banoffee pie

if you've been reading my blog from one post to another post, you'd notice that i like to write about foods i tasted from places I've been. maybe one of few reasons i love to baking is because i get the crave of those sweet treats i tried before and some times i just cant find the same one in jakarta nor indonesia. so the only way to re-create those is by baking them by my self, although the result not always satisfying.
and honestly, travelling is my number one passion, i loooove to travel here and there and fortunately i've been to many places, but that's a story for another post. so please do forgive me if i write a lot about my travel experiences :)

so what im going to write here is about this banoffee pie, banoffee pie is originally a british dessert, and if you've been to the great britain, you'll notice that their desserts are always always always too sweet. frankly i've never been to america where they always say that american treats are always way too sugary. CMIIW so i dont know whether the american treats/dessert are sweeter than the british's or not. but for me, OMG, british treats/desserts are way too sweet.
anyways, back to the banoffee pie.. this banoffee pie is OH-MY-GOD-THIS-IS-TOO-SWEET-SORRY-I-COULD-ONLY-EAT-ONE-SLICE kind of dessert, get what i mean?
maybe i should use my own toffee recipe and not by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk.
i actually liked the combination of the crust, banana and whipped cream..seriously, the toffee ruined it all.
but this lead me to an idea to make banana cream pie, how about that?

aaaaand the rccipe..

banoffee pie adapted from bbc good food's

Ingredients
* 300g digestive biscuits
* 60g margarine , melted
* 397g tin Nestlé Carnation sweetened condensed milk
* 3 large bananas , sliced
* 350ml double cream
* 1 tbsp icing sugar
* 50g cocoa

directions
before all: boil unopened tin of sweetened condensed milk and cover all with water for 3 hours, check regularly, you dont want the tin to be boiled dry, make sure its all covered with water, completely cool the tin before use
1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Crush the biscuits in a food processor then add the melted butter and pulse to combine. Press the mixture into a 24cm tart tin, with a removable base, in an even layer. Transfer the tin to a baking sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes, until lightly toasted and set. Leave to cool then gently release from the tin and put on a serving plate.
2. Spread the caramel over the biscuit base and chill for 1 hour. Arrange the banana slices over the toffee. Whip the cream and sugar together to form soft peaks and spread over the bananas. use the cocoa powder to decorate

morning all! its saturday, M&M's cookies

*ugh, hideous light.. i should stop taking pictures at night*

oukay, i baked these few days ago even before the pink and chocolate cupcakes, well actually right after i got the goodies sheila brought me from singapore. duhh! i know!

i actually called these cookies soft and chewy chocolate button M&M's cookies. because i used martha stewart's soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies recipe, omit the chocolate chips part and changed it with M&M's and chocolate buttons. why chocolate buttons? because it has the same shape with M&M's and i wanted my cookies to be filled and oozed with chocolatey goodness, yada yada yada..no, i lied, i ran out of chocolate chips and that bwas the only reason why i used chocolate buttons instead.
anyways.. these tasted extraordinary good for those who love chocolate and M&M's, for those with extreme sweet tooth. but not for me.. its good, but i prefer the classic chocolate chip cookies.
i packed most of these cookies for my brother and his friends at school (he's in high school and you know, boys their age eat everything). my brother came home with this great news about how his friends went GAGA for the cookies. TeeHee? :D

sooo.. this is the recipe

soft and chewy chocolate buttons M&M's cookie
adapted from martha stewart's soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 cup chocolate buttons
* 1 1/2 cups M&M's

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate buttons and m&m's.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

pink and chocolate cupcakes for stephanie

red velvet blueberry cupcakes for stephanie's birthday, well, you can see no blueberry here because i injected the blueberry jam in the center of the cupcakes.
have i told you that i love injecting something into my cupcakes? heehee.. and have i told you that i love the color palette of these cupcakes? hmmmm.. i think, i do make some improvement :D
and this is the recipe of my go-to red velvet cupcakes

thank you caroline for trusting this rookie baker, whilst you work for the harvest :p

*ugh! im running out of this sprinkles, cheap ice cream sprinkles i bought in tesco express and i cant find the same sprinkles in jakarta, IRONIC!*

are you?

yesterday, my brother asked me.. "are you a sweet tooth?"
damn hell, i cant answer it.. so after few minutes i said this "i thought im not, but apparently.. yes i am"

i never consider my self as a sweet tooth before because i always like savoury foods but when i dig deeper and remember.. the only thing why i always choose savoury over sweet is only because i have this thought in my head about sweet has more calorie than savoury.
but when im not in hey-im-on-diet mood, i just loooove sweets, when most people got toothache over macarons, well, tell you this.. IM NOT! i dont really like macarons i got in jakarta, not because the sweetness they have, more because.. its not that tasty.
but when i went to paris and bought laduree's macarons in charles de gaule airport (though i ate it when im back in wales) MAN! IM HOOKED! soooo.. yes i do like overly sweet macarons.

oh, i dont get the sugar crave that much actually.. when i got it, i usually just eat one or two bites of it..
and also, i dont eat my baked goods... i just eat one when its still freshly baked and one the next day. well, errr.. quality control? :D
or more when its really good.. or when i really like it.. like chocolate chip cookies. and oh, when i have nothing else to eat.. trust me, it happens a lot!
but thanks god i never have to finish all my baked goods all by myself. i'd rather throw them away :D

but its different with savoury foods, i could eat lot of them and pretend that it was my breakfast..or lunch.. or dinner..

sooo, am i a sweet tooth? well... i dont have the answer :)

yesterday love!

ummmmhh, its monday today and the exams are over.. the holiday is here means i'll always have time for baking and doing my favorite things without being bothered with my assignments, heehee.
i can wake up late! though im actually a morning person :D
oooooh anyway, i just want to show you what sheila, the friend i mention in previous post brought me from singapore.

yay! lots of sweets and im telling you, those are for baking purpose.. well, except the twix bars, they're for me and my brothers to munch, have i told you that twix bar is my favorite? i LOVE twix, unfortunately i cant find twix bar anywhere here in jakarta.
and oh, the snickers, mars and m&m's? yes, they're for baking.. im thinking about m&m's cookies, snickers cookies, mars cheesecake.. geez, sugar coma and fat coma.
sheila also brought a veeeeeeeeeeeery cool freddie mercury tee, uugh, LOVE!

and this, i found this in sogo foodhall yesterday and my eyes were literally went out from my face (hmmmmm..okay, weird)

coarse sea salt! so long table salt.. and the coolest of all is this is a sea salt from bali..
i've read somewhere that coarse sea salt makes lots of goodness in baking and oh, i cant wait to make sea salt chocolate truffle!

look at it, they do look like crystal mets dont they? teehee! im gonna savour this thing and always use it everytime i bake chocolate chip cookies, because you know.. i love salty sweet chocolate chip cookies.

and last..

its just my ever so late new year resolution to start reading classic literature, well lets see..

strawberry cheesecake for my goodfriend sheila!

seriously, this cheesecake looks so professional, it looks almost like one we bought from bakery isnt it? uggh! love love love it!
my good friend whom i love, sheila.. been asked me to bake strawberry cheesecake for her, she even wanted to order one from me, hell noooo..
anyways, after months of strawberry cheesecake promise, i finally managed to bake it for her. i baked it three days ago since cheesecake requires a few steps of cooling before its ready to be eaten, well, its cheesecake, its best eaten cold, isnt it?

i used my go-to cheesecake recipe, which needs 1kg of cream cheese and leading you to fat coma.
heehee, but it tastes sooo good, blends well with the fruits or jam or preserves. i baked blueberry cheesecake once using this recipe and trust me, it was heaven... guilty heaven actually.
though i still want to try another cheesecake recipe but depending on this one when i have cheesecake crave, this recipe is more than enough.

and no recipe.. not because i dont want to share the recipe, its just the recipe is in indonesian language and i dont really want to transalate it to english. too lazy.. its sunday and i dont want to use my brain.. *seriously*

music in my ktchen

i've been listening to these two songs lately when im baking and i thought i should let you all know.

"why do you let me stay here" from she and him
click here to download the song



"never forget you" from noisettes
click here to download the song

from now on i'll regularly post musics i listen to currently so that you could know what's the theme song behind my baked goods. though i usually listen to same old musics over and over. :D
hmmm.. okay then, the sky is getting cloudy, i should take pictures of strawberry cheesecake i baked for my friend.. hurry, before the rain comes down. bye for now! :)

all pictures are from last.fm

i'm pissed!

yes im pissed! i lost all pictures i shot from few days ago, something happened with either my camera's memory card or the card reader. thanks god i could re-shoot these chocolate thumbprint cookies though i've lost the mood of styling them so they could beutifully photographed.
anyways, im so pissed!

talking about chocolate thumbprint cookies, these cookies are soo buttery-goodness-GOOD! it had the texture of shortbread before i left them all night on an open plate, then the texture tranformed from shortbread texture to soft sugar cookies texture. not bad.. stil good.. just not the texture i looked for. anyway, next time i'll use cookies flour instead of all-purpose flour to achieve a more crumbly cookies. or change the chocolate part into jam so it'll be jam thumbprint.
oh whatever! I LOVE THESE COOKIES!

MARTHA STEWART CHOCOLATE THUMBPRINT COOKIES
Makes 2 dozen

Ingredients
* 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
* 1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together 1 stick butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium high.
2. Roll dough by teaspoonfuls into balls, and place 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press thumb into tops of cookies to make indentations. Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
3. Combine chocolate, 4 tablespoons butter, and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.

second order, black and white cupcakes

GEEZ like super GEEZ! okay, this is like my first order from half-total stranger, half-total because the person who ordered these cupcakes is a friend of my senior in campus who is a friend of friends.. so basically M is my senior.. she saw my cookies and cream cupcakes on facebook and got the crave of the cupcakes, she contacted me through that friend of my friends (duhh!) and asked me to make cupcakes for her boyfriend's birthday, cookies and cream cupcakes to be exact with simple design and black white color palette.
uh-huh.. sooo.. well she literally said "up to you" left me with this excited and nervous feeling.

i made the design the crumbs and doilies style, because really.. that's how i want my future customized cupcakes orders look like. simple, sprinkle-y, buttercream-y but super cute. im so 'meh' with fondant cupcakes..

anyway, like i mentioned before, these are cookies and cream cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting and i gave the black white touch with the help oreos.
i started baking at 7pm finished at 10pm, stressed out and all covered in cream cheese frosting.
stressed out? yeah, this is like my first customized cupcakes order and i was so underpressure to make everything's right and beautiful. i couldnt make a beautiful writing.. i felt like killing my self. so to spice things up i used my very treasured black icing gel writer i got from wales.
though everybody said that the cupcakes are fine and the black and white colors are also a bit cute, but i just didnt feel satisfy with the result. i still dont!

maybe im not ready for customized order, maybe i should enroll in cupcakes or cake decorating class? yes i should!!

rice krispies treats!

ugh! krispies treats are rare in indonesia so every time (every rare time) i saw them, i grabbed like 10 or so of them, stacked them and love them for few days until they're gone.. gone from my snack cupboard, gone from the supermarket where i got them.

i made this homemade version when i was craving for one and cannot find them anywhere.
too bad, i dont like it.. too sweet :(

Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats

1 (7 oz.) jar Marshmallow Creme
1/4 c. butter
5 to 6 c. Rice Krispies

Melt margarine in 3-quart saucepan. Add Marshmallow Creme and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add Rice Krispies; stir until well coated. Press warm
mixture into buttered 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Cut into squares when cool. or use your cookie cutters, like what i did!

documented cupcakes

im just going to blah-blah, so please read if you feel like reading but leave if you feel like leaving :D
nooo, im not going to blabbering about my issues, i'll just post forgotten pictures of my baked goods..

chocolate marble cupcakes from martha stewart's cupcakes book

now im a slave for martha and its not really my fault because all martha's recipes that i've tried always come out GOOD! like this chocolate cupcakes, soo good and sooo chocolaty, of course a very different kind of what my mom used to bake when i was younger. fyi, since i started my baking craze, my mom (almost) stops baking..its all my duty now to create sweets, though the duty of making her famous and fabolous chocolate pudding is still hers.

martha stewart's chocolate marble cupcakes
Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
1/3 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup boiling water
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Stir together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and cream.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated 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. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk mixture, and beating until combined.
3. To make chocolate batter, measure out 1 cup batter, and transfer to another bowl. Combine cocoa and the boiling water in a bowl. Stir into reserved 1 cup batter.
4. Fill prepared cups with alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate batter, filling each three-quarters full. Run the tip of a paring knife or wooden skewer through batter in a figure-eight motion to make swirls. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until tops are golden and a cake tester (i.e. toothpick) 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.
5. To finish dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving or frost them with ganache like i did

chocolate ganache from allrecipes.com

Ingredients
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)

1. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the rum if desired.
2. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. Start at the center of the cake and work outward. For a fluffy frosting or chocolate filling, allow it to cool until thick, then whip with a whisk until light and fluffy.

aaaaaand, yes i have more..

its martha's again, see, i told you that im a slave for martha stewart!

(not so) meyer lemon cupcakes.. not so meyer lemon cupcakes because i didnt use meyer lemon like how martha suggested, there's no such thing as meyer lemon in jakarta so i just used ordinary lemon instead.

these definitely loved by lemon lovers out there, a perfect balance between sour and sweet. the cake wasnt too lemon-y but the add of lemon custard i injected in them covered it. so i think its all about balance, nothing too lemon and nothing too sweet.

martha stewart's meyer lemon cupcakes

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 1 to 2 Meyer lemons)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
7 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Lemon Curd (made with Meyer lemons; see recipe below for ingredients and directions)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, zest, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in cream cheese. Reduce speed to low. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in lemon juice and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three batches, beating until just combined after each.
3. 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 28 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.
4. To finish, dust cupcakes with confectioners’ sugar. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and a medium round tip (#8) with curd. Insert tip into top of each cupcake, and squeeze some curd below top to fill the inside, then lift the tip and squeeze more curd in a pool on top. Filled cupcakes can be kept at room temperature up to 1 hour (or refrigerated a few hours more) before serving.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients
2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
(Makes about 2 cups)

1. Combine whole eggs and yolks, sugar, and lemon juice in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, and cover with parchment paper or plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).


lemon buttercream

ingredients

• 2 cups shortening
• 8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  
• 6 fluid ounces heavy cream

1. Cream shortening until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar and continue creaming until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream blend on low speed until moistened. Add additional whipping cream if necessary (up to 2 ounces). Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

okay then, final exams SUCK! big SUCK! but i'll trying to find some time and bake something from.....guess who? yes, MARTHA STEWART'S COOKIES BOOK!

wow! just wow!

okay, this woman is super lucky! married in paris and louboutin heels, she's in heaven..
lets see if i can fit her shoe and be in her place 10 years from now :D

amazing pictures from here

more amazing pictures

okay! these cinnamon rolls are my ticket to be famous!

i made cinnamon rolls! again! for the countless time but now i've found the perfect recipe, so good..so easy..
the recipe is from ree drummond a.k.a the pioneer woman and the recipe has got many good review from bloggers, the only problem was only the amount of the rolls, so many, like 7 pans and i absolutely had to scaled them down otherwise im getting fatter. thank god, im not the only one with that problem, so after browsing for the scaled down recipe, i finally found the right one from a very yummy site

seriously, this is sooo crazy easy, wait wait, i like that words.. "crazy easy!" :D
all you have to do is boil, mix and wait.. the waiting part was actually the hardest part.. since waiting and me arent really good friends..heehee..
i made them with chocolate chip along with the basic sugar brown+cinnamon filling. the result was reeeeaally good un-ordinary cinnamon rolls but weird, weird because the idea of cinnamon and chocolate isnt too friendly with my family. though i've eaten chocolate cinnamon rolls from cinnabon when i was in dubai airport and got HOOKED!
anyways, my family liked the chocolate chip cinnamon rolls though they still demand the original cinnamon rolls for tomorrow :D
by the way the added of chocolate chip was inspired by the famous nestle tollhouse colosal cinnamon rolls.

okay, for the recipe

the pioneer woman cinnamon rollls, way scaled down recipe from these are yummies

For the rolls:
1 c milk
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c sugar
1/2 packet Active Dry Yeast (that’s 1 1/8 tsp)
2 + 1/4 c AP flour
1/4 heaping tsp baking powder
1/4 scant tsp baking soda
3/4 heaping tsp salt
1/3 c softened butter
1/4 c brown sugar
healthy dose of cinnamon

For the icing:
1 tsp vanilla
2 T milk
1 T butter
1-2 T brewed coffee
pinch of salt
1 – 1 1/2 c powdered sugar (or enough to thicken icing as desired)

First, we make the rolls:

Mix milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a saucepan. Heat the mixture just to the point of it beginning to boil (small bubble will begin to form) and remove from heat. Leave to cool at least 30 minutes or so, or until the mixture is lukewarm to warm. Sprinkle the yeast over top of the warm mixture and let sit for a minute. Add 2 cups of flour. Stir together well; the mixture will be sticky. Cover and let rise for at least one hour.

Add 1/4 cup more flour, and baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together. You should have a slightly sticky dough at this point.

You now have two options: 1) Cover and put the dough in the fridge overnight to rise. PW mentions even letting sit for a day or two until you’re ready to make the rolls. I went this route. OR 2) Go ahead and make the rolls.

Sprinkle counter generously with flour. Dump the dough out onto the counter and form a rough rectangle. Roll the dough out thin; try to keep the shape generally rectangular. Spread the softened butter out over the dough; then sprinkle on the brown sugar and enough cinnamon as you’d like. Begin rolling up the dough at one of the long sides of the rectangle. Try to keep the roll relatively tight. Once fully rolled, pinch the seam to seal it up.

Smear a little more softened butter around two round foil tins or pie pans. Then cut your rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and arrange them in the buttered pans. (They should be spaced approximately as shown in the earlier photo.) Allow the rolls to rise another 20-30 minutes.

In the mean time, preheat your oven to 375F. After the rolls have risen, bake until light golden brown (around 15 to 18 minutes).

When your rolls are almost done, make the icing:

In saucepan, heat butter, milk and coffee until warmed through. Stir in salt and vanilla. Add powdered sugar slowly until it reaches the desired consistency. It should be pourable. We tried to keep the powdered sugar as minimal as possible, so we could still taste the coffee and vanilla flavors, but it is up to you. Adjust the ingredients to taste. Drizzle icing over warm rolls.

note: i didnt make the icing, they were devoured within seconds after they got out from oven so seriously, there's really no place for the icing. i didnt need the icing too anyway because of the adding of chocolate chip, they were sweet enough :)

cookies and cream cupcakes, my first order! yay!

my friend aina ordered these cupcakes for her internship program farewell lunch, blueberry red velvet and cookies and cream..okay, seriously..
im not talking about the cupcakes here, am talking about the photos.. man oh man, dont they look like some photos from martha stewart's cupcakes book? ME LOVE THEM!

blueberry red velvet cupcakes

cookies and cream cupcakes

and...the recipe for cookies and cream cupcakes

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes from crazy about cupcakes book

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup chocolate sandwich cookies (about 10), lightly crushed

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, milk, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in the sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 sec­onds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the crushed cookies.
5. Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 min­utes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

cream cheese frosting

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and brought to room temperature
2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

1. Beat cream cheese and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Gradually add butter, beating until incorporated after each addition.
2. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, and beat until fluffy and smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature and stir well before using.