Blueberries for Sal

A group of friends and I went up to Booth Bay, Maine this past weekend and I was volunteered to provide dessert options.  To be exact, the suggested food list went as follows:

"Coffee, bagels, OJ, eggs, bacon, bread, cheese, cold cuts, Pooncakes, more eggs, all the bacon."

No choice whatsoever!  But then again, these guys have practically made Pooncakes a food group so I really couldn't say no.  It just so happens the weekend before the trip, we had also made a failed beach attempt and instead ended up at Russell Farms in Ipswich, MA to do some fruit picking.  It was awesome - not only did we pick these amazing blueberries, red raspberries, and black raspberries, we also got to see pigs, geese, turkeys, and a mini-horse!  I also may have contracted West Nile Virus with the number of mosquito bites I got, but I'm still kicking so I'm optimistic.  Anyways, the point of that story was my double inspiration to make something with blueberries in it.  Picked blueberries, blueberries grow in Maine...get the association?

In my quest for something blueberry-infused, I managed to find this absolutely gorgeous blueberry frosting from Week of Menus that seriously looked as if it had been dyed.  It was so amazing I really just had to try it.  And tried it I did...W-O-W.  Because the frosting was so crazy good I decided to go fairly simple with the cupcake - lemon?  Probably would have been awesome but unfortunately I have a whiny little roommate (here's your shout-out Archer), that doesn't like lemon-flavored things, so instead I went with a simple, fluffy, delicious vanilla bean cupcake.  Success!

Baking tip of the day?  Hmmm - evenness of cupcakes - so important!  If you're not filling your cupcakes evenly, they'll bake unevenly and thats just no bueno.  I'm actually quite bad at eyeing this myself so instead I use a tablespoon-sized ice-cream scoop type thing.  My friend, Sam, from school bought me one two Christmases ago and I've been using it ever since!  I usually do a test batch - maybe a dozen cupcakes - to test out exactly how much I want to fill up the cupcake liners.  Depending on the batter, you usually want to fill up to ½, ⅔ or ¾.  My default is ⅔ full and then I adjust from there.  Bonus - they look way prettier when all of the cupcakes are evens stevens!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes adapted from My Baking Addiction
Yield: ~80 pooncakes

2 ¼ cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 ¼ cups whole milk, at room temperature

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line the cupcake tins.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.  Set bowl aside.

In another bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the milk and egg whites.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl or the bowl of a standup mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds until light and fluffy.  The remove the seeds of the vanilla bean, carefully cut the vanilla bean lengthwise.  Use the flat/dull side of your knife to scrape the beans out of the bean.  Note:  You can use the rest of the bean to infuse vanilla flavor into things like white sugar – delicious in coffee!

Scrape down the bowl and add in the vanilla extract.  Scape down the bowl again and add in the flour mixture and the milk mixture in alternating steps, starting with ⅓ of the flour, then ½ of the milk, another ⅓ of flour, the remaining milk, and finally the last ⅓ of flour.  Beat until the batter is well incorporated.

Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔ full and bake 15-18 minutes depending on your oven.  Take the cupcakes out of the tins as soon as you get them out of the oven.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Buttercream adapted from Week of Menus

1 cup butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1.2 ounces freeze dried blueberries (from Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods)

4 cups confectioner’s sugar

Grind up the freeze dried blueberries in a food processor, until the consistency of powder. 

In the bowl of a standup mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and cream cheese until incorporated.  Add the processed blueberries and mix well.  Scrape down the bowl, then begin adding the confectioner’s sugar.  I added 3 cups first, then slowly added smaller amounts of sugar until I was happy with the consistency of the frosting.  I wanted it to be creamy but able to hold its shape when I piped it.  I ended up adding a total of about 4 cups.  You can adjust this depending on what you like and/or what you’re using the frosting for.  If you accidentally add too much sugar you can always add small amounts of milk to get it smoother.  Frost the cupcakes and serve!

Tiffany