Rich Buttercream Frosting

I guess we have officially entered into the Christmas season.  I say "officially", but I happen to know Target started the Christmas season before Halloween was over.  I'm sure Wal-Mart and Macy's did the same too.  It really is sad that the retailers take advantage of the holiday season to prey upon the consumers.  I guess most consumers aren't complaining, and sadly, I allowed myself to fall victim to the retailers before my Thanksgiving marketing was done...I indulged in some Cadbury (solid milk chocolate with crisp sugar shell...the same thing as those darn good Easter mini-eggs, but shaped into balls).

Actually, this is all RC's fault.  She sent me a tin of Williams-Sonoma Peppermint Bark a few weeks ago.  Thank you, RC (the contents of the tin were gone in a week)!  I am really NOT a chocoholic.  Normally, I will pick vanilla over chocolate.  I am vanilla.  But all bets are off at Christmas.  I think my weak mind makes me vulnerable to the appeal of hot buttered rum, spiced cider, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and all kinds of sweets. 

The Ds tend to get all caught up in the sweet binge too.  Both inherited my sweet tooth; Mr. Dependable doesn't gorge on sweets nearly as much as I do.  D1 got herself a bag of those Cadbury balls, and D2 bought a few boxes of candy canes.  I was tempted to buy some of the holiday Lifesavers, but I saw dum dum pops in holiday flavors and couldn't resist those.  I haven't tried them yet.

In a few weeks, the Ds will be telling me they need to bring food to class parties events.  Parties are frowned upon by school officials, forcing creative teachers to resort to linking festivities to the current curriculum.  Last year one of my students organized a Dickens festival, where every contribution needed to be tied to A Christmas Carol.  Recently, the Ds have been asked to bring mini cupcakes to events (the size makes mini cupcakes easier to eat, especially when there are multiple desserts available).  TBH, the classroom "events"  already began.  Last week, D1 brought some kind of mini cupcakes for her human physiology class.  I really don't know what it was all about but she pressed bone-shaped decors into the flesh-colored frosting.  Kinda macabre if you ask me, but she said it went over "bonederfully".

D1 can complete the baking part of the mini cupcakes, but she asks me to do the frosting portion.  Over the years, I have tried many different frosting recipes.  This is my favorite buttercream frosting.  The consistency is perfect for frosting cupcakes.  If you choose to embellish the cupcakes with sprinkles, be sure to apply them immediately after piping the frosting (helps to have someone else doing this part).  This frosting hardens fairly quickly, making for easy transport.  The only down side to this is that you need to get any decorations (sprinkles, candy beads, etc.) onto the frosting soon after piping.

I'm still pissed about Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines changing the size of their cake mix without consulting me, the Cake Mix Doctor, or any other cake mix user.  I'm not sure when this happened.  I don't know how they thought they could get away with it.  While not applicable to these mini cupcakes since I just make the recipe on the back of the box, I have a whole bunch of recipes which used the larger size cake mix.  I will now need to buy two boxes and weigh out the difference.  What a headache.

For mini cupcake purposes, the box of Betty Crocker Supermoist (about 15 ounces) Devil's Food cake mix can make 35-39 mini (2 oz) cupcakes (use 2 full #60 dishers for each mini cupcake).  Bake for 19 minutes.  A Duncan Hines box (also about 15 ounces) of yellow cake mix will make about 40 mini cupcakes.  I bake the Duncan Hines yellow mini cupcakes for 17 minutes (a full #40 disher works well for each cup).   If I plan to eat these, my preference is Duncan Hines. 

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Rich Buttercream Frosting

     1/2 c butter, softened

     4 c powdered sugar, sifted

     3 tbsp milk

     2 tsp vanilla

     food coloring

In a mixer bowl, cream butter on low speed for 30 seconds.  Combine milk, vanilla and food coloring.  Mixture should be much darker than end product.  Add powdered sugar to butter and 3 tbsp of milk mixture.  Mix on low speed (#2 on Kitchenaid) for 1 minute.  At this point, powdered sugar should be barely incorporated into mixture.  If lots of powdered sugar remains unincorporated, add 1 tsp more of milk mixture.  Scrape bowl.  Mix on medium speed (#6 on Kitchenaid) for 1 minute.  Place in an icing bag and pipe onto cupcakes.  Makes enough to frost 42-47 mini (2 oz cups) cupcakes with 1M star tip.  If decorating, add decors as soon as frosting is piped...frosting will harden.

Holiday Tradition: Fancy Cookies

Was Santa good to you this year?  Santa brought me two waaaay kewl McLaren-Mercedes-Vodaphone shirts.  I can't wait for 2012  Formula 1 season to begin! The Ds managed to stay off the "naughty" list this year and had their stockings filled with goodies:  instant udon, Targus stylus, kindle case, Bizu, and the ever-timeless Lindt chocolate Santa.  Can't wait for next year.  I'm gonna ask Santa for a Somali cat!

One reason why I think Santa has been so good to us is because the yummy homemade cookies make our home a worthwhile stop on his world tour.  This year, we were armed with a variety of cookies for Santa.  The first cookie we made was spritz wreaths (not pictured).  Then we moved on to the cut-outs.

Like Santa, I love fancy cut-out cookies too, but the many details that go into making a kick-ass cookie can be totally daunting.  The cookie itself is the main part of this monumental task.  I love it when cookies snap rather than bend.  But making rolled sugar cookies is tricky.  Many recipes which I've tried produce soggy cookies. Yuck.  And that's after spending all that time to mix the dough, chill the dough, roll it out, and bake it.

The cookies here were made with totally awesome sugar cookie dough.  These cookies are crisp.  An added bonus is that the dough, when properly chilled, is easy to work with.  This recipe will not make a lot of cookies.  Scraps can be re-rolled no more than twice.  After the 2nd time, gather dough and roll into 1" spheres.  Flatten to 1/4" and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  If you have festive sanding sugar on hand, feel free to sprinkle some on.  Pics of these cookies can be found near the bottom of this blog entry, just above the recipe for royal icing.  Sanding sugar will remain intact during baking.  Another option is to leave these buttons plain so they can be decorated with icing.  Bake as directed below.


Decorating these cookies is the ultimate way to make these cookies outstanding.  I rely on 2 different icings to get the effect I want.  The bells, stockings & candy canes were decorated using a corn syrup icing.  This icing doesn't dry as firm as royal icing, but the colors are vibrant, and its a lot more convenient to make different colors.  The icing has a nice almond flavor to it.  The snowflakes and round shapes were decorated with royal icing.  Royal icing dries harder than the corn syrup icing, but its inconvenient to make more than one color at a time, and colors are muted rather than vibrant.  Royal icing has no particular flavor, other than sweet, so if I'm using royal icing, I make sure that the cookies are made with almond extract.

click on recipe titles below for printable recipes
Rolled Sugar Cookies

     1/2 c butter, softened

     1/2 c sugar

     1 egg

     1/2 tsp almond or vanilla extract

     2 c flour

     2 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and extract.  Stir together flour and baking powder.  Add to butter mixture.  Pat dough into a flattened square, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 2 hours.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Working with 1/3 of dough at a time, roll out (1/4" thick) onto lightly floured surface and cut with desired cookie cutters.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 19 minutes.  Remove to wire rack and cool completely.   

Shiny Cookie Glaze

     2 c powdered sugar

     2 tbsp milk

     4 tsp light corn syrup

     1/2 tsp almond extract

     assorted food coloring

In a bowl, stir together sugar and milk.  Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy.  Divide into bowls and tint each bowl a different color.  Icing may also be placed in small plastic bags for piping.

Royal Icing

     1 c powdered sugar

     3/4 tsp meringue powder

     1 1/2 tbsp warm water

     food coloring, if desired

Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder.   Add food coloring to water (color will become washed out when combined with powdered sugar, so make color strong).  Add to powdered sugar mixture.  Beat on high speed for 10-12 minutes until icing holds stiff peaks.  Place in a pastry bag and pipe designs on cookies.