Cupcakes!

So I made cupcakes last night for Bible study and for family birthdays today...yummy! I liked the box mix, but I think I will aspire to make my cupcakes from scratch. The flours for the box mix were predominantly rice flour and tapioca flour, and I've discovered that just those two flours can give baked goods a bit more "chew" than normal baked goods. (next time, I may add some teff flour for good measure) But that's not what's important right now.

I made sugar free frosting. And it's delicious.

Granted, I used coconut sugar and powdered maple syrup, but that doesn't matter. What matters, is that my cupcakes are not naked cupcakes! And the frosting tastes soo good. If I can find a donut recipe, I have my frosting. I found a graham cracker recipe, so on those need-something-sweet moments I can now have frosting with them, when I make a cake, I have a frosting for it. I HAVE A FROSTING!!!!!



Yes, it's a Halloween paper. I realized I ran out of birthday wrappers, ok?
But what matters is that frosting. I have maple chunks for sprinkles on mine. ^_^

 Admit it, it looks good. That's because it IS good. How did I make this amazing, delectable frosting? Chaotic baking and subsitutions.

My poor kitchen was quite the mess

I'm glad I had organized the day prior so I had so much space!



But I'll totally say it paid off!

And you can make it home too!


Chocolate Frosting of Gastronomic Goodness
1/2 cup carob powder
2 heaping spoonfuls of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup melted, unsalted butter
1/3 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup powdered maple syrup


Melt the butter and blend powdered carob and cocoa. Smooth out as many lumps as possible. Remove from heat. Slowly add in vanilla and milk, stirring as you go. I'd recommend sifting the sugars together, and then slowly adding them into the carob mix. Grab a hand mixer and blend on high until smooth. This could take awhile. What I did was blend on high for about 4 minutes, then I turned it off and walked away for half an hour. Came back and blended again. Use for frosting, and any leftovers can go in a tupperware in the fridge for a later date. Enjoy!




I used up the last of the store bought frostings for the two leftmost cupcakes colors,
and then the chocolate cupcakes on the right are for me. So glad I found something that works!



And I did clean up the kitchen eventually...



Without flash. And yes, that there is Christmas paper. I also had Valentine's Day wrappers...

Kitchen space, deep fryers and cupcakes. But not all at once.

I am so behind on the recipe and food posting! So sorry! Let's see, where to start? Umm...

Yesterday was our anniversary, and this Thursday is my birthday, so my poor hubby has to get me two items for presents for both occasions. (I keep telling him he can combine into one to make it easier) This year he decided to have a theme, and stayed consistant to it: a french fry cutter and a deep fryer! Now I can have non-cross-contaminated fries whenever I want! Yay! So far, we've had regular french fries and sweet potato fries. I love it.

We had to rearrange the kitchen to make space for our new appliances. (well, I had to, he wouldn't have cared too much either way) So we went out and bought a cute little cupboard to put large items in, and it gives us a top shelf for stuff, and it helps clear off our counters! Win/Win!

Cute little holder for all my mixers and boxes and whatnot!



I never showed a before picture, but now I have counter space again!



So I've enjoyed having counters again and space for all my baking/cooking/mad scientist moments. ^_^ Which is especially great right now, considering how much baking I'm doing! Today I'm trying out a box mix *le gasp* for cupcakes, and I'm making the frosting from scratch, as finding sugar-free frosting is impossible. This makes my life easier, as tomorrow will be cupcakes again, Thursday maybe something special for my birthday-undecided as of yet, Saturday I'll be making 2 french bread loaves, ooey gooey PB brownies, a pasta dish and a fruit dish for a friend's welcome-back-party, and then Sunday I need at least one baked good for the morning...but I'm debating between banana nut muffins, blueberry muffins, and pumpkin/apple muffins...or all three. We'll see how time runs on THAT. *manic laugh*

 Once I've perfected the frosting, I'll post about it and the cupcakes. I need to check if this mix is any good or not. I'm very skeptical of boxed mixes nowadays...

Did I mention yet, we made pumpkin pancakes! Sooo good!



Waiting to be flipped



I used the pancake recipe I posted earlier. I just added half a can of pumpkin to it, some cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, mace and cloves, and kept adding coconut milk until it was thin enough to cook all the way through! I discovered if you don't add milk to thin out the batter, the pumpkin makes it so thick, the batter has trouble cooking thouroughly. It'll look done-but it really isn't. Thin them down to the point where the batter is runny-ish, and you're ready to go! Cook like pancakes. Add butter and maple syrup and enjoy! Soo delicious!




A later batch that's flipped-MMMmmmm!!!!