Mocha Tiramisu Cupcakes

This is another overdue post- I don't even remember how long ago I made these, and I've made them twice more since!  They are seriously amazing...moist chocolate-coffee cupcakes with coffee-infused ganache and mascarpone whipped cream frosting!

You definitely want to make these.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 strongly brewed coffee (or 1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup instant coffee powder - we used brewed)
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter -- at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

for Coffee Ganache and Frosting (** Please see note, below):
3 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup coffee beans -- crushed
8 ounces milk chocolate -- finely chopped
2 cups mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar -- sifted

**note: I ended up doubling the ganache and halving the mascarpone frosting.  I found that the flavors were more balanced, plus I didn't have to buy as much (expensive!) mascarpone cheese.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 30 standard muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Combine the milk, cocoa, and coffee in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, constantly whisking, until the cocoa has dissolved. Let cool and pour into a liquid measure.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
4. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
5. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk mixture in three batches, ending with the liquid. 
6. Fill each muffin cup halfway with the batter. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
7. Combine 1 cup of the heavy cream and coffee beans in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. 
8. Remove from the heat, cover, and let infuse for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean sauce-pan and bring back to a boil. 
9. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl and pour the hot cream over it, stirring slowly, until the ganache is smooth. 
10. Spoon enough ganache over each cupcake to fill the liners to the rim.
11. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream to stiff peaks. Add the mascarpone and confectioners sugar and whisk until smooth. 
12. Spoon the mascarpone cream into a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip and pipe the cream on top of the ganache in a circle.
13. Dust with cocoa powder

I also made cute little chocolate birds to go on top, hehe :)

I know that there are a lot of steps- and that these are more labor intensive than most other cupcakes...but c'mon...look at them:

Just glorious!  Dave has requested these for his birthday.  I'll see if I can make them when we are at the shore!

Recipe from Spoonful

Super Easy Vanilla Bean "Ice Cream"

"Why the quotation marks?" you ask?  Well, technically this isn't ice cream.  Real ice cream requires eggs to make a custard base and whatnot.  This is a cheap (and easy) knockoff that's just as satisfying.

I had seen MANY "3 ingredient" ice creams floating around the web, so I kind of made up this recipe based on what I had learned through my research, and according to my taste.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
vanilla bean, or vanilla bean paste- I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons (love that stuff!)

Directions:

1. Whisk together milk and vanilla bean paste
2. Add half and half, and sweetened condensed milk. Whisk.
3. Chill the mixture (I stuck it in the fridge for about an hour)
4. Add mixture to ice cream maker, and churn according the manufacturer's directions

Mine turned into soft-serve at about the 30 minute mark.  It was delicious, but a bit too soupy for me.  I threw it in the freezer, and about 2 hours later it was perfect!

Incredible as-is, but better with a pizzelle :)

Oh yea- and check out those flecks from the vanilla bean paste!! I told you that stuff was awesome:

"It's the beaniest!"

Food Crawl - Maine

Today I was SO happy to get out of the apartment and away from grad school homework (well, not really....I was working on lesson plans in the car! lol).

Dave and I were headed to the outlets in Kittery, and decided to stop for a few bites to eat.  The Bigos (mom's cousin and family) brought us to a great little Mexican joint the last time we saw them, and they also recommended a bakery in the area.  Check it out:

We started off at Loco Coco's Tacos.

View Larger Map

(sorry for the horrible photo above- I had forgotten to take one of the restaurant, so I snapped this from the car window as we drove away!)

The logo has a (somewhat racist) cartoon image of a Mexican man, and the colors inside remind me of a Taco Bell- not the kind of restaurant that I would expect to have great food.....so imagine our surprise when we tasted how good it was!

Dave and I ordered 3 things, and split each of them for the best variety.  First, shrimp ceviche:

I like the flavor of shrimp, but was never really a fan of the texture.  Luckily, the shrimp in the ceviche had a delightful texture!  It was served with some great (not to greasy) chips. Yum!

We also got some chicken and cheese enchiladas.....

....and some great beer-battered fish tacos:

We hope to go back to Coco Loco's again to try some of the other stuff on their menu!

After some outlet shopping, we went on over to the Beach Pea Baking Co.

View Larger Map

I satisfied my sweet tooth with a chocolate coconut cupcake, filled with some tasty buttercream:

Dave went with a tiramisu cream puff.  We kind of split them, and they were both tasty!  I preferred the cupcake though, because the pastry of the cream puff was not as good as some others that I have had.

We also grabbed a cookie to enjoy later tonight.  I'm totally just pretending to eat it below!  It's called a "Cowgirl Cookie," and it is an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut. Awesome!

"The Best" Cole Slaw

Okay, I know this has become a "thing" now- I don't post for a super long time, then I put up one thing and apologize for my absence.  I honestly want to post more over here, but I'm always busy with school, work, my other blog, my crafts, etc.

I was able to cross something off of my recipe blog to-do list today....I made a new header and watermarks! Yay!!

Well, on to today's recipe.  For 4th of July we had "the friends" over (Adam, Leah, Matt, and Theresa) and made some good food. Included among the dishes was this cole slaw- I had tried a new recipe, and tweaked it according to what we had on hand.  I don't remember who it was, but someone had said to me "Jen....this is THE BEST cole slaw!!"  Hence the name :)

Ingredients:

1-2 14oz bags of cole slaw mix (of course you can use fresh cabbage and carrots instead)

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons milk (we used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar (we used rice vinegar)

1 tablespoon dry mustard

2 teaspoons celery salt

freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Whisk together the mayonnaise, milk, sugar, vinegar, mustard, celery salt, and pepper in a medium bowl
2. Add mayonnaise mixture to the cole slaw mix to taste.  We ended up using 1 1/2 bags.  If you prefer more dressing on your cole slaw, you could probably get away with only one bag of cole slaw mix.  If you prefer dryer cole slaw, use both bags.
3. Mix well to combine and taste for seasoning (add more salt, pepper, or sugar if desired)

Recipe adapted from Food Network