Mascarpone Crepes with Peaches... and the Airstream?

These crepes are to die for!!!

They are filled with mascarpone and cream cheese, topped with peaches in a lavender brown sugar syrup, basil, fresh whipped cream, almonds, and a touch of cinnamon.

Holy Moly.

It's summer time, and peaches are in season!

I adapted the recipe from Sunset magazine.

Make the crepes to start.

The recipe called for ricotta cheese, but I decided to use mascarpone and cream cheese. Added to these are butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Mmmmmmmm.

Next spread the cheese over each crepe...

Then fold into triangles.

This is where it starts getting good. You put them back on the skillet to make them a little crisp. This also makes the cheese filling warm and irresistible!

Cue the peaches...

And the lavender sugar. This jar was a gift from my sister for mother's day. It was perfect! You put the sugars, peaches, cinnamon, and butter in a pot and warm until tender and syrupy.

The basil completed the dish.

Ahh. The whipped cream just melted over the warm crepes. I was wishing I could stop time to enjoy these very slowly.

I promise you will be this happy if you make these!!!

An Airstream?

 Airstreams don't have a whole lot to do with baking.  : )

This was the cover of this month's Sunset magazine (which also had the crepe recipe). And it is a dream of mine and my husband's. It doesn't have to be an Airstream, just a cute teardrop trailer to travel around the country with the kiddos.

 I can hear them giggling (and screaming), and feel the wind in our hair already!

"Maybe I had watched one too many episodes of Mad Men or ordered one too many Prohibition-era cocktails, but I became romanced by an idea that has been sweeping the nation: retroism. Which is how I ended up driving a retro icon- the Airstream- up a highway that looks like the backdrop for a Hitchcock chase scene. - As I opened the floor-to-ceiling drawers, turned on the saucer-size gas burners, and peeked in the tiny shower- the effect was like being in a shiny ergonomic playhouse designed by NASA. I mean, this thing was cool."

The article is so fun, and worth buying the magazine just to read it. No, Sunset isn't paying me. : )

May the rest of your summer bring delicious peaches and happy trails!

Ingredients-

Crêpe batter
3 large eggs
2/3 cup flour
1 cup milk
About 3 tbsp. melted butter

Cheese filling- (I used mascarpone and cream cheese in equal parts instead.)
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon butter

Peach topping- (I added lavender sugar, basil, and fresh whipped cream also. I made these without cognac because I didn't have any on hand.)
2 tablespoons butter
3 large peaches, sliced
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons cognac
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

Preparation
1. Make batter: Whirl together eggs, flour, and milk in a blender until smooth.
2. Heat a small nonstick frying pan over medium heat and brush with butter. Pour in 2 tbsp. batter, swirling to spread evenly. Cook until golden underneath, 1 minute; flip over and cook 30 seconds. Make remaining crêpes, brushing pan with butter and stacking finished crêpes.
3. Make filling: Stir together ricotta, sugar, zest, and salt in a medium bowl. Spoon 1 tbsp. filling into center of a crêpe. Fold crêpe in half, pressing gently to spread filling evenly, then fold in half again to form a triangle. Continue with remaining crêpes.
4. Melt 1 tbsp. butter in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. In batches, carefully add filled crêpes; cook until golden brown, turning once, 5 minutes total. Transfer to a platter and keep warm.
5. Make topping: Melt butter in pan over high heat. Add peaches, sugars, cinnamon, and juice; cook, stirring occasionally, until sugars melt, 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat; carefully stir in cognac. Pour peaches over crêpes and sprinkle with almonds.
Make ahead: Make and fill crêpes through step 3, cover, and chill overnight.

Happy 4th of July!

What a special day to celebrate!

These crazy little cupcakes are perfect for the kids.

To start, some pretty little cupcake cups.

Cupcakes are so much easier with this little thing here. It is a batter dispenser, something I probably wouldn've never bought. My mom gave this to me and it is awesome!

All filled, they're ready to go into the oven.

I decided to fill these cupcakes with raspberry frosting. So while they were baking I prepared the raspberry sauce. It's a little tedious separating the raspberry seeds...

But the payoff is a beautiful, delicious raspberry sauce.

Next I filled the cupcakes with the raspberry frosting.

Let the icing begin! I used a star tip for a fireworks effect!

These little pinwheels are from Wilton, and they work really well. So after the kids are done with their cupcakes the fun can go on!

And there you have it! A festive vanilla cupcake, filled with raspbery frosting, topped with vanilla flour frosting.

Have a spectacular 4th of July!!!

Flour Frosting-

1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup butter cut in cubes (cool butter)
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 1/2- 2 cups powdered sugar

1. In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar, flour, salt together. Add the milk and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture has thickened into a paste and is slightly bubbly at edges 2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; beat until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. If the frosting is too soft, transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill slightly: then beat again until it is the proper consistency.
3. Add the vanilla and continue mixing until combined.
4. Add powdered sugar to taste. You can make the frosting more or less stiff by adding more or less powdered sugar.

Raspberry Sauce-
First separate raspberries from the seeds by crushing them over a sieve. Then add sugar to taste, and let simmer over the stove until reduced and thickened. Chill in refrigerator before adding to frosting.

Cakes!

This cake has been on my list to make for a while. It's supposed to have an ombre effect... such a fancy word! I gradually added color to the buttercream while decorating the cake.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream is so beautiful, and the texture so luxurious! I realized that swiss meringue buttercream is actually very hard to incorporate color into. I discovered the best way was to mix the food coloring into about 1 tablespoon of buttercream, and then incorporate that tablespoon into the rest of the buttercream. Much easier.

These little cakes were made as a gift for someone's friend that was moving.

I love how they are each a different, cheerful color.  : )  I baked brownies, cut them out with biscuit cutters, and decorated with royal icing.

Tennis anyone?

These cupcakes were made for a friend's 50th birthday, and she's crazy about tennis! These are chocolate cupcakes topped with buttercream and fondant. No prob Bob!

And now for the winner of this tweet tweet, sweet sweet mug...

Q: Who's bigger? Mr. Bigger or Mr. Bigger's baby?

A: Mr. Bigger's baby 'cause he's a 'Little Bigger'.

Congratulations Kay! : )

Some of you asked what I thought of Wilton's baked doughnut recipe. I thought it was very good, light and moist. However the texture more closely resembles a cupcake than a doughnut. I'm sure you could use a favorite recipe that is a little more dense if you want a firmer texture.

Please refer to the April 2010 post of Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hats for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe.

A Good Mug and a Doughnut.

The mug that started it all. There is nothing like a favorite mug. Growing up at home my mom and dad always had coffee brewing in the morning. When I was old enough I started having a cup too. My dad and I started realizing that we were in slight competition for the same mug every morning. I'm not sure what is so special about this mug, or why we each gravitated to it... but whoever got to the coffee pot first, also got the mug.

When I was married and moved away, I made a comment to my sister that my mug selection was a sad sight. I didn't have a single mug with any character. A couple of weeks later I received a package in the mail from my dad... all of the best mugs from home, and most importantly, our Casa del Mar mug. The sweetest thing in the world!!!

Since then I've become a mug collecting fool! One from a friend's wedding in North Dakota, another from a favorite hotel,  another from a friend in Nebraska...

And Starbucks, they'll get me every time! The little submarine mug is brand new and I love it! The round ones are so impractical. The handle is really hard to hold, and drinking from a round rim is difficult... but they've got something and I use them all the time.

I love the idea of these... but you just can't drink hot coffee out of them. They're perfect for something, I'm just not sure what yet... Milk? Juice?

I think a good mug is half the pleasure of enjoying your coffee. Imagine deeply aromatic, freshly brewed coffee... and then imagine pouring it into a styrofoam cup... blahck!!!

And now back to the doughnuts! These are actually baked doughnuts, so much easier!

You mix the batter in a single bowl, and bake them for about 9 minutes. This is a doughnut pan from Wilton. They also make one for mini-doughnuts. Too cute. 

Then dip them in icing...

And add cute little touches!

Real doughnuts are awesome, but if you're not up for the frying challenge these are so fun!

She has an interesting method.  : )

It has been a year of blogging for Sugar 'N Flour!

Thank you to all of you who follow the blog and leave such nice comments, it makes it so much fun! I bought an extra little bird mug because I thought it was so sweet.

Just leave a funny joke in the "comments" at the bottom of the post, and I will pick one at random and happily send the little mug on it's way for your own collection!

I'll get it started...

What did the fish say when it hit the wall?

Dam.

Donut Recipe- Wilton's

Ingredients-

 2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 T. melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In large mixing bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, eggs and butter. Beat until just combined. Fill each doughnut cup approximately 2/3 full.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes before removing. 

Doughnuts are best served fresh.

For the icing, I used powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and butter. However, I didn't quite measure out the ingredients. It was probably about 2-3 cups of powdered sugar, a few tablespoons of milk, a teaspoon of vanilla, and about 2 tablespoons of butter. If it is too thick just add a little milk; if it is too thin add a little powdered sugar. I've attached a couple of recipes that look good, but I haven't tried yet. And you can always roll them is powdered sugar, or a cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Powdered Sugar Glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
Whipping cream

Maple Glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon maple extract
5 tablespoons (about) heavy whipping cream

How Sweet It Is.

Nothing says birthday like sprinkles on a cupcake!

26 is lookin' pretty good now.

To sprinkle or not to sprinkle, that was the question... so I did both : )

We had 4 birthdays in the span of a week and lots of cake! This is a layered yellow and devil's food cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

I love making birthday cakes. What's better than a sweet, edible, flaming symbol of your love and appreciation for them?!

And for my 31 year old husband... a giant cookie of course!

Have your cake and wear it too!

A very happy un-birthday to you all!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream-

Please refer to the Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Hi-Hats post from April :)

To make Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, follow the recipe for Swiss Meringue Buttercream omitting the vanilla extract, decreasing the sugar to 1 cup, and adding 8 ounces melted best-quality bittersweet chocolate after the butter has incorporated (let chocolate cool slightly before mixing in).

I actually didn't omit the cup of sugar and just added melted chocolate to taste. Just make sure you wait until the chocolate has cooled so that it doesn't melt the butter in the buttercream. If you do see separation after you have made the buttercream, whip at medium-high speed until smooth.

For the swirls on the cupcakes I used a star tip, and made rosettes by making little circle swirls.