October 05, 2010

Chocolate Avocado Cupcakes with Avocado Buttercream Frosting

October 05, 2010/ Kristin Rosenau

chocolate avocado cupcakes with avocado buttercream

The idea for these cupcakes visited me in a dream. A real, honest-to-god, its-three-in-the-morning-and-I'm-under-the-covers dream. When I groggily woke up the next morning, I sweetly remembered dreams filled with chocolate cake and green avocados. As consciousness slowly regained, I remembered I had made an apple cake the night before, so I threw the idea of the avocado cake to the wayside as the prospect of a sugar-laden, pretend-healthy cake breakfast whispered to me from the kitchen. But the more I thought about it, the more delicious a chocolate avocado cake sounded. So delicious, in fact, that I couldn't think clearly the rest of the day.

My curiosity was piqued. After work, I immediately ran to the supermarket and rummaged around for the ripest avocados I could find. It took me 15 minutes and several hundred fruit handling assaults to find the ripest avocados. I was a mad woman with a mission. After all, these cupcakes had come to me in my dreams, clearly it was destiny!

By themselves, these vegan chocolate avocado cupcakes are a perfect representation of a delicious, moist cupcake with the perfect crumb. But with the avocado buttercream? Game changer. This combination is absolutely lethal. The avocado taste in the buttercream is subtle, yet present, and has such a fantastic natural coloring. I would seriously take this avocado buttercream over the traditional buttercream any day. Any day. It is that good.

I shared these cupcakes with my fellow grad students and they were unanimously a hit. I need to dream about pastries more often.

October 02, 2010

Mixed Berry Crumble

October 02, 2010/ Kristin Rosenau

I have a soft spot for neglected fruit. Slightly bruised, a little overripe, sitting quietly in the corner minding its own business. They might be a little imperfect. They might be a little flawed. They might not make the cover of any magazines. They might be just like me (and maybe you).

When I was last at the market, I spotted a small table full of all the overdue summer berries, looking for a good home. These were the leftovers. The unwanted ones. As if to prove my point, a smarmy woman walked by and remarked, "Oh, would you look at those. A mile past their expiration date if you ask me." Well, I wasn't asking her. And I bought them just the same.

Bruised fruit is absolutely perfect to make tarts, pies, and crumbles. When I made this crumble, I could hardly contain myself when they were baking in the oven. The fruit bubbled and boiled, filling the air with sweet scents. And these crumbles? They actually sung. The fruit crackled. It popped. It hissed with the glorious sounds of bubbling over. These crumbles are worth making for that and that alone.

September 24, 2010

Maple Roasted Bananas with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

September 24, 2010/ Kristin Rosenau

I have begun a lifelong love affair with maple syrup. It started with pancakes, gravitated towards desserts, and found its way to savory foods (maple syrup is just fantastic on asparagus). But today we aren't talking about pancakes or savory foods. We are talking desserts. And this one is certainly a doozie.

When I set out to make these maple roasted bananas, I had no idea of the surprises in store for me. When you start to invent your own recipes, a little surprise here and there is bound to happen (though you never anticipate it). It started out innocently enough, with beautifully cut bananas drowning in maple syrup and brown sugar. What can I say? I let my guard down. So I put them in the oven, set the timer, and started putting away ingredients. About 4 minutes in, I smelled burnt sugar and rushed to the oven. The bananas were perfectly fine, oh yes they were, and I let out a brief sigh of relief. But the extra sugar in the pan had decided to boil and burn something awful. So, being completely practical, I turned on the broiler to harden the sugar on the bananas.

The fire alarm forced me to stop my experiment.

My bananas turned out perfectly despite this. My pan may be charred black, but who can care about that when these gorgeous bananas are staring you in the face? Some sugary syrup had been spared, so I drizzled this over the roasted bananas and added a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream. Oh. My God. I ate more than my fair share and licked my plate clean. Licked it spotless.

The cinnamon whipped cream keeps the sugar in check, so it is not overwhelming. Both the maple syrup and banana flavors shine. I could gush longer about how good this is, but I think its better if you just find out for yourself, don't you?

(Don't worry, I adjusted and tested the recipe so your baking venture will be a little less exciting).