Cream Cheese Stuffed Cinnamon Blueberry Cookies

Do people give each other, or themselves, Labor Day presents?  Cuz I am, right now.  My present to myself  is to not wake up at the crack of dawn to go on a run.  Instead I'm eating brekkie in bed, watching one of my top favorite movies and blogging.  Because waking up at 7AM to sweat sounds laborious and that'd be the wrong thing to do on this holiday.

Do you know what else is wrong?  Summer ending.  The days are shorter, the mornings colder, there are pumpkins at the grocery store and only mismatched, heavily clearanced bikinis remain at the department stores. And worst of all, society expects me to wear pants again!  I hate pants.  But I am still clinging on to what remains of the sunshine and warm days, baking with berries while they are still readily available.  While wearing pretty summer dresses.

I made these cookies based off of  this recipe I found last month.  I pinned it but when I looked at the ingredients and saw the lemon, they screamed Summer so bad that I knew I couldn't find it in me to make them exactly.  So I used lots of vanilla and cinnamon/nutmeg instead.  I'll ease into fall slowly.

Nothing like busting out the sugar, eggs and butter.  And if easing in means getting to play with brown sugar, then let's have it.

Cream Cheese Stuffed Cinnamon Blueberry Cookies
Makes around 15, Bake at 350* for 12-14 minutes


1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temp1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1.5 tbsp vanilla
1 egg, at room temp
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1.5 cup flour
1/2 cup blueberries
1/3 package of cream cheese

For dusting:  cinnamon/sugar mixture at a 1:3 teaspoon ratio. 

Directions:
1. In mixer, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy.
2. Add in vanilla and egg.
3. In a new bowl whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour.
4. Hand mix it into the wet ingredients.
5. Fold in blueberries carefully, trying not to break them.

6. The dough is really sticky.  Refrigerate or put in freezer until stiff. 
7. Scoop out 1 big tablespoon of dough into your hand slightly flatten.  
8. Place 1 small piece of cream cheese  (I used 1/4 of a package for 12) into center and fold edges over the cream cheese, making one cookie dough ball.

9. Repeat for the rest of the dough and place on cookie sheet to bake.
10. Immediately out of the oven and while still warm, transfer to a cooling rack and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.
11. Let cool completely before storing if not consumed immediately. These are really packed with moisture because of the blue berries, and will get mushy if you don't let them cool.  

At first, you can't even tell that inside there lurks cream cheesey goodness.  You just see some cookies with blueberries poking out.   They are sneaky, deceiving cookies.

With a closer look, you can see the sparkling cinnamon sugar.  Since you sprinkled the topping on while still hot, the cinnamon sugar will adhere to the tops in the most lovely way.  And if you look closely... that cream cheese starts poking out.  

But once you rip them open... well it's a different story then. 

Then you can see the cheesey goodness.  Then you can see the blueberries that burst open in the oven.

Remember that sharing is caring people.  And if that doesn't encourage your generosity, remember that gluttony makes you fat -- hand some of these bad boys out if you can.  I sent half of these away while they were still warm, it's that serious.

xoxo
Anna

Aloha! Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes

Last week I posted those Dinosaur  Key Lime Pie cupcakes and promised that there was more coming.  This is what was coming!  These might aesthetically be one of  my favorite cupcakes yet.

I am super proud of these cupcakes, and right off the bat must give credit to my friend Brandon for giving me the idea of an upside down cupcake liner as a hula skirt.  Who knows what I would have come up with if he hadn't suggested this ingenious little idea. 

Taste pretty darn good too!  They are coconut pineapple cupcakes with a light pineapple cream cheese frosting, topped off with toasted coconut and one tiny little flower sprinkle. And the skirts. And the umbrellas.

Coconut Pineapple Cupcakes
Makes 18.  350* for 14 minutes.
Recipe adapted from here.

2 c. flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick  unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. dark rum
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup coconut milk + 3/4 cup sugar mixed in
3/4 cup chopped pineapple from a can, strained, no juice (save juice though)

For brushing:
2 tablespoons rum
2 tablespoons pineapple juice 

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together in stand mixer.  Add in rum and eggs.
3. In additions, add the flour mixture and the coconut milk mixture into the butter/sugar mixture in the stand mixture.  Begin and end with flour.
4. Fold in chopped pineapple into batter.

(*The recipe I found says to chop it up finely. I love pineapple, so I definitely did not do that. A good thing too, since the cupcakes did not taste like coconut very much, but the pineapple chunks more than made up for it. )
5. Scoop batter into liners and bake, then remove from oven.
6. Before cupcakes are completely cool, use the pineapple juice/rum mixture and brush over the tops of the cupcakes.  If they are still warm, the cupcakes will absorb the flavor and the moisture in almost immediately. 

I had found a recipe that called for the use of pineapple preserves.  I was really excited to try it and spent 2.5 weeks looking for it, going to 5 grocery stores... and nothing.  So i had to use pineapple juice instead.  Then literally 3 days after baking it i went to the Mexican grocery store and found it chilling on the shelf next to the Mexican caramel. *Sighs.  Maybe next time.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
1.5 sticks unsalted butter
1.5 bricks of  cream cheese
2 table spoons pineapple juice
3.5 c powdered sugar
Optional: Food coloring 

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese together.
2. Add in powdered sugar, 1/2 a cup at a time, and beat in mixer. Half way through, add your pineapple juice
3. Beat until fluffy. 
4. Add in pink food coloring if desired. 
5.  Pipe frosting on top of cupcakes.  I used a 1M Wilton tip on these.

Decorations/Garnish

Toasted coconut flakes
Cake Mate flower sprinkles
Green Wilton cupcake liners
Hawaiin themed colorful cocktail umbrellas

Directions:

1. Toast coconut flakes in oven for 4-5 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Once cool, sprinkle on top of cupcakes.
2. Take your green liners and cut out the middle part -- where the cupcake is supposed to conventionally sit.  Cut up the sides of the liners, but not all the way through.  Tape onto the bottom part of each of your baked cupcakes.

3. Put one flower sprinkle on each cupcake.
4. Place one umbrella on each.

All done!

The toasted coconut was just perfect for these, and complimented the pineapple quite well.

And come on, aren't the skirts and umbrellas adorable together?

If this isn't tropical and Hawaiin I don't know what is.  

I also got to use my cupcake stands!  I put both these and the key lime cupcakes on a little table that had its own hula skirt and dinosaur confetti.  Also, a Tiki guy candle for the birthday girl.  

Miami Vice Dinosaurs in Hawaii Cupcakes?  A success!!!

xoxo,

Anna 

Carrot Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting

... and the most adorable candy melt carrot toppers ever!

This is another one of those Anna is crazy pants things.  I baked for no reason at all.  There are 14 cupcakes sitting on my counter right now.  Luckily I can think of a few takers, but there's always the chance that I will end up with a pile of liners in front of me and a face full of crumbs.

In case you're looking for a last minute Easter treat to whip up before tomorrow you should try these.  So easy!  You probably already have most of these things in your pantry already.  I did.

Why did I bake these?  Well, it's because I discovered that I do, in fact, like carrot cake.  Wait no, I LOVE carrot cake.  Where had it been all my life!  It's only be in the last year or so that I realized this, so any time I have gotten the chance to shove these down my throat, I have.

I'm actually a crazy picky eater.  Ridiculous.  My food habits get annoying, I know, my poor friends.  At least for savory foods.  But for the sweet?  Man, I love sweets... So I don't know why I had always avoided carrot cake.  Maybe the thought of carrots? But what a huge mistake that was.

(Funny story, I went to the "Exploratorium After Dark" in San Francisco last week with some friends and the theme was food.  A bunch of different exhibits like making ice cream with dry ice and cricket chip cookies.  In one exhibit you drank some liquid that would dull your ability to sense sweet.  I refused to try this because I do NOT want to mess with my taste buds.  What if I could never taste sweet again???  The horror.)

Anyways, the cupcake recipe I adapted from here.  Something else I found on pinterest!  It's becoming so handy.

I got up at 6:55AM to start grating carrots for these.  Worth it!

The left over carrots I ate while I cooked.  I felt like Bugs Bunny.

Carrot Cupcakes
Makes 12-15, Bake at 350* for about 15 minutes

1 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tspsalt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
1/2 c canola oil
4 round pineapple slices
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temp
1 1/2 cups grated carrots (3 large ones)
1/2 cups walnuts  (1/4 c for batter, 1/4 c for garnish)

Directions:
1. If using walnuts, lightly roast them on a baking tray for about 4-5 minutes. Cool, then process them finely.  I just chopped mine up small with a knife though.
2. Puree pineapple slices along with a bit of juice in a blender.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger in bowl & set aside.
 until smooth and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk sugars, pineapple puree and oil until blended. Add in eggs, one at at time and whisk. Add in the flour mixture and stir until blended.
5. Stir in the vanilla, carrots and walnuts.
6. Scoop batter into cupcake liners and bake awesomeness.

These end up baking up really nicely.  This has been the first time that I have used oil instead of butter.  It scared me a little at first, but in the end it worked out fine.  Also note that you don't even need a mixer for this!  You stir by hand.  Kind of awesome.   The end result is one of those cupcakes that you can visually see that there are 568 ingredients in it.  I love that.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 a stick of non salted butter
3 tablespoons pineapple juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese until soft in a mixer.
2. Add pineapple juice.
3. Slowly add in sugar.
4. Refrigerate for ten minutes if too soft, then frost cupcakes.

Now it's time to work on the toppings.

Toppings
1/4 cup walnuts
Around 15 green candy melts
Around 30 orange candy melts

Easy peasy walnut sprinkling... I tried to make mine look like dirt on top!

Then, I made carrots out of orange and green candy melts that were used to stick on top of the cupcakes.  Like they were growing out of the cupcake and dirt. I just melted the chips in microwaveable proof bowls and then scooped it into zip log bags to pipe onto wax paper. I had a stencil I hand drew to help me along.

I ended up doing two sizes of the carrots, to see which were better.  In the end I liked them both and used both.

I mean after all in real carrot patches aren't the carrots in all sizes?  And my kitchen/my front yard is totally like the real thing...  Or at least I temporarily turned it into the real thing.  :)

You can kind of see the difference in sizes in this picture below.  Cute huh?

A few months ago, I was at the Daiso Japan store  (Japanese $1.50 store that sells All The Things you don't need but really so want) by my work and I found this cute little stand for a pot.  I thought it'd look awesome as a cupcake holder.  I was right.

And don't worry these are just as yummy as you would hope they would be.

Happy Easter!

xoxo,
Anna

Red Carpet Ready Red Velvet Cupcakes

Makes sense.  After literally years of my friends poking at me, telling me to make Red Velvet cupcakes and me saying no no  (the taste of red velvet is meh, imo) I go and make them and hit disasters at every turn.  What do i mean by that?

Well for starters the event that I baked for would ideally have had about three hard core red velvet lovers in attendance.  They weren't able to come out last night though.  Sad face.  Second, pour-ing rain the entire time I baked -- and we all know my complaints about bad lighting.  The sun did not come out at all until I got in my car and started driving there. -.-  Third... was this guy.

What is this?  Just an egg right?  Yes just an egg. However it is NOT just an egg if you discover it on the counter AFTER you have put your cupcake batter in the oven.  Oy.  I had to run out and hope Target had not closed yet so that I could buy more red food coloring.

In any case, mini disasters aside,  I made red velvet cupcakes!  Fit for the red carpet I might add.  Well to be exact, they were made FOR the red carpet.  My friends tend to lean on the awesome side, including throwing theme parties any chance we get.  Last Saturday was a friend's Hollywood themed birthday party - red, black, gold stars everywhere, drag queens, red carpet, top hats, 5 inch heels. The works.  As soon as I heard about the party  the wheels in my mind started turning.

I thought back to the Heart Valentine's Day cupcakes I made and decided to make something similar.  Instead of making them with hearts though I did stars.


Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 24+, Bake for about 18 minutes at 350* 
Doubled recipe found here.  

2.5 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons  regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 (1 stick) cup  unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cups  white sugar
2 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup  buttermilk
2 tablespoon liquid red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
1. In a big bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa.
2. In mixer, beat butter until soft.  Add sugar and beat until fluffy.  Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time.
3. Combine buttermilk and red food coloring in a separate bowl and whisk together.
4. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures to the sugar/butter mixture in five additions, starting and ending with flour.
5. In a small cup/bowl add vinegar to baking soda and let fizz together.  Fold into the rest of the batter.
6. Scoop batter into cupcake pan and bake.

This scene totally looks familiar huh?  Haha.   Last time though, i used the heart cut outs to make little sandwiches.  This time I only sliced half of them so i did not have that many. 

 Unfortunately these stars did not come out as straight as the hearts. A little messy.  They'd come off half on the liner.  But i still used them.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1.5 packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp heavy whipping cream
4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese.
2. Add vanilla and whipping cream.
3. Add powdered sugar until you reach desired consistency.

I piped frosting onto half of them.  The other half with tops cut off were piped and the tops replaced.  It was a messy kitchen.  Red velvet crumbs everywhere.

Then I put the star cut outs on top of the other cupcakes to give them some color and star style.  I added gold sprinkles to both.

Ta-dah!  Pretty huh?

The best part was when I called the birthday boy a few weeks beforehand to go over the details.  Because he bakes cakes.  Like he bakes beautiful multi layer, you'd want this for your wedding, cakes.  And his cake sounded, and turned out fabulous.  Look at the detail!

 Matched perfectly with the theme of the night, and of course my cupcakes. Here they are all together!

Actually the entire party was great success.  Planned largely in part by my best friend Hugo, it was awesome.  Cute little details everywhere.

Had a blast with the props. None of my girl friends were there (not that i have too many of those anyways, haha), so I might have borrowed husbands/boyfriends.  That's Hugo with me on the right. Did you ever meet someone who makes your life better because they're in it?  Yup.

Don't worry.  I had time to cheers over my cupcakes.  And then of course... shove one in my mouth.

PROOF I EAT ALL THE THINGS.  

I saved three cupcakes though.  Because the horrible rain had pictured blocked me after all, and I was intent on getting pictures.

Sure enough, the next day was windy but we had some fabulous sun.  The kind where you want to just want to turn into a cat/dog and bask in it all day.

I had one of these and they weren't bad at all.  Which is a good thing since I dont like red velvet right?   I was kind of worried that I had over done it with the mess of golden sprinkles, but they worked out okay. 

I think my favorite reaction to them though, was from a friend of a friend who said "This is so good, I want to just put my face in that container."  I'll take that as a glowing recommendation.

xoxo,
Anna

Lemon Curd Filled Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

I have a lemon tree.

This is important for only two reasons.  The first and most important: Free lemons!  Big, yellow, juicy free lemons are the best.  The second is that I used them for cupcakes.

Blueberry cupcakes with Lemon cream cheese frosting and filled with lemon curd.  I made the lemon curd from scratch! I'm so proud of myself.  Chance for disaster was high.

I first had lemon curd last fall when I went to Crown and Crumpet in San Francisco, which is a English tea room that is so cute you can just puke out cotton candy. Want proof?  Go here to look at my friend's pictures from our December visit there.  LOOK AT ALL THE PINK CUTENESS.   (Actually,  I might just have to write up my own review on it one of these days.  They had cupcakes last time I was there, so it kind of fits with my blog's theme?)   Anyways, they bake fresh crumpets and serve them with Jam and Lemon curd.  If only i knew where to find warm crumpets locally i'd be set for life.

The lemon curd came out right the first time I made it, so that made me extra "Youre-So-Awesome-Self!".  It's the cupcake and frosting part that I had to make twice.  You won't be seeing the first batch, which I actually took to a party.  They were edible and everything... just not up to my ever increasing neurotic standards.  So I was being all emo and "You-are-NOT-awesome-self!" and  had some extra time on my hands... so I reworked it and they came out visually much more amazing.  :)   And about 25% more palette pleasing as well.  "Youre-So-Awesome-Self!" is back on.

The reason that the first batch came wasn't awesome was  1) I did not like the cake part, i forgot baking soda and i used too much sauce and they were purple not blue and fell in the middle 2) the frosting needed more powdered sugar and i didnt have time to run to the grocery store so it was soft and i also tried too hard at making double flavors and you couldnt even taste the difference anyways and 3) the colors were off!  i was doing it for a party and i was trying to keep in line with the colors which were teal and purple and so they just looked fake and not natural.  They sound like a mess huh?

Don't worry batch number two made up for it.   They looked divine, inside and out.

Lemon Curd
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed


Directions:
1. Put a heat proof glass bowl over saucepan filled with 2 inches of water.
2. Whisk together zest, juice, sugar and eggs over low-medium heat.
3. Stir constantly with spoon for approximately 10 minutes.  It took mine almost 15 because I had the heat pretty low. Stop stirring when the mixture can coat the back of your spoon.
4. Remove from heat and mix in cubed butter until smooth.
5. Use a seive to remove pieces of zest and any cooked egg.
6. Cover with plastic wrap (directly over the mixture) and refrigerate.

The mixture will thicken up within a few hours.  You can make this ahead of time and keep in the fridge for up to a week.

A week is a good enough time to find your self some warm scones nearby right? Cuz this sweet and tangy curd can be eaten by the spoonful, but i'd recommend some scones too.

Blueberry Sauce

1/2 a container of blue berries
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons water

Directions:
1. Take washed blueberries and place them in a saucepan with sugar and water over medium heat.
2.  Stir blueberries occasionally to prevent from sticking to bottom, but let the berries burst and become a sauce.   Should take about ten minutes or so.
3. Puree blueberries.
4. Strain to remove large pieces.
5. Try not to eat the rest of the container.  You still need them!

I'm so excited about how the cake part of these cupcakes came out!  Much better than any of the other berry cupcakes i have made.  (Can i go back and redo them all?).  I think it's because i used half cake flour in this recipe.

Blueberry Cupcakes
makes 12, bake at 375* for 18 minutes

3/4 c flour
3/4 c sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup blueberry sauce
1.5/4 c buttermilk
2/3 c fresh blueberries


Directions:
1. Beat together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a stand mixer.
2. In a separate bowl combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a third bowl or cup combine sauce and buttermilk.
4. Add flour mixture and sauce mixture to the butter/eggs mixture in five additions, alternating between the two, starting and ending with flour.
5. Fold in blueberries and scoop into your muffin pan.

The batter on these is such a lovely shade of blue.  The first batch i made was purple, like the sauce.  But since I  used a lot less sauce the second go around, the yellow in the eggs brought it down a bit which worked perfect.

They baked up nice and fluffy, with the berries bursting out.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cream cheese brick
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2.5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions:
1. Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy and smooth.
2. Add lemon zest.
3. Add 1/2 a tablespoon lemon juice.  Add 1/2 a cup powdered sugar.  Alternate the two until you get the desired consistency and flavor.

Now that all the parts are made it's time to put them together.

Core your cupcakes and pipe lemon curd into them. I made an assembly line out of them.  But i mean if it is just one girl is it really an assembly line?

Sexy, huh? Hopefully you didn't eat the centers.  Put them back on top! They taste better when you get all parts of the cupcake in your mouth at one time.

Pipe frosting ontop cupcakes.  Add blueberries for garnish.

Ta da!  Gorgeous Cupcakes.

You can even be a little crazy and add a ribbon like I did.  They wanted to be extra fancy to meet you.  ;) 

My favorite part about almost all cupcakes is below.  The money shot; sliced down the middle.

You see that?  The inside is blue AND purple.  And yellow.  And did i mention delicious?  Cuz the inside is delicious and my boss said some crumbs fell on her keyboard and she ate them anyways.  Yay/Ew? haha.

xoxo,
Anna