Chocolate & Ale Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

WE INTERRUPT YOUR PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM (COFFEE TALK) TO BRING YOU SOMETHING HIGHLY DELICIOUS THAT YOU REALLY MUST MAKE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE IRISH OR WEARING GREEN TODAY.  THANK YOU. 

I wrote that in my very best old-timey radio announcer voice.

So here's the deal.  It is Friday, which means that we should be coffee-talking, but I threw a stray bottle of ale into my chocolate cupcakes the other day and it happened to be incredible.  Coffee Talk will be coming to you tomorrow, but for today, on this very verdant March 17th, we need to talk about the magic of ale and chocolate baked together and covered in caramel. 

I have no doubt that you have noticed my lack of holiday-themed treats.  I do, in fact, make Mr. Pedantic heart-shaped egg-in-hole breakfasts come Valentine's Day, and you will not find me without a batch of peanut butter eggs at my side in April, but here, in this little space of internet, I like to keep things a bit less...Pinterest-y?  I'll leave that to Martha Stewart. 

However, I just could not resist sharing these very holiday-appropriate cupcakes, because while they are quite festive, they are equally delicious. 

They are also the quickest cupcakes you will ever make.  You do not even need to break out your stand mixer for these guys. 

I wish I could properly describe the aroma of these cupcakes baking, but you will just have to bake them yourself to find out.  All I can say is that the scent of rich chocolate baked with yeasty ale is pure heaven. 

While the cupcakes cool, we need to tackle the frosting situation.  Salted caramel and cream cheese just felt right. 

See how smooth that frosting is?  Doesn't it make your eyes so happy? 

The key to a super smooth frosting is soft cream cheese and butter.  If you try to use butter or cream cheese that is even slightly cold you will end up with little cold bits strew throughout the frosting. 

It's been pretty cold these days around Norwyk Manor so I placed my butter and cream cheese atop my stove while the cupcakes baked, flipping them every so often so that the warmth was evenly distributed.  Cheat code for the impatient. 

A super simple homemade caramel goes into the frosting and the leftovers are used for drizzling. 

I also sprinkled a bit of edible gold sugar over these little cakes because the neighborhood leprechaun told me too. 

Let's forgo the pinching and shamrock necklaces and just eat cupcakes.  Cool?  Cool. 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Chocolate and Ale Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

makes 2 1/2 dozen / cake recipe adapted from Food 52

for the cupcakes

2 cups pure cane sugar 

1 3/4 cups all-purpose 

3/4 cup cocoa 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 

2 eggs 

1/4 cup whole milk 

3/4 cup amber ale 

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/4 cup boiling water 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk to combine sugar, all-purpose flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add eggs, milk, ale, oil, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth; about two minutes.  Then, whisk in boiling water.  The batter will be quite thin but do not worry! 

Divide the batter evenly amongst the 30 muffin cups, filling each only half way.  These cakes will rise significantly!

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cakes spring back when tapped lightly in the center.  Do not open the oven during the baking time else the cupcakes will fall. 

Place the cupcakes on cooling racks to cool while you prepare the frosting. 

for the caramel

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

In a small sauté pan combine sugar, butter and water.  Place over medium heat and stir until the butter melts and the sugar begins to dissolve.  

Once the sugar has dissolved, cease stirring, and boil for 5-7 minutes, or until amber in color.  Swirl the pan occasionally so that the caramel browns evenly, but do not stir or scape down the sides while the caramel is cooking.  Once the color is correct, remove from heat and add vanilla, heavy cream, and salt.  Be careful as the caramel will bubble and may splatter.  

Once the cream has been stirred in, return the pan to the burner and whisk until the caramel is smooth.

Allow the caramel to cool to room temperature.   

for the frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 cups confectioner’s sugar 

1/2 cup salted caramel, cooled 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and butter.  Beat on medium speed with an electric hand-mixer until smooth.  Reduce the speed to low and beat in heavy cream. 

Continue mixing on the lowest speed while you gradually add confectioner’s sugar; scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.  

When the frosting is smooth, slowly beat in caramel and vanilla extract.  

Spread the frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes and drizzle with the excess caramel.  Store in airtight containers and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Pecan Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” 

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gable

I am infinitely thankful.

At any moment I can turn my head and find a reason to be deeply grateful.  Not just grateful for life, and relatively good health, and shelter, and food, but for the beyond-necessity blessings that are constantly surrounding me. 

It's too much.  It's an overwhelming, all-encompassing, never-ending Christmas morning life that I am living right now and I love it.  

Yet, though thankfulness is abundant, and blessings even more ubiquitous, I still find myself fighting anxiety, stress, and frustration with every Prius in my vicinity that insists upon driving twenty miles under the posted speed when I have an errand list to conquer. 

Perhaps all of the blessings have disillusioned me into thinking the world cares much more about me than it actually does.  Or perhaps, I am simply a selfish human that forgets all too easily the mountains of goodness that surround me, and instead focuses on the one imperfect stone at my feet. 

I cry tears of joy as I watch my dearest friends, relatives, and fellow sojourners of this life come together to make this great change in my life so special.  Then somehow, my entire morning is fogged because of a broken bottle of truffle oil.  Completely replaceable truffle oil.  Why?

I would like to blame it on hormones or stress, or the fact that truffles are just very dear to my heart, but truthfully, it is none of those things.  It is my selfishness.

There is no eloquent way to state it.  

On these days when everything is going so wonderfully, the slightest road bump can ignite a meltdown, and this is simply because I am thinking far too much about Ashlyn.  

That is why I baked these rolls.  I made these cinnamon rolls to counteract my own self-absorbed tendencies.  I made them to get my mind off of all that I had to do, and onto someone else. 

Through self-examination, and much more experience than I would willingly admit, I have found that the best way to get my mind off of myself is to serve someone else.  

Though there are truly bad days where the stress and tears are acceptable, many of my worst days simply stem from selfishness, unfair expectations on others or myself, or downright impatience.  I have a very good life, and it is especially exciting right now, but it's so easy for me to be downcast by the spilled bottles of precious oil and the slow drivers that make me late. 

On these days, when frustration begins to creep in, it is good to set aside the phone and the demands it brings, and bake. 

Bake for someone you love very much, or someone you are just learning to love very much.  It is good to be concerned for something other than ourselves. 

There will always be to-do lists, there will always be things I could change about this upcoming wedding, but if we want there to always be friends, we must invest.  We must invest our love, time, and efforts into making their lives a little sweeter.

It is so much more worthwhile than ranting about Prius-owners. 

(I apologize to all of you lovely, Prius-driving readers, I'm sure you're just wonderful.)

These cinnamon rolls just about make every fall baking fantasy come true.  I shoved every autumnal flavor I could into these rolls - pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, pecans, and cocoa nibs - and wrapped them up in my very favorite yeast dough.  They are truly so very, very good.

Oh!  Brown butter!  Did I mention the brown butter?

Are you wondering why Pinterest is suddenly telling you to brown every stick of butter in your refrigerator?  I know, it is a little out-of-hand, but there is a good reason for its fame. 

Brown butter has a toffee-like richness of flavor that adds so much nutty, buttery goodness to baked goods.  It is a little intimidating at the first attempt, but after the second or third time, it becomes all too easy to throw this little weapon to everything you bake. 

The recipients of these rolls were beyond grateful, but more importantly, I got my mind off of myself for a solid hour.  It is good to serve. 

It's also good to taste-test before you serve.  Sometimes you need to taste-test two or three rolls for quality control.  It's a necessary evil.  We all have to make sacrifices. 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie

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Pumpkin Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

makes 7 very large cinnamon rolls

for the dough

- 8 ounces warm milk 

- 1/3 cup granulated sugar 

- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon active dry yeast 

- 15 ounces all-purpose flour

- 2 egg yolks 

- 1/2 teaspoon salt 

- 2 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus extra for coating the pan)

In the bowl of your stand mixer combine milk, sugar, yeast, egg yolks, flour, and salt.  Use the paddle attachment and combine on low speed for 1 minute.  Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes. 

Fit your stand mixer with dough hook and add the butter.  Mix on medium speed for 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side.  

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form a large ball.  Place in an oiled bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.  While the dough rises, prepare the fillings and coat a 9-inch pie pan with softened butter. 

for the pumpkin filling

- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)

- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

In a small saucepan, melt butter.  Add pumpkin and brown sugar and cook, over medium heat, for 7-10 minutes, stirring often.  The mixture should be thick and deepened in color.  Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. 

for the spice filling

- 3/8 cup granulated sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 

- 2 tablespoons cocoa nibs 

- 1/2 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped

In a small bowl, whisk to combine sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  

Remove the dough from the bowl.  Roll out on a floured surface into a 15x12 inch rectangle. Spread the pumpkin filling evenly over the surface of the dough and sprinkle with the spice mixture, cocoa nibs and pecans.  Roll the dough up tightly, working from end to end, and tucking as you go.  Cut the roll into 7 equal pieces.  Place the rolls in the buttered pan and cover loosely with plastic.  Allow to rise for 40 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes, or until deep golden brown.  Allow the rolls to cool for 10 minutes before coating with frosting. 

for the cream cheese frosting

- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

In a small frying pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Bring the butter to a simmer, and cook, swirling the pan every so often, until the butter has deepened in color and small, brown bits have formed at the bottom of the pan.  This should take about 5-10 minutes.  Remove from heat and skim any white residue from the top.  Allow to cool.

In the work bowl of your stand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed for 1 minute.  Add cooled butter and vanilla extract and beat to combine.  

With the mixture on low speed, sift in confectioner’s sugar.  Spread the frosting over the warm cinnamon rolls and serve immediately. 

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