Chocolate Mint Cupcake recipe can be found here.

Use Wilton tip 233 to make grass.

Every time I see Hot Cross Buns at the grocery store this time of year, I almost always buy them out of a sense of seasonal propriety.  (In the event you are unfamiliar, these pastries are served on Good Friday.  There is much folklore surrounding them – whether they will heal the sick, prevent fires, or help me bake perfect bread year round remains to be seen.)  However, despite the tasty appearance of the little pastry with the frosting cross piped on top, they inevitably contain candied fruit peel - and if there is one thing I can do without in life, it is candied fruit peel.  And cauliflower.  But, I digress.  This year instead of buying buns I would end up not liking, I decided to undertake baking my own Hot Cross Buns, so I could include whatever fruits I wanted.  I opted to make a traditional currant bun – in the end, all my grocery store carried were Zante Currants, which as it turns out, are just miniature raisins that cost extra.  After a world wide web search, I followed this recipe for the actual dough as it seemed fairly straightforward.  The hardest part was all the waiting as the smell of baking raisin bread filled the house, but it was worth it in the end!  I used a plain vanilla/confectionary sugar frosting from another recipe to pipe on the crosses in the end rather than the orange frosting suggested on the original recipe site.  They were particularly tasty with a cup of tea.  Lastly, I highly suggest baking them before you take your next sea voyage, as they are supposed to ward off shipwrecks!

Ingredients

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 1/4 cup butter or stick margarine
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons cold water

• For the frosting:

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons milk

•  

  Instructions:  Mix 2 cups of the flour with the sugar, yeast, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.  Heat the milk and butter together to about 120-130 degrees F (this took me about 2 minutes on 50% power in the microwave).  Mix the milk/butter into the dry ingredients just until all is moistened.  Beat in the eggs until smooth.  Add the remaining 2 cups of flour to form a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead about 8 times.  Take the dough and place into a bowl coated with non-stick spray.  Cover and let rise for 1 hr.  Divide the dough into 18 balls and place into 2 round cake pans.  Cover again and let rise for an additional 30 minutes.  Beat the final egg and water together, and brush onto the buns.  Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden.  Cool completely and pipe on a frosting cross onto each bun.

A few days late for Irish cooking, I know – but my husband and I were looking for a way to use up our leftover cabbage from our traditional corned beef dinner last week and decided to experiment.  Colcannon is an Irish dish, traditionally served on Halloween, made with potatoes and cabbage or kale.  (There is even a song written about it!)  Since it incorporates cabbage and we had all the rest of the ingredients, we decided to give it a whirl.  I made it on a weeknight after work – it came together very easily.   While I am not a big fan of cabbage typically, this recipe was a great way to get in a full serving or two of veggies – it was more like eating loaded mashed potatoes than anything else.  I used this recipe for my main inspiration – my main modifications included substituting leek for the scallions, focusing more on the bacon (as this was our dinner entree), and cutting down a bit on the butter.  It was fabulous!

  Ingredients

  2 pounds cabbage, shredded

  2 cups water

  4 pounds potatoes, peeled and chopped

  2 cups milk

  1 cup chopped leek

  Salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste

  1/4 cup butter, melted

  12oz package of bacon, chopped and cooked

Directions:  Place the cabbage and the water into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high head.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until cabbage is tender.  Drain the cabbage, reserving the cooking liquid.  Put the cooking liquid back in the pot, and add the potatoes and enough water to cover.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  In the meantime, put the leeks and milk into a small pot and bring to a boil, then turn off heat and let sit.  When the potatoes have finished cooking, drain them and return them to the pan.  Mash the potatoes, and then add the milk/leek mixture to the pot, mixing well.  Add the cabbage and the bacon to the mixture and combine well.  Drizzle with the melted butter, and add salt and pepper to taste.

As strange as it sounds, I was not quite ready for the weather to warm up – don’t get me wrong, the more than 70 inches of snow we had this winter I was more than happy to see melting away, but I really love soup season and will be sorry to see it go.  There are few meals I enjoy more than a bowl of warm soup when it’s cold outside.  The warmth and sunshine today on the 1st official day of spring made me realize that it’s about time to make one last stew before our soup crocks go into hibernation for the summer.  This recipe was very easy to make and was quite hearty.  I omitted half the salt the original recipe calls for and I still thought it could have used even less – I also changed the proportion of sausage to mushrooms a bit to weight it more towards the meat.  Accompanied by a piece of toasted garlic bread, it was a fabulous farewell to cold weather.  While I will miss soup season, I am looking forward to busting out my ice cream maker for the summer!

Sausage and Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 links of mild Italian sausages
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  onion, chopped
• 3  cloves garlic, minced
• 1 8oz package  mushrooms, sliced
• 7  cups  canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/4  teaspoon  dried red-pepper flakes
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 teaspoons  salt
• 1/4  pound  angel hair

•  

  Directions:  In a large pot, brown the sausages until they are completely cooked through (about 10 minutes), then remove from the pan and cool.  Add the olive oil to the pan, and saute the onion and garlic until the onions are translucent – about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are golden brown.  Add the chicken broth, thyme and pepper flakes, 1 tsp dried parsley and the salt to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, slice the sausage into 1/8 inch thick slices.  Add the sausage to the soup, and the angel hair pasta.  Let cook for about 3-4 minutes or until pasta is cooked.    Enjoy!

One fine winter morning, I decided I would spend my day lazing about the house reading Northanger Abbey while the smell of baking cinnamon buns wafted through the living room.  Sadly (or not so sadly, in the end) I did not have any pre-fab cinnamon buns in a cardboard tube lying around, so I had to make a choice – make cinnamon buns from scratch, or put up with imitation cinnamon bun scent from my favorite Yankee Candle.  I opted for the former, and boy am I glad – these were the most amazing cinnamon buns I’ve ever had.  I found this recipe initially in my Food Network Magazine several months ago and had stuck a post-it on it reminding myself to come back and try it out.  It is supposed to be an imitation of some national cinnamon bun store’s product, but frankly there is nothing like a handmade cinnamon bun coming out of ones’ own oven – far and away better than any commercially available roll.  I changed a few things out of necessity (not having whole milk or cream on hand, I used skim milk, and also reduced the butter in the filling, as I simply couldn’t figure out how to get a whopping 12 tablespoons of butter onto a 12×14 rectangle of dough) and they came out as rich and ooey-gooey as you could want.  Try them, you will not regret it.

Best Cinnamon Buns Ever

For the Dough:

• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup plus 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the bowl
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

• Warm the milk in the microwave for 45-60 seconds until it reaches approximately 100 degrees F.  Add the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar (do not stir!) and let sit until foamy, or about 5 minutes.  In the meantime, whisk together the flour, the remainder of the sugar, the salt and nutmeg in the bowl of your stand mixer. (or a regular bowl if you are without a stand-mixer – just remember to eat your wheaties if you’re mixing this by hand, the dough gets very thick!)  To the foamy yeast mixture, whisk in the melted butter, the egg yolk, and the vanilla.  Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, and pour in the yeast mixture.  Mix on low speed on your stand mixer with the dough hook (or arm mixer) until the dough appears very wet and sticky.  Then turn up the speed to medium and let knead for about 5 minutes, until the dough gathers around the hook.  You may need to add a little extra flour (I did – probably about 3 tablespoons) to get the dough to this point.  Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and form a ball with it.  Before putting the dough back in the bowl, coat your mixing bowl with butter.  Put the dough back in the bowl and roll the ball around so it is coated in butter.  Cover with saran wrap and let rise for 1 hr, or until doubled in size.

  For the filling:

• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 4-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

•  Mix the cinnamon and sugar together before rolling out the dough.  Butter a 9×13 inch baking dish.  Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Flour the top of the dough so it doesn’t stick to your rolling pin!  Roll the dough out into an approximately 12×14 inch rectangle (I had an oddly shaped ellipse), with the long side facing you.  Spread the butter all over the dough except for about 1/2 an inch on the far side of the dough - the original recipe called for 12 tablespoons of butter, but my dough was well covered with only 4-6 tablespoons.  Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mix over the dough sparing the 1/2 inch bare edge.  Coat this edge with water.  Roll the dough away from you forming a tight roll.  Slice into 1 1/2 inch thick slices using a serrated bread knife with very little pressure so as to not squish the roll!  Place the slices into the baking dish, cut side down, with space in between as they will expand!  Let rise for 20-30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 325 and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.

  For the glaze:

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup skim milk 
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• Sift the sugar into a bowl and whisk in the wet ingredients until smooth.  Pour over buns after they have cooled in the pan for 15 minutes or so.  (If you can wait 15 minutes for the buns to cool in the pan by all means go ahead – my husband and I couldn’t, so we just poured the glaze right on straight out of the oven.  This made the glaze very warm and melty, increasing the gooey-ness factor by a lot – but if you wait longer it will probably be prettier! )

After a long blogging hiatus, I’m back.  While I haven’t been blogging regularly, I’ve been tracking my kitchen adventures and have a number of fun recipes to share.

In the dead of winter, nothing is better than a warm, hearty bowl of soup.   Panera’s Baked Potato soup is a favorite of mine,  so I was intrigued when I saw a copycat recipe on A Year of Slow-cooking.   While the flavor differs somewhat from the original, this soup is smooth, creamy and rich… the perfect meal for a cold winter’s night.

Honestly, it doesn’t get much easier than this.  I find potato soups very messy when cooked on the stove – you need to make sure that things don’t boil over or stick to bottom of the pan, and clean-up is a pain.  With this recipe,  you just throw everything in the slow-cooker and walk away.

Beware:  this recipe makes a lot of soup – easily 10 generous servings.   The soup is so tasty, you probably won’t mind an abundance of leftovers.    It filled my 6 quart Crock Pot with only about an inch to spare, so make sure you use a 6-quart or larger slow-cooker if you choose to make a full batch.

Slow-cooker Baked Potato Soup
Yields 10 servings

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 quarts chicken broth
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, green onion, chives, shredded cheddar cheese

1. After peeling and dicing potatoes, place them in the slow-cooker (use 6-quart or larger). Add onion, garlic, seasonings and broth.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for four hours.
3. Once potatoes are fork-tender, use a masher to mash the potatoes.
4. Break up both packages of cream cheese and add to slow-cooker. Put the cover back on.
5. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Once cream cheese is completely dissolved, serve with desired garnishes.

During the torrential rainstorm today, I drove 3 hrs each way to a job interview.  Consequentially I spent most of the day looking like a drowned rat in a business suit.  When I got home (aside from changing into my PJs and drying my hair) all I wanted was some comfort food and a nap.  We had lots of leftover chicken on hand and some leeks, so I decided to make a chicken pot pie.  This recipe caught my eye because it appeared fairly straightforward.  I made a few modifications, mostly because I didn’t have tarragon or grainy mustard (and as I was in my PJs, could not really go out to procure tarragon or grainy mustard…) and I also used skim milk because we didn’t have whole milk in the house.  It was a great way to end a very long and damp day.

Ingredients:

12 oz cooked chicken (I used a combination of boneless skinless chicken breast and thighs)

2 tablespoons butter

1 leek, sliced lengthwise and then into 1/2 inch strips

1 onion, diced

1 tablespoon mustard (I used dijon)

1/4 cup flour

1 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon reserved skim milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried marjoram

Salt & pepper to taste

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg

Directions:

Melt the butter in a deep skillet over medium heat.  Saute the leek and onion until the onion becomes translucent – about 4-5 mins.  Add the mustard and the flour.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes stirring constantly.  Add the chicken broth, 3/4 cup skim milk and cream.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.  Add the chicken and spices to the skillet and mix well.  Let the mixture cool.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place into a deep pie dish.  Roll the pastry out to a size able to cover the pie dish and press it over top, sealing it to the dish.  I used the extra bits of pastry dough to decorate the top.  Beat the egg and tablespoon of milk together and brush over top of the pastry crust before baking.  Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crust becomes golden brown and puffy.

So we’re actually no longer snowed in – thankfully the 23.2 inches of snow we had here have now melted…but despite the fact that we can now leave the house I’m still in a baking mood, so here are a few more cookie recipes I tried out that weekend. The other two kinds of cookies I made that fabulous snowy weekend include Chocolate Meringues and Chocolate White Chip cookies.

Batch #3 – Chocolate Meringues

As I’ve mentioned before, my mother has celiac disease so whenever I bake cookies I try to include a gluten-free option. I hadn’t made chocolate meringues before, so I decided to give these a go and they were amazing. The outside was crisp and light and inside the filling stayed ever so slightly chewy, which was tasty and delicious. An added benefit to making meringue cookies is the low-fat healthy nature of these cookies – as they are made with only egg whites, no cholesterol too! One piece of advice – sift the cocoa! Mine have little bubbles in them, where the cocoa powder got stuck together…still tasted fabulous, but maybe not quite as pretty!

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

• Directions:

  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Place the egg whites and vanilla into a bowl – beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is foamy. Beat in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture becomes glossy appearing and stiff peaks form. Add about half of the cocoa and fold in gently until well incorporated. Add the rest of the cocoa in the same manner. Spoon the meringue mixture into a pastry bag (I used a frosting gun instead) with a large star tip and squeeze dallops onto the parchment-coated cookie sheet. You can place these fairly close together as they do not expand very much while baking. Bake for 30 minutes or until they appear dry, then cool completely on a cooling rack. Store in the fridge.

  Batch #4:

  I had lots of white chocolate chips on hand during this storm, so in the name of pantry space I decided to make a cookie that involved white chocolate chips. My favorite kind is the ones that have tasty white morsels in a traditional chocolate cookie dough, so I searched for a recipe until I found this one. The cookies came out amazingly tender and moist – we were all huge fans in my household. Especially wonderful with a glass of nice cold milk.

  

  Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks softened butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 12 oz package of white chocolate chips

  Directions:

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, cocoa, bakin soda, and salt. Beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chips in. Drop by the teaspoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Well, we got 24 inches of snow in our neck of the woods this weekend – since my husband and I had no place to go, we stayed in and “let it snow!” While everyone else in the city stocked up on bread, milk and eggs (presumably to make french toast?) I opted for butter, flour, sugar and other baking implements – I figured we can always live off of cookies for a few days! I made four different varieties yesterday, and one more today!! Here are the first couple – the rest will follow soon!

Batch #1 – Gingerbread Cookies

I just love these little ginger-colored treats with frosting-piped faces. Although in my typical fashion I wanted a “healthier” cookie recipe if possible, these came out very moist and delicious – my husband didn’t even realize they were from Cooking Light. They were surprisingly easy to cut and the dough didn’t crumble on me like the last few batches of gingerbread cookies I made.

Cookies:

• 10.1 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 cups)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• 1 large egg
• Cooking spray

• Icing:

• 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

• Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, & nutmeg with a whisk. In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, & molasses and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat well to combine. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients – I used a heavy duty stand mixer as the dough became quite thick and sticky. Divide the dough in half, flattening each half into a disc and wrapping tightly in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 90 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough to 1/8 – 1/4 inch thickness and cut with the desired cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.

  For decorating: Mix powdered sugar and water – if too thick, add drops of water – I ended up using closer to 1.5 tablespoons in the end. Spoon the icing into a plastic bag with a tiny hole cut in the corner and decorate away!

  Batch #2 – Chocolate Peanut Butter Pinwheels

  My husband loves anything that combines chocolate and peanut butter – so in my baking extravaganza I wanted to make sure I included some cookies he would really enjoy! This recipe I found was great, although I made a couple minor substitutions – I didn’t have baking chocolate on hand, and as there was a blizzard outside I opted to substitute in some cocoa powder. They came out great – although the dough softened very fast when out of the fridge. Cut them speedily!

  Ingredients:

  1/2 cup sugar

  1 stick of butter (softened)

  1 egg

  1 tsp vanilla

  1 1/2 cups flour

  1/2 tsp baking powder

  1/4 tsp salt

  3 tbsp cocoa powder

  1 tbsp vegetable oil

  1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

  Beat sugar, butter, egg and vanilla together in a large bowl – scrape the bowl often to make sure everything is well mixed! Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix together well. Divide dough into two even portions. To the first portion, add the cocoa powder and the vegetable oil and mix well. To the second portion, add the peanut butter and mix well. Shape the two doughs into rectangles and wrap tightly in saran wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr. Roll each dough out between 2 pieces of floured wax paper – Make sure the doughs are approximately the same size! Then peel away one sheet of wax paper from each dough. Press the two doughs together, and roll (jelly-roll style) into a log. Wrap the log in saran wrap and place the dough into the freezer for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove dough and quickly slice into 1/4 inch thick discs. Place 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined cookie pan and bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.

This is a very special post. No, not because it contains the recipe for an amazing dark chocolate brownie. It marks both the 100th post and the first anniversary of Domestic Pursuits. I’ve enjoyed sharing my cooking adventures and look forward to working my way through many more interesting recipes and domestic activities in the coming year. Happy Anniversary to us!

Now onto the delicious part…

After picking up a container of Edy’s Slow Churned Pumpkin ice cream last night, I decided that I needed brownies to go with it. Pumpkin and chocolate is my new favorite flavor combination and you just can’t go wrong with brownies a la mode!

I love this recipe for mint brownie cups and decided to eliminate the mint extract to yield traditional brownies. As I started baking, I realized that I didn’t have the right balance of chocolate, so these brownies contain more bittersweet chocolate than the originals. Since I eliminated the mint extract, I decided to add some amaretto to further emphasize the richness of the chocolate. These changes yielded a decadent brownie with a smooth, dark chocolate flavor.

Dark Chocolate Brownie Cups
Yields 14-16 brownies

6 tbsp butter
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (chopped)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp amaretto
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 Line a muffin tin with paper liners. Lightly spray liners with cooking spray.
3. In a heat-proof bowl, melt together butter and chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals stirring after each interval until smooth. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
5. Whisk or beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture.
6. Add eggs, amaretto and vanilla extract to the chocolate mixture and mix until well combined and smooth.
7. Add flour mixture and mix until combined.
8. Gently fold in the 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
9. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Each cup should be about 2/3 full.
10. Bake for 18-23 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs.
11. Allow brownies to cool before removing from muffin pan.