Recently I was watching the first season of Masterchef US, the Gordon Ramsey cooking competition for home cooks. The episode I was watching asked the contestants to make a cupcake (without a recipe) in 45 minutes. I had the crazy idea of testing myself to see how I would fare, so I stopped the show, set the timer and went to work.

At the end of the 45 minutes I had produced the cupcake seen above. I had never made this recipe before, and as far as I could tell, I had come up with a unique frosting method that was really awesome! I think it came out quite aesthetically pleasing (for the short time limit, see the results of the contestants for comparison) as well. The apple cupcakes are soft and spicy.  I definitely recommend trying this buttercream recipe. It is a take on a classic Italian buttercream where I substituted molten toffee for the soft ball syrup. As far as I can tell, it’s a first (on the internet, feel free to leave a comment if you can find someone else already using this technique).  Doing a spur of the moment timed challenge was a lot of fun. Take that Gordon!

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

1 1/3 cups – Vegetable oil

2 cups – Sugar

3 – Eggs

1 tsp. – Vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. – Molasses

3 cups – Cake flour

1 Tbsp. – Ground cinnamon

1 tsp. – baking soda

2 tsp. – baking powder

1 tsp. – salt

1 tsp. – fresh ground ginger

pinch – ground allspice

pinch – ground cloves

3 – Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely shredded

For the buttercream

1/2 cup – butter

2/3 cup – Corn syrup

1 1/4 cups – sugar

2/3 cup – buttermilk

1/2 tsp. – baking soda

5 – egg whites

1 cup – chilled butter (cubed)

1 tsp. – Vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. – kosher salt

almond toffee for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pans (this recipe makes about 18 medium cupcakes). In a stand mixer bowl add the oil and sugar and beat until creamed. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the remaining cupcake ingredients (minus the apples) and beat for 1 minute or until just incorporated. Add the shredded apple and mix until incorporated. Place dollops into cupcake liners (to about 2/3 full) and bake until done (when a toothpick comes out clean), about 15-20 minutes. Let cool on the counter (or in the freezer if you are trying to race for a 45 minute competition ).

In the meantime, add the first 1/2 cup of butter, corn syrup, sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda to a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan. Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves and all of the ingredients melt together into a syrup. Continue stirring and watching the contents as it cooks down into a hot toffee syrup.

While the toffee is cooking, whisk the egg whites in the stand mixer until they are medium peaks. Watch the toffee syrup closely. Once it reaches a rich caramel color, instantly remove it from the heat. Start the stand mixer on medium low (about a ‘2’) and, while it is whisking the egg whites, pour the hot toffee mixture into the egg whites in a stead stream. Be careful as this can spit hot molten syrup onto your hands! Once the mixture is entirely in the egg whites, add the vanilla and salt and increase the mixer’s speed to it’s highest setting. Whisk until the sides of the bowl are cooled to a dull warm (that you can hold your hand against indefinitely). Feel free to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.

Once the toffee merengue has reached that cooled temperature, begin to add the chilled cubes of butter, one at a time. Let each cube incorporate before adding the next. Add all of the butter and continue to whip until very light and fluffy. It should be the silkiest, lightest buttercream you’ve ever tasted and have a clear salty toffee taste. Add more salt to increase this effect if desired.

Add the buttercream to a piping bag with a large tip. Pipe generously onto the cooled cupcakes. Garnish with almond toffee.

Back when I was making massive amounts of cannoli to take to friends for the holidays, I made a bunch of extra ricotta that I needed to use up. A great use of ricotta is by making ricotta fritters. Fritters are a tasty Italian tradition similar to funnel cakes. They are also simple to make (it usually takes longer to heat the oil than it does to prep the batter). They make a fun (not-so-light) snack and can be great as a quick dessert to make for unexpected guests.

Ingredients

1 cup – ricotta (homemade is always best, but store-bought will do just fine in this case)

1 tsp. – lemon zest, finely grated

1 1/2 tsp. – vanilla extract (optional)

1/2 tsp. – ground nutmeg

2 Tbsp. – sugar

2 – large eggs

3/4 cup – All purpose flour

1/2 tsp. – kosher salt

2 tsp. – baking powder

optional milk for thinning

optional powdered sugar for dusting

1/2 cup – chocolate sauce (see recipe below)

Heat frying oil in a fryer or large heavy pan, you should use enough oil to be 2-3 inches deep in the pan. Heat to 370 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix together the ricotta, lemon zest, vanilla, nutmeg, sugar, and eggs as seen below.

Now add the flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix until it just comes together. It should be the consistency of thick pancake batter/brownie batter. If it’s too thick, add a little milk to thin it out.

Using a tablespoon (I use a 1 Tbsp. ice cream baller which works wonders!) carefully drop little dollops of the batter into the heated oil. If it stretches out into odd flat shapes then your batter is too thin (add a hint more flour), if it is raw in the middle when the outside is cooked, then it is too thick (add a little milk). Working in batches, fry all of the batter into fritters until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with chocolate sauce for dipping.

Chocolate Sauce

1 cup – semi sweet chocolate

1/2 cup – butter, at room temperature

2 Tbsp. – Flavored syrup of choice, optional (example: Torani Butter Pecan Flavored Syrup)

Chop chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave on 50% power for 1 minute. Stir the chocolate until smooth. If it is still lumpy then return to the microwave for 30 second intervals at 50% power until almost smooth then stir until smooth. Add the butter and stir until well incorporated. Optionally add flavored syrup and stir well to incorporate.