Headed over to see my friend Harmony’s newly purchased town home on a recent Sunday morning, I thought I should bring a breakfast snack for us to share.  Around the same time I happened across a recipe for strawberry ricotta muffins on about.com all while I had a bunch of berries in my fridge nearing their turning point sitting right next to a container of ricotta cheese. Perfect.

The key to these muffins is roasting the strawberries, you have to dry them out or you’ll get soggy muffins. But don’t worry if they look too dry when they are done, the muffin batter will keep them hydrated enough in the final product. They will also cook down significantly, but note that I’ve increased the amount of strawberries in the recipe below over the original, so it will be enough, I promise!

The muffins will come out fluffy with a crumbly top and the yummiest little pockets of tarty sweetness, I think they taste best warm right out of the oven so drop your leftovers in a muffin tin and pop them in a preheated oven for 5-10 minutes to get that crusty top back.

Strawberry Ricotta Muffins

Recipe adapted from About.com Local Foods

INGREDIENTS
3 cups medium strawberries
3/4 cup part skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 tablespoons butter melted and cooled, divided
2/3 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lemon, approx 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Gently wash, hull and dice strawberries. Place berries on a cooling rack over a sheet pan.  Bake until strawberries are partially dried, about 45 minutes. Let cool.

Increase oven to 400 degrees. Brush a 12-mold muffin tin with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.  Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together ricotta, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.  Stir in remaining butter.

In a large bowl, use your fingertips to rub together sugar and lemon zest until sugar is moist. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Use a spatula to gently but quickly fold ricotta mixture into dry ingredients. Don’t overwork it, the key is to mix as gently and as little as possible to avoid a tough, dense muffin. The batter will be thick and heavy. Stir in strawberries and spoon batter evenly into muffin tins. Bake until tops of muffins are golden and springy to the touch, about 20-25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins

These little gems were commissioned by Samer, who threw out a tweet one day linking to Smitten Kitchen‘s post on them and asking someone to make them for him. Obviously, I obliged and we traded — wine for cupcakes over CupCake Happy Hour (or CCHH, our invention) at Faccia Luna. I should have made photographer Samer take real pictures of these guys but alas, you’ll have to settle for my take on the artistic.

Anyway, that’s probably not why you are here. You want to know how these puppies were made.  Well I can tell you that I could not follow Smitten Kitchen’s recipe exactly, I mean I can never follow any recipe exactly so I don’t know why I am surprised. For the cake I cut the sugar a bit and subbed out yogurt for the sour cream.  The ganache filing was not what I expected, it hardened up WAY too much.  I was looking for something creamier — so look for an update when I perfect that portion of this project. I am thinking a cream-based filing rather than a chocolate one.  And the only change I made to the frosting was MORE BOOZE.  So here is my version of Smitten Kitchen’s Chocolate Whiskey Cupcakes…

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes:

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe found here.

INGREDIENTS

Chocolate Guinness Cake
~1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
~1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
~3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
~2 cups all purpose flour
~1 3/4  cups sugar
~1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
~3/4 teaspoon salt
~2 large eggs
~2/3 cup Greek yogurt

Ganache Filling
~8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
~2/3 cup heavy cream
~2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
~1/4 cup Irish whiskey (I used Jameson)

Frosting
~2 to 4 cups confections sugar
~1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
~1/4 cup (more or less to taste) Baileys Irish Cream

DIRECTIONS

Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth and let cool.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on low speed. Stop and by hand, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until wooden stick inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Ganache
Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains.  Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes
Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be squeezed (the fridge will move this process  along but you must stir it every 10 minutes to avoid over hardening). Meanwhile, using a 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out.  Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.  Eat the plugs dipped in left over ganache.

Frosting
Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[A fantastic trick Smitten Kitchen learned from Martha Stewart test kitchen chefs is to add the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, add in the Baileys and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes. I used a large star tip swirled for a bakery look.

Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

Yes, you read that right. That is a chocolate cupcake, with peanut butter icing and bacon crumbles.  Together.  In one confection.  They actually weren’t bad.

I am not a big fan of bacon. Somewhere in my 20′s I discovered that I really don’t like pork. (I think my taste buds changed.) But I have one hold out. A favorite childhood treat is peanut butter and bacon sandwiches. Had I been introduced to these as an adult, I would have never have liked them. But it was such a special treat when I was little that the melty peanut butter and crunchy bacon on bread thing still makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. I’ve altered it as a grown up eating natural peanut butter on whole wheat tortillas or bread with crunchy facon instead of the real deal. It doesn’t matter, it’s still good to me.

So long story not so short, I knew bacon and peanut butter worked well together. Which is why, when I saw this article in the DCist last Friday, I knew these cupcakes had to be made for Samer’s birthday. He is, after all, the man who is currently making bacon infused vodka (just think “bloody mary” and you won’t be grossed out) and a self-proclaimed foodie. It was a perfect fit.

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Bacon Cupcakes:

INGREDIENTS
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
~3 cups all purpose flour
~2 1/2 cups sugar
~1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking soda
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
~1 1/3 cups canola oil
~1 1/2 cups buttermilk
~3 large eggs
~1 1/2 cups freshly brewed, hot coffee
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Frosting
*Adapted from a recipe found in my 1970′s Betty Crocker cookbook
~1 1/5 cups unsalted natural creamy peanut butter
~1 cup confectioner’s sugar
~2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup non-fat milk

Topping
~ 5 slices applewood smoked bacon, thick-cut
~ Kosher salt

DIRECTIONS
Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cupcake pan with nonstick spray or use liners.

Place flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a large mixing bowl.  Using an electric mixer, mix ingredients on low to combine.  Keeping mixer on low, add oil, buttermilk and then the eggs one at a time. Add the hot coffee in a thin stream, pouring down the side of the bowl. Add vanilla mixture until batter is smooth.  Marci’s Note: Batter will be VERY thin, thinner than you think a cake batter should be, this is OK.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Makes ~30 cupcakes
(Recipe found here. You can go here to find cook times on a layer cake version of this recipe.)

Frosting
Mix peanut butter and sugar together and add milk to create desired consistency.  I wanted a very peanut buttery taste, so adjust sugar and peanut butter levels to your liking.

Topping
Fry bacon until crispy, but not burnt. Sprinkle bacon and salt on top of frosted cupcakes to taste.

I had wanted to make lemon cheesecake for my friend Laura while she was recovering from back surgery. My last-minute trip back home to Minnesota meant that by the time I had returned she was practically fully recovered and we were quickly approaching her birthday. Killing two birds with one stone, the lemon cheesecake idea was now celebrating both her 32nd year AND her being up and around like a champion. The kicker was that said birthday celebration was taking place at a bar–a very nice bar, Chef Geoff’s, but a bar nonetheless. Being familiar with bars, I don’t really find them conducive to cheesecake.  I mean how exactly would one serve a whole cheesecake to a mass of rowdy, celebratory, possibly drunk friends? Messily is how I pictured it.  So a full-blown cheesecake morphed into cheesecake bars–individual portions! Less mess! No serving necessary.

I was adamant about two things when making this dessert. I wanted a super lemony taste (Laura is still talking about those Lemon Bars from last month) and I wanted a lemon curd top layer (I mean lemon curd, yum!).  I of course could not find a recipe that suited my tastes so I adapted the recipe below from Martha Stewart’s Lemon Cheesecake Squares and The New Best Recipe’s Lemon Cheesecake.  Enjoy.

Lemon Cheesecake Bars:

INGREDIENTS

For the crust:
~8 graham crackers (full sheets)
~2 tablespoons sugar
~3 tablespoons butter, melted

For the filling:
~2 8oz cream cheese bricks
~1/3 cup Greek-style yogurt
~3/4 cup sugar
~2 large eggs
~1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
~1 tablespoon heavy cream
~5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
~Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
~Dash of salt

For the topping:
~1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
~2 large eggs, plus one large yolk
~1/2 cup sugar
~2 tablespoons cold butter, cut in cubes
~1 tablespoon heavy cream
~1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
~1/8 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Make the crust. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom and side of an 8″ square pan* with aluminum foil to make a sling.  Crimp the overhanging foil to the edges of the pan.

In a food processor, pulse graham crackers and sugar until fine (or if your angry and need to vent, roll the crackers sealed in a plastic bag with a rolling pin–take a few whacks if necessary).  Add butter and mix until moistened.  Transfer crumb mixture to the pan and press into the bottom. Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

While crust bakes, make the filling. Whip the cream cheese in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, heavy cream, vanilla and salt stopping frequently to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pour the mixture on top of the hot crust and spread it evenly to the sides. Shake the pan to smooth the top.   Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is no longer shiny and the filling jiggles only slightly when shaken.

As the cheesecake bakes, make the curd. Heat the lemon juice in a non-reactive pan on medium heat until hot, but not boiling. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and slowly whisk in the sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour in half of the hot lemon juice into the egg mixture, then return the egg/lemon juice mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking and stirring until mixture reaches 170 degrees or it’s thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Immediately remove the pan from the heat, add the butter and stir until incorporated. Stir in the cream, vanilla, and salt then pour through a strainer into a small, glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

After the cheesecake comes out of the oven, pour the curd on top and smooth out for even coverage. Cover with plastic wrap and let pan cool, about 20-30 minutes. Place cooled cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours (but up to 2 days) to set.

Remove sling from pan and cut with a sharp knife (wiping between cuts).  Makes 16 squares.

*Marci’s Note: Either an 8″ or 9″ square pan will work for this recipe.

The second step was deciding what type of buttercream I wanted to use for the frosting. I wanted a bakery-style look, but I wanted a nice, buttery taste–not something overly sweet.  So I settled on a vanilla cream cheese buttercream frosting. Easier said than done…of course I couldn’t find a recipe that seemed suitable so I winged it, and ended up having to use what seemed like 5lb of confectioner’s sugar to get it to set. I suppose that’s what I get for not just doing something that’s been tried and true (and now I don’t have an accurate recipe because I got frustrated with the loose consistency and just started dumping the sugar into the mixer by the cupful).

INGREDIENTS
Buttermilk Chocolate Cake
~3 cups all purpose flour
~2 1/2 cups sugar
~1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon baking soda
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
~1 1/3 cups canola oil
~1 1/2 cups buttermilk
~3 large eggs
~1 1/2 cups freshly brewed, hot coffee
~1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
~8oz cream cheese
~1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
~5-7 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted (more or less to suit your needed consistency)
~1/2 teaspoon salt
~2 teaspoons vanilla extract
~2 tablespoons heavy cream

(Marci’s Note: I thought that with all of my crazy additions of sugar to get the frosting to set I would be left with tubs of leftover frosting. Not the case!  This recipe perfectly frosted the recipe above which I made as cupcakes. Just two cupcakes were left plain.)

Ladybugs
~8oz red candy melts
~8oz dark chocolate candy melts (use these over chocolate chips for setting purposes)
~Black decorator icing
~A large handful of chocolate chips
~Parchment or wax paper
~Plastic baggies (the heavier, the better)

DIRECTIONS

Ladybugs
Make the lady bugs first, as they will need to set in order to assemble and they are the most time-consuming part of this endeavor.  Melt red and chocolate candy melts separately either in the microwave or over a double boiler on the stove (tip: if melting in the microwave place melts in Ziplock baggies for instant use afterward).  Snip the tiniest snip from the corner of the baggie, and viola! instant decorator bag without all the mess!

For the wings, sketch out two half circles on a piece of paper and tape it to your work table (I traced a glass the size I was looking for and then cut it in half).  Then cut squares of wax paper to fit your circle drawing.  Placing a square of wax paper over your drawing, pipe the red candy melts over the outline of your circle.  Before you fill it in, draw your ladybug polka-dots with the chocolate melts inside of your outlined circle.  Now go back and squiggle in the empty space with the red melts, taking care not to fill it in completely.  Take a toothpick to train the red melts to fill in all of the remaining space.  Using another toothpick, go over your chocolate polka dots, tracing each dot, to “finish” them.  Complete the bug wings by shaking the wax paper to even out your candy melt drawing.

For the bug’s body, I made freehand circles in chocolate. Just trace the entire circle with the chocolate melts and fill in completely with chocolate–making a disk shape. I was going for a more contemporary-looking bug, and did not plan to have a head, or eyes, or antennae but after seeing the finished product I realized that I could have drawn a bump on the disk,  making it a little less perfectly round to have it look like the bug had a head without being all cutesy and overdone.

Finish enough wings and bodies for your number of cupcakes and set aside.  Placing them in the fridge will set them up a bit faster.

For help on making the wings and assembling the final product, see Annie’s Eats post on Butterfly Cupcakes, which is where I found my inspiration for these.  She’s got a great picture-tutorial.

Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cupcake pan and liners with nonstick spray.

Place flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa in a large mixing bowl.  Using an electric mixer, mix ingredients on low to combine.  Keeping mixer on low, add oil, buttermilk and then the eggs one at a time. Add the hot coffee in a thin stream, pouring down the side of the bowl. Add vanilla mixture until batter is smooth.  Marci’s Note: Batter will be VERY thin, thinner than you think a cake batter should be, this is OK.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Makes ~30 cupcakes
(Recipe found here. You can go here to find cook times on a layer cake version of this recipe.)

Frosting
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese.  While sifting the sugar, sift in the salt in with a few cups of the sugar–this will ensure even salt distribution in the frosting which is important to help offset the intense sweetness.  Add a few cups of sugar to the butter and cheese mixture and beat on high, stopping as necessary to scrape down the sides.  Add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat again until blended. Add a few more cups of sugar and beat again on high, up to 4 minutes.  Based on your needed consistency, keep adding sugar and beating on high until consistency is achieved.

ASSEMBLY
Taking care that the cupcakes have cooled, frost them using a large decorator’s bag and tip. Using a large star tip and a quick swirl around the cupcake will give them a bakery-style look.  Before the frosting can set, place the bug’s bodies (chocolate disk) on top of the cupcakes so that they are angled slightly and not completely flat. Let the frosted cupcakes set up a it so that when applying the wings, you don’t smoosh down the frosting.

Using the black decorator’s icing, draw a thick-ish line down the center of the chocolate disk–you want it to be thick enough that you can put the edge of two wings into it.  Now on either side of your black line, place a dot of the black icing and set a chocolate chip in the middle of each dot.  Place the flat side up and turned towards the center of the cupcake, the chocolate chip is what will hold the ladybug wings up.  Taking two ladybug wings place them on the chocolate chip so the edge rests in the middle line you have drawn.

Photo credit: Annie’s Eats

After much research and with time ticking down, I settled on Ina Garten’s recipe from the Food Network because it came overwhelmingly recommended. This is always the hard part for me, picking a recipe…seems I can never pick one and always end up “tweaking” and “merging”. Not this time. I basically ran out of time and ran it “as is” and oh am I glad I did. These bars are tre delicious.  Even if my presentation is lacking (make sure to let the bars cool completely before cutting).  The crust is a perfect soft-ish cookie that complements the lemon. The lemon is intense and flavorful with a nice, creamy consistency. And we like things sour so I skipped the dusted powdered sugar on top.

Yummy

INGREDIENTS
For the crust:
~1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
~1/2 cup granulated sugar
~2 cups flour
~1/8 tsp salt

For the filling:
~6 extra large eggs, room temperature (though I used large eggs and it was fine)
~3 cups granulated sugar
~2 tbs grated lemon zest (4-6 lemons)
~1 cup fresh lemon juice
~1 cup flour
~Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy. A stand mixer with a paddle attachment works best. Combine flour and salt, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough and with floured hands press it into a 9 by 13 by 12-inch baking sheet, building up  a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.

Bake the crust for 12 to 20 minutes until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour.  It will come out less lumpy if the lemon juice is slowly added to the flour though lumps will not affect the final product!  Pour over the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature (though they are better cold).

Cut and dust with confectioner’s sugar.

* I promise to take better photos of the end products from now on. I was just so excited to have a baked good in my house that all I snapped was the crappy one above. Though I do have this one of the crust, I was also so excited about the perfect browning my the new Stove was producing. I mean seriously.  That is twice baked people!  Not a dark spot to be had. Le sigh.

Welcome to Mmm….BAKED!  Sit down and have a cookie.

Here is where it will all begin