Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Maple Bacon Cupcakes

Yield: 12

Oven Temp: 350°F

4 ½ TBS butter, room temperature

½ TBS bacon drippings, cold

1 egg

5 TBS brown sugar

4 TBS maple syrup

1 ¼ c self rising flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

pinch kosher salt

¼ c milk

¼ c minced bacon, cooked and drained

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Fry 7 half slices of bacon in a pan.  Reserve ½ TBS of drippings and place in the refrigerator to solidify.  Chop all the bacon placing ¼ c in a small bowl for the cupcakes and the rest in a separate bowl for the icing. 

Beat the butter and bacon fat until light and creamy.  Add the brown sugar and maple syrup, beating until combined.  Add the egg and beat until incorporated.

In a small bowl sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.  Alternate adding the flour and milk to the batter beginning and ending with the flour.  Mix just until combined.  Fold in the bacon. 

Place cupcake papers in a muffin pan.  Scoop a scant ¼ c of batter into each muffin paper.  Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating after 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a center muffin comes out clean.

Maple Syrup Frosting:

4 TBS butter

2 TBS maple syrup

1 c powdered sugar

turbinado sugar (raw sugar)

coarse grain sea salt

bacon bits

Using a whisk attachment, combine the syrup and butter.  Add the sugar, a bit at a time, and whip at high speed until combined.  Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar, sea salt, and bacon bits.

Source: AllRecipes.com

French Onion Soup

Serves: 6

Oven Temp: 400°F

3 TBS unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces

6 lrg yellow onions (about 4 lbs), halved and cut pole to pole into ¼-inch thick slices

Salt

2 c water, plus extra for deglazing

½ c dry sherry

4 c low-sodium chicken broth

2 c beef broth

6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied with kitchen twine

1 bay leaf

Pepper

1 sm baguette, cut on the bias into ½-inch thick slices

8 oz Gruyere, shredded (about 2 ½ c)

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400°F.  Generously spray the inside of a heavy bottomed large (at least 7 qt) Dutch oven with nonstick cooking spray.  Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 tsp salt.  Cook, covered, 1 hour.  Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. 

Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are significantly reduced in volume and are very soft and golden brown, 1 ½ - 1 ¾ hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot after 1 hour. 

Carefully remove the pot from the oven and place over medium-high heat.  Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15-20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. 

Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, 6-8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary.  Stir in ¼ c water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen the crust, and cook until the water evaporates and another dark crust has formed on the pot bottom, 6-8 minutes.  Repeat the process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until the onions are very dark brown.  Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.  Stir in both broths, 2 c water, thyme, bay leaf, and ½ tsp salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on the bottom and sides of pot.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.  Remove and discard the herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

Croutons: Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a 400°F oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at the edges, about 10 minutes.  Set aside.

To Serve: Adjust an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler element and heat the broiler.  Set individual broiler-safe crocks on a baking sheet and fill each with about 1 ¾ c of soup.  Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices and sprinkle evenly with Gruyere.  Broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly around the edges, 3-5 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Source: Cook's Country Magazine

Truffles

Have you ever been to Swirl in Afton, MN? No? Shocking.

It's the cutest little wine bar that also sells, yep, you guessed it, truffles!!

Yum! Here are two-thirds of the batch we took home. I say two-thirds because Colleen and I almost forgot to take the picture we were so eager to start eating. And yes, they were just as good as they looked, with just a hint of espresso...heaven.

French Silk Pie

1 (9-inch) prebaked pie shell

Chocolate Mousse

6 oz 60% dark chocolate, chopped

1/4 c + 2 TBS unsalted butter, cubed

4 egg yolks

3 TBS sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 c + 3/4 c heavy whipping cream, divided

Sweetened Whipped Cream

1 c heavy whipping cream

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Curls for garnish

Chocolate Mousse: Combine the chocoalte and butter in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and stir with a wooden spoon whisk until melted and smooth. Take the bowl off the heat, leaving the saucepan of simmering water on the stove over the heat.

While the chocolate is melting, separate the eggs placing the yolks in another heatproof bowl and add the sugar. Set it over the saucepan and whisk for 5-10 minutes until pale yellow and slightly stiff. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of the chocolate into the egg yolks, then whisk all the egg mixture into the bowl of chocolate until well mixed. Add 3/4 c of the cream and whisk until combined. Set aside in the refrigerator to cool.

Whip 1 c of cream and vanilla to soft peaks. Stir about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Pour into pie crust and smooth the top to the edges.

Sweetened Whipped Cream: Place a large mixing bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes. In this bowl place the cream, vanilla. After turning on the mixer add the powdered sugar. Beat to stiff peaks being careful not to beat the cream into butter.

Place the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pie onto the pie. Sprinkle with chocolate curls. Refrigerate pie and any leftovers.

Chocolate curls: I use 4 oz bars of chocolate for this recipe, which leaves 1/2 a bar left over. Set the bar on the edge and use a vegetable peeler to make curls.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

1 supermarket bought packet of chicken (usually 1-ish pound or so)
1 cup goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 t. thyme or poultry seasoning (either works)
olive oil

Spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with Pam or similar.

Mix everything but the chicken together. Depending on how fancy you wanna get, you can either butterfly the chicken and really stuff it, or you can pound each piece flat and roll it up, or you can do it as an "open face" and just layer the cheese mixture onto the chicken.

Once the chicken is in the pan, drizzle a little olive oil over each piece and then sprinkle with a little additional thyme or poultry seasoning.

If you're using thin pieces bake at 350 for 20 minutes; if you're using thick pieces (like thighs) bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

2 Cans cheddar cheese soup
2 cups broccoli florets and stems
1 Can Chicken Broth
1 Cup water

1 T Olive Oil

Saute broccoli in oil in soup pot. When softened, add soups and water. Stir gently to combine while bringing to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Puree in a blender, then return the soup to the pot and continue to simmer until ready to eat.

French Toast Casserole

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
1 stick butter
2 T light karo syrup
1 loaf French bread cut into 1 1/2” slices
5 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
Chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray

Melt butter, combine with brown sugar and karo syrup, spread on bottom of 9x13 pan, add nuts if desired.

Cut up bread and place side by side in pan.

Mix eggs, milk, vanilla and pour evenly over bread slices.

Refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

When serving, use a spatula to flip each piece over so that the gooey side is facing up on the plate.

NOTES: I put the bread slices into a Ziploc freezer bag, added the egg/milk mixture and let it soak while I prepped the brown sugar mix. There was no extra egg mix later, but if there is for you, pour it on top once the bread is in the pan.

ALSO, I made a smaller batch to test and only refrigerated it for two hours before baking and it turned out fine.

Props to my buddy, Melissa Fetterhoff who stole this recipe from her mother, who stole it from someone else.

Theft is a beautiful thing.