Cajun Chef Ryan - Feeling & sharing a world of cooking ~ more than your average Cajun

Bourbon Sweet Potato Cup Cakes

January 25th, 2011 · 26 Comments

With a Bourbon Cream Cheese Icing

Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcake

A dessert recipe inspired from a classic Southern side dish served at many a holiday feast. These Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes takes it inspiration from a Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole that I make every year, and is always a hit, most folks say that it is so sweet it could be a dessert. Here is the dessert treat inspired from a holiday classic side dish.

Some of the ingredients

Some of the Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcake Ingredients

Some of the Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcake Main Ingredients

Ingredients
1	Cup	Un-bleached, All-purpose flour
1	Tsp	Baking powder
½	Tsp	Cinnamon, ground
¼	Tsp	Baking soda
¼	Tsp	Salt
½	Cup	Butter, un-salted, softened
¾	Cup	Sugar
2	large	Eggs
1	Tbsp	Bourbon
1	Cup	Sweet potatoes (unsweetened), mashed
½	Tsp	Vanilla extract

1	Recipe	Bourbon Cream Cheese Icing, see below

Procedure Steps
1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set cups aside.
2.	In medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3.	In large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Add sweet potatoes, Bourbon and vanilla, beating until combined. Add flour mixture; beat until combined (batter will be thick).
4.	Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake about 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 minute. Remove from pan and cool completely.
5.	Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Or if you do not have cake decorating tools, place Cream Cheese Frosting in large zip type plastic bag. Cut a 1/4-inch opening in one corner of bag, then pipe frosting on top of cupcakes. This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

Piping the icing

Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Bourbon Cream Cheese Icing: In large mixing bowl beat four ounces cream cheese (1/2 package), softened, and 1/3 cup butter, softened, with electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons bourbon and beat until combined. Beat in 4 cups powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until smooth and of a good piping consistency. This is enough icing for twelve cupcakes, plus a little left over.

Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Make Ahead Tip: Freeze unfrosted cupcakes in airtight containers up to 1 month. Store frosting in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 3 days.

Decorating Tips: For the toasted mini-marshmallows I greased a sheet pan and stood up about 50 or so of them and then browned under the broiler for several minutes, keeping a close eye on them so they would not burn. Once cooled I transferred the toasted mini-marshmallows to a small bowl. For the candied walnuts and brittle, I took about 2 tablespoons of butter and melted it with about 2 tablespoons of sugar then added about 1 cup of walnut pieces and cooked them all down on a high heat, stirring constantly until toasted and a praline-like consistency. Then I poured out the walnuts and sauce onto a sheet pan lined with wax paper. Once cool I transferred the candied walnuts and then broke up the praline brittle into small pieces.

Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
©2011 CCR

→ 26 CommentsTags: Baking · Desserts · Recipes

Image of The Day ~ Peach Fruit

January 25th, 2011 · Comments Off on Image of The Day ~ Peach Fruit

Peach Fruit

Peaches, so sweet, juicy, succulent, summer bounty,
jams, jellies, preserves, compotes, spreads, toppings, Melba, crepes, cobbler,
did I miss anything?

Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
©2011 CCR

Comments Off on Image of The Day ~ Peach FruitTags: Image of The Day

Guest Blog Post: Zerrin of Give Recipe

January 24th, 2011 · 16 Comments

Enjoy learning about unique ingredients, flavors, spices, or techniques in the kitchen?

This is certainly one dish that I am thrilled to share, having never worked with or prepared dried eggplant. In my thirty-six years of cooking, it is a thrill continuing to learn new culinary delights, and that keeps me excited in the kitchen.

Let me introduce you to my guest, her name is Zerrin, she is the force behind her food blog “Give Recipe (www.giverecipe.com) enjoy Turkish Dishes”. She is revealing a unique recipe using dried eggplant. I am so happy to have Zerrin as a guest on Cajun Chef Ryan today!

About Zerrin

Zerrin of “Give Recipe”

Zerrin is a Turkish woman living in Eskişehir, Turkey and working as a teacher. She feels happy when cooking something for her family and friends. It’s a pleasure for her to watch people with their smile on their face while eating.
Zerrin’s love of cooking started as a little child by messing her mom’s dishes up! Despite all her mom’s effort to teach her how to cook, she was happy as an ‘assistant’. What made her want to jump to an upper level was her dad’s compliments for the first dish she made herself. Finally, her husband, who claims that ancient humans were stronger than we are today as their main food source was meat, helped her love cooking meat dishes and improving vegetable dishes to make them more edible for him!

The Recipe
Here is Zerrin’s original recipe for stuffed dried eggplant, I hope you join me in welcoming her today!

Stuffed Dried Eggplant
By Zerrin of “Give Recipe” (www.giverecipe.com)

Stuffed Dried Eggplant

When I saw the post at Ryan’s blog about a call for guest posts, I said ‘I must join’ to introduce Turkish dishes on a different blog from mine. So I decided to give a recipe of a very common dish in our cuisine. We love to stuff things with various filling mixtures and most commonly we stuff vegetables like zucchini, grape leaves, cabbage, green or red bell pepper and eggplants. You might have tried these before. To make it more Turkish and more traditional, I decided to share how to stuff dried eggplants here. Have you ever noticed sun dried eggplants at a market before? If you ever happen to see them, buy and try. They have a different flavor than the fresh ones when stuffed. I make the vegetarian version, but you can also add mince or meats into the filling mixture. Also, I didn’t’ use pine nuts and currants but it’s very common to add these into the filling. So here is the recipe:

NOTE: The ratio of rice to dried eggplant pieces is 1 tablespoon of rice for each piece of dried eggplant. This recipe calls for 20 pieces of dried eggplant, therefore, the 20 tablespoons of rice. (1¼ cup)

Dried Eggplants

Ingredients
20	Dried	Eggplants
2	Liters	Water, to boil the dried eggplants (1/2 gallon approximate.)
1¼	Cup	Rice, uncooked (20 Tbsp)
2	Large	Onions, minced
Optional		Pine nuts and currants
¾	Cup	Olive oil
½	Lemon	Juice squeezed
1	Tsp	Cinnamon
2	Tsp	Mint, dried
1	Tsp	Red pepper flakes
To taste		Salt and ground black pepper
½	Bunch	Fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 ½	Cups	Hot water, divided

Procedure Steps
1.	Heat the water in a pot and add the dried eggplants when it comes to a boil. Let it boil for about 10 minutes or less until eggplants are tender. Take them out when tender, wash them with cold water and drain. Boiling the Dried Eggplants
2.	Heat olive oil in a pan and saute onion in it. If you want to use pine nuts and currants, saute them with onions.
3.	Add rice and stir. Season it with spices, add lemon juice and pour ½ cup hot water and cook it over low heat until water is absorbed. Take it aside when it’s done and toss minced parsley into it.
4.	Stuff dried eggplants with this mixture. Do it with your hands and leave a little space on the top as rice will rise when cooked. Place them in a pot.
5.	Pour 1 cup hot water onto them and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes. Boiling the Stuffed Eggplants
6.	You can drizzle some extra virgin olive oil when cooked before serving. You can serve them warm or cold with yogurt.