Sunday, September 24, 2006

Welcome, Fall



Maple Walnut Cupcakes
The Artful Cupcake Copyright 2004

7 ½ oz. flour
5 oz. brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
¼ cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup milk
I also added 1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring
1 cup chopped walnuts I omitted these

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and prepare a muffin pan with paper baking cups.
2. Place the first four ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle blade.
3. Cut in the butter, and beat until combined.
4. Add the eggs, maple syrup and milk.
5. Once mixed, add the walnuts.
From here, the recipe in the cookbook became Maple Walnut Streusel Cupcakes so I summarized how I finished them.
6. Fill the muffin cups and bake 15 to 20 minutes.

Maple Frosting
Favorite Brand Name Old-Fashioned Holiday Recipes Copyright 2004

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup maple or pancake syrup
I also added approx. 1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring
3 cups powdered sugar

In small bowl, beat butter and syrup until blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth.

Makes about 3 cups.
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I bought these little leaf-shaped sprinkles last week and I had it in my head that I wanted to make maple cupcakes. I bought some maple flavoring so I knew I could turn just about any cupcake recipe into maple but I really wanted a recipe that also used maple syrup. Surprisingly I couldn't find anything in my cookbook collection (although I didn't search in every single book of course, just the obvious suspects). I did find this recipe at the library but it was for a streusel topped cupcake. I definitely wanted frosting so I just used the base and left out the walnuts, since we can't have nuts here.

I found several maple frosting recipes in my cookbooks. Several were for cooked versions and I admit I chickened out on trying one of those. I've never made a recipe like that, where everything is basically cooked and then cooled to spreading consistency, and recently I've read a few semi-horror stories of this frosting being difficult to work with (hardening too quickly).

For some reason, they only gave ounces for the flour and sugar yet in just about every other recipe, they're measured in cups. Sorry, I should have measured it out into cups after I weighed it but I didn't think of it. There are probably sites out there that will convert it for you if you don't have a food scale. I find a food scale to be valuble tool, though.

The leaves aren't very tasty, as pretty as they are, but I liked everything else, especially the frosting. These are very maple-y, since I used maple flavoring and maple syrup. The frosting is so flavorful, that it would have worked well over a plain yellow cake too. The frosting recipe actually went with a spice cake. That seems to be a popular match - maple frosting and spice cake. Personally, that doesn't appeal to me.

A Blast From The Past: Maple-Glazed Salmon from March 2006. A very different maple syrup recipe yet also very delicious.

Question of the Day: Do you own a food scale?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

those little maple sprinkles are sooo cute!! pity they don't taste fantastic.

I don't have a food scale, but have been considering getting one. What type do you use?

Red Dirt Mummy said...

The cupcakes look great, so cute!!

I have three kitchen scales. The last ones I got are the best ones. They were a birthday present from Hubby and his sisters were horrified but I was thrilled. They are digital, weigh in 5 gram increments and have the tare button too. Now if they just converted metric to imperial! Maybe I can ask for them next LOL.

Annie said...

The cupcakes look so cute and sound scrumptious. I love maple flavor.

I don't own a scale. I have never really found a need for one yet.

Btw, thanks for letting me know about my sidebar dropping in IE. Can you let me know if I fixed the problem?? Thanks, Annie

Unknown said...

These look and sound great. I've been in the mood to make cupcakes AND to make something with maple, so I may have to try this. My roommate and I are having a couple of guy friends over this weekend and I may have to try it out on them along with my dad's famous pizza!

I don't own any scales but am thinking about asking for some for Christmas.

Heather said...

I haven't needed a scale yet. In eating healthy they tell you to weigh your food, but I haven't gotten that ambitious yet. Oh well.
The cupcakes look great. Great for the change in seasons.

Anonymous said...

I've had one for ages, used mostly for dividing up large quantities into amounts I want. It has the tare feature, also. Couldn't do without it!

Jan

Anonymous said...

I have a food scale, back from my Weight Watchers days. Now it holds bananas.

DancesInGarden said...

I have one, it is not digital and you slide the display to "tare" it. It has a wide surface area. I find that the food being weight obsures the face of the scale when they have a small surface area, and let's face it, we aren't always measuring into that tiny bin they provide.

The bin on mine is removeable and about the size of a dinner plate. Very useful.

Use it all the time and love it. I got used to using a food scale way back in childhood, mom was dieting all the time (which meant we all were). Then I learned to use it for baking, dividing ingredients for recipes or freezing, that sort of thing.

One of the most used items in my kitchen.

Rebel In Ontario said...

Had a scale, broke it and I really should replace it! I find I miss it when I'm wanting to weigh out meat such as hamburger or ground round for a recipe. Now I just guestimate!
The cupcakes look very fall like, and this family is maple crazy so a batch may just have to be whipped up here soon as well!

The Cookbook Junkie said...

My food scale is Thinner brand. It doesn't have a bowl. You just use whatever container you choose, then clear the scale using the tare feature.

I too first picked one up when I did Weight Watchers. It really teaches you about food portions. After a few weeks of using a food scale, you'll be much better at eye-balling portions. I can still pick out an exact one ounce portion of Fat-Free Pringles about 95 percent of the time, the other 5% usually only off by a fraction of an ounce.

I use my scale to measure out my bulk meats, to measure dry pasta (recipes usually ask for it by ounces), to measure flour for making pizza crust dough and several other things.