Snickerdoodles

I tend to try a number of different recipes for my favorite desserts before I settle on a go-to version. This snickerdoodle recipe has officially made it into my book. Because of the shortening these are chewy rather than crispy cookies--just the way I like them.

1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 tsp milk
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Cream together shortening, butter, and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Add to butter mixture.
4. Add milk and mix well.
5. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
5. Roll dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter (refridgerate for 15 minutes or so if the dough is too sticky).
6. Dip dough balls in cinnamon and sugar
7. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Oh, and the dough is good, too.

Something Sweet

A new lovely, homey bakery has opened up right across from the best pizza in D.C. (2 Amys, obviously). The bakery is pink, green, and endlessly cute. Their treats taste homemade and very good. The menus and even the store hours sign are hand-written. The staff are actually helpful and seem happy to have you there.

Something Sweet has several sweet things that they will put into handy-dandy single serving containers for takeaway: frozen treats, cookies, tarts, brownies and 6 or 7 flavors of cupcakes.

This shop is doing big flavors and plenty of sugar. All the usual cupcakes are reminiscent of old favorites that your mom made. The vanilla cake was a bit wet, and the M&Ms on top of the chocolate frosting were a little cutesy, but the chocolate buttercream itself was wonderful. The chocolate cake is very chocolate-y, and the vanilla buttercream while slightly gritty is a meringue-like fluff of vanilla goodness. I haven't been there while they've had an orange flavored cupcake, but a friend of mine assures me it is like biting into a sweet and juicy orange that just happens to have the texture of cake and buttercream.

So grab a friend, have some pizza, buy a cupcake, and eat it on a bench on the beautiful National Cathedral grounds. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Heather's Pick: Red Velvet
This is the real deal! The red velvet cake is dense and tangy and the cream cheese frosting is extraordinarily creamy and sweeter than I usually go for, but not unpleasantly so. I meant to leave half the red velvet for my husband, truly I did.

Get to Georgetown Quick!

There are just two days left in August, and that means there are just two more days to get a coconut-key lime cupcake at Georgetown Cupcake. Sure, you've had their coconut with cream cheese frosting which is very good and you've had their key lime which is also really delicious, but trust me, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. That cupcake is freaking a-mazing! Go, go, go!

Passion Fruit Custard Cakes

I love custard. I love souffles. This is a wonderful something in between. The top is a fluffy, moist cake and the bottom is a creamy liquid custard.

Custard cakes are the latest delight I've discovered in my quest to create the perfect passion fruit dessert. I whipped these up on a Sunday for a barbecue. I didn't have enough granulated sugar so I used powdered and adjusted the amounts accordingly. The light and pucker-up tart results were a huge hit with my family. I will say that the other couple and their children who tried them were not super enthusiastic. Even with a generous topping of whipped cream, the cakes are very tart and intensely passion fruit flavored--probably not the best thing to serve in strictly chocoholic circles. Fruity dessert lovers take notice: my husband, my sister and I had a near brawl over the extra ramekin. YUM!


3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup thawed passion fruit concentrate or passion fruit pulp
1 tablespoons finely grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter eight 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups. Whisk 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, and pinch of salt in medium bowl to blend. Combine milk, egg yolks, passion fruit concentrate and lime zest in large bowl; whisk until blended. Add flour mixture to yolk mixture and whisk custard until blended. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar to whites and beat until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/4 of whites into custard. Fold remaining whites into custard in 2 additions (custard will be slightly runny).

Divide custard equally among prepared ramekins. Place ramekins in large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake custard cakes until golden brown and set on top (custard cakes will be slightly soft in center), about 27 minutes. Chill custard cakes uncovered until cold, at least 4 hours, then cover and keep refrigerated. Custard cakes can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Serve with whipped cream.

Lemon Chiffon Pie with Gingersnap Crust

I needed to make a lemon pie for the next installment of the Anne of Green Gables book club and settled on this recipe. From the descriptions in the book, I picture Anne's lemon pie as a pate brisee filled with lemon curd and topped with whipped cream, but I didn't feel like doing pate brisee because I am lazy. This pie from epicurious looked intriguing, so I gave it a shot. To make them uniform, the gingersnap cookies had to be processed until they were extremely fine crumbs. The resulting crust was quite hard--no shocker since gingersnaps are so hard themselves. If I made it again, I would use half gingersnaps and half graham crackers so I'm making that alteration in the recipe below. I wasn't crazy about the texture of the pie. I don't love the texture the gelatin creates.

Keys to success: Be sure to strain your custard before adding the cream. Give yourself plenty of time to cool the crust, plenty of time to cool the filling all the way down to 60 degrees and plenty of time to let the pie set. I also chilled the bowl and whisk with the cream before whipping it. The filling immediately started to set up and was easy to mound in the middle.

This was a simple, if time consuming pie which people seemed to really enjoy.

Crust

3/4 cup finely ground gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 12 cookies ground in processor)
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced crystallized ginger
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling

2 cups ice cubes

1/4 cup water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup strained fresh lemon juice
4 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar

For crust:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of spring form pan with baking spray. Mix gingersnap cookie crumbs, sugar, and ginger in medium bowl. Add melted butter and stir until mixture is evenly moistened. Transfer crumb mixture to spring-form pan; press crumbs firmly and evenly onto bottom of pan. Bake until crust is firm and slightly darker in color, about 8 minutes. Cool crust completely.
For filling:
Pour enough cold water into medium bowl to come halfway up sides; add 2 cups ice cubes and set aside.
Pour 1/4 cup water into small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 15 minutes.
Whisk 3/4 cup sugar, lemon juice, egg yolks, grated lemon peel, and salt in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Whisk constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens very slightly (mixture will coat spoon but will not be thick like curd) and thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F, about 8 minutes (do not boil). Add gelatin mixture; whisk until gelatin dissolves and mixture is smooth, about 1 minute. Place saucepan in bowl with ice water until lemon filling is cool to touch (appox. 60 degrees), whisking occasionally, about 12 minutes. Transfer lemon filling to large bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat whipping cream with powdered sugar in another medium bowl until peaks form. Fold 1/4 of whipped cream into lemon filling until incorporated. Fold in remaining whipped cream in 3 additions. Transfer filling to cool crust, mounding slightly in center. Refrigerate pie until filling is set, about 4 hours. Serve with additional whipped cream and fresh raspberries.

Nectarine Pie

My 16-year-old sister visited last week and wanted to learn to bake something new. I had taught her to make red velvet cupcakes last January, which she then made and sold with resounding success at her Quiz Bowl bake sale (though my sister, Mikaela, who is partial to cream cheese frosting, may have purchased most of them.)

This time, wanting to broaden her range, we settled on pie. And, wanting to do something a little different, we chose a Nectarine Pie. The result was mixed. Though the crust and the crumb topping were excellent, the filling wasn’t quite sweet enough. If I were to make this again, I would definitely add more sugar – and possibly macerate the nectarines before putting them in the pie plate.

The original recipe came from All Recipes – here is my modified version.

Ingredients

Filling:
2/3 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup heavy whipping cream
¼ tsp vanilla
4 large nectarines

Crust:
7 tbsp butter
1 ½ tbsp cold water
1 ¼ c flour

Crumb Topping:
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
¼ cup butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare pie crust. Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in cold water and flour. Mix just, until blended. Form the dough into a ball. Place the ball between two sheets of waxed paper, lightly floured. Roll out to 1/8 inch and line a 10-inch pie plate. Trim overhang.
3. Combine sugar, flour cinnamon, heavy cream and vanilla extract. Set aside.
4. Slice nectarines (you can remove the skin if you feel so inclined – I didn’t). Place in pie shell. Pour cream mixture around the nectarines.
5. Prepare crumb topping. Cut the butter into the brown sugar and flour until butter is in pea-sized chunks. Sprinkle over top of pie.
6. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes. (Put a baking sheet under pie plate to catch any drippings – I didn’t do this and ended up with a disconnected smoke detector and a very smoky apartment).

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I am doing a 12-week fitness challenge at my gym which is really affecting my relationship with baked goods. So I got it into my head to try to make a low-calorie version of the white chocolate raspberry cupcakes I love so well.

I bought a beautiful brick of Callebaut white chocolate at Whole Foods and decided to make a simple ganache glaze to keep the calories lower than a full frosting.

I used fresh red raspberries and this recipe I found online.

Cupcakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup fresh raspberries, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and milk alternately in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating just until incorporated. Fold in the raspberries.
Divide the batter among lined muffin cups. Bake until pale golden and a wooden pick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Turn cupcakes out onto a rack to cool completely.

Ganache
3/4 cup chopped white chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
Bring cream to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan. Pour cream evenly over chocolate. Let stand for one minute to soften, then stir until smooth. If frosting is too loose to spread, let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, ganache will continue to thicken as it stands.

They were sad! This recipe should have made 11 cupcakes instead of 12 and even so they would have been sad little itty bitty cupcakes with barely any raspberry flavor at all. The white chocolate ganache completely overpowered the cakes.

The only good thing I have to say about them is that they were about 250 calories each. Booooo!

Plum Puffs and Raspberry Cordial

If you're a male, you're forgiven for not understanding this reference. The rest of you have no excuse.

A friend and I have started an Anne of Green Gables book club for the summer and for our first meeting I decided to make Marilla's plum puffs (which "won't minister to a mind diseased") and the infamous raspberry cordial. There is actually a cute little paperback out of print cookbook extant which targets the same juvenile demographic as the books. I shelled out for a used copy on Amazon, but ended up making a muffin variety instead of the jam filled cream puff from the cookbook since it better fitted my notion of what Marilla would have baked.

Plum Pulp
2 lbs plums, washed

Wash plums and place in a large pot. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup water to pot--just enough to make some steam. Cover and heat over very low heat until the fruit is soft and falling apart. Remove pits. Press plums and juices through a potato ricer to mash. Most of the skins will automatically be removed. Two pounds of plums should yield about 3 cups pulp, which may be used for this recipe, frozen in containers or freezer bags, or made into jam. Look for European plums, not Asian plums as they are not as good for cooking.

Plum Puffs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup light cream
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon (or to taste)

Preheat oven to 375°F Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon allspice. Add 1 cup plum pulp, cream, egg, and 1/4 cup melted butter and stir until combined (should still be lumpy, not smooth).

Spoon batter into muffin cups to about 2/3 full. Bake about 20 minutes or until centers are set. (Mine took 14 minutes to bake.) Remove puffs from pan immediately.
While puffs are baking, combine cinnamon and sugar. As soon as the puffs are removed from the pan, brush tops with melted butter, then dip into cinnamon-sugar mixture.

These were a big hit. The plum pulp was gorgeous and fragrant and the batter was a beautiful burgundy. I wish they had a stronger plum flavor and will probably use more pulp and less cream and butter next time, or even put in some unmashed plum chunks.

Sweet Revenge

Heather recently suggested that I try out a New York bakery featured on Martha Stewart called Sweet Revenge. When my good friend (and fellow baked good connoisseur) Sariah came to town, it seemed like a great time to do it. After carefully tasting six different cupcakes, one word sums up my feelings.

Eh.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. Their cake had a tight crumb, giving it a pleasant, sink your teeth into it feeling when you took a bite. And both their dark and milk chocolate ganache frostings were the kind of thing you could eat by the pint while standing in front of your fridge in the middle of the night. Their buttercream, however, was way too sweet. Their vanilla/vanilla (or “Pure”) was overcooked, resulting in a tough, crunchy exterior. Their dark chocolate cake was so dry it crumbled to pieces when we tried to cut it for our taste test. And what they did to Red Velvet (making it pink and adding raspberries) was practically blaspheme. Even cream cheese frosting couldn’t save it, and let’s be honest, cream cheese frosting can save a lot of things.

The final judgment, however, came the next morning, when I got up hungry and freshly on a diet and wasn’t even tempted by the leftover vanilla cupcake sitting on the counter. In fact, it continued to sit there all day.

Not a good sign.

Sariah brought some cupcakes back to Heather in DC – I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of them.

Georgetown Cupcake

Georgetown Cupcake is the pretty popular girl you’d love to hate if she wasn’t so darn lovable. The last thing Georgetown Cupcake needs is another adoring fan, but I have to be honest. Critics and foodies go mad over Georgetown Cupcake and up to fifty people stand in line outside their sweltering and cramped little storefront for 30-40 minutes for one very good reason. These cupcakes are phenomenal. The quality of the ingredients is extraordinary and the craftsmanship is exacting and consistent.

There are some problems in paradise, of course. Eating a cupcake from Georgetown is divine, purchasing one is not. Apart from the obvious problems with the size of the storefront, Georgetown has had a deserved reputation for snooty employees and a “we don’t need or care about you” attitude from the owners. In recent months, the owners have sought to address both problems with some success. One of the cashier girls even smiles now. Wow.

The cakes are extraordinarily tender--tender to a fault at times. I have had several cupcakes there that had a bit of a sink hole in the middle because they were either slightly undercooked or so light of crumb that they buckled a bit under the weight of the frosting. On the upside, the frosters always fill those divots with extra frosting.

And it is the frosting here that really sets this place apart from the crowd. The chocolate ganache frostings are made only from rich, dark, high-quality chocolate and cream yielding a product that is pure, decadent and perfectly creamy. The cream cheese frosting is equally creamy and a little fluffier. The buttercreams in their many flavor variations are even rather too creamy to my taste. Personally, I prefer a higher confectioner’s sugar content in my buttercreams, but I appreciate what the chefs are aiming for here. One word of warning: without any meringue powder or shortening, these frostings are not very heat-hearty and don’t travel particularly well. Another word of warning: these cupcakes are rather small. Just one will leave you longing.

The Red Velvet cupcakes here are very popular, though their dark color and lack of tang hint to me that they are actually regular chocolate cupcakes with food coloring rather than a true red velvet cake. I suspect Red Velvet fans are actually being seduced by the cream cheese frosting because those same fans generally go crazy over the Lava Fudge and Coconut cupcakes which are likewise topped with cream cheese.

The exotic flavors which rotate through the menu are more hit and miss than the standards. They do citrus cupcakes extremely well hitting just the right notes with Lemon Blossom, Key Lime and Lemonberry. The bland Carrot Cake, overly nutty Hazelnut, and candy-like Mint Chocolate are less successful.

Heather’s Pick: White Chocolate Raspberry. The bright, sweet-tart raspberries manage to flavor the tender cake without weighing it down, and the white chocolate ganache frosting almost makes a believer in white chocolate of me. Shockingly, in a tasting of 14 cupcakes from four D.C. bakeries, all 4 of my friends and I independently chose this as our favorite. Too bad it is so seldom on the menu.

Verdict: If you don’t like these cupcakes (and you're not just saying that), I cannot help you.

Forbidden Fruit is Tart

Tart, intense and exotic, passion fruit is one of my favorite flavors.

Recently in a fit of madness or genius, I plunked down $45 for a canister of frozen passion fruit puree from California and have since been looking for a recipe worthy of this product. I settled on a recipe that combines two of my great loves, chocolate and passion fruit. On Valentine’s Day I had passion fruit mousse served with chocolate custard at Inox, delightful! Those skeptical of how well chocolate pairs with the tart, citrus-y flavor of passion fruit should try dark chocolate passion fruit truffles from Wegman’s--or passion fruit creme brulee on a brownie base.

Although I generally, prefer a fudge brownie with a melted butter base, the fudge would be too stiff in a chilled dessert, so I creamed the butter and sugar. I didn't use a leavener to turn the brownie into cake, so what I got was something between cakey and fudgey. Brownie-y to be exact.

Since the brownie was going to be baked twice, I didn't actually use a lot of cream in the crème and kept the the portion of passion fruit crème fairly modest to keep the baking time minimal.

My husband went insane over this dessert and requested it for again for Father's Day. I thought it was great, loved the chocolate and passion fruit combo. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I found the passionfruit a little overpowering. It was fabulous fun to work a blow torch though. I love adding to my kitchen gadgetry collection.

Brownie
4oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 T cocoa powder
½ c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract
½ c flour sifted
¼ tsp salt

Passion Fruit Creme
½ c unsalted butter
¼ c heavy cream
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
½ c sugar
¾ c passion-fruit puree
Granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate in double boiler over simmering water. Whisk in the cocoa powder. When chocolate is melted, remove from double boiler and keep warm. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Continue mixing while adding eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Mix in flour and salt. With a spoon, fold the warm chocolate mixture into the batter and blend well. Pour batter into pan and smooth top. Batter should be no more than 1 inch deep. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until set. Remove from oven and cool in the pan.

Heat butter and cream over double boiler and stir until blended. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, and yolks over hot water until slightly warm. Slowly whisk butter mixture into eggs, followed by the sugar and puree. Place the bowl in a water bath or transfer the custard to a double boiler over barely simmering water, and stir until the spoon leaves a trail when pulled through mixture. Remove form heat and strain.

Preheat oven to 250. Pour custard over crust and smooth top. Place pan on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes for individual servings or 20-30 for springform pan. Remove from oven and run a sharp knife around edge to keep custard from sticking to sides of pan or molds and to prevent cracks in the filling. Cool at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Before serving, run a knife around edges f molds or pan to remove desserts. Sprinkle custard evenly with granulated sugar and caramelize with small torch. Serve with crème anglaise and chocolate sauce, or simply with a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar.

Baked & Wired

When some friends and I decided to do a head to head tasting of cupcakes around the city, I was really routing for this place to win. I hate to be a trend-whore by siding with all the critics and masses of people in line outside Georgetown Cupcake, and I had heard some very good buzz about this place, so I went into this bakery ready and willing to be pleased. Pleased I was, but not blown away.

Baked & Wired does huge, home-style cupcakes that are more rustic than gourmet. If that’s your preference, Baked and Wired has your number. The cupcakes are served in really attractive parchment paper folds, with no fussiness in the frosting design. Except for the rust-orange “red velvet” cupcake that everyone in the group disliked the look of, the presentation was quite charming.

I had heard complaints that the goods here are overly sweet. I didn’t take issue with the sweetness so much as the texture and density. All three of the cakes I had were over-wet. When a cake has too much moisture in it, it doesn’t rise enough and ends up dense and heavy—and in the case of the white cake—a soggy mess. I don’t know if this was a bad batch or a general rule, but when you can squish the cake with your finger and have moisture run out, something has gone wrong.

The frosting was well-flavored and plentiful, but here too there were some execution problems hiding under the name of “homestyle.” I love a good confectioner’s sugar-heavy icing a la Magnolia, but here both the vanilla and the cream cheese frostings had the graininess of undissolved confectioner’s sugar. (Magnolia has its good and bad frosting days as well. Have you ever noticed the frosting both looks and tastes better on Sundays?) This means either the frosting wasn’t rested enough for the sugar to fully dissolve or there was simply too high a sugar to fat ratio. An even larger problem in my book was that the chocolate ganache frosting was so thick and dense that a knife couldn’t cut it without tearing apart the cake below.

Baked&Wired Bakery has been serving coffee and various baked goods since before the cupcake trend really hit the city and has built up a devoted following over the years. What their cupcakes lack in refinement, they certainly make up for in size.

Heather’s Pick: Coconut. If you really love coconut, this is a big fat wad of satisfaction!

Verdict: Not my thing, but I can see why it has devoted fans.

Hello Cupcake

Several friends claim this cupcakery is the finest in the city, so I absolutely had to give it a try (or several). The height of the frosting and the variety of flavors here are astounding. The menu changes daily offering up to 13 flavors each day including a very modern gluten-free option.

This is a top notch establishment with very well executed and imaginative cupcakes. A good portion of the flavors have nearly a 1:1 ratio of frosting to cake, so frosting lovers will be delighted, though only the largest mouths will have an easy time getting a bite with their signature huge onion domes of frosting.

The cakes tend to be flavorful, moderately dense, and a little dry on the unprotected top--if you show up 15 minutes before closing. Not surprisingly, the giant swirls of frosting are more stiff than creamy, and I would say that it isn’t just the HC Originals (their birthday cake flavor) that are sweet enough to give you a toothache. Both the chocolate and coconut frostings are just over the line into too-sweet territory. I have never had a bad cupcake experience here, though my sister and resident citrus cupcake aficionado called the lemon cupcake lackluster, said she would have preferred something a little more tart and a little less sweet, and even used the words “lemon box cake.”

Heather’s Pick: The Mayan Favorite Cupcake. This is their dark, rich devil’s food cake cupcake with a hint of cinnamon in the cake and a karate chop of cayenne in the frosting. This is not for your 4 year old son or your 84 year old Nana, but if you are as into the trend of chili and chocolate as I, you’ll absolutely love it. I made at least 4 trips into the city solely for a Mayan in April, and when it shows back up on the menu, I’ll go again at least that often.

Verdict: If you haven’t been there yet, you should go.

Cupcakes Actually

I was very excited to see a cupcakery opening up in my neck of the woods. The shop itself is a sleek and attractive study in glass and ice blue. One of the chefs and owners, Sue was behind the counter chatting and boxing cheerfully.

The website lists an intriguing menu of saucily named cupcakes, and six of those flavors greeted us on silver cakestands. A friend and I bought a beautiful baby blue sampler box of cupcakes and took them out to the street-side tables to enjoy.

I had to start with their signature Actually Dipped Black and White cupcake, a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting dipped in chocolate. My first and lasting impression was that the cake was quite dry. The vanilla flavor was just right, present but not too strong, and the cake was dense like a pound cake. My preference for a lighter crumb is a matter of personal taste, but I think anyone would agree that this cake is simply too dry. The vanilla frosting had both the flavor and texture of melted marshmallows which I quite liked, but the chocolate coating was both grainy and so diluted by oil for viscosity that it had not much chocolate flavor.

Next came the red velvet cupcake which was decidely pink. Although adorable with its blushing color and little pink heart, this cake had neither the fluffiness nor the tang of a red velvet cake made with buttermilk or vinegar. The cream cheese frosting was nice, if a bit stiff, but both of us agreed that the cake was so dry as to be inedible without a tall glass of milk. I actually ended up throwing it away. Don’t tell my husband.

Heather’s Pick: The real winner of the day was the lemon cupcake called Pucker Up. A very intense lemon curd filling gives this gem of a cupcake both moisture and bite. The cake and frosting are subtly lemon-flavored so that the curd can really shine.

Verdict: I would go back again for the Pucker Up—and take a big glass of milk.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Shortening is to the baking world what reality tv is to television: a secret shame. But I, for one, no longer want to keep the secret.

I love Survivor, the Amazing Race and So You Think You Can Dance.

And I love shortening too.

Shortening gives flakiness to pastries and lightness to cookies. In fact, I would argue that you can’t make a truly great chocolate chip cookie without it. Now, I know the all-butter, crispy, crumbly, could-be-used-as-a-frisbee-in-a-pinch cookies are all the rage right now (ahem, City Bakery). But I don’t like them. I want a cookie with texture, density, and chewiness. In short, I want shortening. And since it is now trans-fat free, I don't even have to feel guilty about it.

With that said, here is my never fail, could-eat-the-whole-batch-by-myself chocolate chip cookies – shortening included.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
½ c granulated sugar
½ c brown sugar
1/3 c butter, room temperature
1/3 c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ c flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¾ c semi-sweet chocolate chips
sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, sugars, and shortening. Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add dry ingredients to sugar mixture, mixing until combined. Add chocolate chips. Place baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Note: These are especially good if you allow the dough to rest for 24 hours.