Pineapple Curd

 

Have you ever tried pineapple curd? What's a curd is probably your first thought. A curd is a custard made with juice (and sometimes zest), butter, sugar and eggs (and also sometimes gelatin) and used as a spread or filling in desserts. Now, to the pineapple. I'm weird, and I know it... I like many flavors of fruit, but I have textural issues and don't eat many different fruits. Pineapple is one of these fruits. So, when I saw this recipe for pineapple curd made with pineapple juice, I really wanted to try it. Oh my goodness, it is delicious! Rich, creamy, bold pineapple flavor. It is amazing. I've used it in two different cupcakes - recipes coming soon, and I've also used it in this mousse bomb pictured above... It's difficult to describe just how amazing these were. Just so you know what you missed, the center is the pineapple curd, the next layer was a caramel mousse, I covered the bombs with white chocolate and set it all on a sliver of vanilla poundcake. The curd added a wonderful depth of flavor in all the desserts I've used it in. You need to give this curd a try!

1 cup pineapple juice (the small can is a perfect 8 ounces)
1 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tbsps lemon juice
3 eggs, 2 egg yolks
1/2 cup of unsalted butter (4 ounces or one stick)
pinch of salt
1 tsp gelatin and 1 Tbsp cold water (optional)

Separate the eggs, cut the butter into small pieces, juice the lemon, and measure out the gelatin and water if using it.

In a medium-sized saucepan, simmer the pineapple juice on medium-high heat until it is reduced to 1/4 cup of liquid. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice, and whisk until combined. 

Add the eggs whisking constantly and vigorously. 

Put back on medium-low to medium heat and begin adding the butter one pat at a time. Whisk constantly and keep the heat lower than medium so that the curd heats slowly and you don't cook the eggs. Wait until the piece is almost melted before adding the next pat.

Once you've added all of the butter, sprinkle the gelatin on the water if you're using it to allow it time to bloom. If you want to have a little firmer texture to your curd, it's very helpful. If you will just keep it in a jar and spread on whatever you want, then you probably don't need it.

Keep whisking the curd until it thickens. It should resemble a warmed pudding texture. It should stick to your whisk when you lift it out of the pot. Remove from the heat and stir in the bloomed gelatin until it's completely dissolved.

This next step is very important to ensure you have a silky smooth and delicious curd - you have to strain it. I use a sieve and a spatula to strain mine.

Cover the curd with plastic ensuring the entire surface is touching plastic. Allow to cool on the counter an hour or so, and then get it into the fridge the finish cooling and setting up.

Now you can use this deliciousness however your heart desires! It is delicious is strawberry cupcakes, coconut cupcakes and even cinnamon and cardamom cupcakes! Please let me know if you try it!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Have you ever heard of or had caramel cream cheese frosting? No? You don't know what you're missing. Everyone should have this in their life. Every... one... and often. This little creation is very likely one of my best, and I'd bet money that if you like coffee flavor, carmel, pecans and chocolate, then you will LOVE this cupcake. One of my coworkers said it was the best cupcake he'd ever had, while another said that if I was ever able to enter a cupcake contest, then I needed to enter this one!

Back in October on our anniversary trip, my husband and I visited a number of small-batch distilleries in Tennessee and Kentucky. It was a fun trip. We got to sample many different types of alcohol and see how these small distilleries created their concoctions. We found several we enjoyed and purchased them for our collection. One of those gems we found was a liqueur from Nelson's Greenbrier Distillery in Nashville. It's called Louisa's and it has a coffee, caramel and pecan flavor. And it is amazing. I've used it in brownies; I made a frosting with it - which came out delicious; and then I decided to make a treat around those flavors so I could use it again. What you will read is the result! Fluffy, moist flavorful chocolate cake baked with Louisa's liqueur and caramel cream cheese frosting topped with toasted pecans. The only thing I may try to add next time is a little drizzle of caramel sauce. I bet it will look beautiful and taste amazing!

Cake

2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder 
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp instant espresso
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup oil (vegetable works fine, but I use olive)
1 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup Nelson's Greenbrier Distillery's Louisa's liqueur
1/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin tins with liners. If you want to make this a cake, grease and flour two or three 9-inch round pans depending on how many layers you want, and then place parchment paper in the bottom of your pans. 

To make the best cake you can, unless you want this in your cake batter:

You must sift the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, espresso and salt, together into the bowl of your stand mixer.

In a separate container, a glass bowl or large measuring cup, mix the oil, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla, and whisk to combine.

Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with the mixer on low speed. Then increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes.

Combine the 1/4 cup boiled water and the 1/2 cup of Louisa's liqueur in a container. I use the same container as my wet ingredients to wash out any of the oil or buttermilk left. 

Scrape sides of the mixer and then slowly pour in the water/Louisa's with the mixer on low speed. Increase speed to medium for 20 seconds, and then increase to medium-high for 40 seconds to add some more air to the batter.

Use an ice cream scoop to portion the batter into 24 muffin tins.

Bake 14-18 mins until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the inside cupcakes come out clean.

Frosting

8 oz. softened cream cheese (full fat version)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping

2 tsp pure vanilla bean paste

1/4 tsp salt

6 cups powdered sugar

1-1 1/2 cup toasted diced pecans

While the cupcakes are baking, put the diced pecans in a medium-sized skillet and toast over medium heat until slightly darkened and fragrant. Stir them often to avoid burning them.

Cream the butter and cream cheese in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment until smooth.

Add caramel topping and vanilla and whisk until combined and smooth.

Add powdered sugar and salt and whisk on medium speed until combined, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. Once combined, turn the speed up to high and whisk for a minute or so until fluffy. Don't overmix or you could make the cream cheese runny. If you want to up the decadence of these cupcakes, core them out and add some of the frosting in the center before frosting the cupcakes.

Then, frost the cupcakes. You can go old school and use a knife, or use a disposable bag and a tip for a beautiful frosting mound that looks professional. Then dip the top of each cupcake lightly into the toasted pecans. The pecans, in addition to the wonderful flavor they impart, help to keep the cupcakes from being too sweet - I mean, caramel cream cheese frosting. Come on! Then enjoy and share these with those you love. They will be very grateful.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Is there anything more perfect to go with any meal at any time of the day than a biscuit with a soft, fluffy interior, lightly crunchy, buttery exterior? I'm going with no. And I'm serious, they go with any meal. There's so many ways to eat them. Some people like them drenched in honey; some love jellies and jams; some use them to sop up gravy; some like them savory with cheese and herbs. My favorite is just a perfectly cooked buttery biscuit. It really doesn't get much better than that. Sometimes I'll have two for breakfast or bake one up to go with dinner... wait, I forgot to tell you that part, the best part. You can mix these up and fix an entire tray for your family, but what I'm going to show you here is how to prep them for freezing. Then you can bake however many you need whenever you need them. Depending on how thin you pat out the dough, you can get from 10-15 biscuits out of this recipe. I'm still working on hitting the right thickness to make consistently a dozen biscuits... maybe I'll get there one day. I found this recipe on Pinterest, Fluffy Southern Buttermilk Biscuits, but I figured out how to freeze them for individual use while maintaining quality.

3 c. all purpose flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup frozen unsalted butter
1 - 1 1/4 cup buttermilk
4 tsp melted salted butter

If you want to bake your biscuits now, preheat oven to 450 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper. If you're going to freeze the biscuits, ensure your baking sheet will fit in your freezer, and then line it with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Use a cheese grater and grate frozen butter into the dry ingredients. Coat the butter in flour, and keep recoating the end you're grating. I also recommend flipping which end you grate every five or six swipes. The warmth of your hand will warm up and melt the butter as you're grating, so flipping it keeps you from warming up one end too much.

Use your hands to blend butter into flour. Again, tread lightly and use your fingertips. 

This won't take long with the grated butter. You should be able to grip the flour and butter mixture and get it to stick together after just a minute or two.

Slowly pour in 1 cup of cold buttermilk to your mixture while using a fork to blend it in. Add in the remaining buttermilk just until the crumbs are moistened. 

Dough should not be wet, but you may find there is still some flour mixture in the bowl. Gently knead dough in the bowl (no more than six or seven times) to incorporate what remains. Once dough is fully together, place it on a lightly floured surface and pat out to about 1-inch thickness.

Use a 2-inch cutter (fluted or plain) to cut biscuits.

Place biscuits about 2 inches apart on baking sheet in you're planning on baking them now. Place close together, but not touching, if you're planning on freezing them. My picture below is for freezing them.

Melt butter in small dish, and using a pastry brush, cover each biscuit liberally.

If baking now, bake for 13-15 minutes. When perfectly golden brown and puffed, remove from the oven and brush with additional butter.

If you're not baking them now, place in the freezer at least an hour until they are frozen and set. Then place in a bag and enjoy at your leisure.

When you're ready to bake some up, put what you want on your tray (if you want easy clean up, use parchment or aluminum foil underneath), and then starting with a cold oven, put them in and THEN turn the oven on to 400 degrees.

Bake 20-25 minutes until biscuits are golden brown and puffed. If you want to brush them with more butter, go ahead, but they're pretty darn good just as they are. Enjoy them however you prefer!