Fun Cupcakes!

Personally, I think sprinkles make everything more fun! I always choose the desert that has the sprinkles on it, no matter if it's ice cream, a cookie, or cake. I made a vanilla cupcake with strawberry jam dropped in the middle (this part is really good), with a marshmallow frosting. The marshmallow frosting is mostly a meringue-like, no butter. I cut the sugar in half, since the I prefer these kind of things to not be too crazy sweet. I think it was pretty good, but I prefer buttercreams more on cupcakes, so since I probably won't be making the frosting again like this, I won't post the recipe. But, if anyone wants the recipe, I'd be more than happy to post something.

1st attempt at Cuban Opera Cake

This is my first attempt at making the complicated Cuban Opera Cake (recipe is on Epicurious, just do a google search and it would be the first thing to come up). There are a few things that I'd like to change, namely having even layers of buttercream, with less on the top. Also, it's better to really let the chocolate glaze cool completely, while still pourable, which will leave more glaze on top. Next time, concentrate on getting the layers really even before you put the cake layer of top.

Sangria

All the fruit your heart desires (mango is particularly good in here)
Juice of 1 orange ~1/2 cup (probably easiest to just buy OJ
¼ cup granulated sugar (I like to use superfine sugar)
¼ cup Triple Sec
One 750 ml. bottle inexpensive, fruity, medium-bodied red wine, chilled

put the sangria back in the OJ and wine containers (with funnel)
Serves 4 - so for a party of 80 people, multiply by 20!

Buns

3/4 cup (6 ounces) lukewarm milk
3/4 cup (6 ounces) lukewarm water
5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) Baker's Special Dry Milk
1/2 cup (2 3/8 ounces) Hi-maize® Natural Fiber (I didn't add this...)
3 cups + 3 tablespoons (12 ounces) Flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Combine all of the ingredients, and mix and knead them—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to form a smooth, supple dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface. Shape it into a 6" x 15" rectangle, and place it in a lightly greased New England hotdog bun pan. Grease the bottom of a clean baking sheet and place it on top of the pan so the rising dough will fill the pan evenly. Let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the dough has almost filled the pan.

Preheat your oven to 375°F. With the baking sheet still on top, bake the buns for 18 minutes. Remove the baking sheet and bake 5 minutes longer, to brown the buns. Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, then turn the buns out of the pan to cool completely on a rack. When completely cool, slice each bun down the middle horizontally, without cutting through the bottom; then separate into individual buns. Yield: 10 buns (I made 4 buns...since I like big hamburger buns. Looks like I could have split it into 5 easily, maybe 6).

Easy Ginger Carrot Muffin

Here is the recipe, with my modifications in parentheses. These turned out perfectly fluffy and sweet. You could do any variation on this, even if you just have regular pancake mix. Add in whatever you want to make fruity or savory muffins! So many possibilities. I've had this Gingerbread mix laying around forever, b/c we don't like it as pancakes. Works great as muffins, though!

Apple Oatmeal Creme Brulée

2-1/4 cups old-fashioned oats (such as Quaker Oatmeal)
1/2 cup peeled and chopped Granny Smith apple (I don't peel them, and I put more apples than this)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (I don't like as much sugar, so I decrease the total sugar to about 1/2 cup)
3-1/3 cups non fat milk
1/2 cup egg substitute (such as Egg Beaters) (you could use 2 eggs)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place oats, chopped apple and sugar in the prepared baking dish. Stir until well combined. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together milk, egg substitute, and vanilla extract. Pour over oatmeal mixture. Stir to make sure the oatmeal mixture is well-coated. Bake 40 to 45 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake. You want the center to still be moist, like a thick soup. Remove from the oven. Turn oven temperature up to broil.

Sprinkle with the brown sugar in a thin layer, making sure the sugar coats the entire surface of the oatmeal. Return to the oven and broil 2 to 3 minutes, until the top is browned and crusty. Serve warm, topped with bananas, raisins, walnuts and/or milk.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Per serving (based on 6): 251 calories, 2 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 3 mg cholesterol, 50 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 11 g protein, 2% vitamin A, 3% vitamin C, 20% calcium, 9% iron