I baked me some Spring-Time

Part of my original idea for Easter was to bake some cupcakes. I had it all planned out. The Easter bunny would bring a trail of jelly-beans, and as the kids collected them we would save them for decorating cupcakes later that day. It would be the start of a fun family tradition. Well, as the holiday progressed that plan was quickly discarded; for several reasons, but mainly as a way to Simplify.

So, since I had already purchased the cupcake papers I couldn’t let them go to waste. I decided that Spring can be just as diligently celebrated. It is a marvelous season, and so very anticipated.

Let the celebration begin!

Ok. I dug out a recipe from my hoard. It was written as a cake-in-a-baking-dish recipe, so I modified it for cupcakes. I also reviewed the altitude adjustment information and made some changes from there. And there’s one more thing I did change. I have recently (yesterday) acquired (purchased) 50 pounds of WHITE beans…and I have been DYING to use them. So, of course, I ground some into flour and added them to the cupcakes!

As with any dessert in my family, there were mixed opinions. I liked them a LOT; they’re just like little peanut-butter-cups, only in a cake! My honey said they were good. Boys and Aunt L all loved them, and girl only ate the middles; she’s funny like that…then I had an explosion of cupcake bits all over my kitchen; which is usually an indicator that they enjoyed it…

Over the next few days the little’s managed to eat cupcakes for every meal, and snack time as well. I think they were a success!

I did have a bit of indecision about how they should be stored. The frosting was a bit soft, so if I just covered them in plastic I envisioned the frosting would stick to it and make a big goopy mess. To solve that problem I put them in the fridge to harden the frosting. Then I covered them in plastic wrap. I thought it would be best to just leave them in the fridge because of the frosting. But the next morning, when they were cold they didn’t quite taste as good, and they weren’t as soft and fluffy. After that I just left them on the counter during the day, and put them in the fridge at night.

They taste SO delicious at room temperature…so, if you want to store them in the fridge make sure to pull them out in time to warm them up before serving.



Boy #2 decorated this one...isn't it cute?! he was SO proud of it!



Related Recipe:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

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Rolled and Roasted

I’m still a bit overwhelmed by the whole “altitude adjustment” ordeal, and I haven’t been able to make myself sort through the information yet.  Combine that with the Holidays, and other various circumstances, and life has become somewhat complicated—in a manner of speaking. So, I’ve been sticking with what I know. Or, at least, what I think I know.

I have dreams and delusional expectations about how I’d like to conduct the Holidays…but, I’m learned enough to at least know how much I personally can handle. For now, I’m playing it very low key.

Simplified = Good

Here’s how I simplified my Easter 2011, Celebration:

Simplify: Easter

And these are my simplified Easter 2011, Foods:

Breakfast = Easter Bunny brought it (see previous post)

Party = Potato Salad (store bought)

Lunch = Scraps (aka leftovers/cereal/misc)

Dinner = Roast, Rolls, Easter (Deviled) Eggs

For the roast I just improvised a recipe, using whatever sounded good. I’ve heard it said that it’s impossible to screw up a meal in the crockpot. Well, I will testify that it IS possible…in fact, I do it all the time. I think I am exceptionally talented in “crockpot ruining”. On occasion I get lucky, and it all comes together. This one turned out pretty good, and was super easy…but, I’ll blame any unlikeable part of it on the altitude.

The rolls are one of our favorites. They are soft and sweet, dense yet fluffy. I like them even better the next day, once they’ve softened from being in an airtight plastic bag. They taste just like the ones I can buy in a big bag from the Costco bakery.

This was the first time I actually doubled the recipe, though, and it didn’t turn out as great. The problem was that I had to move the oven racks to fit both pans in at the same time. The rolls ended up browning faster than the middles baked. They were completely cooked, and tasted good, but some of them had more dense centers that were somewhat doughy tasting. I’m sure it’s related to the weather, the altitude, my decrepit oven, and the quantity I was trying to cook at one time. Step around my obvious handicaps and you should do fine.

I also have trouble with hard-boiled eggs. I can usually cook them fine, but the shells ALWAYS stick to the whites, and it’s a massacre to get them off. SO frustrating.

Here are the directions I used this time to boil the eggs; and also some tips. Mine mostly turned out alright, but about half of them still stuck to the shells…so, I’ll keep trying:

How to Boil an Egg

Also, keep in mind that water boils at a lower temperature when you’re at high altitude (along with a whole collection of scientific altitude complications). What that means is that the water isn’t quite as hot once it starts to boil, so food takes longer to cook.

Related Recipes:

Roast

Dinner Rolls

Boiling Eggs & Deviled Eggs

Related Articles:

Altitude Complications

Easter Breakfast

Simplify: Easter

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Happy Easter!...instant breakfast

I find it difficult to relax and enjoy the holiday if I’m busy in the kitchen cooking.

So…here is my solution to Easter breakfast!

Easy Directions:

Open box…

  

…just add children!

Happy Easter!

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Aha! It’s NOT me…it’s YOU!

As I have been wading through this disastrousness I’ve been dealing with, I finally decided to do a little research. As it turns out, my problem is neither myself, nor my flour! It is in fact the altitude (I’m above 5400 ft)…AND the weather! (if you don't know what I'm talking about read my previous post)

I don’t know why I haven’t noticed before, but I’m assuming it’s related to the changing weather and the fact that I haven’t been a consistent baker. I have noticed that my cookies usually turn out more flat than I would like. And I’ve also gone through a lot of recipes that didn’t turn out as great as the reviews claim them to be; just figuring that I have a different opinion of what’s good or not good.

I’ve always noticed the “high altitude” adjustments on the back of cake mixes and I’ve heard little snippets here and there about altitude affecting baking. But, I’ve never really believed it, and I never realized that it could make such a profound difference.

I remember growing up in California, and the cookies we baked were always so tall and fluffy. I remember baking those exact same cookies in Utah, and being disappointed at their flatness. I never put too much thought into it other than I believed I had a faulty memory of those days when I was small.

This new realization is as equally frustrating as it is relieving. I found an article that explains all about baking at high altitude. There is so much information to sort through that I think my brain may explode. I’m going to have to rethink pretty much everything I know about baking, and start from “scratch”.

I guess it’ll at least fit in with my theme here.

 So…here I go again…

Here’s the article I found:

High-Altitude Baking

It explains all about altitude problems, the science behind it, and gives solutions.

Here’s a general chart that is a good place to start out, when baking at high altitude:

Recipe Adjustment Guide

And here’s where you can find your city’s elevation:

GNIS

(enter your city as Feature Name, select Civil as Feature Class, select your State and County, and click Send Query)

I’ve listed some random Utah Elevations:

Salt Lake City, 4222

Tooele, 4862

Herriman, 4993

Draper, 4747

American Fork, 4632

Elk Ridge, 5423

Orem, 4764

Provo, 4616

Payson, 4747

Richfield, 5351

Cedar City, 5676

While your here, answer my Survey!

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