Jane of All Trades, Mistress of None: Food

I am OBSESSED with Pinterest. I think it is absolutely fantastic! I get so many food/craft ideas, that I don't think I could finish all of them in my lifetime. Most of the recipe ideas I get are taken from pins. I'll be using this page to post recipes I've made, or pictures of really delicious food I've eaten.

Note: I am a HUGE proponent of making everything from scratch. Not because I'm a health nut, but because I think it just tastes better. I also never skimp on ingredients because they're deemed "unhealthy" by today's standards. I think our bodies are WAY better off getting something that's natural as opposed to loaded with 10,000 weirdo chemicals and preservatives. So if a recipe calls for 4 sticks of butter, you better believe I throw in all four! Yum.

Truth.

Lavender & Lemon Cupcakes

Credit for this fabulous recipe goes to Sweetapolita via Canadian Living Magazine! Visit their blog to check out the recipe!

Description: Lemon cake cupcakes with lavender infused butter cream frosting. Don't worry, it sounds way scarier than it is. Also, Sweetapolita features cookies that go on top of the cupcakes, I didn't go through with those for the sake of time.

I think my cupcakes turned out just about as well as the Sweetapolita ones, however SA had really pretty liners!

Ingredients

Yields 18 cupcakes. I got 24, maybe I'm just stingy?

1 cup buttermilk (room temp)

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour, sifted - I used regular flour here, and it worked just as well!

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar

1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temp)

Finely grated lemon zest (rind) of two medium-large lemons

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line your muffin pan with liners.

2. In a medium bowl or measuring cup, combine and stir the eggs, 1/4 cup of buttermilk, and vanilla. Set aside.

3. Sift the cake flour 3 times. It makes the flour really smooth.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients, including the sugar, together on low speed for 30 seconds. As a (poor) student, I am patiently awaiting the day I get a KitchenAid Mixer, so I just used a regular hand-held mixer with the plain old beater attachments.

5. Add the butter and blend on low speed for about 30 seconds, then add remaining 3/4 cup of buttermilk, and mix on low speed until just moistened. Increase to medium speed and mix for 1 1/2 minutes.

6. Scrape the sides of the bowl and begin to add the egg/milk mixture in 3 separate batches; beat on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest.

7. Divide the batter into your prepared liners. I use an ice cream scoop because it's the easiest/cleanest way to fill the liners.

8. Bake until a toothpick comes clean when inserted into the center of the cupcake (~15 minutes). Be so careful to not overbake.

9. Place hot baking pans on wire racks, then carefully (they’re hot!) remove the cupcakes from the baking pans immediately to let cool. Let cool completely before frosting. I throw all my baked goods right in front of a window fan to get them cooled quickly.

Whipped Lavender Frosting

Ingredients

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

3.5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted I used 3 cups, and that worked out perfectly.

3 tablespoons (45 mL) whipping cream (35% cream), or whole milk My cream wasn't so fresh, so I used 1% milk, and it was A-okay!

1 tablespoon dried Culinary Lavender I took fresh lavender right out of my mom's garden, worked perfectly!

1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

Method

1. In a small bowl or glass, stir the dried lavender into the whipping cream (or milk); cover with plastic wrap overnight (or for at least several hours). Although the cream (milk) tastes like it is really infused with lavender, I found that when I put it into the frosting mixture, I wasn't really even getting a hint. So what I did was put fresh lavender into the frosting itself. It is safe to eat, and it really ramped up the lavender flavor. It wasn't overwhelming at all, and got that "hit" of lavender I had initially hoped for.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 8 minutes on medium speed (I use “4″ on my KitchenAid). Butter will become very pale & creamy. Again, hand-held mixer with regular beaters works.

3. Strain the lavender cream and add to butter, along with all remaining ingredients and mix on low speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.

4. Add a few drops of Violet gel color and mix until blended. I used food coloring - red and blue!