Just Poachie

Poached eggs.  We have a love hate relationship.  I love them, but I've never been able to successfully prepare them.

Until this morning.

It seems it is all about the temperature of the water.  You want it super hot, but not boiling or simmering. You want it to the point just before it simmers.  And there, my friends, was where I was making my mistakes.  I had it in my head the water needed to be boiling.  Not so.

So, fill a pot with a few inches of water.  Bring it to the point just before it simmers.  You'll see lots of tiny bubbles on the bottom of your pot.  Add a small splash of vinegar.  There is some debate out there as to whether or not the vinegar actually does anything.  I used it and ended up with pretty good poached eggs.  Ultimately, do what works for you.  Apparently the vinegar helps tighten up the egg so it doesn't end up all spread out around the pot.  Seemed to work for me.

Break an egg into a small bowl.  When your water is ready gently slide the egg into the water.  This is much easier than trying to break the egg straight in to the water.

And now you wait.  But don't wander too far.  You've still got to monitor the water temperature to make sure it doesn't start to boil on you.  If it starts to get too hot turn back the temp a bit. 

Leave the little devils in the water until they're done to your liking.  When done plop them on top of toast or something else of your choosing.  A sprinkle of salt and fresh cracked pepper and you've got yourself lovely poached eggs!

Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Yes, you read that correctly: Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting.

I. KNOW.

And yes they are diet friendly. 

I wanted to make a batch of cupcakes to take to my cousin who just turned 10 a few days ago (yup, a bit late on that one...better late than never though, right?). I wanted something more than my standard chocolate cup cake, but wanted familiar flavors for her 10 year old taste buds.  I'm not so sure she would have appreciated the chocolate Irish cream with caramel butter cream I've made.

I also wanted to make them look fun and pretty for her.  Any excuse for a trip to Michaels!

I came home and whipped up a bunch of these little babies.  

The cupcake:

2/3c Nutella
1c regular flour
1 1/2c cake flour
1 1/2c cocoa
2tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
3/4tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2c sugar
3/4c softened butter
2 1/2c butter milk*

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In large bowl beat eggs and sugar for 5mins. Then add in butter.  Mix until combined. Add Nutella. Mix. Add buttermilk and mix until well incorporated.

So good you'll want to just eat it straight from the bowl

Add flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. 

Line cupcake tin with liners of your choice, though this recipe totally warrants using fun ones! Fill cupcake tine and bake 20-25mins, until toothpick comes out clean.

Happy naked little cupcakies 

I found in my oven they were perfectly done at 25mins. Cooking times may vary depending on the oven. I find my oven runs a bit cooler than others I've cooked in, so bear that in mind.





The Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese. I used the Light variety.  Told you they were diet friendly.
5 tablespoons room temperature butter
3 3/4c icing sugar
2 tsp clear vanilla extract **

Cream butter and cream cheese in large mixing bowl.
Add vanilla.
Slowly add the icing sugar, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go.
Beat on high until smooth and fluffy.
Add a bit of milk or more sugar if needed to reach desired consistency.

*don't have buttermilk? Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar per 1c of regular milk. Let it sit until it curdles, about 10mins.

**clear vanilla extract helps maintain a pure white color of the frosting.  But if this isn't important to you, then go ahead and use the regular stuff, which is what I did.

Oh, I should perhaps warn you this recipe will yield a bazillion regular sized cupcakes.  If you prefer the minis you'll be baking cup cakes for days.  I actually just did a head count: 2.5 dozen plus 1.  The frosting recipe will yield enough to frost the whole batch. 

Another warning: if you are not a big chocolate fan these are probably not for you.
The cake is super chocolatey while being light, fluffy and moist.  Everything you want a perfect little cup cake to be!

Tip: if you intend to pipe your frosting you may want to chill it for a few minutes first.  I found once the heat from my hands hit the piping bag it went soft pretty quickly.

I think these will be my new go-to chocolate cupcakes!  They're so beyond delicious!  And because the recipe makes so many you've got plenty to share! Or not. Either way, they're yummy and worth every bite!

Welcome! Bienvenue!

I have been toying with the idea lately of creating a blog for and about food.  After much thought "Ms. Hungry Pants" was born!

I come from a family of fabulous cooks and bakers.  So I was fortunate enough to learn a few tricks over my years.  After many years of licking out bowls I finally jumped in and started baking and cooking for myself.  As it would turn out I LOVE to cook.  I freely admit that while I like to bake it isn't one of my most favorite things.  I think that has something to do with the rigidity of the recipes.  While there is some room to play with them I much prefer the throw-it-all-in-a-pot-and-see-what-happens approach to cooking. Sometimes I get a win, sometimes I get a fail, but its all part of the fun. 

My hope for this blog is to share my food experiences with everyone out there in Blogville.  I will share recipes and restaurant experiences, both the good and the not so good - and some photographic evidence of such!

So, without further ado, ladies and gents I give you Ms. Hungry Pants!