Fake-Out Cupcakes

For April Fool's Day, I made these herb bacon savory muffins and topped them with whipped cream cheese.  To create the effect of a chocolate cupcake, I colored the batter with a liberal amount of brown food coloring and tinted the cream cheese to create a two-tone pastel effect.  To prevent green flakes which might show through even the brown coloring, I infused the milk with the herbs and strained them out before preparing the batter.

Next time I will allow the cream cheese to come to room temperature before frosting because it was very hard to get the cold cream cheese to come out of the pastry bag smoothly, resulting in gaps and unevenness.  For color effect on the frosting use a pastry bag equipped with a star trip.  When filling the bag, put yellow cream cheese toward side and pink cream cheese toward the other.  Then when the pastry bag is squeezed, you'll get a swirled efffect.

Fake-Out Cupcakes (makes 12-15)

2 cups all purpose flour	1/2 teas dried rosemary
1 Tbsp baking powder	1/2 teas dried thyme
1/2 teas salt	1 egg
1 teas sugar	1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teas onion powder	1 cup milk
1/2 teas garlic powder	1/4 cup bacon bits
8oz whipped cream cheese

Optional Step:  Combine 1 cup milk with 1/2 teas rosemary and 1/2 teas thyme.  Cover and place in refrigerator several hours before you are ready to make the batter.  Then you can strain out the herbage, allowing you to have their flavor without seeing the pesky green herbs which can still show through the "chocolate cake."

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a dozen muffin tins with cupcake paper.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Make a well in the center.

If you have added herbs to the milk, strain the herbs at this time.  Otherwise, add the herbs now.  In a small container combine egg, oil, and milk.  Add a liberal amount of brown food coloring to the liquids.  I added about 2 teas. of gel.  You may need more or less.  Stir the liquids and coloring.  Adjust the coloring until it is a few shades darker than the desired "chocolate" color.

Pour the liquids into the center of the flour mixture and beat until combined.  Stir in the bacon bits.

Fill muffin tins to about half full and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely and frost with whipped cream cheese.

Skiving Snackboxes

 

My family loves the idea of the Skiving Snackboxes created by the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter books.  So I set out to create muggle versions of the treats within.  Since I am a muggle and incapable of creating the magic effects of the candies, I instead created "taste effects" by pairing some unusual flavors in these two-part confections.  To find out how I made these, visit the the directions I posted on Instructables for each.

Fever Fudge (upper left) -- spicy hot / vanilla

Puking Pastilles (upper right) -- garlic and anise / mint

Fainting Fancies (lower left) -- carrot and cumin (unsweetened) / sour lemon

Nosebleed Nougat (lower right) -- tart strawberry and balsamic / banana

More Pi Pies

Mini Pie Pi

I baked this Mini Pie Pi display for Pi Day.  The crust on them is really nice.  It's kind of like a cookie.  It holds up to being sealed in an air-tight container without turning soft or gooey.

I entered this and my Spherical Pie into the Instructables Pi Day Contest this year.  The entries include several displays of mini pies but mine was the original.  If you like these concepts, I could really use the votes!

Sloppy Phils

Groundhog Day is just a few days away.  This is the day on which the great prognosticator of winter, the groundhog, emerges from his hole and looks for his shadow to determine if we will have an early Spring.  In the US, Punxsutawney Phil is the most popular of these groundhog predictors.  On those years when Phil sees a continuation of winter, my family marks Groundhog Day with a supper of Sloppy Phils.

These are, of course, simple Sloppy Joes but slightly more rustic.  Also, I don't use actual Groundhog.  Although I'm aware it can be eaten, I'm not up for digging around holes in the ground to accomplish my task.

Sloppy Phils (makes 6-8)

• 1 lb lean ground beef, ground turkey, or any combination of ground meats*
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper
• 1/2 teas garlic powder
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• 1 teas Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teas liquid smoke
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• hamburger buns (lettuce leaves for lettuce wraps work here too)

In a medium skillet, brown the ground meat, breaking it up as it cooks.  Drain.  (We also rinse to get rid of extra fat but this is optional.)  Set aside cooked meat.
In the same pan as before, saute the onion and pepper in just a little oil until the onion is translucent.  Return the ground meat to the pan.
Add the garlic, mustard, Worcestershire, liquid smoke, ketchup, and brown sugar to the skillet and stir.   Simmer 30 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.
Serve on sliced buns,