Brain Cupcakes

It's hard to believe, but Halloween is almost here! Making a recipe with the perfect balance of festive but not too creepy is always a challenge, so this year I decided to go with cupcakes. How scary can cupcakes be? You can use any recipe you want; I chose chocolate, my favorite, as the cupcake and a plain (but still delicious) vanilla buttercream frosting. Feel free to change the flavor of the icing, but I recommend sticking with a buttercream with a splash of extract for flavoring. If you want these to look like brains, you want a colorless base frosting that you can color to the desired shade of pink. Perhaps the one exception to the simplicity rule would be adding raspberry puree or some other pink addition. 

But let's talk cupcakes. Like I said, I love chocolate cupcakes, and these are twice as good because they are double chocolate cupcakes. That's right; there's cocoa powder AND melted chocolate (and you can even add some chocolate chips at the end to make triple chocolate cupcakes). I also add some coffee to boost the chocolate flavor. The cupcakes won't taste like coffee, but they will have a stronger chocolate flavor with a hint of bitterness to counter the sweetness of the cupcake and the frosting. Using hot coffee further improves the taste of the cocoa powder in particular, but just make sure you cool the mixture down before adding the eggs and other ingredients. 

On the topic of eggs, don't combine the eggs and the vinegar directly. The eggs will clump up and it is really quite unappetizing. The vinegar is a necessary ingredient for texture and balancing acidity, however, so just stir it in last. The final potentially odd ingredient in the cupcake batter is the flour. It's not your typical all-purpose flour; I like to use bread flour. You might notice that there isn't much of it, but bread flour has a higher gluten content to provide a slightly sturdier cake, reducing the amount needed in the recipe.

1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/3 Cup Cocoa
3/4 Cup Hot Coffee
3/4 Cup Bread Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
6 T Oil
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla


Heat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper cups.

Combine the chocolate and cocoa in a large bowl. Add the hot coffee and whisk until smooth. Chill to cool completely. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Whisk the oil, eggs, and vanilla into the cooled chocolate mixture. Add the flour mixture and vinegar.

Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake until cooked through, 16-18 minutes. Cool.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, it's time to decorate. My frosting recipe couldn't be easier, and you can always use a different extract instead of vanilla. The amount of milk and powdered sugar varies depending on the day (particularly the humidity), but the basic ratio is generally about the same.

1 1/2 Sticks Butter
3 Cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 tsp Milk

Beat the butter in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until fluffy and light. Gradually add the powdered sugar, then beat in the milk and vanilla. Add a few drops of pink or red food coloring until it reaches the desired shade.

To frost the cupcakes, I start by spreading a thin layer of icing on the top of each one. It gives the brain something to stick to and covers any spots you might miss later so that you can't see the cupcake underneath.

I then use a #12 tip (just a plain round tip; you can always cut a hole in a plastic bag instead) to draw two straight lines down the center of each cupcake to represent the crease in the brain.

Finally, I use the #12 tip to draw squiggles on each side of the straight lines. I only did one layer on each side, but you can pile some more on top to give it a more cloud-like or 3D appearance.

That's it! You can paint some raspberry puree in some of the crevices for a more gruesome look or play around with different shades of pink and purple icing. If brains aren't your thing and you want a different Halloween cupcake idea, check your inbox soon!

Makes 12
Cupcake recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Beet & Carrot Slaw

Coleslaw is a summer staple, with crisp cabbage and carrots tossed in creamy, tangy dressing. As delicious as coleslaw is, however, something doesn't feel quite right about making it and eating it this time of year. But who says slaw always has to be the typical blend of vegetables and dressing? I found a way to make slaw with fall and winter root vegetables in a balsamic-based dressing, and it couldn't be better.

One of the few ingredients I kept in my slaw was carrots. They are perfect for any recipe any time of year, and I love the color and crunch they add to this particular one. I julienned my own, but you can buy them shredded to save time. I also added jicama, which isn't quite as common. It's kind of like an apple-potato hybrid, so it has lots of crunch and a slightly sweet flavor. 

The last main vegetable is beets. Like the jicama, it's pretty likely that you'll have to julienne it yourself, but all you have to do is peel it and slice it. Be careful not to stain your hands or cutting board; the beets are pretty juicy and the beautiful red-purple color will bleed into your tools. It will also soak into the slaw, making it pinker the longer it sits. The slaw is best after it can sit and marinate for a few hours, but sacrifice some of the taste and serve it immediately if you want to better preserve the trio of colors.

The dressing is last, and it's not your typical buttermilk or mayonnaise base. It's more of a vinaigrette, and it has some lemon juice and balsamic vinegar for acidity, honey for sweetness, and cayenne for spice. You can always mince in some spicier peppers or add more cayenne for a spicier dressing, but I like the vegetables to stand out as well. The juice from the beets will add more flavor and a beautiful color as well the longer it sits. It won't sit for too long, though, because you'll want to serve it with everything. This slaw would be the ideal accompaniment to chicken, steak, or any other dish you plan on cooking this season.

4 Carrots, Julienned
1 Beet, Julienned
1 Small Jicama, Julienned
2 T Lemon Juice
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
1 Clove Garlic, Minced
1/2 Cup Diced Red Onion
1 tsp Honey
1/2 tsp Paprika
Pinch Cayenne
1/4 Cup Olive Oil


Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, honey, paprika, and cayenne. Slowly whisk in the oil, then add the onions. Toss with the carrots, beets, and jicama.

Serves 6-8
Recipe Adapted from Young Sun Huh

S'mores Tartlets

I'm not an outdoorsy person. I hate camping, I hate bugs, and I hate sleeping in tents. Yet I'm willing to go sit outside for a while for one reason: s'mores. They are the perfect combination of sweet, crunchy graham cracker, melty chocolate, and sticky, gooey marshmallow. As much as I love eating s'mores by a crackling fire on a cool fall night, however, they are even better inside. I've tried it before, but the microwave doesn't give the marshmallows a nice, toasty char, and the broiler makes a sticky mess. I had one other option: change the form of the s'more completely. I was faced with a whole new set of issues: marshmallows melted to a corn syrupy goo in the oven when I made s'mores cookies. S'mores ice cream gets rid of the gooeyness altogether. I decided to make s'mores tarts, which ended up solving all the issues.

I start with a graham cracker crust that couldn't be easier. Just melt some butter and toss it with some graham cracker crumbs and a few spoonfuls of sugar. Make sure to press the mixture into the tartlet pans quickly because it molds in better before the butter cools. Next is the chocolate layer; it's just melted chocolate with some cream. I only used a little bit of cream so that the ganache would be firm and hold the tartlets together. Adding more would make it liquidy and melty, more like a real s'more, but the tarts might not hold together quite as well. Nevertheless, if you keep the tarts in the pans to serve, you don't have to worry about that.

The whole thing is topped off with a generous heap of fluffy, pillowy marshmallows. They do require some special equipment, namely a candy thermometer and a stand mixer. You want the sugar syrup to reach a precise temperature to ensure the perfect texture, so it's worth spending a few dollars to get a thermometer. As for the stand mixer, the marshmallows have to be whipped for 10-15 minutes, and your arm will get tired. That's a guarantee. The mixture is so thick that a stand mixer is better suited anyway, and even a few minutes of mixing it by hand will convince you to go to a cooking store to buy one. Luckily, this recipe makes more than enough marshmallows. I had enough to put about half a cup on each tart and fill an 8x8" pan with the remainder. I cut that into shapes and tossed them in a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and potato starch to enjoy later.

But first I had to eat one of the tarts. If it's too cold or too wet to go outside for real s'mores (or you just don't want to go outside), these tarts are the perfect alternative. You can broil the tops of the marshmallows to get that delicious char, or you can use sprinkles and chocolate shards to make it more festive. Or you can do both. Why not? These tarts are so delicious you'll want to stay inside.

1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
2 Cups + 3 T Sugar
4 T Butter, Melted
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
2-6 T Cream
1 Cup Cold Water
3 .25oz Envelopes Unflavored Gelatin
2/3 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Vanilla

Heat oven to 350F and grease 8 4" tartlet pans.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and 3T sugar; add the butter. Quickly press into the prepared pans. Chill until cold and solid, then bake for 6 minutes or until golden and fragrant. Cool.

Heat the cream and chocolate together until melted and whisk until smooth. Pour into the cooled shells and chill until firm.

Pour half the water into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle in the gelatin and let stand for 15 minutes.

Combine the remaining sugar, corn syrup, salt, and remaining water in a heavy medium pot. Stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves, brushing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush as necessary. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, increase heat, and bring the syrup to a boil. Boil, without stirring, until syrup reaches 240F, about 8 minutes.

With mixer running at low speed, slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture. Gradually increase speed to high and beat until thick and stiff, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla and beta to blend, about another 30 seconds.

Quickly scoop the marshmallow onto the tartlets. A few drops of water work well to smooth the top if desired. Brulee with a kitchen torch or broiler if desired, or top with sprinkles and chocolate shards.

Makes 8
Marshmallow Recipe Adapted from Martha Stewart