Stephanies Kitchen

Flashback Friday – Lemon Shortbread Cookie Cups

June 17, 2011 By Steph 4 Comments

I have had my blog for 3 1/2 years now, on and off. I can’t believe it’s been that long. I make a lot of my recipes again and again. And some I feel have been lost in the hundreds of recipes that I have created in that time. I decided that having a Flashback Friday would be really good idea just to dig out some of my favorite recipes that I have made in the past.

These are delicious! If you love lemon bars, you will love these individual, cute little relatives. I love all things individual, so these are perfect!

Hope you guys have a great weekend and a wonderful Father’s Day!

Happy Baking!

Mini Lemon Shortbread Cookie Cups
recipe by Stephanie
makes 24 mini cookie cups

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
8 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 cup whole milk

To Complete:
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting the tops

1. Using a food processor if possible (it will work best, but if you don’t have one, just use a mixer) process the flour and butter until they resemble course crumbs. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
2. Divide dough into 24 equal balls and place in greased mini muffin tins. Push down on the bottom and sculpt the dough up the sides to the rim of the cup. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden.
3. Make filling – Cream together the eggs and the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended and smooth. Fill each cup with filling until it reaches the rim of the cup. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until set.
Let cool slightly. Remove cups from muffin tins and let cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Filed Under: brunch, cookies, desserts, fruit, lemon

Raspberry Cupcakes w/White Chocolate Buttercream

June 13, 2011 By Steph 4 Comments

I have filled my calendar for the summer so we can keep busy and sane. It’s working so far, thank goodness. Summer weather has finally arrived and as usual, I am already ready for fall. Never happy I tell ya!

These cupcakes have an amazing flavor and texture. Love them! Go buy some sweet juicy rasperries and make these cupcakes now!

Raspberry Cupcakes w/White Chocolate Buttercream
makes 2 dozen

3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

White Chocolate Buttercream

5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups white chocolate chips, melted
2-3 tablespoons milk

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest and work the zest with your fingers until the sugar becomes moist and fragrant. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix. Add the almond and vanilla extracts. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk until combined well. Carefully fold in the raspberries. Line 2 cupcake pans with cupcake liners and evenly distribute the batter between the 2 pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until baked through. Let cool.

To make the buttercream, using your mixer, cream the butter until soft. Add about half of the confectioners’ sugar, the milk and the melted white chocolate. Mix until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the remaining sugar and mix until smooth. Add any more sugar or milk you might need to get a good frosting consistency. Smooth or pipe on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: cakes, cupcakes, desserts, fruit

Strawberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes

May 9, 2011 By Steph 2 Comments

Hello friends! Need something sweet? I have got just the thing for you. Strawberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes. My. Oh. My. These are divine. I used my Mini Cheesecake Pan that I bought from Williams Sanoma a couple of years ago, but if you don’t have one (you need to go out and buy one right now!) just use your mini cupcake pan, a regular cupcake pan or just make one big cheesecake. So tasty. And cute. Happy Monday!

Strawberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes
makes about 18

For the strawberry sauce:
1 16 ounce container of frozen strawberries, thawed, in syrup
2 teaspoons corn starch

Place strawberries and corn starch in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Place in a small saucepan over medium heat and heat until it boils. Stir until thickened and then take off of heat and let cool.

For the crust:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Mix all together and press 1 tablespoon of mixture into a greased mini cheesecake pan, (or mini cupcake pan, or regular cupcake pan (use 2 tablespoons for that) or press entire mixture into a regular sized springform pan). (Remember to spray pans well) Pat down firm and bake at 350 degrees for about 7-8 minutes. (More if you are using larger pans) Just until lightly golden.

For the cheesecake:
2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon

Cream the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated. Mixture should be smooth and creamy. Fill already baked crusts with 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese batter. Top with 1/2 tablespoon of the strawberry sauce and using a knife, gently cut the strawberry sauce into the cheesecakes. Bake at 300 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then gently take out and let cool completely. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. Top with remaining strawberry sauce.

Filed Under: cakes, cupcakes, desserts, fruit

Orange Zested Cookies w/ Sweet Orange Glaze

May 3, 2011 By Steph 24 Comments

I live in Utah. I think it is written in the Utah Code that it must always snow on or a day before May 1st. Never fails. So one day it will be 72 degrees and the next the gardens are frozen and we have inches of snow on the ground. I don’t get it. Doesn’t seem right to me, but I choose to live here so I must live with it, right? I am most definitely looking forward to bright and sunny days ahead.

So as I sit there and watch the snow flakes fall, I crave spring, I crave summer. Nothing says spring or summer like citrus. Am I right? I made a version of these cookies using lemon zest and lemon juice. They were delightful. Perfect texture, perfect tangy lemon-ness. Didn’t get those photographed, but I was craving them again so I decided to switch them up a bit and use fresh oranges instead. I have to say, they were amazing. I think oranges seem to get a little neglected in the baking world. They are an amazing fruit, and they make amazing cookies. Give them a try and brighten up your day!

Orange Zested Cookies w/ Sweet Orange Glaze

makes about 2-3 dozen (depending on the size)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 egg

For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest
fresh orange juice

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and orange zest. Rub together with your fingers until zest is throughout the sugar. The sugar will become moist from the oils being released. Using a mixer, cream the butter and orange zested sugar. Add egg and orange juice. Slowly add the dry ingredients until well incorporated. At this point you can chill for an hour or so or overnight. I was impatient and baked them! Scoop onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roll into smooth round balls. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until very lightly golden on the bottoms. Don’t overbake or they will be a bit to dry and lose the perfect texture.

Mix the confectioners’ sugar, orange zest and enough orange juice to get a glaze consistency and mix until smooth and creamy. Pour glaze over the tops of the cookies and let set.

Feel free to mix up the citruses. Use lemons or limes instead of oranges, or use some of each. Delicious!

Filed Under: cookies, desserts, fruit, lemon

Banana Cupcakes w/Caramel Frosting

April 19, 2011 By Steph 8 Comments

Welcome to the new Stephanie’s Kitchen! I am so excited to have this all done and show you guys! It has been so much fun to see it come to life. It took a while for the whole process to be complete and then with all of my fabulous luck that I was born with, someone hacked into the server that holds the website! Can you even believe it? It threatened everything that had been done on it, but I do have some luck because I am married to a computer genius and he was able to save it. Yay! So drama behind us, here we are.

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments this last week. And just so everyone knows, my daughter is doing perfect, the dog is doing great and everyone is happy (at the moment).

So onto the cupcakes. These were amazing! I had never had caramel frosting before, but had heard of it recently so I decided to try my hand at it. It was so tasty and the perfect addition to these light and fluffy cupcakes. So if you have some ripe bananas sitting on your countertop like I do all the time, give these a try! Don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t frost half of them and fed them to my kids for breakfast. After all, cupcakes without frosting are just muffins, right?

Have a great week everyone!

Banana Cupcakes w/Caramel Frosting
makes about 2 dozen

2 1/2 cups cake flour (or just add 1 tablespoon cornstarch per 1 cup of all purpose flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup milk
1 cup mashed ripe banana

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Mix in the vanilla and milk. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until smooth and creamy. Fold in the mashed bananas. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake liners. Equally distribute the batter between the muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. Frost with caramel frosting, add mini chocolate chips to the batter before baking or just eat plain.

Caramel Frosting

5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

In a medium saucepan, bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the milk. Let sit to cool for about 30 minutes. Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth. Add more sugar if needed to get a frosting consistency.

Filed Under: cupcakes, desserts, fruit