Ys, they're beer cupcakes. Tell me your husband won't love this.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Samuel Adams Boston Lager
1/2 teaspoon salt
Buttercream frosting:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whipping cream
2 talespoons Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place butter, sugar, cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and baking soda in large mixing bowl. Add in eggs and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour in water and Boston Lager, then salt. Mix until smooth and there are no lumps.
Line muffin tin with muffin liners. Pour approximately 3 to 4 ounces of batter in each cup. Bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.
To make frosting: In a standing mixer with a wisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well-blended, then increase speed to medium andbeat another 3 minutes. Add vanilla Lager, and whipping cream, and continue to beat on medium speed for one more minute, adding more cream if needed.
Frost cooled cupcakes and serve. Or, expirement with this recipe with your husband's favorite beer or lager.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Pate a Choux
Pate a Choux is the dough used to make cream puffs. And, surprisingly, it's not as difficult as you would think.
Recipe:
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
2 tablespoons whole milk
6 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degress. Spray a large 12- by 18-inch baking hseet with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set aside. Beat eggs and egg white in measuring cup; it should come to 1/2 cup (discard excess). Set aside.
Bring butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt to a boil in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice. When mixture reaches full boil and butter is fully melted, immediately remove saucepan from heat and stir in flour wiht a heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon until combined and mixture clears sides of pan. Return pan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, using smearing motion for 3 minutes or until mixture is slightly shiny with wet-sand appearance and tiny beads of fat appear on bottom of saucepan. The temperature of the paste should register as 175 to 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
Immediately transfer mixture to a food processor, and process with feed tube open for 10 seconds to cool slightly. With machine running, gradually add eggs in steady stream. When all eggs have been added, scrape down sides of bowl, then process for 30 seconds until smooth, thick, sticky paste forms.
Fold down top 3 or 4 inches to form a cuff on a 14- or 16-inch pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain tip. Hold bag open with one hand in cuff and fill bag with paste. Unfold cuff, lay bag on work surface, and using hands or bench scraper, push paste into lower portion of pastry bag. Twist top of bag and pipe paste into 1 1/2- to 1 3/4-inch mounds on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 to 1 1/4 inches apart. You should be able to fit 24 mounds on the baking sheet.
Use back of teaspoon dipped in cold water to smooth shape and surface of piped mounds. Bake 15 minutes without opening oven door, then reduce termperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake 8 to 10 minutes longer, until golden-brown and fairly firm-- puffs should not be soft and squishy. Remove baking sheet from oven. With paring knife, cut 3/4-inch slit into the side of each puff to release steam; return puffs to oven, turn off oven, and prop oven door open. Dry puffs in turned-off oven until centers are moist, not wet, and puffs are crisp, about 45 minutes. Transfer puffs to wire rack to cool.
Fresh Whipped Cream Filling
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whip heavy cream until semi-stiff. Add pwdered sugar and vanilla, and whip until stiff. Refridgerate until ready to fill.
Recipe:
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
2 tablespoons whole milk
6 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degress. Spray a large 12- by 18-inch baking hseet with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper; set aside. Beat eggs and egg white in measuring cup; it should come to 1/2 cup (discard excess). Set aside.
Bring butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt to a boil in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice. When mixture reaches full boil and butter is fully melted, immediately remove saucepan from heat and stir in flour wiht a heat-proof spatula or wooden spoon until combined and mixture clears sides of pan. Return pan to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, using smearing motion for 3 minutes or until mixture is slightly shiny with wet-sand appearance and tiny beads of fat appear on bottom of saucepan. The temperature of the paste should register as 175 to 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
Immediately transfer mixture to a food processor, and process with feed tube open for 10 seconds to cool slightly. With machine running, gradually add eggs in steady stream. When all eggs have been added, scrape down sides of bowl, then process for 30 seconds until smooth, thick, sticky paste forms.
Fold down top 3 or 4 inches to form a cuff on a 14- or 16-inch pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain tip. Hold bag open with one hand in cuff and fill bag with paste. Unfold cuff, lay bag on work surface, and using hands or bench scraper, push paste into lower portion of pastry bag. Twist top of bag and pipe paste into 1 1/2- to 1 3/4-inch mounds on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 to 1 1/4 inches apart. You should be able to fit 24 mounds on the baking sheet.
Use back of teaspoon dipped in cold water to smooth shape and surface of piped mounds. Bake 15 minutes without opening oven door, then reduce termperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake 8 to 10 minutes longer, until golden-brown and fairly firm-- puffs should not be soft and squishy. Remove baking sheet from oven. With paring knife, cut 3/4-inch slit into the side of each puff to release steam; return puffs to oven, turn off oven, and prop oven door open. Dry puffs in turned-off oven until centers are moist, not wet, and puffs are crisp, about 45 minutes. Transfer puffs to wire rack to cool.
Fresh Whipped Cream Filling
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whip heavy cream until semi-stiff. Add pwdered sugar and vanilla, and whip until stiff. Refridgerate until ready to fill.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Taking Care of Your Home
You know that the products you use in your house make a difference: Vinegar and water gets your windows clean but doesn't make them shine like Windex; offbrands of Windex leave your windows streaky and opaque. A similar phenomena will apply to all other products you use to clean your home.
As a good housewife, you know that polishing your wood furniture regularly with Old English polish will add years to its life and prevent chipping, splitting, and decay. Your leather must always be conditioned to repel stains and water damage, should something be spiulled on the furniture, and to prevent the leather from stretching or splitting. Of course, sometimes these products can be expensive; luckily, I've found some free samples for you. Just pick whether you want CPR for Leather, Carpet, or Granite, and it will be shipped right to your front door-- Just in time for Spring Cleaning
As a good housewife, you know that polishing your wood furniture regularly with Old English polish will add years to its life and prevent chipping, splitting, and decay. Your leather must always be conditioned to repel stains and water damage, should something be spiulled on the furniture, and to prevent the leather from stretching or splitting. Of course, sometimes these products can be expensive; luckily, I've found some free samples for you. Just pick whether you want CPR for Leather, Carpet, or Granite, and it will be shipped right to your front door-- Just in time for Spring Cleaning
Monday, March 29, 2010
Cooking Tips
As children we may be taught to make sure that we have all the ingredients for a recipe before beginning, but sometimes, absentmindedly, we may forget and begin a recipe, only to find that we don't have enough of an ingredient, or are lacking it entirely. Sometimes, a substitution is acceptable. Here are some substitutions for commonly used-up ingredients:
Baking powder: Replace 1 teaspoon with 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
Buttermilk: Replace 1 cup with 1 cup yogurt or milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Semi-sweet Chocolate: Replace 1 ounce with 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate and 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
Unsweetened Chocolate: Replace 1 ounce with 3 tablespoons natural cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Egg: Replace 1 large egg with 2 large egg whites or yolks
Flour: Replace 1 cup with 1 cup cornmeal
Garlic: Replace 1 clove with 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Half & Half: Replace 1 cup with 7/8 cup milk and 1 tablespoon butter
Heavy Cream: Replace 1 cup with 2/3 cup whole milk and 1/3 cup unsalted butter
Lemon Juice: Replace 1 teaspoon with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
Mayonnaise: Replace 1 cup with 1 cup blended cottage cheese
Mustard: Replace 1 teaspoon with 1 teaspoon dired mustard
Of course, another option is to aks a neighbour to borrow the missing ingredient. Politely call before showing up at their door with your bowl at the ready. And, of course, once your recipe is complete, bring them a covered basket of whatever you made, by way of thanks.
Baking powder: Replace 1 teaspoon with 1/4 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
Buttermilk: Replace 1 cup with 1 cup yogurt or milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Semi-sweet Chocolate: Replace 1 ounce with 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate and 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
Unsweetened Chocolate: Replace 1 ounce with 3 tablespoons natural cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Egg: Replace 1 large egg with 2 large egg whites or yolks
Flour: Replace 1 cup with 1 cup cornmeal
Garlic: Replace 1 clove with 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Half & Half: Replace 1 cup with 7/8 cup milk and 1 tablespoon butter
Heavy Cream: Replace 1 cup with 2/3 cup whole milk and 1/3 cup unsalted butter
Lemon Juice: Replace 1 teaspoon with 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
Mayonnaise: Replace 1 cup with 1 cup blended cottage cheese
Mustard: Replace 1 teaspoon with 1 teaspoon dired mustard
Of course, another option is to aks a neighbour to borrow the missing ingredient. Politely call before showing up at their door with your bowl at the ready. And, of course, once your recipe is complete, bring them a covered basket of whatever you made, by way of thanks.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Quantity vs Quality
This is the very first rule of being a housewife and a woman: Don't buy anything cheap that will need to be quickly replaced, when you have the option of buying something of higher quality that will last longer if you take care of it.
This applies to everything you use in your house: Your clothes, your children's clothes, your appliances and fixtures, your drapes, your carpet, your couch, your car, everything.
Let us suppose, for example, you buy a sweater from WalMart for fifteen dollars. This seems like a good price, so you buy two: One in each of two colors you like. You wear them a few times, you wash them a few times, and the knit starts to stretch and pill. You have a couple of options: Spend the rest of the winter wearing a stretched-out, pilling sweater, or buy a new one. Another $15 for a new sweater from a discoutn store doesn't seem bad, but the next winter, you will most certainly need to buy another. And the next winter, another. In twenty years, you will have spent $600 on sweaters.
Now, say you buy two nice sweaters from a department store or cataolgue. But be aware: Not every sweater with a hefty price tag in a department store or catalogue will be of higher quality than those found at discount stores. You ask a salesman or fitter to help you find one of superior quality that will last a long time. You spend between $50 and $150 on a sweater; let's say you spend $200 on the pair of them. You buy two bottles of Woolite each year, and the two sweaters are still in excellent condition after ten years. You decide you want a new pair of sweaters anyway, just to freshen up your wardrobe, so you buy another two sweaters. In twenty years, you spend $400 on sweaters and $100 on Woolite.
After twenty years, you have saved $100, and you have four nice sweaters, two of which will last you at least another ten years.
If you went with the discount sweaters, you have spent an extra $100 replacing them, you are contsantly wearing clothes that are pilly and stretched-out, your closet is full of garbage that you are constantly sifting through or trying to get rid of, and you will have to buy two new sweaters again the next year.
Of course, you have a third option: You buy the two nice department-store sweaters. You wear them and wash them, but you do not buy Woolite. You use regular detargent, warm water, and sometimes you even throw them into the dryer. After 2 or 3 years, your sweaters are showing significant signs of wear, as much wear as the cheap sweaters. So you buy two new sweaters. In twenty years, you have spent more than $1,300 on sweaters that are in just as poor of condition as if you'd skimped and bought the cheap sweaters.
From the math, you can clearly see: It is better, in the long run, to buy something of higher quality and to take good care of it than it is to buy something cheap that will need to be replaced quickly. But, of course, pay heed to the qualifier: It is better to buy something of higher quality and take care of it.
This applies, as I have said, to anything else you may buy for yourself, your children, your husband, or your home. It also applies to you: your body, your mind, your self. The only difference is, that unlike the cheap sweaters, if you ruin the one you have, you can't go out and buy a new body from WalMart for $15. Treat your body, your mind, and yourself the way you treat your $100 sweater: Cold wash only, Woolite, hang to dry. Metaphorically, of course. It is better to have the high-quality self you take good care of than a cheap self you neglect, because it simply can't be replaced. Treat your children, your husband, your friends, and everything else with which you come in contact the same way: As if they are a high-quality item you want to stay good for a lifetime, and cannot replace with something cheap. After all, your body, your mind, your self, your children, your husband, and your friends are all irreplaceable.
This applies to everything you use in your house: Your clothes, your children's clothes, your appliances and fixtures, your drapes, your carpet, your couch, your car, everything.
Let us suppose, for example, you buy a sweater from WalMart for fifteen dollars. This seems like a good price, so you buy two: One in each of two colors you like. You wear them a few times, you wash them a few times, and the knit starts to stretch and pill. You have a couple of options: Spend the rest of the winter wearing a stretched-out, pilling sweater, or buy a new one. Another $15 for a new sweater from a discoutn store doesn't seem bad, but the next winter, you will most certainly need to buy another. And the next winter, another. In twenty years, you will have spent $600 on sweaters.
Now, say you buy two nice sweaters from a department store or cataolgue. But be aware: Not every sweater with a hefty price tag in a department store or catalogue will be of higher quality than those found at discount stores. You ask a salesman or fitter to help you find one of superior quality that will last a long time. You spend between $50 and $150 on a sweater; let's say you spend $200 on the pair of them. You buy two bottles of Woolite each year, and the two sweaters are still in excellent condition after ten years. You decide you want a new pair of sweaters anyway, just to freshen up your wardrobe, so you buy another two sweaters. In twenty years, you spend $400 on sweaters and $100 on Woolite.
After twenty years, you have saved $100, and you have four nice sweaters, two of which will last you at least another ten years.
If you went with the discount sweaters, you have spent an extra $100 replacing them, you are contsantly wearing clothes that are pilly and stretched-out, your closet is full of garbage that you are constantly sifting through or trying to get rid of, and you will have to buy two new sweaters again the next year.
Of course, you have a third option: You buy the two nice department-store sweaters. You wear them and wash them, but you do not buy Woolite. You use regular detargent, warm water, and sometimes you even throw them into the dryer. After 2 or 3 years, your sweaters are showing significant signs of wear, as much wear as the cheap sweaters. So you buy two new sweaters. In twenty years, you have spent more than $1,300 on sweaters that are in just as poor of condition as if you'd skimped and bought the cheap sweaters.
From the math, you can clearly see: It is better, in the long run, to buy something of higher quality and to take good care of it than it is to buy something cheap that will need to be replaced quickly. But, of course, pay heed to the qualifier: It is better to buy something of higher quality and take care of it.
This applies, as I have said, to anything else you may buy for yourself, your children, your husband, or your home. It also applies to you: your body, your mind, your self. The only difference is, that unlike the cheap sweaters, if you ruin the one you have, you can't go out and buy a new body from WalMart for $15. Treat your body, your mind, and yourself the way you treat your $100 sweater: Cold wash only, Woolite, hang to dry. Metaphorically, of course. It is better to have the high-quality self you take good care of than a cheap self you neglect, because it simply can't be replaced. Treat your children, your husband, your friends, and everything else with which you come in contact the same way: As if they are a high-quality item you want to stay good for a lifetime, and cannot replace with something cheap. After all, your body, your mind, your self, your children, your husband, and your friends are all irreplaceable.
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