Classic shortbread, which I have made a million times. I used brown sugar instead of powdered sugar and threw in some caramel sprinkles.
4 cups flour (approx 512g)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (156g)
1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1.4g)
2 cups butter (452g)
Knead all ingredients together. Press into ungreased pans (or molds) and prick the top with a fork. Bake 45 minutes in oven preheated to 160C/325F.
I used the brown sugar cupcake recipe from my last big bake (the one that I slathered in maple frosting and topped with sugared bacon) and plopped Toblerone candy into the batter before baking.
Toblerone cupcakes
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (you could also use a neutral-tasting vegetable oil)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350F. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. Set aside. Line a cupcake tin with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar and egg until smooth. Add in vanilla and milk, again mixing until combined. Slowly pour in melted butter, continuing to whisk. Add in the flour, soda and salt, mixing with a large spoon until batter is smooth.
Add a small amount of batter to the bottoms of the liners, drop in a mini Toblerone, top it with enough cupcake batter to cover then candy.
Bake for 16-19 minutes, or until tops are golden, and allow to cool completely.
Frost as desired.
These cupcakes got the seal of approval from those who ate them and provided feedback. Including a Canadian – and they know about maple and bacon, don’t they? 🙂
Alas, there is not much more to say about these except that apparently brown sugar cupcakes are not super sweet, so you can go heavy on the frosting.
Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Candied Bacon
(Recipe makes 12 cupcakes; I doubled it and made 24)
For cupcakes:
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (you could also use a neutral-tasting vegetable oil)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients. Set aside. Line a cupcake tin with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar and egg until smooth. Add in vanilla and milk, again mixing until combined. Slowly pour in melted butter, continuing to whisk. Add in the flour, soda and salt, mixing with a large spoon until batter is smooth.
Using a 1/4 cup measure, add batter to liners. Bake for 16-19 minutes, or until tops are golden, and don’t Allow to cool completely.
Maple Swiss meringue buttercream frosting
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cubed
4 to 5 tablespoons maple syrup
Mix the egg white and the sugar together and heat over a double boiler. The sugar should be completely dissolved when you remove it from heat. Pour the mixture into a large bowl (preferably the mixing bowl of a stand mixer — Swiss meringue is mixing intensive, so a stand mixer works best). Whisk on high speed until stiff but still wet peaks form. Continue to beat for about five or six minutes after these peaks form.
Switch to the paddle attachment and turn the speed to medium low. Add the butter in one or two tablespoons at a time. The mixture might start to look lumpy and curdled. Don’t worry. Keep mixing. When things start to come together, beat in the maple syrup and keep beating for another two minutes. It might take some time to get to the right texture. You will know when it comes together in a solid, fluffy, frosting-like consistency.
Candied bacon
Turn on oven at 350F
Use thick-cut smoked bacon of your choosing. In a shallow plate, mix brown sugar and, if desired, a small amount of cinnamon. Cover both sides of bacon slices onto the plate to coat with the mixture.
Prepare a baking sheet – cover entirely with aluminum foil and put a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with non-stick spray.
Put the sugared bacon onto the baking sheet and bake for about 20-30 minutes (until sugar is syrupy in consistency and bacon has the right crispness).
Remove from oven, immediately remove bacon from rack and cool completely before breaking up/chopping. Once chopped, use to sprinkle on top of the cupcakes.
This is my 100th post here. My, my… time flies. And so many cookies went along for the ride.
Speaking of taking a ride, I read recently that some auto dealership in the United States is giving away free AK-47 assault rifles with every truck purchase. The real cherry on top would be if the gun were already in a gun rack mounted in the new truck (but this would not comply with the law). Um, yeah. Only in America…
Among the many cookies I baked last weekend, brown sugar thumbprints are some of the “standards” on which I grew up. My mother always made them for Christmas (and never any other time of year). When I recently “taught” (if you could call 20+ people running around a small kitchen in what can only be described as a state of chaos as “teaching”) a baking course at work, this is one of the recipes we made. It is a simple recipe but allows for a lot of customization when you go for rolling the dough in different things (coconut, nuts, sprinkles, etc.) and putting what you want in the thumbprint (various jams or a maraschino cherry). The traditional way in my household was what I went for here — chopped walnuts and half a maraschino cherry on top. The literal cherry on top.
THUMBPRINTS (this recipe makes a very small amount of dough; I always double it and sometimes quadruple it)
Preheat oven to 350°F
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional — you can use sprinkles or whatever you want to roll the dough in)
halved maraschino cherries OR jam
Mix together all ingredients except egg white, nuts, cherries. Chill. Shape 1 inch balls. Roll balls in egg whites, nuts and press cherry into top. Or make a thumbprint and fill with jam. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.