Spring may not be here quite yet, but at Bakeology we are definitely ready for it to be! Once we hit the end of January we call it close enough and excitedly start combing our cupcake menu for varieties that whisper the approach of warm sunshine and bare feet in green grass. Strawberries are always one of the first berries to surface in the spring months, and with Valentine’s Day around the corner we start seeing them in everything from cakes to confections.

Strawberrylicious is a celebration of the strawberry in its entirety…pink strawberry cake topped with pink strawberry buttercream and sprinkled with shimmery white sugar crystals. Pink, pink, pink! The color itself gave inspiration to the name. Andrea’s daughter Diana loves the Pinkalicious book series, and in the first book, Pinkalicious (yes, that’s the heroine’s name) is making pink cupcakes with her mommy. So in all their rosy glory these cupcakes were named Strawberrylicious by Diana herself.

We use real strawberries in the buttercream and a natural strawberry extract in the cupcakes, which gives them their fresh, true to nature strawberry flavor. You can find Strawberrylicious at Unglued this week. We hope they’ll help to banish your winter blahs and keep looking forward to spring’s arrival!

Red Wine Poached Pears

I’m obsessed with Tempranillo wines lately (sipping on one as I write this!), and their prominent fruity notes make them perfect to use in poaching pears. The poached pears are perfect to enjoy on their own, or with some rich vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream. My kids love, love, love the poaching liquid drizzled over ice cream.

• 4 cups red wine (I use Tempranillo, but any dry red wine will work nicely)
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup orange juice
• Peel from one orange
• 1 to 2 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 6 pears, ripe but not mushy, peeled with stems left on

Combine all of your ingredients except for the pears in a sturdy saucepan and bring to a simmer. Add the pears and simmer gently, covered, for about 20 minutes. You want the pears to be tender when pierced with a knife, and depending on their size they may need a bit of extra time.

Remove the pears and bring the poaching liquid to a boil. Keep at a strong simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes, to reduce the liquid and intensify the flavors. Remove from heat.

Store the pears in the poaching liquid, keeping refrigerated until ready to serve.

When making decor for food and adding a little sparkle actual glitter is not something most of us want to find in our food!  Using sugar sprinkles can be a great alternative to add some food safe decor!

Here we used a toothpick and card-stock to create a shape, then we attached a toothpick with hot glue (tape could work too).

Then make a “glue” out of powdered sugar and water and cover the part of the shape you want to glitter.  You can do more then one color if you like – we put our “glue” on the part we wanted red first and sprinkled with red sugar sprinkles, then put “glue” on the parts we wanted white and dipped it in regular granulated sugar.

Merry Christmas!

-Bakeology

Toasted walnuts and bourbon add warmth to the traditional sugar cookie. These cookies package up prettily (no frosting to smudge), making them perfect for holiday gifting.

Walnut Bourbon Butter Stars

Yield – 3 to 4 dozen, depending on size of star cutter

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment mix together:

• 2 ½ cups flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ tsp. coarse salt
• 1 cup softened butter

Mix until crumbly. Next add:

• 1 ¼ cups toasted walnuts, chopped very fine either in a food processor or by hand
• 2 tbs. cream cheese
• 1 tbs. bourbon
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix until batter comes together. Roll out to 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut into star shapes and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar*.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, until cookies are a light golden brown. Allow to cool in the pan.

*If you want your cookies to be more colorful you can also use colored sugar sprinkles. Want to get kids in the kitchen to help with the holiday baking? Have them be in charge of sprinkling. Because everything is better with sprinkles!

We have 2 amazing options for this year’s holiday box!  Our classic holiday flavor collection or our brand new Yule Log cupcakes!  We are taking orders now through December 17th for cupcake pick up on either December 20th, 22nd, or 24 (with a delivery option for the 20th and 22nd).

Holiday Order Form

We package our special orders in a brown paper package, tied up with a red baker’s twine string – ready to bring to a holiday party, give as a gift to a friend or enjoy with friends and family!

Yule Log – 6 Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes – Chocolate cake frosted in a chunky hazelnut frosting, topped with a wood grain chocolate disk and decorated with holly and meringue  mushrooms. – Our version of a Christmas classic!

Holiday Collection – includes Pumpkin Chip, Winterberry, Pecan Praline, Gingerbread, Eggnog, and Chocolate Peppermint.

Both options are available in gluten free!