Magnolia Bakery cupcakes

These cupcakes are sooo yummy that we had to research on the recipe. This may not be 100% like the ons you can get in the bakery (yum!) but it is delicious!

Our friend Yumei from Mum n Babies made them and was kind enough to send us pictures :) Thank you!

Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour

1 1/4 cups flour

227 grams of unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven at 180ºC
2. Line cupcake baking trays with liners
3. In a bowl, combine the flours and set aside
4. On another bowl cream the butter on an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. 
5. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes)
6. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add the dry ingredients in three parts while alternating with the milk and vanilla.
7. After each addition beat until ingredients are well combined but do not over beat.
8. Spoon the mixture in the lined baking trays up to 3/4 full.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes on the tins for 15 minutes and then remove and cool completely before icing.

Icing
INGREDIENTS:

227 grams of unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups of soft icing sugar
1.2 cup of milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract

1. Put the butter and 4 cups of the sugar, the milk and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and creamy (3-5 minutes).
2. Gradually add the remaining sugar 1 cup at a time beating well after each addition until the icing has a good think spreading consistency.

NOTE: You may not need to add all of the sugar. You can also add a few drops of food colouring. You can store at room temperature for about 3 days but do not put in the fridge since this will harden the icing). You will most definitely have left over icing - this recipe can also be used to ice a 9 inch cake. This pic shows cupcakes with a little icing but we usually cover the whole top with it :)

Magnolia's banana pudding!

While in NYC we visited the famous Magnolia Bakery and really enjoyed their banana pudding (sometimes even more than their cupcakes!) and had to look for this recipe and make it when back in Australia. Although we could not find the specific biscuit they call for in their recipe, we made changes and used the ingredients below and it worked quite well :)
F, Mr. F and I really love this!

INGREDIENTS:
1 can condensed milk
1.5 cups of ice cold water
1 box or bag of vanilla pudding (in our case we used a bag of vanilla "Pudding Magic")
750 ml of heavy cream
Lady Finger biscuits
About 6-8 bananas cut in slices.

1. Mix the water and the condensed milk until well combined. Add the pudding and allow to set (this can be made and left overnight). Make sure it has had enough time to set completely.
2. Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
3. Start softening the pudding mix with a fork and then fold it in the whipped cream gently until they are combined and you can no longer see lumps or streaks of yellow pudding.
4. To assemble: put a thiner layer of cream at the bottom to start, then the sliced bananas and then the biscuits and repeat making thicker layers of cream until the last layer is cream and then decorate the top with some banana slices.

Delicious and easy!

Pumpkin and vegetable cream (soup)

The weather was perfect for soup so we made this great cream. The amounts are for what we used and not what you should use so just add as much/little of each vegetable and omit whatever you would prefer not to include.

INGREDIENTS
Pumpkin (about 1Kg)
Onion (1 medium)
Potatoes (l large)
Garlic (2 heads)
Any other vegetable you want to add (we added brocoli)
Salt and pepper
Water or stock
Milk (optional)
Seasoning of your choice

1. Cut all the veggies (except the garlic which you add whole and peel once cooked) so they cook faster and place them on a baking tray. Spray with a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender and they are a bit golden*.
2. Put the cooked veggies in a large pot and cover with water or stock. Let boil for a little while and then with a stick mixer, puree the vegetables and add some milk and the seasoning.
3. Taste and adjust salt. Done.

*We baked the broccoli as well which wasn't a good idea since it cooked way faster than the rest and became a little burnt.

We served with a dollop of greek yoghurt.

Mexican hot chocolate ice cream

So, we have come across a site called Safari Love that specialises in exotic drinks and one of our favourites is their Mexican hot chocolate (Aztec elixir). It is so delicious! Very thick and with a hint of cinnamon...yum! So...we decided to make it into ice cream (of course!).

INGREDIENTS:
300ml thick cream (we used light)
300ml milk
5 generous tbsp of Aztec Elixir hot chocolate powder
200ml thickened cream for whipping
1 tbsp of icing sugar
100gr Chocolate chips (we used Lindt orange intense)

1. In a small saucepan mix the 300ml of thick cream with the milk and the chocolate powder. Stir until well combined, set aside and let cool completely. Transfer to the fridge.
2. Once the chocolate milk is cold, whip the other 200ml of thickened cream with the icing sugar until stiff peaks form.
3. Gently fold the chocolate milk and mix until well combined.
4. Set in the freezer for an hour or two and then transfer to your ice cream maker (we have a Breville bowl and scraper but if you don't have any type of ice cream making machine, you can just remove from the freezer every 2 hours and scrape and mix so you get a soft consistency rather than a hard frozen piece of chocolate milk).
5. Mix until you get the desired consistency and then add the chocolate chips and mix for a few more seconds. Store in an airtight container in the freezer and enjoy!

Chicken with mushrooms and cream

This is super easy and very delicious (well, at least for us). It is very similar to stroganoff but way simpler.

INGREDIENTS:
1tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
Boneless, skinless chicken (we used 3 pieces of thigh fillet, diced)
1 can of drained champignon sliced
500ml of sour cream*
3x chicken stock cubes*

1. Heat the oil and butter in saucepan.
2. Stir in chicken (it can be cut in whatever way you like or left whole), cook and brown on both sides. Take out of pan and save.
3. In the same saucepan you cooked the chicken, fry the champignons until slightly brown and add the stock cubes.
4. Stir in the sour cream and the cooked chicken and simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with white rice and some greens if desired. This time we served with some quinoa (RECIPE HERE). Delicious!
NOTE: when simmering at the end you will notice some of the fat going to the surface. You can choose to scoop it out before serving.
* If you are near a Central American shop and can get your hands on mantequilla crema, use this instead of the sour cream and only add 2 instead of 3 stock cubes.