Marisa's Italian Kitchen

The Secret Ingredient Is Always Love

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Vanilla Sugar

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Vanilla sugar

December is my absolute favorite time of the year. A time where after much planning ahead, I finally start the cookie baking madness. As friends and family and colleagues know me well, I live and breath cookies during this busy holiday season. My dining room table is littered with cookbooks, baking magazines and recipe clippings that I have acquired throughout the years and in the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some of my favorite holiday treats. So do join me because this month it’s all about the cookies and I’ll give you tips and tricks on how to get through the baking madness!

With a little bit of planning ahead you too can bake up some delicious baked goods to share with family and friends. Today we are starting off with a super easy, two ingredient recipe…Vanilla Sugar. Yes it’s that easy, like 5 minute easy and far superior to any store bought version. And in the coming days I will share with you a family favorite recipe using this fragrant sugar.

Vanilla sugar can be utilized in various ways, from sweetening coffee, tea, baked treats and yes even savory recipes. It can be poured into decorative glass jars or bottles and gifted to guests as a “sweet” way of saying thank-you (pun intended). 🙂

vanilla pod

With a sharp knife slice open the vanilla bean and use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds.

vanilla sugar

Combine the sugar and vanilla seeds together in a bowl and stir until the seeds are well dispersed. You can also use 2 rubber spatulas to slowly rub together the sugar and vanilla seeds to release larger clumps.

Vanilla sugar

Transfer the vanilla sugar into an airtight container and bury the pod deeply into the sugar.

Over time the Vanilla Sugar becomes more and more fragrant, so go ahead and make it a couple of weeks in advance before you start your holiday baking.

Here’s a tip, when a recipe calls for vanilla seeds only, don’t discard the pod. Rather give it new life by adding it to your vanilla sugar canister, as this will help to maintain the flavor of your vanilla sugar and refreshes it at the same time. And continue filling with more granulated sugar as the quantity depletes.

gift tags

For those expecting savory dishes this month I hope you are not too disappointed because…well…have I mentioned that this month is all about the cookies!! I have friends requesting trays of cookies for their family gatherings and I gift a lot of my baked goods…so what is this girl to do but bake…like a lot of cookies. 🙂

vanilla-sugar
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Vanilla Sugar

Aromatic vanilla scented sugar
Course Dessert
Servings 2 cups
Author Marisa

Ingredients

  • 1 Vanilla Bean
  • 2 cups granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. Slice the Vanilla Bean down the middle from end to end with a sharp knife. Using the back of the knife, scrape out the seeds.
  2. Combine the sugar with the vanilla seeds in a medium bowl and stir until the vanilla seeds are well dispersed.
  3. Transfer to an airtight container and bury the pods deeply in the vanilla sugar. It can be stored indefinitely.
  4. Use in your favorite coffee, tea or desserts.

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes

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A colleague of mine started a new tradition at work. Rather than collecting money for a birthday cake on someone’s special day, the “birthday person” gets to bring a cake or treat. Since baking is right up my alley, it works just fine for me. The difficult part was in deciding what to bake! I have no qualms in baking my own cake, I have even ordered my own birthday cake on one occasion…but that’s another story!

I love Red Velvet Cake!!! Rather than baking a whole cake I decided on mini red velvet cupcakes topped with my favorite buttercream icing. It is my birthday after all! But enough about me. Let me say, these cupcakes were a hit! With a deep rich red color and tender texture…simply irresistible!!!

The addition of vinegar to the batter boosts the red coloring. I promise you won’t even know its’ there.

The recipe calls for 1 cup of buttermilk, but if your like me and almost never have it in the fridge, here is a simple substitution. Pour 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into a measuring cup and pour in enough milk to make 1 cup. Stir and let stand for about 10 minutes and use as buttermilk.

Cupcakes

  • 1 cup  buttermilk
  • 1 tsp   pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp coarse salt
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup red food coloring
  • 2 tbls dutch processed unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 1/4 cups  cake flour, sifted
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tbl  white wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350*F.

Place 26 small parchment baking cups, divided on 2 baking sheets. You can also use standard muffin pans, in this case you will need a 12 cup pan and a 6 cup pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray or lined with cupcake liners.

For the cupcakes: In a small bowl combine the buttermilk, vanilla and set it aside.

In a large bowl mix the butter, sugar and the salt on medium-high speed just until it is light in color and looks creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. If you are using a stand mixer you will need to scrape down the bowl about half way through. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

In another small bowl, combine the food coloring and the cocoa together, stir to form a paste. Beat the paste into the butter-sugar mix until combined.

Next, start adding the flour and the buttermilk mixture in tree batches by starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Let the batter stand for 15 minutes.

Stir together the baking soda and the vinegar in a small bowl. Let it stand until it starts to foam then fold into the batter. Divide the batter among the baking cups.

For best results, bake one pan at a time for about 18 to 23 minutes. Because I used smaller baking cups, I found 18 minutes was sufficient. If you are using standard baking cups you may need to bake them a little bit longer. Use the 18 to 23 minutes as a guide line. When the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, you’ll know they are ready. You can also insert a toothpick in the middle of the cupcake, if it comes out clean then it is ready. Cool completely before frosting.

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Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

4 cups    icing sugar, sifted (also known as confectioner’s sugar)

2/3 cup   unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup   whole milk

1/4 tsp    pure vanilla extract

Beat the icing sugar and butter together on medium-low speed until well mixed.

In a small bowl, combine the milk and vanilla extract. Add it to the butter-sugar mixture a bit at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated. Then turn the mixer to high speed and continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy for at least 5 minutes. The longer you beat the frosting, the lighter and fluffier it becomes.

Frost the cupcakes with the Vanilla buttercream using any technique you prefer. I used a pastry bag fitted with a large pastry tip, the 1M from Wilton to form the rosette on top.

Yields 18 standard cupcakes or 26 mini cupcakes.

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The Cupcake recipe was adapted from The Sono Baking Company Cookbook.