Recipe Swap:Hummingbird cupcakes

It's recipe swap time!  As per usual, I put this to the last minute!  However, I am pleased with the results.  I used an ingredient that I usually would never have in my kitchen:pineapple!  Not sure what it is about pineapple, but I am not a fan.  People love it, I get it, I am just not that person.

When I saw the recipe for this month, I instantly thought of carrot cake. That was about as creative as I was willing to get. I decided to hit up the interwebz for inspiration.  I searched for "cakes similar to carrot"  First thing that popped up was a Hummingbird Cake.  I am familiar with this flavor as it is often found at my favorite local cupcake shop.  I am also familiar with it because it does include the dreaded pineapple.  The Hummingbird Cake is huge in the south. Many people serve it several layers high covered in cream cheese frosting.   Cream cheese frosting? Now that I can get behind.  The recipe also called for bananas.  A comparison to banana bread was common.  I decided to be brave. Baby P and I hit the store, bought some pineapple, and got to baking.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

adapted from Southern Living

Makes 14-16 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 medium sized, very ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup crushed pineapple

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare cupcake tin.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Add egg, egg white, and oil.  Stir until ingredients are just combined.  Stir in vanilla, bananas, pineapple, and pecans.

I used an ice cream scoop to fill my cupcake papers.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, checking with a toothpick inserted in the middle.

Cream cheese frosting

1/2 cup softened butter

4 ounces softened cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese, using your hand mixer on medium speed. Once light and fluffy add vanilla.  Finally add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and mix until completely combined.  Frost completely cooled cupcakes.

This is a good little cake!  The pineapple is not really that strong.  The first thing I noticed after tasting it was banana.  I know the pineapple helps make the cake moist, but I wonder how it would taste without?  I used very little, but just enough for my taste.  This is also such an easy recipe.  You pretty much just need one big bowl.  These can be whipped up in no time! I can see why this is such a popular cake.  I would definitely make it again....pineapple and all!

Please check in with my fellow swappers...you won't be disappointed with their creations!

Recipe Swap: Apple cupcakes with maple cream cheese icing

Another recipe swap already! Time is seriously flying! This is an extra special recipe swap, as it is the swap's first birthday!  I've only recently joined the group, but I'm more than happy to help celebrate.   This month we were assigned a dessert, so I was thrilled.

The recipe was for a maple cake.  I thought I would incorporate the maple into the frosting.  I decided to do an apple cake with a maple cream cheese icing.   Originally I set out to make a layer cake, but to me you can't really have a celebration without cupcakes.

An apple cake sounded like a great fall treat.  Since Halloween was only a few days ago, I feel like I've been eating plenty of chocolate.  Plus, this isn't a dessert I would usually make, so there's the challenge!


When we were originally given our assignment for this month, Christianna asked us to reflect on our personal year as part of the celebration of a year of recipe swaps.  For me, this has been a fun and busy year.  Obviously, one of the biggest things for me was my wedding in Cabo earlier this year.

Since then, we have settled into married life and it suits us quite well!
I have found a great creative outlet in starting my blog.  More than that, I have found a network of fellow bloggers, and readers, who give me tons of inspiration.  The sense of community is amazing and I'm so thankful for the people I have "met" along the way.   Everyday I read something someone has posted and I want to hang out with them, make their recipe, check out their home town, and have them cook me their delicious food.  I love seeing what other talented people are coming up with.
However, what I am most excited about for this year, and many years to come, is that Darling Husband and I are expecting our first baby next May!  We're excited to see where this next journey takes us.  I know together we'll be the best parents we can be.

Apple Cupcakes with Maple Cream cheese icing
Makes 24 cupcakes 
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chopped apples (I used Gala)
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups applesauce
4 large eggs


Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare your muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Stir in apples and toss to coat.
In a separate bowl whisk together sugar and applesauce.  Add eggs and blend completely.  Add flour mixture and stir until combined.
Use an ice cream scoop to fill your cupcake papers.  Bake for 15 minutes.
I used applesauce in these cakes instead of oil.  I think it enhanced the apple flavor and these little cakes were quite moist. Plus that makes them healthy right?!


Maple Cream Cheese icing
1 8 ounce package softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
Using your electric mixer combine butter and cream cheese until fluffy.  Add in powdered sugar and mix until combined. Beat in maple syrup.
You could easily skip the icing and serve these as breakfast muffins, but that's crazy talk. The frosting is smooth and tasty with just the faintest hint of maple syrup.

Perfect little treat to celebrate one year of swapping.  Please check out my fellow-swappers, you won't be disappointed.

Apple Slaw, Recipe Swap

Another month has just flown by and that means it's time for this month's recipe swap over at Burwell General Store. This month's recipe was for a coleslaw.

I have to admit, coleslaw isn't one of my favorite things to eat. I'm not sure why, it's just never been my thing. So when I got this recipe I knew I would have no trouble changing it up. Fall is here and I couldn't be happier. It's always been my favorite season. I love the crisp days. Men in nice wool coats. The yummy, comfort food. Days spent watching football. And let's face it, my wardrobe in the fall is much better.
One of the yummy things I like about fall is all the tasty apples. I decided this would be the base of my slaw. Pretty easy slaw, and you only need a few ingredients. The only thing that really was time-consuming was slicing my apples and carrots. That really took some time. However, once you get everything cut down to size, you're basically ready to go!

Apple Slaw


2 Granny Smith apples
3 whole carrots
2 Tablespoons mayo
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon champagne vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


Cut your apples down into slices the size of matchsticks. Peel and cut your carrots into similarly sized pieces. Combine in a bowl. In a separate small bowl whisk together, mayo, Dijon mustard, honey, apple cider vinegar, and champagne vinegar. Pour this mixture over your apple and carrots and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper as needed. Store any uneaten portion in a sealed container in our refrigerator.


I served this with some of my favorite chicken sausages from Al Fresco. This makes for a light easy dinner, or a great lunch. Would be easy to pack up and bring to a potluck.


Another fun recipe swap. I'm looking forward to our next recipe.  Visit these blogs for more entries in this month's recipe swap:

Coq au Vin

It's time again for a monthly installment of the Burwell General Store recipe swap!  You may remember last month we each did our own take on molasses cookies.  This month we were presented with a savory dish:

A rabbit stew!  I enjoy rabbit, but in the spirit of the swap, I had to make some changes.  I wanted to stick with a similar idea of making a stew.  After some research and cookbook consulting, I decided on Coq au Vin.  Fancy right?  Coq au Vin is a French dish prepared with chicken, vegetables, bacon, and wine.  How could I go wrong?

I was gifted a lovely Ina Garten cookbook from my dear friend Paula, and the book included a recipe for Coq au Vin!  Perfect.....this would be my guide!

The recipe itself is really pretty easy!  Honest!  But, let's just keep that between us, so you can impress your friends. There's just lots of time spent chopping, and browning, and mixing, and then eating!  yum!

Here's what you need:

Now typically I would not make anything with mushrooms! I'm not a fan.  However, Darling Husband adores them, and that's just the sort of wifey I am!

I would recommend getting all your ingredients prepped and chopped ahead of time. I also recommend a little Beyonce in the background (can you believe she is only turning 30 today??!)

Coq au Vin

adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:

One pound of chicken (I used thighs)

8 ounces Pancetta cubes

1 pound carrots, cut into 1 inch chunks

2 sliced yellow onions

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 cups Pinot Noir

2 cups chicken stock

1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs

4 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour

1 pound frozen small whole onions

1 pound cremini mushrooms, remove stems and thickly slice

Olive oil, salt, and pepper

Preheat oven to 275 degrees

Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add your pancetta cubes and cook until lightly browned.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate.

Sprinkle both sides of your chicken with salt and pepper.  Put a few pieces of chicken in the Dutch oven and cook in your bacon grease.  You may need to do this in batches, do not stack your chicken. Turn chicken until evenly browned on both sides, about 5 minutes or so. Add browned chicken to plate with bacon

Now add carrots and yellow onions to your Dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one more minute.

Return chicken and pancetta to the Dutch oven, being sure to include all the juices.  Add wine, chicken stock, and thyme sprigs.  Bring to a boil.

Cover the pot and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and place on top of the stove.

Mash 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour, making a paste.  Add this paste to your stew. Then add your frozen pearl onions.

In a medium saute pan melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cook mushrooms over medium low heat, until brown, about 5-10 minutes.  Add to the stew and bring to a simmer.  Continue cooking for another ten minutes.

Serve with some salad, bread, and wine, and you have a fine meal on your hands!

This was a hearty dish, but not heavy like other stews.  Pretty nice considering I made this on one of the hottest days we have seen in Seattle all summer!

Your dinner companions will be so impressed. Let them know it was no biggie, but drink lots of wine to help you "relax." Afterall, you just made Coq au Vin.

Julia Child would be proud!

Another fun recipe swap! 

Please visit all my fellow-swappers to see what sort of mouth-watering dishes they have created, you won't be disappointed:

Dennis, Toni, Shumaila, Lora, Lindsay, Mari, Pola, Jamie, Claire,Shari, Joy, Monique, Linda, Priya, Rachel, Alli, Katy, Emily, Krissy, Jacqueline, Christianna and Jaclyn.

Looking forward to next month!

Vegan Molasses Cookies

This is my first post participating in the recipe swap over at Christianna's blog, Burwell General Store.  Each month we are given a recipe to tweak and make our own.  The recipes are taken from the book, All day Singin' and Dinner on the Ground.  Christianna found this book at a junk store and has invited others to join in her progression through the recipes. The main rule is to change at least three ingredients. 
I was excited to see that the recipe was for Molasses Cookies, as I have never made them and I love trying something new.  On a side note..another new thing I tried: molasses.  I wondered how it would taste so I tried a bit on my finger.  Um...bad idea.  It is not good. Not good at all.
These cookies though? They are pretty darn tasty!  After reviewing the recipe, I decided they would be easy to adapt into Vegan cookies.  I had much success with my first attempt at  Vegan cookies, so I decided to try again!  I'm happy I did.  The cookies were really easy.
Here's the original recipe:

Here is my recipe:
makes 18 cookies


1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour  (I used cake flour.  would be fun to try with whole wheat, or regular flour)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350


In a large bowl mix sugar, oil, molasses, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl mix flour, salt, soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Add your dry ingredients to the sugar mix.
Use a medium cookie scoop or tablespoon to scoop cookies onto a greased cookie sheet.
Slightly flatten cookies with a sugar dipped glass.

I baked these for about 12 minutes.  10 minutes may have been better.  Check them at 10 and then add a minute or two as needed.
Cool on sheet for about a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.


My major changes:
No eggs, no shortening.  I replaced with oil.
No ginger.  I left this out because one of my co-workers loves molasses cookies, but she is allergic to ginger.  Also, I didn't have any in the house!
I cut the recipe down and replaced the regular flour with cake flour.
I didn't add coffee.  I will next time though, I love the flavor coffee adds to baked goods.


These cookies turned out pretty nice!  They weren't quite as soft as I usually like my cookies.  This could be because of the baking time and also the cake flour.  They have some bite to them..sort of the texture of a gingersnap.  The flavor is very good though.  I would make them again.  Hopefully, my Vegan friends like them also!
My first month participating in the recipe swap has been a success!  I'm looking forward to more recipes and seeing what my fellow swappers have come up with!  You can see all of their posts on Christianna's blog.  Happy reading....and eating!