Brunch a' Munch

I've decided that I'm going to do a brunch series here on a cupcake chronicle. i work crazy shifts, so most of the time i have to hang out with friends over brunch. This meal usually consists of pancakes, some type of berry, and of course, aunt jemima.

blueberry pancakes and high fashion are necessary brunch items

Apple Pie Cage Match

Fall is quickly approaching! Leaves are turning brown, the wind is fucking strong, and people start eating apples until their ears bleed. Another symbol of the transitioning seasons, is Bucktown's Apple Pie Bake Off, which is happening on October 10 in Holstein Park.

*que "the final countdown"*

I have registered in this contest and I plan to dominate. I've chosen to name my pie "Uncle Apple" and this title is best illustrated by the dough handlebar mustache that I have given him. I made my first practice pie last night, which consisted of a hella thick, rich crust, and a combination of golden delicious and granny smith apples covered in freakin' amazing goo. I was really pleased with how this pie turned out, but i'm definitely going to tweak the recipe by adding more of a thickening agent and some spices and perhaps lowering the amount of sugar.

I'll document more practice pies, but in the mean time, don't worry, i'll post pictures of my ribbon when i win.

An Ode to Craft

One of the only redeeming qualities of the unrelenting Chicago summers is the awesome amount of craft/art fairs going on in West Town. I went to the Bucktown Arts Fest with Michelle a few weeks ago and ran into some awesome local craftsters.

Of course, Circa Ceramics' cute, kitchy bowls in bold pastels and vintage prints never cease to prevent my squealing. You really can't lose with selling "wee tiles" and "wee bowls" that feature typewriters, bikes, the cook county flag, holga cameras, and kewpies - irresistibly hipster, right?

Another craftster that remained unique among the countless of garlands, screen prints, and felt plushies, was SODA. Amy's whimsical nature prints simultaneously create beautiful, simple jewelry to wear and cute, compact cups to sip warm autumn drinks! I also appreciate the minimal color palate she has chosen, which includes my favorite shade of tealy blue.

Coffee Cupcakes

I love baking so much that when I was looking for a job, one of the things I looked forward to most about being employed was baking cupcakes for my co-workers. Since I work later at the conservatory on Wednesday's I used this morning to whip up a batch of sumthin' sumthin' for the gardeners and administration staff. I was originally planning on making mocha cupcakes, but to my disappointment, I noticed that I didn't have any cocoa powder while in the middle of my recipe. I switched gears and decided to make some vanilla cupcakes even though I didn't have any vanilla extract (my baking staples are extremely lacking considering that I like to bake so much). I was thinking about just making a vanilla buttercream, but thanks to Gwen's persuasiveness, I decided to make a coffee buttercream.

This picture definitely emphasizes my kitchy canisters and spice jars instead of the cupcake...this was not an accident.

Ok, that's better.

I made up the coffee buttercream by mixing 1/4 c. each of vegetable shortening and ebal with a bunch of powdered sugar and some leftover coffee from this morning. I then added a lot of coffee grounds to intensify the flavor. They were a complete hit and I'm happy to say that my cupcake carrier survived the cta.

Welcome to Our Pad

One day, little Jenny was at Carousel daycare in Indiana and saw a little boy with a bowl cut walk into the girls bathroom. Like any frightened 6 year old, she naturally went and got the attention of a near by counselor to send this sucker to time out. Well, little did young Jenny know that this was a little girl with an incredibly masculine disposition - mainly caused by a bowl haircut. This little girl was Gwen and now they're living together in Wicker Park.

That's the best damn story you're ever going to hear and our apartment has to live up to that same amount of awesomeness. This starts out with an embroidered sign that my mom made for her and my dad's first apartment (craftiness runs in the family!) and a kick ass, cheap meal of black bean burgers and homemade french fries. The first few months of rent are rough due to security deposits and up starting costs so I'm trying to make economical meals rather than fancy ones.

The black bean burgers have one can of black beans and one can of chickpeas mashed and mixed together with crumbled crackers, sauteed vidalia onion and garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Other than looking like dog shit, these were pretty good! I also made some homemade french fries that were baked with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Gwen and I ate this meal with really cheap beer on cheap furniture while watching crappy cable. Yep, it's starting to feel like home.

Pot Pie Pot Pie Chicken Pot Pie!

I cooked a homemade vegan chicken pot pie, which consisted of freshly steamed asparagus, corn boiled and cut off of the cob, boiled potatoes, seitan, a vegan nutritional yeast gravy, fresh chives, and cracked salt and pepper. It was super yummy and the flaky crust made it even yummier. FYI to those who want to make a vegan pot pie - buy pepperidge farms puff pastry - it's really good and it's vegan! Between 1 and 10, I would rate this as a 7 on the difficulty scale. It's not so much hard as it is time consuming, especially if you're going to cook all of the vegetables yourself rather than use canned.

I also made a lemon cupcake with cream cheese frosting. I would upload a picture, but the one I have is the wrong type of file. Damn technology! I got the recipe from bake and destory, a chicago-based baking blog. I actually saw the writer by johnny sprockets one day, and i'm not going to lie, I was a tad bit star struck. If I'm going to live up to the bad ass baking reputation I want to gain, I think I'm going to have to get like 5 more cupcake tattoos and sew some more kick ass aprons. But don't you worry, aprons are on their way. I'm planning to amp up my sewing game and house wares are my specialty, so get prepared to read about it on my blog!

I got to go! I'm watching DC Cupcakes on TLC and some lady is chewing out a guy over moldy strawberries. We cupcake lovers are biiitches!

Bake a Bunch

Hello, stranger. It has been quite a while hasn't it? My life has been pretty crazy with trying to find employment and an apartment so I haven't been too focused on updating my blog. My life is kind of settling down...well not really because i'm going to be working all of the time and moving in a week or two...but at least I've made a life for myself in Chicago! I haven't ventured on too many cooking excursions, but I have made a few yummy fares for the 4th of July and a goodbye party for Heather and Jonathan.

These are some vanilla cupcakes with a mixed berry buttercream frosting. I used the vanilla cupcake recipe from Jennifer McCann's blog and I whipped up a buttercream frosting from 1/2 c. each of ebal and veggie shortening, a bunch of powdered sugar, a little bit of vanilla, and a bunch of mixed frozen berries...wow how much more vague can i get? Just mess around with the proportions until you get the right consistency. I couldn't find hand mixers and I was in a hurry to get these to the dinner I was having with Aaron's family, so I used a food processor. I wouldn't recommend this usually, but it is a nice alternative when you're in a hurry and hand mixers are absent. I made a make shift pastry bag from a ziploc bag and cut the end with zig zag scissors to try and get a swirly affect - I can't wait to buy real pastry bags!

Mini's - so cute!

The frosting recipe made enough for another batch of cupcakes I was going to bake for Evan's 4th of July party. This time around I thought I would make an agave nectar cupcake to kind of offset the sweetness of the frosting. I think I liked it more with the agave because it was a nice contrast to the frosting and had a more dense consistency, but Aaron thought the vanilla worked better because it was fluffier. Who the hell knows!

For Heather and Jon's going away dinner, Suzanne made a monster vegan lasagna, while I baked basil garlic breadsticks from Sara Lewis' "The Bread Book." Check this book out if you're interested in learning more about baking bread and if you find the bread lingo a little confusing to you. The book includes a variety of sweet breads, rustic breads, breakfast breads, etc. to choose from and its a lot cheaper compared to those $40.00 bibles on bread they sell at Barnes & Noble.

these pictures suck - sorry!