Cooking With Hanzipan

I’ve had a craving for lavender lately. Not only is allrecipes.com a veritable wasteland when it comes to the flower so are all of the other cooking blogs I cruise through. After a bit of digging I found a Lavender Tea Bread on allrecipes and after a little pondering I decided to make it into cupcakes and, with a little lemon zest, the idea started to make my mouth water. These turned out so puffy, soft and smelled so good! I can’t get enough of them. The flowers were a little disconcerting in the dough, but by the time everything had baked I didn’t notice them anymore, they’re just pretty purple specks.

Lavender Tea Bread Recipe

Via: allrecipes.com (My alterations will be in the parenthesis)

Makes 12 cupcakes or one 5 x 9 loaf.

• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender (I used dried flowers with the same results)
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs (I used one very very large local egg, equivalent to two from a regular store)
• (zest from 1 lemon)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. (Grease muffin tins for 12 cupcakes or one 5 x 9 inch pan).
2. Combine the milk and lavender in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat to a simmer, then remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg until the mixture is light and fluffy. (Add zest) Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture alternately with the milk and lavender until just blended. Pour into pan (or cupcake tins until 2/3 full).
   
4. Bake for 50 minutes in pan or 25 minutes in cupcake tins in the preheated oven, or until a wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
   

I had this urge to make pink cupcakes so I took the White Christmas Cupcake recipe and Kid Simple Frosting from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans. I feel guilty for posting so many of her recipes online, in case someone would have otherwise bought the book but can get all the recipes from me for free. I recommend you buy the book, it’s really really good. The cupcake recipe is on page 128 and the frosting is on 34. 

I also tried to pipe the frosting on the cupcakes using a pastry bag and tips I got from Big Lots. 

The results were difficult

The middle cupcake represents my anger at how unnecessarily difficult piping is.

From the book Cupcakes!  by Elinor Klivans

Ingredients:

Swirl and Topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup grated peeled apple (1 large apple)
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (from above)
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Make the swirl and topping. In a small bowl, stir the sugar and cinnamon together.

Make the cupcakes. In a small bowl, mix the grated apple and the 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar together; set aside. In a large bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the eggs, oil, and vanilla, stirring until the ingredients are smoothly blended. Stir in the reserved apple mixture, with any juice that has been released.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into each paper liner. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon sugar over the batter in each liner. Spoon the remaining batter over the cinnamon sugar, using a scant 2 tablespoons of batter for each cupcake. Use a pastry brush to dab the top of the batter with the melted butter. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the top.

Bake just until the tops are light brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan to the wire rack to cool completely. 

They may be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.

This recipe is from the book Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans.

Filling

• 1  8 ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 extra-large muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners. Spray the inside of each liner with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the filling. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smoothly blended. Beat in the egg. Mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Set aside.

Make the topping. In a medium bowl, using a large spoon, stir the flour, brown sugar, and salt together. Add the melted butter and continue stirring until crumbs form.

Make the cupcakes. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg and yolk and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. Mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth. 

Spoon 3 tablespoons of the batter into each cupcake liner. Spoon 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling into the center of each; the soft filling will spread slightly over the batter. Sprinkle a generous tablespoon of crumb topping over each. the paper liners will be filled to about 1/2 inch from the top. 

Bake until the edges brown lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. The cupcakes will rise to the top of the paper liners. Cool the cupcakes for 20 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Dust the cooled cupcakes lightly with powdered sugar before serving. The cupcakes can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

The first baking post. A while ago the Hanzipan team got together for a weekend of mad cookery. We just so happened to make some Lemon Poppy Seed Butterfly Cupcakes from the book Cupcakes! They took zest from four lemons but it was ohhh so worth it!

Starzipan modeling the tasty tasty cupcakes. They were gone well before noon the next day.

And then Star had the idea to make some mozzarella cheese. She’d gotten a kit a while ago and hadn’t used it yet. Can you think of a better time to make cheese than that one? No, I didn’t think so. Anywho, I know these pictures look familiar but I really wanted to document the occasion properly on this wee blog!

Blog is live! Blog is go!

XD

P.S. These are White Christmas Cupcakes from the book Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans. I gave them to my relatives, tucked inside mugs. Get it? Cakes in cups? Cupcakes?

The cakes are a light, fluff pure white cake(though mine got a bit browned on top) with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting and shavings of white chocolate on top. And of course a dusting of powdered sugar.