Tiramisu Cupcakes

Until quite recently, I had not tried tiramisu--it has very quickly become a favorite. Imagine my intrigue, then, when I found a recipe for tiramisu cupcakes. To be honest, I was completely intimidated by the process. There were a lot of steps involved, and each seemed like it could offer very real potential for failure--I very nearly put this attempt off until another day. But upon further consideration, I decided to give it a go. I'm horribly spoiled by still being on vacation, and that meant I had all of yesterday to devote to this project. I visited several stores in the morning to gather up all the necessary ingredients, and spent the better part of the afternoon tackling this recipe... very cautiously! After a few hours, and several rounds of dish washing, I had a finished product that was actually pretty good! Certainly different from real tiramisu, but quite nice all the same. I will definitely be making these again.

Tiramisu Cupcakes
-1 1/4 c. cake flour
-3/4 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. course salt
-1/4 c. milk
-1 T. vanilla
-1/4 c. unsalted butter
-3 eggs + 3 egg yolks
-1 c. sugar

1. Heat milk and vanilla in small saucepan. Stir in butter until melted. Let cool 15 minutes.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl; set aside.
3. Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar. Set bowl over pan of simmering water and whisk by hand for ~6 minutes (until sugar is dissolved). Remove from heat, and whisk on high until fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds.
4. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Add 1/2 cup of batter into milk mixture to thicken; fold milk mixture into batter.
5. Divide batter among 18 baking cups. Bake at 325* for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Espresso-Marsala Syrup
-1/3 c + 1 T. freshly brewed espresso
-1 oz. sweet marsala
-1/4 c. sugar

1. Stir together coffee, marsala, and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool.
2. Using a pastry brush, brush syrup onto cakes until all syrup is gone. Allow it to be absorbed for 30 minutes.

Mascarpone Frosting
-1 c. heavy cream
-1 c. mascarpone cheese
-1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk together mascarpone cheese and confectioners' sugar.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk cream until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold cream into mascarpone mixture until fully combined.
4. Frost cupcakes. Refrigerate in airtight containers. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.

(Brushed with syrup!)

Mmm.

Cranberry Shortbread Squares

Here's a nice variation on the classic shortbread recipe. The cranberries add some tartness to the buttery shortbread, and they make a basic cookie a little bit fancier.

Cranberry Shortbread Squares
-1 c. unsalted butter, softened
-3/4 c. confectioners' sugar
-1 t. vanilla
-2 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 c. dried cranberries (optional: chopped)

1. Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, flour, and salt in a bowl. Use a wooden spoon or a pastry cutter to mix ingredients. Add cranberries.
2. On a lightly floured surface, flatten dough to 1/2"-3/4". Cut into 2" squares. (Optional: sprinkle with sugar before baking.)
3. Bake at 325* for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

The Gingerbread Post!

So with the new mixer in the kitchen, mom and I decided that we could do some serious gingerbreading this year. We were trying to remember how long making gingerbread cookies had been a tradition for us--we think our first attempt was in 1993. This time we made a double batch (that's *12* cups of flour in the mixer!), so we ended up with about 120 cookies. The decorating took the better part of two nights, but as usual, we had a lot of fun being creative.

AND. This year, decorating coincided with the arrival of a beautiful new 50mm lens, so a HUGE thank you to Blake for making these photos possible!