Strawberry Muffins

I had some strawberries that weren't great looking, but I wasn't ready to throw them out. Of course, I was tempted to make my favorite strawberry summer cake recipe, but I said, no, Katherine, you will try something else. I didn't get too inventive, but I decided to use the Joy of Cooking's basic muffin recipe with a few alterations and just mix in the strawberries. So far, baking with strawberries has yielded delicious results, and Galaxy Cafe sells their strawberry muffins like hotcakes, so I figured it would be pretty yummy. I figured correctly. Warm from the oven, with a bit of salted butter, and I was a happy camper.

2 cups all purpose flour [I used 1 cup regular, 1 cup whole wheat]
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk or cream [I used fat free]
2/3 cup sugar or light brown sugar [I did 1/3 cup of each]
1/4 to 1/2 cup melted butter  (1/2 to 1 stick) or vegetable oil [I did about 1/4 cup of each]
1 tbsp vanilla [I still haven't remembered to buy more, so I didn't use any]

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together. In another bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, milk, and butter/oil together lightly. Mix the dry into the wet ingredients with a few strokes until moistened. Do not over mix, the batter should not be smooth [whoops, mine was]. Divide into prepared muffin cups.

Bake about 17 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and serve warm with butter (yes, you should). 

Chocolate Mayo Cake

I wanted to make some cupcakes and cake to take to my friend's slip n slide party (it was AWESOME! a blow-up rental slip n slide, like a bouncy house), and I found this recipe in my Joy of Cooking. I didn't have any milk, and this was one of the few recipes that didn't need it. Oddly enough, it used mayonnaise. I hadn't heard of that in desserts before, but when I told a friend, he said that he'd heard of mayo in cakes and stuff before, so I guess it's more of a thing than I realized.

We hosted Good Times Fest at Galaxy Cafe last weekend, and I was manning the cookie decorating booth, which was really fun. We ended up with a lot of leftover icing and sprinkles, so I took them home and decorated the cake and took some supplies for people to decorate their own cupcakes at the party.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
3 large eggs
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/3 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Separately, melt the chocolate [I put some water in a pot and then set the chocolate in a pyrex bowl so that it balances on the rim of the pot (as shown), double-boiler style].

Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla at medium high speed, about 3 minutes. Mix the melted chocolate with the mayonnaise. Beat chocolate/mayo mixture into the wet batter. On low speed, add in flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the water. Beat until smooth and pour into prepared pans or cupcake tins.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-40 minutes, depending on whether you make cupcakes or a cake. Let cool and ice.