Tag Archives: easter favors

Little Lamb Cupcakes

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From Food Network Kitchens

Ingredients

  • 1 vanilla cupcake, taken out of the paper, recipe follows
  • About 1 cup White Fluff Frosting, recipe follows
  • 1 large marshmallow
  • 2 white candy eyes
  • 1 purple jujube candy
  • 1 short 1/4 inch and 1 long piece 2 inch black string licorice
  • 35 mini-marshmallows
  • 4 purple and 2 pink jelly beans

Directions

Frost cupcake. Place the large marshmallow in the center. Lightly frost candy eyes and press onto the marshmallow. Frost the back of the jujube candy and put below eyes to for a nose. Frost the short piece of licorice lightly and press underneath the nose to make the mouth. Press mini-marshmallows all around the cupcakes and the face to make the lambs coat. Frost the tips of the pink jelly beans to make ears. Stick the purple jelly beans in the front and back of the cupcake for feet. Curl the long piece of licorice and press into frosting to make the lamb’s tail.

Vanilla Cupcake:

  1. 2 2/3 cups sugar
  2. 1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
  3. 2 large eggs
  4. 2 large egg yolks
  5. 2/3 cup milk
  6. 2/3 cup water
  7. 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  8. 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  9. 1 1/3 cups cake flour
  10. 4 teaspoons baking powder
  11. 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup cupcake tins with paper liners. (To avoid cupcakes sticking if they overflow slightly, lightly spray the tops of the pans.) Put tins on a baking sheet. Set aside.

Process sugar and butter in a food processor until very creamy, scraping sides as needed, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks, one at a time, pulsing after each addition. Add the milk, water, and vanilla and process to blend.

Whisk both flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients, in 3 batches to the wet, pulsing, and then scraping batter off the sides of the processor as needed after each addition. Process until the batter is very smooth, about 2 minutes.

Evenly pour the batter into the prepared cups, filling them 3/4 of the way full. Bake until the cakes are just firm and spring back when gently pressed, and the tops are golden, 18 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly in tin, and turn out of tin when cool enough to handle. Cool cupcakes completely on a rack before frosting.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ease of preparation: easy

Fluff Frosting:

  1. 1/4 cup whole milk
  2. 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  3. 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  4. 5 cups confectioners’ sugar
  5. 1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
  6. Pinch fine salt

Whisk the milk and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.

Slowly beat the butter and sugar, in another medium bowl, with an electric mixer until incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the sides of the bowl down with a rubber spatula.) Add the fluff and salt and reduce the speed to low. Add the milk and vanilla mixture, scrape the bowl down, and mix until fully incorporated. Raise the mixer to high and beat briefly until fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Use immediately.

Yield: 3 3/4 cups

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Homemade Easter Marshmallow Peeps

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From MarthaStewart.com:

The idea of making marshmallow from scratch may seem daunting, but you can be sure guests will marvel at your creations.

Marshmallow is a timed combination of sugar and water with gelatin. Sugar cooked to soft-ball stage (238 degrees) and mixed with softened gelatin and other flavors or food coloring is quickly piped onto a bed of sugar or cornstarch. Then the treats are coated with grainy sanding sugar, which comes in colors or can be custom-colored with luster dust or sparkle dust.

 

 

 

Step 1

Line a baking sheet with the colored sugar or other coating so you can pipe in assembly-line fashion — the piping process goes quickly.

Fill rimmed baking sheet or small bowls with about 1 1/2 cups sugar. If desired, color white sugar by stirring in luster dust or sparkle dust a little at a time. Pipe shapes onto sugar. Bunnies and chicks must be completed one at a time.

Step 2

For bunnies, pipe a 1 1/4-inch mound about 1/2 inch tall onto sugar. Pipe a small mound on one side for the tail; pipe a larger mound for the head on the opposite side. With a damp finger, pat down any spikes formed from piping the body, tail, and head. Pipe the ears, starting from the top of the head, and pipe onto the body, pulling forward and off to finish. Pat down the spikes on the ears. Working quickly so the marshmallow surface does not dry, use a spoon to cover the entire surface with sugar. Allow a few minutes for the shape to set, and lift out of sugar with a spoon or small offset spatula. Pipe on royal-icing faces with a 1/32-inch (#1 Ateco) icing tip; place in a parchment-lined airtight container until ready to serve, or up to 2 weeks.

Step 3

For chicks, pipe an oval shape about 1 inch wide, tapering the end and pulling upward to finish with the tail. On the opposite end, for the neck and face, pipe a mound about the width of the body, pushing toward tail and up. Pull away from the face to form the beak. Working quickly so the marshmallow surface does not dry, use a spoon to sprinkle sugar over the surface. Allow shape to sit a few minutes to set; lift out of sugar with a spoon or small offset spatula. Make large and small chicks by changing the dimensions.

Step 4

Pipe on royal-icing eyes with a 1/32-inch (#1 Ateco) tip; place in a parchment-lined airtight container until ready to serve, or up to 2 weeks.

 

Marshmallow for Piping

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 unflavored gelatin (2 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 1/3 cup cold water, for gelatin, plus 1/4 cup for syrup
  • 1 cup sugar

Directions

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water. Allow gelatin to soften, about 5 minutes.
  2. In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water and sugar, and stir over medium-high heat until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring, and place a candy thermometer into sugar water; wipe sides of pan with a wet brush if sugar crystals have splattered up. Boil sugar until temperature reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees). Remove syrup from heat; add to softened gelatin. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, hand-stir the mixture a few minutes to cool; place bowl on the mixer stand. Beat on medium high with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form and the marshmallow mixture holds shape, 8 to 10 minutes.
  3. Transfer marshmallow mixture to a large (14-inch) pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (No. 11 Ateco) tip, and use immediately.

 

Royal Icing

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

You can substitute 5 tablespoons meringue powder and 1/3 cup water for raw eggs.

Ingredients

  • 2 large egg whites, or more to thin icing
  • 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, or more to thicken icing
  • 1 lemon, juiced

Directions

  1. Beat the whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat for 1 minute more. If icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it is too thin, add more sugar. The icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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