Such humble-looking little cookies.

A bit of honey and a dash of cardamom later and I had some delicious, slightly exotic cookies. So what’s the problem?

They don't really look much like meringues.

For something made with things I wanted to use up they were unexpectedly wonderful. So wonderful that Z requested I make more as soon as possible. But…that would require buying more nuts and separating more eggs.

Lumpy bits mean walnutty goodness!

See, I would actually like to make these again. They were a bit overdone due to my panicking at them not crisping up at all in the oven. I think it was the humidity, they were very rubbery outside and wouldn’t hold their shape. Since it was late, I turned off the oven and left them in there and went to bed.

Could be fluffier, could NOT be tastier.

I guess I should have cracked the oven door open – they were crispy, crispy, crispy in the morning. Which was actually kind of interesting in that around the edges the walnuts were the softest part about them. So yeah…don’t do what I did, do what I SHOULD have done if you make these.

Odds and ends can make a wonderful thing.

Honeyed Walnut Cardameringues

1. 3 egg whites, room temperature
2. 1/4 cup sugar
3. 1/4 cup honey
4. 2 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed finely, pods discarded
5. Small splash of orange flower water
6. 1 cup walnuts, chopped finely

Preheat the oven to 350. In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the whites to a foam, then gradually add the sugar and honey. Add the cardamom and orange flower water and beat to medium-stiff peaks. Carefully fold in the chopped nuts. Plop onto lined cookie sheets (I find Silpats do a better job at not burning the bottoms of meringues but parchment is ok too) in medium-sized mounds 1″ apart. Bake for 20-30 minutes, then turn the oven off and crack the door open a little bit. Let rest in the oven for a few hours or overnight. Keep in an airtight container.

If you don’t have walnuts on hand, these cookies would also be lovely with almonds or pistachios. The honey works beautifully to carry the flavor of the cardamom, and the orange flower water is nearly imperceptible but adds a tiny extra layer of mysterious flavor – just as it should.

You give me really awesome cupcake wrappers, I WILL make you cupcakes in said wrappers!

As it turns out, there’s actually a lot more to a real red velvet cake than the hint of cocoa and often garish color. For one, buttermilk. That was all well and good…if I didn’t have to make it dairy-free (so I could share with my best friend). I usually use either coconut milk or condensed soy milk (which I condense myself). Luckily, after a little searching I found out that soy milk could, in fact, be spoiled with a small amount of acid just like regular milk can when you need a buttermilk substitute. One hurdle down!

Another issue I ran into was the leavening – mochi cakes generally only call for baking powder for leavening (which falls into a dense, chewy awesomeness moments after coming out of the oven) while red velvet calls for baking soda and vinegar to be added, foaming, at the last second. I went with the red velvet method and it worked out great.

Lookit that frosting! So smooth!

In keeping with my dairy-free theme, I decided that fake cream cheese and margarine was too creepy a combination to use for a frosting (despite mochi cakes not really needing frosting in general, I don’t think you can have proper red velvet without some kind of white frosting), so I went with a white chocolate-coconut milk ganache. I know white chocolate isn’t dairy-free but a small amount is tolerable, and the ganache is so rich and luxurious that you don’t need a lot. Just one little creamy, slightly coconutty swirl is enough.

Not neon red, but a more pleasant, edible shade.

Another difference between red velvet cake and mochi cake is that the fat in red velvet is generally all vegetable oil, as opposed to the melted butter used in mochi cakes. I used all vegetable oil the first time I tried to make these (yes, it took me two tries) and they came out just fine. Except, being the first try, they weren’t quite right yet. A bit too much cocoa, not enough red.

Artsy shot!

Not unexpectedly, I had been posting to Twitter the whole time about my experiment, and got a fantastic suggestion from a like-minded Twitterer. Why not add red bean paste to the mix?

OF COURSE!

So, on my second try, I substituted red bean paste for half the oil, decreased the amount of cocoa powder and used only enough dye to turn the batter a pinkish-orange color. The cakes baked up wonderfully and taste not completely unlike red velvet, from the hint of cocoa and the tang of the acidic “buttermilk”, but also a little classically Japanese with the red bean and mochi flavors also popping up a bit. And, of course, there’s that frosting…

Parrots love cupcakes too.

Red Velvet Mochi Cupcakes

First, Make the Ganache (because it takes a while to set up):

1. 200g white chocolate, chopped
2. 100g coconut milk

Melt the white chocolate over a simmering double boiler. Set aside. Heat the coconut milk until steaming (you can do this in a small saucepan or just in the microwave) and pour it into the chocolate. Using a small spatula, stir gently from the middle of the bowl until the ganache is fully emulsified, scraping along the sides once in a while but not incorporating any extra air. Set aside to set up – you can chill it if you’d like but give it a stir once or twice to make sure it doesn’t set up too hard. It can be softened at room temperature if it does.

Then, Make the Cakes (red velvet recipe adapted from Pithy & Cleaver):

1. 12 oz. plain soy milk
2. 2 tsp white vinegar
3. 2 oz. vegetable oil
4. 2 oz. sweet red bean paste
5. 1 cup (200g) sugar
6. 2 eggs
7. 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
8. 5 1/3 oz. Mochiko
9. 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
10. 1/8-1/4 tsp red gel food coloring
11. 1/2 tsp baking soda
12. 1/2 tsp white vinegar

Place the soy milk in a small saucepan and simmer until it reduces to 6 oz. Remove from saucepan and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with paper liners (or prepare a cake pan if that’s how you roll).

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, red bean paste, sugar and eggs. Add the cocoa and Mochiko, mix thoroughly. Add the 2 tsp. vinegar to the condensed soy milk and pour it into the mixture, whisk to combine. Whisk in the color gradually until you get a reddish-orange color. Measure the baking soda into a small bowl, pour in the 1/2 tsp. of vinegar and allow to begin frothing, then dump into the batter and quickly mix. Pour immediately into prepared baking vessel. Bake 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a cake comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack.

Once the cakes are fully cooled, fit a piping bag with a star tip and fill it with the ganache. Pipe a swirl onto each cupcake.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

I know there are a lot of weight measurements in this recipe, and frankly I’m not interested in converting every little thing I make. I wouldn’t make this without a scale personally. My advice to those who wish to convert the weights to volume? Don’t. Just buy a scale. They’re not expensive and after one or two recipes you’ll wonder how you ever baked without one.

Not exactly what it seems.

When I read “passion” I immediately though of passion fruit, and Z’s favorite dessert, passion fruit Pavlova. It was a pretty perfect match. But how to translate it into a cupcake?

Bakes up remarkably cake-ish looking.

I first considered doing some kind of angel food thing, since that’s fairly meringue-y. But then I thought about it…why not just bake meringues as cupcakes? Could it be done? Had it been done?

Soft & pillowy interior...my favorite part.

Turns out it could and had, by none other than The Martha. Hoping she wouldn’t let me down, I went ahead and made my own batch.

The top pops off.

I apparently didn’t read the instructions (that I even hand-copied) thoroughly enough to realize that I needed to spray the inside of the liners if I wanted to pull them off the cupcakes, but Z said he liked that he had to dig into the paper to get at the deliciousness inside.

The cupcakes, by the way, came out great. Their one “flaw” was that they all cracked along the top…which turned out to actually be just right since I could just pop off the tops and fill them.

Curd is wonderful. I love curd.

I don’t normally use curd in my Pavlovas, mainly because I prefer the intense contrast between sweet meringue, tart passion fruit and rich whipped cream, but these are cupcakes! And cupcakes like to be filled with rich, yummy curd. I know. They told me.

To get an especially passion fruit-y looking curd, I mixed cacao nibs in before letting it set up, giving the appearance of seeds in passion fruit pulp. This softens the nibs considerably but since I was adding more on top for crunch I figured it didn’t really matter. If you want to preserve the crunchiness add the nibs right before serving.

Replace the hat, add the whipped cream, fresh fruit & some nibs. Enjoy.

Passion Fruit Pavlova Cupcakes

First, Make the Curd:

1. 3 whole eggs
2. 3 egg yolks
3. 7 1/2 Tbsp (115g) passion fruit puree (seeds removed – I used Goya frozen puree)
4. 3 Tbsp (1.5 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
5. 6 Tbsp sugar (75g)
6. 2 Tbsp cacao nibs

Combine all ingredients but nibs in a medium bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and becomes custardy in appearance. Strain into a bowl, stir in nibs and chill with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface of the curd.

Then, Make the Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart):

1. 3 egg whites, room temperature
2. 1/4 tsp salt
3. 1/2 tsp white vinegar
4. 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp (175g) sugar

Preheat the oven to 225. Line every other cup of a 12-cup regular sized muffin with paper cupcake liners. Spray the interiors of the liners (optional). In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the egg whites with the salt and vinegar until foamy, then gradually add the sugar. Whip to stiff, glossy peaks, then transfer to a piping bag with either no tip or a very large round one (I just used a plastic bag with a corner cut off since appearances at this stage don’t matter) and pipe the meringue into the liners. Bake for about 3 hours, rotating the pan once. The cupcakes will puff up much like real cupcakes and eventually crack along the top – this is good. Once a skewer/toothpick inserted down the side of a liner comes out with moist but cooked crumbs, remove from oven, peel liners off (if they were sprayed) and cool completely on a rack. Makes six.

To Assemble (Do This Right Before Serving):

1. 3-4 Tbsp cold heavy cream per cupcake
2. 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar per cupcake
3. Meringue cupcakes
4. Passion fruit curd
5. Pulp of 1 fresh passion fruit per cupcake
6. 1/4 tsp cacao nibs per cupcake

Pour the cream into a well-chilled mixing bowl. Add the vanilla sugar and use a balloon whisk to whip to medium peaks; set aside. Pull the cracked top(s) off of each cupcake you are serving and fill with 2-3 Tbsp of curd per cupcake. Replace the top and add a dollop of whipped cream, then carefully spoon on the passion fruit and sprinkle with the cacao nibs. Serve immediately (on a plate).

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They gots stuffs in thems!

Recently my mom sent me a couple boxes of some vegetarian gelatin substitute. I’ve been in a very use-up-all-the-little-odds-and-ends mood, so in the spirit of Valentine’s Day I created some  jiggly, romantic little hearts.

Pomegranate yay!

I still had a couple of 16 oz. bottles of Pom Wonderful juice sitting in the fridge, and considering each box of fake gelatin called for 16 oz. of liquid, how could I NOT make pomegranate Jell-O?

Big or little, both were delicious.

I also had a couple of pomegranates sadly getting older in the fridge so I added them for crunchy awesomeness reasons. And for a little romantic mysteriousness, I included a splash of rose water.

Kinda sorta heart-shaped?

The fakey gelatin stuff (which is from Natural Desserts and is vegan, gluten-free and Kosher…here are the ingredients: Vegetable Gum, Adipic Acid, Tapioca Dextrin, Calcium Phosphate, Potassium Citrate) works great and it’s not brittle like agar agar or gummy like pectin. The only real difference is that it had to be added in powdered form while the juice was boiling hot, whisked in and poured into molds immediately. It sets up CRAZY fast and it was actually kind of hard to get the pomegranate arils into some of the small hearts – I had to kind of throw them in to get them to not just sit on the surface.

The recipe below is how you’d make this with real gelatin.

Squooshy & juicy.

Jiggly Pomegranate Hearts

1. 1/4 oz. Knox gelatin
2. 16 oz. (2 cups) Pom Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice, chilled
3. 1/8 tsp rose water
4. 1/4 cup fresh pomegranate arils

Bloom the gelatin in 4 oz. (1/2 cup) of juice. In the meantime, bring the rest of the juice to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the rose water, then whisk in the gelatin mixture until completely dissolved. Pour into heart-shaped molds and/or ramekins and add arils. Chill until set, about 3 hours.

Because there is no added sugar in this recipe, it’s actually quite healthy, and the rose water adds a slight floral sweetness that counteracts the tart pomegranate juice. The arils are beautifully suspended like jewels and the whole thing really is pretty romantic.

Roly poly lemons rolled into a cupcake.

Until I had some free time and went poking around to try and catch up with Cupcake Hero. Once I discovered this month’s theme, I knew I had my perfect excuse.

What could possibly be going on here?

Olive oil? Ohh yes, this would be wonderful! Sunny and fruity and creamy and salty…wait, what?

And you though BUTTERCREAM was fattening!

Yes, I decided that since Meyer lemons and cream go oh so very well together, these cupcakes wouldn’t need a real frosting, just a nice dollop of freshly whipped Chantilly cream. And then I thought of olive oil gelato, and of the lemon salt my mom had recently given me (yes another salt)…

A Serious Cupcake.

I ultimately decided that a little extra virgin olive oil plus the lemon salt would be the only proper way to top off these cupcakes, keeping in mind the simple garnishes usually given to frozen olive oil-flavored dairy-based treats.

Surprisingly complementary elements.

The first one I assembled and ate…eh, I was not that impressed. Oh, the elements were good, but the balance was off on top. So when I went to eat another one the next day (ok, the next MORNING, for BREAKFAST), I neglected to add the olive oil and salt. But after the first bite I realized the cupcake was missing exactly those elements of fruity savoriness and salty finish. So I adjusted the balance to add just the slightest bit of olive oil…and it totally and completely worked.

Maybe it needed a little more of this?

A cupcake with Meyer lemon just isn’t complete without a blob of wonderful, citrusy curd in the middle…perhaps a little more than these actually had. I used my smallest round cutter to cut out the middle and had contemplated using the next-biggest size, but feared that the cupcakes might not have the structural integrity to hold together. I probably should have gone with the bigger size – these cupcakes are fairly sturdy, and much stronger than my standard, fluffy recipe.

Meyer lemon curd = basically tangy spoonable crack.

I made half the recipe of cupcakes you see here, but the full amount of curd. This is not the Meyer lemon curd recipe I’ve used before. While totally awesome, that recipe used whole eggs only, and I needed one that used yolks – four yolks, to be precise. Because I still had yolks leftover from the crazy awesome meringue topping on these babies. Because I made the full curd recipe, I have a lot left over. Um, significantly less left over today than the day I made them…mmm, curd.

Very elegant.

Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Sunshine Cupcakes

First, Make the Curd (adapted from Martha Stewart):

1. 2 whole eggs
2. 4 egg yolks
3. 1 cup (200g) sugar
4. Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
5. 1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice, strained
6. 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut in small cubes

Place the eggs, yolks, sugar and zest in a medium bowl over simmering water. Whisk often until somewhat thickened, then add the juice and whisk until thick. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the butter. Strain and cool in the refrigerator or over an ice bath with plastic wrap pressed into the surface.

Then, Make the Cupcakes (adapted from Matt Bites):

1. 4 eggs
2. 1 cup (200g) sugar
3. Zest of 2 Meyer lemons
4. 3 cups (380g) AP flour
5. 3/4 cup (160g) extra virgin olive oil
6. 2/3 cup (160g) milk
7. 4 Tbsp Amaretto liqueur
8. 1 Tbsp baking powder
9. Large pinch of Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 325.

Beat the eggs and sugar together until pale yellow. Beat in the zest. Combine the liquids together; do the same with the remaining dry ingredients. Alternately add in three additions, beating until smooth. Immediately pour into lined muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the tins to cool completely.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, use a small round cutter to punch deep holes almost all the way to the bottom (but not quite). Fill the holes with curd, trim the middles from the removed cylinders of cake and replace the remaining circular lids of cake onto the curd. Enjoy your little trimmings.

You Gotta Whip Some Cream:

Note: If you’re not serving the cupcakes all at once, it’s a good idea to make this in smaller batches. I know it can be a hassle to whip a tiny amount of cream, but once you get hand-whipping down it’s really no big deal. If you try to whip all the cream ahead of time or top the cupcakes all at once in advance, the cream will separate and get runny. You want it STIFF. Stabilizing it with gelatin is also an option but I didn’t have any.

1. 1 cup (240mL) heavy cream
2. 1 Tbsp sugar (I used vanilla sugar)

Chill your bowl and whip/whisk before whipping and make sure the cream is kept cold as well. Add the sugar to the cream and whip to stiff peaks (but not until it gets grainy).

And Then You’re Gonna Serve Them:

1. Filled cupcakes
2. Chantilly cream
3. Extra virgin olive oil
4. Lemon salt

Using a teaspoon, dollop the whipped cream onto the cakes, smoothing and flattening slightly. Drop a few dots of extra virgin olive oil on the whipped cream with the back of a spoon:

You only need a little...

Using a toothpick, swirl the olive oil into the cream, then sprinkle with a small pinch of salt. Eat as soon as possible!

Makes 24 slightly-smaller-than-average cupcakes (18-20 normal?)

These cupcakes are, as usual for me, a little odd, but overall really tasty. I imagine if you are a fan of preserved lemons you’d dig these. At first you taste the dense, not-too-sweet cake, the tangy curd, a hint of almond; then sweet cream, slick oil and a fun little acidic, salty finish. These easily brighten up even the coldest, snowiest Northeastern winter day.