, friends, and make these. Or if you're not into cooking, challenge yourself to do something new in whatever you consider your passion. Because growing and connecting is what it's all about.

And thank you, Julie, for fun and delicious challenge!

Cuban Sandwich "Cinnamon" Rolls
Inspired by Willow Bird Baking

For the Dough:

Click here for Julie's fabulous Cinnamon Roll Dough Base ... and try not to drool on yourself when you see the Coconut Almond version she made!

For the Filling:

2-3 tablespoons yellow mustard {nothing fancy, that's not how Cuban sandwiches roll}
About 1/3 cup dill pickles, roughly chopped
Approximately 12 slices of Swiss cheese
Approximately 1/4 pound deli sliced ham
Approximately 1/4 pound deli sliced pork
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Make the dough. {This recipe is an over-nighter so plan accordingly!}

*Note: I only used half of the dough this recipe makes. You can use the whole thing if you prefer, but you will need to double the amount of filling ingredients to ensure you have enough. If you'd like to save the other half of the dough, wrap it up in plastic wrap and freeze or use the other half to make another creative roll!}

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick.

Apply a thin layer of yellow mustard with an offset spatula leaving a 1/4 inch border all the way around so it doesn't squirt out the sides when you roll it up.

Sprinkle chopped pickles over the mustard. Lay slices of Swiss cheese side by side until the entire rectangle is covered. Repeat with ham and pork slices.

With the long side facing you, roll up the dough carefully, and place seam side down. With a very sharp knife, cut about 1 inch thick pieces. {I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the entire log in half. Then cut each half in half again, etc. until you have sliced it up into even slices.}

In the prepared baking dish, place the sliced rolls snugly next to one another. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean moistened dish towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until they are just about doubled in size.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until browned on the top. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter, then bake for another 2-3 minutes.

Serve while warm and melty.