Girls Love Pink, Hearts and Sparkles.

Happy (almost) Hearts Day! My valentine this year is a little black dog name Zeuggie. I'm pretty sure he is going to get me something small and sparkly tomorrow. Rule for all boys, men and doggies out there - you can never go wrong with small and sparkly for your valentine.  Wait I take that back, I'd rather have a new flash for my camera or a new pair of ski boots.
 
Since most girls love pink, hearts, sparkles and bubbles, I hosted group yesterday for a little crafting and champagne. Ribbons, stamps, fun papers and glitter provided the activity and was an outlet for everyone to express there one "Tarte and Parcel-esque" creativity.

The menu was equally whimsical. Based on the theme: "Love is sweet and a little savory" snacks included:

* My Heart "Beets" for You Hummus
* Shot of Love Shrimp
* Apple of My Eye Ravioli 
* Be(ef) Tender to my Loins Bruchetta
* Making Whoopie Pies
* Cupid Cakes 

My favorite of the bunch was the"Shot of Love Shrimp" inspired from a Bloody Mary. Here are the instructions! 


Shot of Love Shrimp

* Ingredients * 
1 lb cooked prawns
1/2 lb cherry tomatoes 
1 14 oz can of tomato sauce 
1 cup Absolut Pepper Vodka 
3 tablespoons Tabasco 
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
Pepperoncinis
Celery 
Coronichons (I love mini pickles!) 

* Instructions *  
1. Marinate shrimp and cherry tomatoes in next 5 ingredients overnight. 
2. Alternate shrimp and tomatoes on skewers with celery, pepperoncinis and coronichons.


As an aside, the marathon is at long last finally a commitment. I am running the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon in June. To help with the training I have joined, Team in In Training and raising money for cancer research. If you have a need for dessert or apps for your next shower, luncheon, dinner or party I would be happy to exchange any culinary skills  for a donation. Fight cancer and eat well... I'd say it's a double win. :) 

And it started with a cupcake...

June was the best month ever for Tarte and Parcel. Thank you to every one who has emailed/ texted/ called with the encouragement and comments. I am honored to say that I have followers in Austin, Atlanta, Paris and London. Yep - T & P is global. Still trying to figure out who is reading this in Russia and Malaysia. 

I am truly flattered by the praise for my food and the blog in general as the origins of this blog start in a sad place. A year ago I lived alone -- yes, yes, I know I still live alone -- but my friends were farther than a block way and no one new my name at the local bar. My brother who for most of my life had been my best friend had just gotten married and was off doing the things that newlyweds do. I spent a lot of time alone. I was a dating disaster (karma is getting me back now, since all the men I meet are disasters - but that is another story) and I ate practically every meal alone. 

For the record, I hate eating alone. 

After one dinner on my own, I went to put my 1 plate and 1 fork in the dishwasher. I realized the entire dishwasher was full of 1 plate and 1 fork combos. A couple had been in there for so long that they I think some of the not completely washed off food was looking like a penicillin factory. I broke down in tears on the floor and just sat there for a while. 

The next day I made cupcakes - Blackberry Swirl Pound Cake. Baking takes a lot of bowls, blenders and utensils and all of these need to be washed. My dishwasher quickly filled up - filled up with happy times in the kitchen. 

I started posting my creations to Facebook and sharing with friends. Many people started asking me bring goodies to their dinner parties, picnics, etc. and a few folks were asking for recipes and the like. Last August, I decide to start the blog to take it one step further. Thus, Tarte and Parcel. 

So, thank you for reading my blog, for the compliments. Your support keeps both my dishwasher and life full.  

Today's post give hommage to that very first cupcake. Of course, I can't stop experimenting so I changed things up a little. 

Blueberry Swirl Cupcakes with Lemon Icing 

* Ingredients *

For the cupcake... 

8 ounces blueberries 

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup butter 

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs 

1 1/4 cup flour 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour cream 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon lemon zest

For the icing... 

2/3 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons sour cream

Juice from 1 lemon

* Instructions * 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Puree blueberries with 3 tablespoons sugar in food processor. Set aside. 

3. Cream sugar and butter in electric mixer. Add eggs. Add flour, baking power and salt. Add sour cream, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix until well combined. 

4. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. Alternate adding batter and blueberry mixture until 3/4 full. Swirl with fork for a marbleized effect. Bake for 30 minutes. 

5. Combined ingredients for icing. Drizzle over cooled cupcakes. Top with fruit if desired. 

 

Pot O' Gold

Happy St. Patty’s.

Today is all about the positive. Irish Jig – check, done it. Pint of Guinness in Ireland on March 17th  - check, done it.  Baking cupcakes to win an Irish food contest – half check. I haven’t won yet.

Along time ago, I heard a story about kitchen sink windows. Why does every house have them? So through the misery of washing the dinner dishes, you can see beautiful sunsets.

I have amazing friends. They are my beautiful sunsets. They take me to the Attic, plan adventures, let me know they are right across the alley, call me doodles, buy steamed apple juice, hold elevators to give me hugs and take IOUs for amazing shows.  Never in my life have I been surrounded by so many phenomenal people. Thank you. I will never be able to pay you back – even if I had all the pots of gold in the world.

So the cupcakes… pretty awesome right?

I started with the recipe for the cake, that got the most accolades – Birthday Cake ala  Beer. I added 2 shots of Jameson just to Irish it up bit.

Pot of gold was made from a donut hole, filled with gold dragees. Frosting is your basic cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and a little Baileys. I said we were Irishing it up, right?

Erin go bragh! Cheers to Ireland and may you find you own beautiful sunsets through challneging times.

V-Day... The Baking Recap

Well if you don’t have pink paper around to do fancy gift boxes that get ripped open, you still have an option to bake in wash of pink.

I did two projects this year for Valentine’s. The first (and perhaps a bit of an after thought) was pink and red cupcakes for people at my office. Unfortunately, they flew off the plate. Next time, I might need to create some sort of ticketing system based on sugar need. LOL.

A fun add-on to cupcakes is paper shapes glued to toothpicks. Of course, for this batch - it had to be hearts.

Next up on the baking “to do” list was a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting for my first Valentine’s day dinner. (I get 2 this year. As I explained to my favorite valet this morning, my Valentine’s Day is gonna be spread out.).

I was on a bit of a time crunch this year so I adapted the cake recipe from this one on Allrecipes. My suggestion, add a full cup of the strawberry puree. A half a cup doesn’t add enough flavor or texture.

My big effort in this cake was the candy hearts. These were made by melting Wilton Candy disks and then piping them into the desired shape. Since they don’t offer pink… or at least the store was out, I melted red and white together in the microwave to get the color combo that I was looking for.  

Alright, I am going out to watch a baskeball game or run around in combat boots or something. All this pink talk has me feeling entirely too girlie, princess.

Classics… Football and Cupcakes

Big game is coming up on Sunday. Seattle Seahawks vs. Chicago Bears to decide who plays for the NFC Championship. This is match-up is a tough one for me. Love the home team, love the underdog, but my team has always been “Da Bears.” I think it started out with a fascination with Jim McMahon’s headbands, led a laugh about Ditka’s tirades and finally a total respect for Payton’s runs. And c’mon the Superbowl Shuffle – a classic. I lived with a 1985 Super Bowl Champions sign on my wall for most of my younger years.

I decide to honor the “big game” with a few cupcakes. Since I didn’t want to get run out of the city of Seattle for treats devoted to the Monsters of the Midway, I opt’d for a more neutral design. (Don't worry, I am sure I will get plenty of boos for my sweatshirt this weekend.) Football is made out of piped chocolate. Goal post are candy sticks used to make lollipops and the like.  

Now, cupcakes have officially made it on People magazine’s “not hot” list. Shine.com is calling them a fad equivalent to truffle salt. I have never had truffle salt (or bubble tea for that matter), but I do remember eating cupcakes as a little girl at about every grade school birthday party I attended. I remember making them on mommy-daughter Saturday afternoons. I separated the liners and was in charge of the sprinkles. Yep, that’s right. I was the sprinkles manager. Granted the number of “boutique” cupcake shops is a little out of control, but cupcakes are not a fad. They are a classic, same as diamond studs and cashmere…. and of course the Superbowl Shuffle.    

Hey… it’s still November...

My mom asked at Thanksgiving dinner if everything was “ok.” When I said, “Great, why?” she replied, “Well, there haven’t been a lot of blog posts lately.”

Blogging has fallen off a tad. I am going to blame the snow. Actually the snow had nothing to do with the lack of posts, but everyone else is using it as an excuse for everything so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon.

Anywhoo… while it is still November and before everyone is fully in the Christmas rush or for those of you who just want to extend America’s toast to gluttony, I thought I’d share a recipe for Cranberry Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting.

These cupcakes were adapted from a cookie recipe so they can be a little dense. If you are making them for folks with small appetites, a mini version may be a better choice.

* Ingredients *
For the Cupcakes…
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh cranberries, halved
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Zest from 1 large orange

For the Frosting…
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
3 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon orange extract
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

* Instructions * 
For the Cupcakes…
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tins.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla and butter.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Slowly add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture.
4. Stir in cranberries and orange zest.
5. Spoon batter into muffin tin. Fill each cup 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 min, then move to wire racks until completely cool.

For the Frosting…
1. With an electric mixer with a wire attachment, cream cream cheese and butter. Add remaining ingredients. Beat slowly until smooth.  
2. With serrated knife, split cakes. Add frosting to middle and sandwich to halves together. Top with additional frosting.

Cupcake Craziness

The challenge: 1 night - 70 cupcakes. My first *catering* gig. Two canine sous chefs. One dishwasher who’d rather be a taste tester.... we worked out a good compromise. Don't worry.

In my day job, I work in the technology division for a major media company. I've got a great team who has been awesome sports about playing lab rats for my desert creations. I've had some winners and losers, but I guess a few more of the former as I was asked to provide some *professional* cupcakes for the strategic services all-hands meeting vs. one of the other famous "cupcake houses" in Seattle. Honored, I accepted the challenge. Well, who in their right mind would ever decline?

As someone who is not a choco-holic, I like to provide a selection that has a variety of tastes.

*MENU* 

·    Snickerdoodle (in dedication to my awesome mom who I missed so much over the last 2 ½ weeks… She makes A TO DIE FOR snickerdoodle cookie)

·    Spice Pecan Cake with Orange Icing (something yummy for fall)

·    Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting and Sprinkles  (a look forward to the holidays)

·    Chocolate Peanut Butter *Surprise* with Chocolate Drizzle (the surprise is a peanut butter cup hiding in the cupcake... it’s a little "Family Circle" vs. Martha Stewart, but sometimes the simplest things are the best.)

And after tonight, I think I'm moving on from cupcakes.

31 Days O’Halloween

October is my favorite month of the year because it means my favorite holiday… Halloween. Maybe I love it because nothing is better than playing dress up. Maybe I love it because spiders make awesome pets.  Maybe I love it because I am *a little bit* evil.

To kick off the season, I am starting going with ghost cupcakes. It feels a little silly to writing up the instructions, because these babies are just way, way simple. So simple they would make a perfect Halloween party activities for kids… or adults who are like me and act like a kid.

Things you need to get going with this project –

·    Cupcakes… pick your favorite kind and bake them in white liners. I went with milk chocolate cake (Yes, made from scratch Rob) and chocolate chunks because I have recently been informed men love chocolate… which is odd because I was always told women love chocolate and that since I don’t really care for chocolate that I was crazy. C’mon people… I am crazy, but pick a better reason than I don’t like chocolate. OK… back to what we are doing.

·    Frosting that is pipe-able. Martha’s Buttercream  is an excellent option.

·    Chocolate chips, raisins or black frosting for the eyes.

*Instructions *

1.   Fit your pastry bag with a starburst tip. Load up your pastry bag with frosting.

2.   Create an arc over the top of the cupcake.

3.   Extend the arc down for long loops off the side of the cupcake. I think it looks best when there is a little bit of space between the loops, but up to you.

4.   Place 2 chocolate chips for eyes.

5.   Enjoy!

Martha meets Vogue? I wish…

A couple of weeks ago my girlfriend told me, “You are Martha Stewart meets Vogue.”  Best compliment I have ever received… and frankly way, way exaggerated.

I love to bake, craft, decorate and throw (and attend!) fabulous parties. To keep me out of trouble, I thought I would start a blog to share some of my tips, tricks and creativity.

Ideas are meant to be shared, expanded upon on and then made your own. I hope you will take some of my experimentations and make them even better!

To kick this off, let’s get started with Apple Upsidedown Spice Cupcakes with Hot Buttered Rum Glaze.

The recipe for this desert is quick and simple… which makes it the best type of desert. Looks fancy but can be whipped out after work or a few hours before your event.

Also perfect – minimal ingredients. The idea for the glaze was actually developed after I realized that I had no milk and was too lazy to walk a block and a half to Bert’s. Funny. I have rum in my house but no milk.

* Ingredients *

For the cake…

1 box spice cake mix

2 eggs

½ cup oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ cup brown sugars

2 apples, core and coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

2 tablespoons lemon juice

For the glaze…

½ cup butter (1 stick)

¾ cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons rum  (or more to taste!)

1 cup confectioners sugar

Other materials needed…

Parchment Paper

Muffin Tin

Cookie Sheet

Small Sauce Pan

* Instructions *

1.   Trace and cut out 16 parchment paper circles approximately 2 inches in diameter. Grease and flour muffin tins and the place the parchment circles in the base of the muffin tin.

2.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3.   Combine cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla in electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until ingredients are well combined. Set aside.

Note: Cake batter will be thick.  

4.   Mix apples, pumpkin pie spice and lemon juice.

5.   Crumble brown sugar in muffin tins, on top of the parchment. Layer 1/16 of apple mixture (approximately 1 tablespoon) on the sugar, followed by 1/16 of the cake batter (approximately 2 tablespoons). Muffin tins should be 3/4 full when all ingredients are added.  

6.   Bake for 18-22 minutes. Top of the cake should spring back to touch.

7.   Cool in muffin tins for 5 minutes. Place cookie sheet on top of muffin tin and flip. Remove parchment circles.

8.   For glaze, heat butter and brown sugar until melted and well combined, stirring constantly. Add rum. Heat for 3-5 more minutes, remove from heat. Stir in confectioners’ sugar. Drizzle over cakes immediately.

Yields: 16 cupcakes