The Brownie Recipe for Everyone - Panko-Encrusted Wasabi Brownies

I'm imagining you staring at your screen.  Your head is cocked to the side and you've rested your hand on your chin to ponder my bizarre title.  Could a panko-encrusted wasabi brownie really be the brownie recipe for everyone?  Let me explain:

Sweet Pea and Ricotta Cupcakes - Give Peas a Chance

Sure, we call them sweet peas, but most people don't think of peas as a sweet.  Prior to making my sweet pea and ricotta cupcakes, I'd never had peas in a dessert.  Although these pea cupcakes feel like they belong at the farmers' market in a stand next to the lady in faded jeans selling bib lettuce, these pea cupcakes are definitely a dessert.  They are light and sweet (not treading into muffin territory) with a hint of basil and topped with honey panna cotta (yes, I frosted my cupcakes with panna cotta - more on that later).  Despite your reservations, I encourage you to give peas a chance!

Milk and Honey

Hot milk and honey is my coffee shop beverage of choice - just a simple steamed milk (2% or whole if I'm splurging) with a touch of sweet honey.  I realize that as an adult (and a foodie) I should have graduated from hot milk and honey to more sophisticated drinks: lattes, cappuccinos, and whole leaf teas.  However, I've never found anything as satisfying as the drink my mama made me as a kid - heating up a big pot of milk and stirring in some golden blossom honey. Hot milk and honey temporarily cured my tiny scratchy throat when I wasn't feeling well, and today, it can untie the knots in my stomach on the days when stress creeps in and attacks.

Right now, it's summer and it's TOO HOT for hot milk and honey.

Enter milk and honey panna cotta.  Milk and honey panna cotta has the same flavor as my beloved hot milk and honey, but in a chilled, jello-like format.  It would make a perfect palate cleanser in a multi-course meal or an after-work calm-you-down snack.  It doesn't have a massive flavor punch, it's not super sweet or spicy, it's just simple and calming, like an edible hug.

Cocoa Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Whipped Cream and Homemade White Chocolate Toppers

These yellow cupcakes look like vanilla cupcakes, and with all the vanilla cupcakes that I've been making lately, it's surprising that they aren't. Because they are made with cocoa butter instead of regular butter, they have a light, chocolaty flavor.  If you weren't told about their secret (as many of my tasters weren't), you'd suspect there was more to these seemingly simply cupcakes than plain vanilla - but you might not be able to guess the familiar flavor that made you go back for seconds.  Once I told you, you'd nod and taste the chocolate immediately!

Because the chocolate flavor is so understated, these cocoa butter cupcakes would be an ideal compromise cupcake to make for a family with some vanilla and some chocolate lovers.  You could top some of the cocoa butter cupcakes with chocolate whipped cream (as shown above) and some with vanilla whipped cream. 

The Cupcake Project Explorers Are...

I was honored/humbled/awed/floored/thrilled that almost 700 of you volunteered to be Cupcake Project Explorers - a huge thank you to everyone who volunteered!  Narrowing it down to 50 was a nearly impossible task.  I've assembled a diverse team of cupcake enthusiasts with a wide range of skill levels.

Cocoa Butter Cookies - A Twist on a Classic

Close your eyes and you'll think you're eating chocolate chip cookies.   Open them, and you'll notice that there are no chocolate chips.  The cookie doesn't show any signs of having chocolate - no cocoa powder, no chocolate chunks, nibs, or even melted chocolate topping.  The secret is that you're eating a cocoa butter cookie - a cookie where the butter has been replaced one for one with cocoa butter!

Quest for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake - Call for Explorers

Over the years, many of you have asked me for the ultimate vanilla cupcake recipe.  Each time - although you couldn't see it - my face turned the color of the logo below and my heart sunk as I responded, "I don't have one."  I've been so busy developing unique, funky, off-the-wall cupcake recipes that I never took the time to work on a vanilla cupcake recipe.  I felt like a gymnast who could do a double flip, but had somehow missed learning how to do a cartwheel.  That is changing now!

As those of you who have been following along on the Cupcake Project Facebook page already know, I recently began a quest for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe.  I've researched, baked, and baked, and baked, and in the end created what I believe to be the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe.

So, Where's the Recipe?

How to Make White Chocolate in Less Than 5 Minutes

You can make white chocolate from scratch - at home, in your microwave, with no special tools (not even a candy thermometer).

You may think that making candy is completely out of your league.  I assure you that making white chocolate is something you can definitely do and it will look like the white chocolate in my picture (or fancier if you use a different mold).  Making white chocolate takes under five minutes of your time and, even if you don't typically enjoy white chocolate, this homemade white chocolate might change your mind.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes Made With Garbanzo Bean Flour - My Best Gluten-Free Cupcakes To Date

Ignoring the sweet and salty roasted chickpeas on top, these gluten-free chocolate cupcakes made with garbanzo bean flour and frosted with chocolate hummus are indistinguishable from the chocolate birthday cupcakes that you've had a thousand times - with the smell of smoke still lingering in the air from recently made wishes for ponies and Disney vacations.  The rich chocolate frosting (a step up from the typical turn-your-mouth-blue-"butter"cream) might give partygoers a small hint that something was different, but it's unlikely that they would think about it any longer than the birthday girl did to rip open the princess outfit she'd been waiting for.  These gluten-free cupcakes aren't special or spicy, and they don't have a unique earthy finish; they taste like classic all-American chocolate birthday cake. Sometimes, gluten-free or not, that's just what you want.

Sweet and Salty Roasted Chickpeas - Cheap, Easy, and Addictive

Prior to making sweet and salty roasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans), chickpeas did not entice me at snack time.  I didn't search the pantry saying, "Chocolate, nah!  Graham cracker, no thanks.  Oooh, I know what I should have: chickpeas!"  Silly me!   I now realize that with minimal effort, some sugar, a small amount of oil, spices, and salt, a can of chickpeas can turn into a grazing food akin in addictiveness and crunching pleasure to popcorn.

Hop on board the chickpea choo choo (I'm picturing a train with chickpeas flying out of the engine instead of smoke) and give these a go!  If you're already along for the ride, I'd love to hear what spices you use.