CANNOLIS

Hi all! I can't believe it has been just about 2 weeks since I've posted last. As I've said earlier, culinary school has been very time consuming. However, I'm here now, and I've got a ton of posts to catch up on. We made cannolis last week in class. Yes, cannolis! I never ever thought I'd tackle the challenge of making cannolis but here I am, 2 months into culinary school, and I've accomplished just that; the art of cannoli-making. The entire process was extremely time consuming and tedious but the results are worth it and very self satisfying. According to my chef instructor, a pasta maker is necessary in order to complete a cannoli recipe so I ordered mine last week! I can't wait! The filling was the most delicious part; containing ricotta cheese, confectioner's sugar, orange rind, and chocolate bits. YUM.

HOLY DONUTS!

Well, today was donut day in culinary school. Donut day=amazingness. Sure, I've made cake donuts before that were a cinch because no deep fryer and/or yeast were involved. It was a simple recipe baked in my cutesy little donut pan that eliminated the risk of 375 degree hot oil burns. Baah, what was I thinking? Lame. Deep frying, on the other hand, comes from a completely different planet; and that planet is astounding...and fattening-or should I say astoundingly fattening? However, all of this "my skinny jeans don't fit anymore" talk is irrelevant because you become immersed in a deep fry world of hot oil, glazes, sprinkles, ganache, cinnamon, sugar, and what have you. You dig? It owns you. I'm intrigued.

Below is a selection of the donuts I made tonight, post class--because I just couldn't resist making them in my own kitchen. Again, the world of donuts have owned me for the past 15 hours. Yikes.

Cinnamon & Sugar

Vanilla Glazed with nonpareils

Vanilla Glazed with blue/orange/silver/purple sprinkles

Powdered 

MILLIE'S MANDEL BREAD

I, once again, made a batch (or 20) of my great grandmother's mandel bread that could seriously feed a family of 40.  The guys who work in my car garage, my boyfriends parents, my parents, my dry cleaner, veterinarians office, and my doctors are a few of the recipients who benefited; and I still have some to spare.

Half of the 1 zillion mandel had chopped Scharfenberger dark chocolate and the other 1 zillion had dried cranberries, dried pineapple chunks, raisins, and almonds.

Sweet.

MORE BREAD BAKING

A little update of what has been going on in school the past week...Oh, and bread baking seriously rules.

Sour Dough Bread

Challah Bread--which went from this...

....to this....

...to this (Challah French toast for breakfast!)

Challah & Heineken

ICE 11: VANILLA BEAN BLUEBERRY COCONUT CUPCAKES W/ VANILLA BEAN BUTTERCREAM

Ahhh, at it again! Iron Cupcake Earth: Summer Berries..how fitting!  Of all the summer berries out there, I went with blueberries because they truly are my most favorite berry of all.  Price club had the most beautiful blueberries this weekend, so I picked myself up a ginormous container of 'em.  I made a vanilla bean cupcake studded with plump, juicy blueberries and coconut throughout.  The cupcake was then topped with a dollop of vanilla bean buttercream, coconut flakes, and gummy berries.  

These were refreshing, light, and super moist.  I purposely made a buttercream that was more like a Swiss meringue than an overly sweet crusty child-like buttercream which proved to be the perfect compliment to the cake.  Blueberry and coconut are a spectacular flavor combination that I would pretty much add to anything sweet-toothed. 

Be sure to vote for me between June 28th and July 6th at No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner. 

Vanilla Bean Blueberry Coconut Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup milk

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1 c. blueberries

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake papers.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the milk. Add the vanilla. Fold in blueberries.

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups until each is about two-thirds full. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

5. When cupcakes are thoroughly cool, top with buttercream and coconut.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream (click)

June ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

• A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH,http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935
• A groovy linocut piece from BLOCKHEAD PRESShttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6108705
  
• a sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery,http://www.acupcakery.com/
  
• PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS,http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers,http://www.1800flowers.com .