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and please be forgiving, I'm used to french, english is only my second language...
lilynath at gmail dot com to chat me up and please do I like that.
I'm also spilling over at French-moi for all things à la française...
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So...My Little Sister Is Visiting NY...
Me: So what did you do last night?
Her: Well we went to Macy’s…then Victoria Secret…then Times Square, we ate at Applebees OMG so good! AND we got Margaritas, they came with their own shaker like OMG and then we went to the Mariott in Times Squares and like they didn’t ask for IDs so we took like cosmos and it was so fun!!! And today we are going to like, Abercrombie and Fitch and like NBA store and maybe Canal Street! You are SO LUCKY to live in NY, you do things like that like, every day!
Me ( slightly horrified ): Yes. Right. This is exactly what I do. All the time.
Oh and i still have a big bowl full of leftover cupcake icing from this afternoon's cooking
I need to put it here in writing just so I can feel really really bad if I lick it all tonight
Ta-DAH!!! My cupcakes! Ok so they are a little squat - and a little, humm, artisanal looking, but I assure you they are pure pleasure. And they kind of look like Ladurée’s Macarons…
I used this recipe if you want to be a copycat ( but I divided by two ) :
Preheat Oven: 350 degrees F
Cupcake Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened.
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cup self-rising flour
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Whole Milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8 cups confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)
½ cup Whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
TIPS: If you have a stand mixer (like a Bosch, or Kitchen Aid) this recipe is much quicker to make.
Using whole milk makes the taste of the cupcakes and icing much smoother. I tried using Skim milk and whipping cream just to test it out and whole milk makes a much better flavor.
Cupcake Directions
1. Whip butter until very smooth in texture
2. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth in texture
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating very well between each addition
4. In separate bowl, mix the 2 flours together
5. In separate bowl, mix Milk and Vanilla
6. Add flour mixture and milk mixture 1 cup at a time to Butter mixture. Beating very well between each addition.
7. Spoon into lined cupcake pan (approx. ¼ c batter per cupcake)
8. Bake for 20-22 minutes in pre heated over (350 degrees F)
Cool cupcakes before frosting (or else the frosting will fall off)
You can also make 3 – 9” rounds with cupcake batter. Just make sure you grease and flour each pan.
Icing Directions
1. Whip butter until smooth
2. Add ½ of sugar (4 cups), 1 cup at a time. Beating well between each addition.
3. Add Milk, and Vanilla
4. Add remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time. Beating well between each addition.
5. Add a few drops of food coloring to icing
6. Beat icing well, until good spreading consistency.
7. Over-beating is hard to do with this icing.
( from this )
You know what? Enough of those perfect kitchens! ENOUGH of those bronzed pics of cakes on a pile of wood with fresh flowers and cutesy saying!
I am making delicious cupcakes for my little sister’s visit and THIS is what it really looks like.
I can’t compare myself anymore! Let’s celebrate a real kitchen’s mess!
( no worries, it’s cooking-related mess, not grime and ants-running-around-mess. It’ll be spotless in 5 minutes, but while I cook, it’s a tornado in there )
Richard Desjardins - les Yankees
Well since I’m going to Montreal, why not put the great Quebec singer-songwriter Richard Desjardins singing about, well, Yankees. Though it’s pretty much againt the American invasion of the Indian territory, but still.
( Caligula, his legionaries
Your President, his millionaires )…
Allez Gringo! que Dieu te blesse!
Bakin' Honeyed Chicken Leg and Winey goat Cheese Potato Gratin
Les Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila
French 80’s at it’s best
