Like Mama Makes It: September 2011

I'm going to apologize in advance for any typos/extra spaces/nonsense that ends up in this post. My silly cat keeps climbing all over the keyboard as I'm typing this. Hopefully spell check will catch everything ;)

So, this is my very favorite new recipe. I am absolutely in love with these tasty, cheesy little Italian dumplings! You can throw this together for dinner in less than 20 minutes, and yet, they look so fancy (and taste so yummy) that you'd think you spent hours slaving away on them. It's pretty inexpensive, and (because of all of the cheese) it's super filling. Therefore, it's one of the few dinners that Tye will eat that does not include meat! Are you sold yet? Cause you should be :)

This recipe had a tomato sauce recipe with it, but it was a lot of work for just being mediocre, so I use pasta sauce from a jar. I like Vodka Tomato Pasta Sauce (the Safeway brand is delish!) or just plain marinara. I also think an Alfredo sauce would be yummy, if you prefer that type of thing. Whatever your pasta sauce preference (homemade, store bought, or otherwise) just serve it with these.

RICOTTA GNOCCHI:

1 cup Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (you can use the pre-grated kind if you wish, but use the nice kind. You should probably steer clear of the kind in the can)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder, or 2 cloves or garlic, minced)
1 cup flour, plus more as needed

First, fill a very large pot halfway with water. Put it over high heat until it boils.
While the water is boiling, stir together the ricotta, eggs, parmesan, and spices until blended.
Then add the flour. I start with one cup, but usually end up using one and a half cups, it just depends on how wet the ricotta is. You need to add enough flour to form a soft dough.
Then divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces.

Place them on a floured surface and (with floured hands) roll the dough into ropes about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut them into one-inch pieces. These are your gnocchi. Repeat this with all of your dough balls.

SIDE NOTE:If your pot of water is large enough, you can boil the gnocchi all at once. My biggest pot was dirty because I made blackberry jam that day, so I used my medium sized pot and boiled them in 2 batches.

Salt the boiling water lightly and turn it down to medium heat. You don't want to boil these too high or they get kind of crazy and you can't tell when they're done. You just want to gently boil them.

When then float to the top, let them cook for 1 1/2 more minutes (approximately) and they're done. I just use a gigantic slotted spoon and fish them out to put them into the pot of sauce that I had warming up on another burner.

Top with more freshly grated parmesan and some parsley or basil (if desired)

I like to serve this with some garlic bread and a salad, but I also think it would be good with some nice Italian meatballs, if you're the type of person that requires meat for dinner.

So, there you have it. Best weeknight dinner ever? I sure think so :)

Also, I just noticed that spell check got all of the cat's typings! Hooray :)

Ok, so I suppose by now you're onto me. You may have guessed that I have a slight obsession with cupcakes. This is the 3rd cupcake recipe (or is it the fourth...?) that i've posted. But I can't help it! I love cupcakes. They're just so cute. And yummy. And they're easy to share, And did i mention how cute they are? *Sigh*
Anyway, this one is a salted caramel cupcake! Mmmmmm! Since I love cupcakes and salted caramel seems to be having a moment right now, this sounded like the perfect thing to bake.

There are 3 different components for this recipe. There's the fluffy vanilla cake, the gooey caramel filling, and the tasty salted caramel buttercream!

We'll start with the cake.
Here's the ingredients:

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

***Make sure your butter and buttermilk are at room temperature! It is a very important part of this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Don't forget the extra yolk.

In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. If you have a stand mixer, take advantage of it for this recipe! My arm got very tired as I only have a hand mixer. Turn your mixer on low speed, then slowly, a few pieces at a time, add your cubes of butter. Keep mixing until all of your butter in incorporated, and it is uniformly textured with no large butter chunks left.

Slowly add the buttermilk mixture with the mixer still on low. When it is all added, turn the mixer speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes, or until the batter is light and fluffy.

Put in muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack.

Now you'll need to make the filling.

It's just a simple caramel sauce recipe.

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons salted butter

1/2 cup whipping cream.

kosher salt

Put the sugar in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Stir it occasionally. After a 5 minutes of so, the sugar will begin to liquefy and form chunks.

Now stir it continually until the sugar is completely melted, then wait 30 seconds to a minute for the sugar to turn a nice brown color.

Then add the butter. It will get all foamy and crazy but just keep stirring it until it is all melted.

Then remove it from the heat, wait 5 seconds and add the cream gradually.

Add a few sprinkles of kosher salt and it is all finished!

This would be DELICIOUS over ice cream!

To fill the cupcakes, I cut a small hole from the top.

Then I spooned the caramel sauce into the cupcake crater

Then I placed the chunk back on top. It doesn't have to be perfect because it will just be covered up by frosting anyways.

Speaking of Frosting...

You need

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 sticks salted butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

It starts about the same way the caramel sauce does. Add the sugar and the water to a saucepan. Stir it once so it is mixed together, then place it over medium high heat and leave it alone after that.
You must resist the urge to stir, otherwise the sugar crystalizes and that will ruin your caramel.

Once it turns a nice amber color (see above), remove it from the heat and add the cream. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool. (For faster cooling, transfer it to another bowl.)

Meanwhile you will make a basic buttercream. Add the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla to a bowl and beat until cute and fluffy. When the caramel has mostly cooled, add it to the buttercream and beat it.