This week at the Morningside Farmer's Market.....

In an effort to truly embrace my time back in Atlanta, I have decided to make a commitment to go to the Morningside Farmer's Market every Saturday morning to get my vegetables for the week. The farmers are all independent and grow organic veggies.

This week I discovered:
Spanish Melon (haven't eaten it yet, but it is very yellow and I am told very sweet)
Japanese Eggplant (plan drizzle with olive oil, sesame seeds, and stir fry)
Heirloom tomatoes (all were delicious by themselves with salt and on several sandwiches)
Lemon Cucumber (it really looks like a lemon but tastes like a cucumber)
Sweet corn and okra (used both in a corn chowder made with bacon, lots of butter, and served with cornbread muffins - I love being pregnant and having an excuse!)

We'll see what I come up with next week......

Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies

Back in Atlanta, I was inspired to try some new baking recipes for our picnic at the Tony Bennett concert at Chastain. If I might say so myself, these are truly some of the best brownies I have ever tasted. The recipe continued with instructions for a Coffee Frosting, but these are really rich on their own. I do not think they even need a frosting. This recipe comes from Good Housekeeping - June 2002 (I know - I have been cleaning out old magazines for the move!)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking pwoder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (add even more if you like cinnamon like I do!)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 13" by 9" pan with foil and grease.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In a saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Remove pan from heat and stir in butter. Stir in eggs, one at a time, until blended. Then add the vanilla. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until blended. Spread batter into the pan.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. I baked them for about 30 minutes and they were still gooey in the middle, which is the way I like them.

Hannah and Tom's Birthday Cupcakes

My soccer cupcakes in place for the party!

Soccer Cupcakes

This past weekend I made vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream icing for a child's soccer-themed birthday party. Mark and I then devoured the leftovers that I decided to make with coconut and dark chocolate cream icing. Yum!

The Cupcake Business

Vanilla Cupcakes with Rose Buttercream

The cupcake business, although small, has begun. A friend, Selina, asked me to make cupcakes for her daughter, Sophie's, birthday.

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

This past weekend I made 80 cupcakes for a wedding in Point Lonsdale. They turned out great, but every new venture provides a learning experience.

Notes for the future:

1. Don't put buttercream in the fridge if you expect it spread nicely. And adding milk after the fact won't work!

2. French press ground coffee will not substitute for instant espresso.

3. Don't take the cupcakes to the event to finish the icing. All the oldies came 30 minutes early and watched the end of the show.

Vanilla Kirsch Cupcakes and Vanilla Galliano Cupcakes

So, I did not include a picture of these. There is a reason.....They were not particularly aesthetically pleasing. The visual was not indicative of the taste, however.

I adapted a vanilla cupcake recipe from the Australian Women's Weekly cupcake book. Initially I combined all of the ingredients in the recipe, then split it in two, and finally folded in the extras afterwards.

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
125g butter, softened and chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract (I actually split half a vanilla pod.)
2/3 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 cup milk

Combine butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, sifted flour, and milk in a bowl. Beat on low speed until all ingredients are combined. Increase speed to medium and beat about 3 minutes. Place in cupcake cases and bake about 20 minutes at 180 degrees C.

The lowdown:
1. I followed a different method for mixing the ingredients. I creamed the butter and sugar until really pale. I then beat the eggs slightly with a fork in a separate bowl and added them to the sugar mixture very slowly while beating. I added half the flour, then the milk, and then the rest of the flour.
2. After splitting the base recipe, I added about 1/2 cup of Kirsch liqueur and about 1/4 cup of cherry juice to one half and about 1/2 cup of Galliano liqueur to the other half. The cherry cupcakes turned kind of a grayish color which was not appealing. I would leave the cherry juice out next time, but they tasted nice. The Galliano cupcakes were perfect. I would actually even add a little more Galliano to these and maybe a little more vanilla.
3. My oven cooked both in about 18 minutes.
4. I made some chocolate ganache for the Galliano cupcakes and added a little Kirsch and cherry juice into some previously-made cream cheese frosting for the Kirsch cupcakes. I stuffed up the ganache as the boiling water touched the bottom of bowl, but it ended up setting a lot nicer than I thought it would. What they say is true about chocolate hating water!!

Harvey Wallbanger Cake/Cupcakes with Galliano Cream

I gotta have a little fun (or a little drink sometimes) when in the kitchen, so why not put the drink in the cake??? Everyone that I have talked to about this cake has said, "I think my grandmother used to make that cake or drink that drink." I also have to admit that I cheated a bit on this recipe - it starts with a boxed, cake mix!

The recipe uses Galliano liqueur, which is a vanilla liqueur and comes in a tall, skinny bottle. If you don't like the cake, you will surely like Galliano with a little o.j. or maybe in some coffee.

Found this recipe on the Chowhound.com boards:

1 package yellow cake mix

1 small package instant vanilla pudding

¼ cup Galliano liqueur

¼ cup vodka

2/3 cup orange juice

½ cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour in a greased bundt cake pan, sheet cake pan, or cupcake molds and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until done.

Galliano Cream Frosting (Made this recipe up using bits from various cream cheese frosting recipes):

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

4 tbsps unsalted butter, room temperature

Seeds from 1/2 a vanilla pod

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 to 1/2 cup Galliano liqueur, depending on your taste

Cream the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar. Add the Galliano and mix one more time. Put in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to allow it to firm up.

The lowdown:

1. I used a bundt cake pan when baking this cake. I reserved a little batter and baked 6 cupcakes also. This is my new favorite way of testing the finished product and not putting on 15 pounds every weekend!

2. The bundt cake took about 34 minutes, and the cupcakes took about 22 minutes.

3. I used a rather big bag of pudding, so I would actually use more Galliano and vodka next time. I could only detect a trace of both in the finished product.

4. The frosting was a bit cream cheesy, so I would add more Galliano there and maybe a smidgen more powdered sugar.

5. This turned out beautifully, and I would suggest it for its level of ease!