All Natural Cupcake

George Hirsch February 13, 2023

Who doesn't like a cupcake?

With special gatherings and celebrations—why not make a homemade dozen rather than buy a store-bought version sans the preservatives. Here's my crowd-pleasing recipe for traditional vanilla cupcakes and a choice of vanilla or chocolate icing. Your cake eaters will undoubtedly know the difference!

Bake a little bit of love with Number Cakes or in 1700's aka 1, 2, 3, 4 Cakes...made w/ 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, and 4 eggs. I prefer to call them Smiley Cakes as they bring a bit of a happy face with each and every cake.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes about 2 dozen

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1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter on medium speed until smooth. Scrape bowl, add the sugar gradually, and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs in three stages one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three stages, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over-mix. Scrape down the bowl after each addition to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Fill cupcake liners approximately three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the muffin pans for 5 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Icing or Chocolate Icing.

Vanilla Icing

Makes icing for 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Place room temperature and softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. Beat on medium speed beat until smooth and creamy 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl and gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition for approximately 2 minutes, until the icing is thick enough for spreading consistency.

You may not need to add all of the sugar.

Optional: Add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Icing is best used at room temperature, as it will harden when chilled.

Note: Store the icing at room temperature as icing will be set if chilled.

Chocolate Icing

Makes icing for 2 dozen cupcakes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Sift cocoa powder into six cups of confectionary sugar. Place room temperature and softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. Beat on medium speed beat until smooth and creamy 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl and gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition for approximately 2 minutes, until the icing is thick enough for spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.

Note: For deeper chocolate, heat just until melted,2 Tablespoons chocolate chips in the microwave and combine with butter and sugar before adding milk. Use and store the icing at room temperature as icing will be set if chilled.

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Eighteen Gallon Muffin

George Hirsch February 6, 2023

By my standards, this is the number one comfort dessert. This recipe is so good that I adapted it from my recipe that called for much larger portions—I used it at a hotel where we served about 25,000 meals daily. The original recipe called for eighteen gallons of milk. It should be no surprise that my original bread pudding recipe serves approximately 1000 people a day.

TIP: I like to use day-old French bread in my bread pudding recipe because it has more flavor than plain white. Cinnamon-raisin bread, croissants, sweet rolls, brioche, challah, and panettone can also be combined for part of the bread. Puree some seasonal berries for a sauce or serve with a vanilla sauce.

Apple-Raisin Bread Pudding Muffins

Makes 10-12 servings

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2 Granny Smith or baking apples, peel, core, and chop small

3-4 cups dry French Bread, cubed small

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped small

1/2 cup raisins, *plumped

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

4 cups milk, or use half milk and half & half

8 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup pure cane sugar, sugar can be slightly reduced if using sweetbreads

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 Teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons fresh grated orange zest

In a small saute pan, saute apples in 2 Tablespoons butter to soften slightly; remove and cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest, and nutmeg, and beat with a whisk until well blended. Slowly pour over the bread mixture. Press down on the bread until it’s completely covered with the milk mixture and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Add raisins and 1/2 of the cooled sautéed apple.

Grease a regular-size 12-cup muffin pan with butter or use muffin cup liners or individual ramekins.

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, place bread pudding batter into muffin cups filling each cup to three-quarters full. Add the remaining apples on top of the batter.

Place a pan larger than the muffin pan in the preheated oven for the water bath and place the pan holding the bread pudding on top. Immediately fill the outer pan with enough hot water, so it comes up one inch on the sides of the muffin pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the water bath, reduce the temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 10-15 additional minutes. Remove the bread-pudding muffins and allow them to sit for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan.

Serve Apple-Raisin Bread Pudding Muffins warm or cold with a warm fruit or vanilla sauce.

*To plump dried raisins add 2 tablespoons of water or orange juice and heat in a microwave for 30 seconds; drain orange juice back into pre-measured 1/3 cup orange juice.

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The Most Popular Muffin

George Hirsch January 23, 2023

Dedicating today's Muffin Monday's post to the Blueberry Nut Muffin, the most popular muffin! I usually stock up my freezer with summer blueberries for recipes just like this, and a good quality is frozen berry will do just fine. Oh, and blueberry happens to be my favorite muffin too!

Blueberry Nut Muffins

Makes 10-12 muffins

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For the topping:

1/3 cup lite brown sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons nuts, walnuts, or pecans, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1 Tablespoon sweet butter

Mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts in a small bowl. Blend butter in with a fork until the mixture is crumb-like.

For the muffin mix:

1/2 cup sweet butter, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon flour for coating blueberries, plus greasing muffin cups

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup pure cane granulated sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/2 cup milk

Grease a regular-size 12-cup muffin pan with butter and dust with flour, banging out excess flour; or use muffin cup liners.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, use a mixer to cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and orange zest to beaten eggs, then add eggs one at a time, mixing until eggs are absorbed.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and milk in three stages, mixing until all are incorporated. Do not over-mix.

Toss blueberries in a fine strainer with about one Tablespoon of flour to lightly coat. Using a rubber spatula, fold in 1 1/2 cups of the blueberries. With an ice cream scoop or large spoon, place batter into muffin cups filling each cup to three-quarters full. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries on top of the muffins and divide the crumb topping over the muffins.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until muffins are golden brown. Check muffins halfway through and rotate if the oven temperature is uneven. Test with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin, and it should come out clean, or when touched lightly, the muffin should have a slight resistance to finger pressure.

Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove muffins from pan.

Tip: Did you know? Tossing blueberries with flour before adding them to the batter will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin during baking.

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Traditions for Health, Wealth and Good Fortune

George Hirsch December 30, 2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For many Americans, New Year's means parties, football, and watching the ball drop in Times Square. But to others here and around the world the celebration wouldn't be complete without certain delicious traditional foods.

**Champagne, a Universal Symbol of Good Fortune**

Black Eyed Peas are a centuries-old New Year's tradition in many countries, served to ensure health, wealth, and peace for the coming year. A traditional southern New Year's dish is Hoppin' John-black eyed peas and ham hocks. An old saying goes, "Eat peas on New Year's day to have plenty of everything for the rest of the year."

**Greens for the New Year Brings Luck + Healthy Addition to a Daily Diet**

The age-old celebration in England and Scotland called the 'First Footing' continues today and always includes a bowl of black-eyed pea soup and a drink to toast the new year at midnight. In the old days, people would gather coals from their hearth just before midnight and set out to visit friends in the first minutes of the new year. The first person to step through the door of the family they were visiting was called the 'first footer' and was believed to set the luck for the coming year. This person would present the spent coals they had gathered to the woman of the house, who would store them away and use them to start the subsequent New Year's fire. The first footer would get kisses and a hot bowl of black-eyed pea soup. First Footing traditions were brought to the U.S. by European immigrants and are still practiced, especially in the South and Northeast. With all variations, black-eyed peas are served for good luck and good health. Sometimes rice and black-eyed peas with cabbage or collard greens are served. The rice symbolizes riches, black-eyed peas for peace, and cabbage or collards represent money in the coming year.

Kwanzaa, the African American holiday beginning December 26 and lasting seven days, often includes black-eyed peas at New Year's. Each evening the celebration focuses on one of seven principles beginning with unity and ending with faith. On New Year's Eve, a feast takes place, with each person bringing a dish to share. These dishes often include baked black-eyed peas, pickled black-eyed peas, black-eye pea salads, and 'Hoppin' John'’ a thick stew with many variations that always include black-eyed peas.

In Texas, the New Year's tradition may include Texas Caviar, a salad made from black-eyed peas, hominy or sweet corn, vegetables, and vinaigrette.

Many Japanese foods also are served to bring health, wealth, and peace to the new year, including soba (buckwheat noodles), black soybeans, and miso soup. In Japan, 'O-Shogatsu' or New Year's begins on December 31 and continues for almost two weeks. Before New Year's Day, all bills are paid or current, and houses are cleaned from top to bottom, sweeping out the old year's energy. Everyone enjoys a simple bowl of long-cut soba noodles in a broth made only with water, kombu sea vegetable, and shoyu soy sauce garnished with scallions from ten minutes to midnight. It is eaten through the first few minutes of the New Year to ensure longevity and prosperity.

In Italy, people welcome the New Year by tossing old things out of their windows to make room for the new and lucky to enter their households and lives in the year to come. The Italian people eat a dish called Cotechino Con Lenticchie: pork sausage served over lentils. This dish is consumed because of the fatty, rich pork sausage and lentils in the dish. Cotechino sausage symbolizes abundance because they are rich in fat, while the coin-shaped lentils symbolize money.

Hoppin John

Makes six servings

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1 pound dried black-eyed peas

2 ham hocks, smoked

2 medium onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 cup converted long-grain white rice

10 ounces diced tomatoes with chilies, juices reserved

1 large red bell pepper, finely diced

3 ribs celery, diced

1 jalapeno or Serrano pepper, minced

2 teaspoons paprika

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3 scallions, sliced

hot red pepper sauce

In a large pot, combine the black-eyed peas, ham hocks, and 6 cups of water. Add 1 chopped onion to the pot along with 3 cloves of garlic and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer gently until the beans are tender but not mushy, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Remove the hocks, cut off the meat in large shreds, and set the meat aside. Drain the peas reserving the liquid, add enough water to the liquid to make 2 1/2 cups of liquid to cook the rice. Add back to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover, and simmer until the rice is almost tender.

In a sauté pan, add olive oil, remaining garlic, onion, bell pepper, celery, and jalapeno pepper. Sauté for two minutes and add paprika, thyme, cumin, and tomatoes. Add the cooked rice along with the peas. Top with sliced scallions and meat from the ham hocks. Serve with hot sauce on the side.

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Orange Cranberry Buttermilk Muffins

George Hirsch November 7, 2022

Here are a few fun facts about our native berry, the cranberry.

Dennis, Massachusetts was the site of the first recorded cranberry cultivation in 1816.
American recipes containing cranberries date from the early 18th Century.
Americans consume some 400 million pounds of cranberries each year. About 80 million pounds -- or 20 percent -- are gobbled up during Thanksgiving week.
Did you know that there are 440 cranberries in one pound? 4,400 cranberries in one gallon of juice? 440,000 cranberries in a 100-pound barrel?

Orange Cranberry Buttermilk Muffins

Makes 12 Muffins

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For the Topping:

1/3 cup lite brown sugar

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons nuts, walnuts, or pecans, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1 Tablespoon sweet butter

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts. Blend butter in with a fork until the mixture is crumb-like.

For the muffin mix:

4 Tablespoons sweet butter, melted

2 cups all-purpose flour; or 1 cup all purpose & 1 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon flour for coating plumped cranberries, plus greasing muffin cups

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

**2/3 cup dried cranberries, plumped

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon grated orange zest

1/3 cup fresh orange juice

*2/3 cup buttermilk

*1/4 teaspoon white vinegar, for making regular whole milk into buttermilk.

Add white vinegar to milk to make the buttermilk. Allow sitting 5 minutes to sour.

Grease a regular size 12-cup muffin pan with butter and dust with flour, tap out excess flour; or use muffin cups liners.

Place baking rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Note: If using a dark-colored muffin pan, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Dark colored pans absorb more heat while baking in the oven and become hotter and carry heat faster than light-colored pans.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and orange zest.

Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combined, about 10-12 strokes, to moisten the flour mixture. The mixture will still have some lumps. Do not over mix or the muffins will become tough when baked.

Toss plumped cranberries in a fine strainer with about one Tablespoon of flour to lightly coat. Using a rubber spatula, fold in a 1/2 cup of the cranberries. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, place batter into muffin cups filling each cup to three-quarters full. Add remaining cranberries on top of muffins and divide crumb topping over muffins.

Bake about 15-20 minutes, until muffins are golden brown. Check muffins half-way through and rotate muffin pan if the oven temperature is uneven. Test doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin; or when touched lightly—the muffin should have a slight resistance to finger pressure.

Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove muffins from pan.

**To plump dried cranberries, add 2 tablespoons of orange juice from recipe and heat in a microwave for 30 seconds; drain orange juice back into pre-measured 1/3 cup orange juice.

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