Back in Stock!

Just a little update for those who were interested, The Prancing Peacock Earrings are now back in shop and available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Today I took new designs to Street Scene in Lexington. Of course I couldn't resist being a little naughty as well... I bought the most beautiful vintage eight-piece mug and saucer set with matching napkins, lined in lace! I'll be sure to share a photo of the set soon.

I'll be updating my stock at Calypso, Kolors, and ReBelle in the next couple days as well. After that I'll be focusing all my attention on preparing stock for Mayfest. I'll be adding some new items in my shop in the following weeks and will be posting little peaks at new designs which I'll be saving for Mayfest. Stay tuned for that!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

I had been planning to bake cupcakes today since earlier in the week. The hubby has friends over nearly every Sunday afternoon and I often use them as test subjects for my baking. So this afternoon, despite a pounding headache and fever, I couldn't wait to try out a new chocolate cupcake recipe.

I have this issue with most chocolate cake recipes. The most moist chocolate cakes always have annoyingly thin batters, which are great if you're baking a layer cake as they tend to bake up nice and flat--no leveling the layers; but, if you're going for adorably domed cupcakes, they don't deliver. I'm on a mission to discover a go-to recipe for chocolate cupcakes that produces a flavorful, moist batter and a pleasantly sweet rounded top. A recipe that produces 12 or fewer cupcakes is also a plus.

I received Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes from the hubby for my birthday last summer. I immediately read through the cookbook and was intrigued by several of the recipes. Unfortunately I tend to turn to TasteSpotting, FoodGawker or All Recipes first when I'm looking for a recipe and my cookbooks are often neglected. I can't believe it took me almost a year to finally try one of the recipes from this book!

Julie Hasson's book is beautifully organized and nearly every recipe in the book yields 12 cupcakes--perfect! Each cupcake recipe is followed by a few suggestions on which frosting to pair with the cake. Today I made the Best Chocolate Cupcakes and paired them with the Chocolate Fudge Frosting. The result was a rich, decadent chocolate experience! Both the cupcake and frosting recipe were simple, straightforward and yielded delicious results. For now I am thankful to finally have a chocolate cupcake recipe I adore, but I can't wait to try more of the recipes from the book.


Best Chocolate Cupcakes
from Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes
yields 12 cupcakes*

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted**
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until batter is smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 22 to 27 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.

*I made 6 regular sized cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes. I baked the mini cupcakes for 13 minutes and the regular sized cupcakes for 22 minutes.

**I used King Arthur Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa for the deepest, darkest, most chocolaty experience!

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
adapted from Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes
yields about 1 1/2 cups*

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons milk
pinch of salt

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, butter, milk and salt until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Spread onto cooled cupcakes or pipe with a decorator bag and preferred tip.

*Since I like a heaping swirl of frosting atop my cupcakes, this was only enough frosting to frost half the cupcakes (24 mini cupcakes). I would suggest doubling this recipe is you plan to generously frost 12 cupcakes.

I used a Wilton 1M tip to frost these cupcakes.

The Great Granola Experiment of 2010

{Please excuse the sad looking, hand-me-down table.}

This afternoon I made a triple batch of the Easy Homemade Granola I posted about last Tuesday. Halfway through baking the granola, I decided to do a little experiment. In the past I have often used unsweetened applesauce in place of oil when making granola. I decided to make a single batch of the Easy Homemade Granola substituting all of the oil for unsweetened applesauce to do a side-by-side comparison of the original recipe and the oil-free version.

After the granola baked and cooled, I did a comparison of the look, texture, and taste of each batch. As seen above and in the following photograph, the original version of the granola (in the larger bowl on the left) was a bit darker in color than the oil-free version, though both were baked for the same length of time. The oil-free version, not surprisingly, had a faint apple flavor while the original version had a satisfying deep, toasted flavor. The oil-free version formed fewer clusters, and the ones that did form were less crisp and crunchy than the clusters of the original version. Overall, I must say that I preferred the pleasantly toasty flavor and crunchy texture of the original granola over the oil-free version, though the oil-free granola was certainly yummy and would be a great option for those looking for a healthier option. I'm curious to see how substituting some, but not all, of the oil for unsweetened applesauce would affect the recipe.

I kept my camera with me in the kitchen while I was baking, taking photos of each step in putting the granola together.


Oats, cinnamon and salt are tossed together in a large bowl.

Oil (or unsweetened applesauce, if using), honey, brown sugar, and vanilla extract are whisked together in a medium bowl until combined.

The mixture will be thick if using oil and relatively thin if using unsweetened applesauce.

The honey mixture is poured over the oats and thoroughly combined.


The mixture is spread out onto parchment-lined baking sheets and placed in a 325 degree oven.

10 minutes later, sliced almonds, walnuts, and pecans are sprinkled on top.

The mixture is returned to the oven and baked for 15 more minutes, flipping the granola at least once.

The baked granola will be several shades darker than it was before baking.

Once completely cool, add the raisins and cherries and store in an air tight container.

Get the recipe here.