Carrot Cupcakes

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup oil

4 eggs

1 tsp salt

2 cups flour

2 tsp soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups (heaping) grated carrots

1 cup chopped nuts

Beat together sugar, oil and eggs until thick. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Mix well. Add carrots and nuts. Bake in 20 - 22 cupcake papers, or a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 350*F for 35 to 40 minutes for large cake and 20-25 minutes for cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Icing:

4 cups icing sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

3 oz cream cheese

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all together until smooth.

Top icing with chopped nuts.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

2 cups Cake Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

¾ teaspoons Salt

½ cups Butter, Softened

1 cup Sugar

3 whole Eggs

2 teaspoons Vanilla

¾ cups Milk

Juice and zest from one lime

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for a few more seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Mix to combine.

Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk in three batches, mixing for a few seconds after each addition.
Scrape sides of bowl, then mix one final time.

Fill 12 paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until poufy but not brown. Cool before icing.

Icing:

½ cup butter or Crisco (or combination)

4 Tbsp coconut milk

2-3 Tbsp fresh lime juice

Icing sugar to make a soft icing.

Beat all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. I added a little green food colouring to mine and then sprinkled coconut on ½ of each cupcake.

Mocha Cupcakes

3/4 cup Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/4 teaspoon Salt

4 Tablespoons Butter

3/8 cups Cocoa Powder

1/2 cup Strong Brewed Coffee

1/2 cup Buttermilk

1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1 whole Large Eggs

1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 10 -12 muffin cups with cupcake papers.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the cocoa and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off heat, whisk in the coffee, buttermilk, and sugars until dissolved. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in the in the flour mixture until no streaks remain. (The batter will be very runny – almost liquid.)

Bake about 15-18 minutes, until just done. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely.

Icing:

1-2 Tablespoons Instant Coffee

1/2 cup Butter, Softened (may use ½ Crisco)

1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

2 cups Icing Sugar (or more to make the right consistency)

1 Tablespoon Milk, Up To 2 Tablespoons If Needed

Mix all together very well, until slightly fluffy. Add more milk or icing sugar to get a spreadable icing.

Kim's Tart

Kim's Apple Tart: Better Late than Never

Crust:

1/2 c. butter, softened

3/4 c. flour

1/4 c. sugar

Press in springform or tart pan, bake at 350F for 8-10 min.

Filling:

Cream 6 oz. Neufchatel or cream cheese (Neufchatel is supposedly less fat with all the flavor)

Stir in:

1 egg, beaten

1 Tbsp. cream (or milk)

1/2 c. ricotta cheese

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

Pour over crust.

Topping-Apple Part:

Peel, core, and slice 2 Granny Smith apples

Splash some lemon juice over top so they don't get brown and stir them up

Set aside

Bring to boil:

3/4 c. water

1/2 c. sugar

Splash of vanilla

3 slices apple

Mix 1/4 c. water and 2 Tbsp. clear jel (or cornstarch, you poor thing)

Add to boiling mixture, stirring constantly til thick.

Remove from heat and add:

~2 tsp. cinnamon

~1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Pour over sliced apples. Stir together. Layer over the cream/crust layer. Bake at 350F for about 45 min. or til you think the creamy layer is cooked.

Ok, so. I just had my first piece and it's quite delicious, if I do say so myself. I didn't want the texture of the cream part to be completely creamy, so I like the ricotta for that. However, next time I think I would add some more lemon juice and a bit more sugar to that part. The crust was delicious, but I wanted it to be a bit more phyllo-dough-like than it was. I really loved the apple part, and overall it wasn't that sweet which is what I was going for as well (not that I was trying to be like Robyn or anything). :) I'm pretty pleased with it. Oh, please don't think I'm so fancy that I keep ricotta on hand. I just happened to have some leftover from a lasagna and thought it would be good in there. :) Also: this turns out quite thin and would easily fit in a tart pan, which is also what I was going for. Pictures to follow.

The Best Apple Tart

(like my title?)
This was a little tough, since I was supposed to be copying something I've never tasted! I thought I'd go for more of a European flavour - in my limited experience this means buttery and not too sweet. This was on the thin side, but I thought the "height" of it was perfect. I wanted something that actually was more of a tart, in case one day I actually own tart pans and could make little ones.
I happened to have leftover hazelnuts from Christmas, so I used those in the crumb topping. It tasted really good while I was snitching it, but after it was baked, I couldn't really taste them.
Oh, one important thing: I lost the paper that I was jotting things down on as I baked this. So, sorry in advance if you try this and it doesn't turn out. This is my guess.
Anyway, without anything farther, here is my recipe:

Crust:
1 C flour
1/2 C icing sugar
1/2 C butter
1 egg yolk
enough cream to make a soft dough
Mix flour and icing sugar and rub in butter with your hands. Leave some chunks. Mix in egg yolk and cream until soft but not too sticky. Use some extra flour to press dough into pan.
(I used an 8" springform pan)

Chop 4 large apples and place evenly on crust. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.

Mix together the following and put on top of apples:
1/2 C ground hazelnuts
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C oatmeal that has been ground in a blender
2 Tbsp butter

Bake at 350F until crumbs are golden and you're sure crust and apples are done. Don't underbake it.

[I wouldn't bother with the caramel sauce I made. It was more like a butter sauce, and even though it was good, I would have preferred this without it.]

All in all, I would give this a very high rating, Thank you, Karla.
I loved the crust. I loved the topping. It was very buttery and not too sweet. Yum.

Karla's Apple Tart

Crust
Blend:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Cut in:
1/2 cup butter

Add:
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix to form a soft dough, and press into 9” tart pan or springform pan. I used a springform; I really don't know how a tart pan would be.

Filling:

5 cups Granny Smith apples (about 3 large), peeled and sliced

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. salt

Mix well and pour on top of unbaked crust.

Crumb topping:

Blend:

¾ cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Cut in:

1/3 cup butter

Spread crumbs evenly over apples. Bake tart at 400 F for 40 minutes.

Caramel Topping:

½ cup sugar

1/4 cup water

3 Tbsp. butter

¼ cup whole milk or heavy cream

Boil the sugar and water, whisking constantly, until the sugar turns brown. Add butter and continue whisking until butter melts. Remove from heat, stir for a few more seconds, and then add milk or cream. Caution: there will be a lot of steam when you pour the milk in, and you might burn your hand off! Keep whisking until it’s slightly cooled. Drizzle desired amount on the tart. Wow. The crust could use a little improvement, but overall it was quite good, if I may say so myself.

Rhonda's Apple Tart

Crust:

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp salted butter

2 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

Mix the flour and icing sugar, then cut the butter in with a pastry blender. With a fork, mix the yolks and vanilla together, then gently combine with the flour mixture. Mixture will stay crumbly, but not dry. Reserve 1/2 cup of crumbs and press the rest into a pie or tart pan. (I suppose a springform pan would work well, too. Chill crust for 20-30 minutes and then bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Press down any bubbles that formed while baking.

Apple filling:

Peel, core and slice 4 medium apples (a good baking variety if you can get them!)

Toss the apple slices with 2 tsp lemon juice. Mix together the following and then combine with the apples:

2 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp salt

Place the filling into the crust.

Crumb topping:

Cut together with a pastry blender:

reserved crumbs from the crust

1/4 cup margarine or butter

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Evenly top the apples with this mixture.

Bake at 350*F for about 30 minutes or until the apples are soft.

I made a caramel sauce for topping the tart, but I forgot to write down exactly how I made it. :) You're on your own for that, I guess.

My taste testers (and I) enjoyed this a lot, but the Chief Taste Tester in my house says he will take an ordinary apple pie any day. :) I liked the way this turned out, but thought the caramel sauce made it a little too sweet for me. Good idea, Karla!

Caramel Bananas

Almost every time I eat oatmeal I think about putting bananas on it but I can never quite bring myself to do it. So this morning I thought I'd try this and it was pretty good! Tell me what you think.

In a skillet melt 1-2 Tbsp butter (depends how fat/thin you feel at the moment).
When it's melted, throw in a bunch of brown sugar (again, use your good judgment).
When that's all yummy and melty, dump in some cinnamon and nutmeg, and then
slice in about 3 bananas.
I happened to have some already-toasted almonds sitting there so I put those in too.
This would also be awesome with pecans.
As soon as the bananas are all sliced, turn off the burner and stir them up a bit. You don't want to cook them!!! Just warm them up.

We ate this on steel-cut oats, but they would also be good on ice cream, or yogurt. (Oh, next time I might also use maple syrup instead of brown sugar.)

Recipe Challenge #2

Welcome to the 2nd challenge! We shall call this one "The Apple Tart Challenge." Kirk and I visited a bakery called Ganache Dessert Kitchen (Google it, I don't feel like linking it...lazy me) a couple of weeks ago, and boy was that not a mistake. Their chocolate ganache-y things were good, as far as we tasted, but my favorite item from our box of loot was the apple tart. It was about 3 inches in diameter, so it was not a little wimpy tart. It had a perfect buttery crust; kind of cookie-ish, kind of pie crust-ish. The apples were slightly tart, but spiced so, so well. There was a delicious crumb topping, and then homemade caramel drizzled on top. I can't describe how delicious it was.

So, I dare you to try your hand at making the most outrageously delicious apple tart you can. Then, simply box it up and send it to me asap. I will be the judge in this challenge. Or at least post pictures and your recipe. I will give you until February 10 to complete this challenge. If you do not participate (Robyn) you will be disqualified.