Vanilla Wafers

I like to know what's in my food.

My least favorite part about fancy restaurants is that the menu often doesn't tell you what foods you're getting. Sometimes they'll just tell you the entree and "seasonal vegetables." Um... I'm gonna need more info than that.

Along with this idea, I also like to know what's in the food I buy at the grocery store.

While I'm not one of those people who's scared by the word "chemical" (read more here), I do like to make my foods as naturally as I can. Mostly because I think it tastes better that way. It's fresher, tastier.

The first time (and every time since) I made my homemade banana pudding, I didn't have vanilla wafers. It was late on a Saturday night, and there was a 0% chance I was going to drive to the store just to buy vanilla wafers.

So I decided to search the internet for a recipe for homemade vanilla wafers, and lo and behold, I struck gold.

These vanilla wafers are perfect for using in banana pudding, making tiny cookie sandwiches, or just popping into your mouth as they are (that's what I've been doing this week)!

They're fast and easy to make, and your little ones can easily help you make them. Recipe adapted from Baking Bites. Warning: These are super addictive.

Vanilla Wafers

Yields: between 4-8 dozen, depending on the size

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line cookie sheet with parchment or silpat.

2. Cream together softened butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla.

3. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add them to the butter mixture until well incorporated.

4. Transfer dough to a piping bag with a plain round tip (mine's 1/2"). Pipe little blobs of dough onto the sheet. Smooth the tops with your finger. Bake 10-15 minutes, depending on how dark you want them.

5. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.


Happy Friday!!

Kentucky Butter Bundt

Is there anything more elegant than a bundt cake?

They're round, dense, and not overly sweet.

This bundt cake is my absolute favorite. It's a simple vanilla bundt cake soaked with a butter glaze throughout the entire cake. The glaze goes on while the cake is cooling in the pan, and it creates a moist soaked cake with a slightly sugar crisp on the outside of the cake.

Bundt cakes have frustrated me in the past, because parts always seem to stick in the pan. I can't stand that! For this recipe, the cake didn't stick at all. The secret?

You have to let the bundt cool all the way in the pan before inverting it. 

This cake is great, because it's even better on the second and third days. This means you can make it the night before, and it will be even more moist the next day! This cake will still be great if you can't resist it on the first day, but I recommend waiting if you can! 

Kentucky Butter Bundt

Yields: approximately 12 servings 

Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

Glaze

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Grease a bundt pan liberally with butter or shortening, getting into every nook and cranny. Lightly sprinkle with flour and tap out the excess.

2. Place all the cake ingredients in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a bowl with a hand mixer). Mix on low for 30 seconds, then up to medium (about a 4) for 3 minutes. 

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-75 minutes (it totally depends on your oven and altitude), or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

4. Prepare the glaze by combining all of the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan over medium low. Stir until everything melts and dissolves together, but make sure you don't boil it. 

5. Right when the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes in it with a knife. Keep the cake in the pan! Slowly pour the glaze over the cake, letting it soak in as you go. 

6. Let the cake cool completely (I covered it and left it overnight) before inverting. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. 

Note: Cake is best if you make it the day before so it can cool in the pan overnight. 

Perfect Birthday Cupcakes

Sprinkles!

My sweet roommate Jenna had a birthday today! She's the big 19. We went to Zupa's for dinner and decorated all cute with balloons, streamers, and posters! We really like holidays around here. 

I decided to bake cupcakes for Jenna's birthday so we could all have something sweet, because what is a birthday without eating way too much and feeling sick afterward?

Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes

Yields: 18 cupcakes

• 1 cup flour (I used 1 1/4 cups because I'm at high altitude)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup oil (I used veggie oil)
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet while mixing. That's it! You could even probably do it all in one bowl at once (that's what the original recipe did). I mixed it by hand and it was super easy!

2. Fill baking cups 2/3 of the way for sea level or 1/2 way for high altitude. Bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes for full-sized or 9-11 for mini cupcakes.

White Cupcakes

Yields 18-20 deliciously full-sized cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour (I used 1 cup minus 2 tbsp all purpose flour, then added 2 tbsp corn starch. This is my go-to cake flour recipe. Make sure to mix the flour and corn starch together really well.)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature (I put my cold eggs soaking in warm water for 3 minutes or so)
• 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 fahrenheit (If you're at high altitude, preheat to 385). Line cupcake tins with adorable cupcake liners.

2. Mix together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk until incorporated.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, and egg whites. Set aside. 

4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

5. Add the vanilla extract to the butter mixture. While the mixer is on low, add the flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk/sour cream mixture. (You'll start and end with flour mixture).

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (If you make mini cupcakes, they take about 13 minutes.)

Happy Birthday, Jenna!

Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

I've been losing sleep lately.
I've been losing sleep because I have been HARDCORE craving raspberries for two weeks! I didn't know you could lose sleep over cravings!
I went to four stores looking for raspberries, and the only one that had them was the BYU creamery, which had a teeeeeny tiny container for $6.89.

I thought it was a joke. Seven bucks for raspberries?

Thankfully, my roommate Lexie is a sweetheart and used her meal plan to pay for them because I was bound and determined to not pay that much for raspberries. (She's the best.)

So I had dreamed up (literally had a dream about them) a recipe for Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle cupcakes. I looked everywhere and they just didn't exist.

So I went on an adventure to invent them.

And man, are these winners!!! They are just as good as they sound.

I wanted the base of the cupcake to be a really, really fluffy vanilla. I wanted them to be filled with white chocolate mousse. I wanted the frosting to be really fluffy raspberry buttercream with a hint of white chocolate. And I wanted them to be adorable.

I tweaked my white cupcake recipe from Couple Of Cooks.

White Cupcakes

Yields 18-20 deliciously full-sized cupcakes

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour (I used 1 cup minus 2 tbsp all purpose flour, then added 2 tbsp corn starch. This is my go-to cake flour recipe. Make sure to mix the flour and corn starch together really well.)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature (I put my cold eggs soaking in warm water for 3 minutes or so)
• 3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 fahrenheit (If you're at high altitude, preheat to 385). Line cupcake tins with adorable cupcake liners.

2. Mix together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk until incorporated.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, and egg whites. Set aside. 

4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

5. Add the vanilla extract to the butter mixture. While the mixer is on low, add the flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk/sour cream mixture. (You'll start and end with flour mixture).

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (If you make mini cupcakes, they take about 13 minutes.)

White Chocolate Filling

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I used Guittard's white chocolate chips-- they're so delicious!)

Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Melt the white chocolate really slowly (15 seconds at a time, stirring between each time). Add the melted chocolate to the whipped cream and whip it until it's really stiff and incorporated. Set aside about 1 cup for the frosting recipe. 

Filling the Cupcakes

Cut a cone shape out of the top of each cupcake. Cut the bottom tip of the cone shape off and discard (AKA eat that sucker before someone else does). Pipe some of the filling into the hole and put the flat top back on. 

White Chocolate Raspberry Frosting

1 cup of the white chocolate mousse filling

1 stick butter 

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup frozen raspberries, microwaved for about 20 seconds (I had fresh but I used frozen because when you thaw them in the microwave, they release so many juices. If you use fresh, microwave them to release the juices, enhance the flavor, and enhance the color.)

Cream the butter and add the powdered sugar. Add the raspberries slowly and then lastly add the mousse filling. Beat until it's really fluffy and tasty. 

Sweet action shot of me sprinkling it with white chocolate shavings

Look at that delicious white chocolate truffle filling!!

Don't mind me... I'm just going to sit here and eat my weight in cupcakes.

Cravings: fulfilled.