#23: When given lemons, make...Lemon Cupcakes!

i was feeling inspired to bake some cupcakes before heading to a brunch to meet up with some college friends. this ambition actually caused me to be late to my brunch...but at least i had some yummy cupcakes in hand. these are lemon cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. I used fresh lemons from the lemon tree in my backyard. the first batch of frosting was actually a swiss meringue strawberry frosting that went incredibly wrong (too chunky). i was pretty embarrassed of the frosting so i made another batch of vanilla buttercream (an easy, and reliable recipe to execute).

i tried out the kitchen aid mixer for the first time which was a lot of fun. also, i had better luck with the silicon cupcake molds after using some non-stick baking spray. i have been trying to push myself to try new frosting recipes - but i seem to always mess them up and waste a lot of butter/sugar. next time i'll need to pay closer attention to the recipes. at least i can always count on buttercream frosting...easy to make...and tasty to eat.

#22: Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is a great holiday excuse to bake! I looked for inspiration from my Martha Stewart cupcake book, and then blended a few recipes together to come up with these Valentine's Day cupcakes. Vanilla cupcake (Magnolia bakery recipe), with strawberry frosting (adaptation from Ms. Stewart), and a truffle brownie on top (from my own personal collection of recipes). I used frozen strawberries - pureed, and added to a buttercream frosting. The consistency of the frosting turned out kind of strange with the addition of the strawberries...I'll need to work on that. However, the cupcakes came out nice and moist, and the truffle brownies always seem to taste great. Overall, tasty cupcake.

I also tried out my new cupcake stand for display :)

#21: Chocolate Wrapped Bacon

bacon? chocolate? chocolate wrapped bacon...bacon wrapped chocolate.

i was chatting with a few co-workers during lunch and somehow bacon came up in conversation...which led to chocolate covered bacon. i had never actually tried it before, but i'd heard about it. apparently you can buy them in those chocolate novelty shops but i've never managed to track them down. i decided i would try making some chocolate covered bacon at home. i grabbed some microwavable bacon from the fridge (not ideal - but hey, it was convenient). after the bacon cooled, i melted some chocolate chips in the microwave and then dipped the bacon into the ooey gooey chocolate. after the chocolate cooled a bit, i managed to melt some white chocolate (with a bit of buttermilk to make it smoother) and attempted to drizzle it on top of the bacon. threw it in the refrigerator to cool overnight.

i tried the bacon the next day, and it wasn't quite what i expected. i think next time i'll try using a higher quality, thicker cut of bacon. but...definitely worth trying once in your life...and easy to make!

#20: Just Lunch

thought i'd share a little bit of my lunch with you. i bring my lunch to work the majority of the week, and usually manage to find extra leftovers in the fridge. on the off chance that there's nothing extra to bring with me, i'll sometimes bring the sandwich ingredients and then assemble during lunch (with the intent of the sandwich tasting as fresh as it can possibly taste). this open faced sandwich turned out quite tasty. 1/2 of a ciabatta roll, melted pepper jack cheese, grilled chicken breast strips (packaged from TJs), mixed greens, topped with a fried egg.

i do have to say...this particular sandwich was quite tricky to eat. Although the bread was heated and toasted, it was very hard to cut through. i guess that's what happens when you eat an open faced sandwich.