Stacey Makes It

I think that the buttercream turned out kind of heavy, so I would probably add more half & half and powdered sugar and beat it a bit longer next time. Cupcake Ingredients 5.5 oz flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 stick butter, melted 45 ml (by weight) sunflower oil 6.1 oz granulated sugar 2 eggs 1.5 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 cup buttermilk Buttercream Ingredients 1/2 stick butter  1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tbs half & half  1.5 sticks butter 1-2 cups of powdered sugar 2-3 tbs half & half Chocolate sprinkles (optional)  Preheat oven to 350F. Whisk all the wet ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until just incorporated (don't overmix or it will build up too much gluten).  Pour batter into cupcake tins lined with cupcake liners (about 3/4 to 4/5 full).  Bake for 15-20 minutes rotating once at the halfway point. When cake springs back from the middle of the cupcake, it's done....

Ombre Flowers So I wanted to try that new ombre cake frosting trend.  I used whip cream here on an eggless chocolate cake I made for a potluck at work (for those egg-free individuals on my team).  Everyone was sufficiently impressed.  I was a little disappointed at the messiness of the blue/purple end, and I kinda ran out of cream, but it tasted good. Anyway... Eggless Chocolate Cake 2 c sugar 1 3/4 c flour 3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder 1.5 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp baking soda 1/2 c sunflower oil, organic 1 c whole milk, organic 1 c boiling water 1 tsp salt 3 tbs flax seeds Roses 2 c heavy cream 1/4c sour cream 1 tsp vanilla ½ c powdered sugar food coloring (if desired) Pre-heat oven to 350F. Soak flax seeds in milk for an hour or overnight (or use flax meal). Blend (I used a stick blender).  Mix dry ingredients. Mix in wet ingredients, with boiling water being last. Pour into cake pan (9x13).  Bake for 30 min, rotatin...

My son (currently 2 years old) loves pancakes.  Protein, not so much.  I tried to get a bit more protein in his carbs. Ingredients  (organic, if possible) 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 eggs 1 cup cottage cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tbs milk butter, oil or oil spray Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients and then fold into dry ingredients mixing as little as possible (keeps the pancakes tender). Heat a pan and grease with butter. My son likes small pancakes (so I use about 1-2 teaspoons at a time), but you can make full size pancakes if you wish. It usually takes a minute or two before you can turn them over, or you can look for small bubbles at the edges of the pancakes before flipping. Remove when golden brown. If you want to substitute white flour, you'll have to add more flour (maybe 3-4 extra tablespoons) unless you like thin pancakes. Also, I usually make a b...

My 2-year-old son likes baked char siu bao, but he's not so fond of the meat part.  I thought I'd try to make some for him and add a little whole wheat flour so they'd have a tad more vitamins. And I used organic ingredients where I could. Ingredients 5 oz whole milk 1/2 stick salted butter 2.5 tbs warm water 2 tsp yeast 1 egg 2.5 tbs sugar 9 oz white flour 3 oz wheat flour 1/2 tsp salt 1 egg + water for egg wash Glaze 2 tbs honey + 1 tbs warm water Melt the butter in a glass measuring cup until liquid.  Add milk and microwave some more until all the liquid temperature is about 110F. The warm water should also be about 110F (this is the best temperature for the yeast).  Sprinkle the yeast into the water to soften.  Whisk the yeast water and egg into the milk mixture. Put the flours, salt, and sugar into a stand mixer (or you can knead this by hand, but I don't know how long it takes).  Turn on the stand mixer with the dough hook attachment on...

I know, it's been a long time. But, see, I gave birth to this little person and he takes up all of my time. So selfish!  Anyway, in addition to taking up all of my time and stealing my heart, he won't eat vegetables.  The doctor said to hide them in stuff.  So this is one of my first attempts in doing that and it came out pretty well!  So maybe if you also have my problem of not being able to get your child to eat healthy things, this might help.  It's not sugar-free or whatever, but it has spinach, and my kid will not eat spinach that he can see...  Ingredients 1/2c frozen spinach 1 banana 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbs sour cream 2 tbs butter 1/3c flour (mix of white / wheat if you like, or all white, whatever floats your boat) 1/3c hemp seeds + cornstarch (optional - I use the blender to blend up the hemp seeds and add cornstarch to keep it from sticking too much. Gives a nice nutty flavor, but not necessary for the recip...

So I was experimenting with another recipe from  The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book .  It ended up tasty enough that I was asked for the recipe. These brownies ended up fudgy in the middle with a kind of crunchy shell on top. I ended up with this: Stacey's Fudgy Brownie with Crunchy Shell Ingredients 4 oz semi-sweet 62% Scharffen Berger chocolate 2 oz unsweetened 99% Scharffen Berger chocolate 8 tbs (1 stick) unsalted organic butter 1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder, organic (Dagoba) 1 1/2c granulated sugar, organic 3 eggs, organic 2 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 tsp salt 1c flour, organic 3/4c milk chocolate chips (Guittard) 9x9" baking pan Adjust oven rack to higher middle position and preheat to 350F.  Line a 9x9" baking pan with foil and grease it - leave enough foil on the edges so that you can use it to lift the brownies out later.  I used olive oil, but you can use butter or any other type of oil you like. Put the chocolate (not the chi...

I had some extra green onion, so I'm not really sure how many stalks it was.  Sorry about that.  In any case, I also had some mozzarella cheese and a hankering for dinner rolls.  I started with the Fluffy Dinner Rolls recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book , but then I altered it some. Stacey's Cheesy Green Onion Dinner Roll Ingredients 1 1/2 cups whole milk, organic 1/4 cup honey, organic 6 tbs unsalted butter, organic 1 tbs olive oil, organic 1 large egg, organic 4 cups (plus another 1/2 cup for later) bread flour, organic 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, organic 1/4 cup pumpernickel rye flour, organic 2 1/4 tsp yeast 2 tsp sea salt 8 oz mozzarella cheese, grated 1/3-1/2 cup green onions, chopped 1 more egg for egg wash Standing mixer 13x9" baking dish lined with foil, foil greased with olive oil Microwave the milk, honey, butter, and oil together in a large glass measuring bowl at 30 second intervals until all the butter is melted a...