How To: Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

Hi Nibblers!

         Spring is only a week away for those of us in the southern hemisphere. To welcome the months of hay fever, flowers and sunshine I decided to whip up a batch of 'Strawberries and Cream' cupcakes! These cupcakes are extremely easy to make and will not only look great on a plate, each one cupcakes comes with a special surprise. To top that all off, strawberries are selling at great prices in Sydney right now which makes it the perfect time to test these babies out.

How to: Strawberries & Cream Cupcakes

Yields 12-14 medium cupcakes

What you'll need:
Cupcake component
- 1 cup or 180g self-raising flour (plain flour will work just
remember to add a pinch of salt)
- 2 tsp. of baking powder
- 1/2 cup or 80g of cocoa powder
- 50g butter (softened to room temperature)
- 3/4 cup or 150g of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup or 250ml of milk
- 3/4 tsp. Vanilla Essence
- 12 Lindt strawberries and cream truffle balls
- 6 strawberries roughly sliced

Strawberry cream frosting component
- 4-5 strawberries roughly diced
- 300ml of thickened cream (or whipping cream)
- 3 Tbs. of sugar
- 1 tsp. of vanilla essence

How To: Cupcake

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

2. Line tin with cupcake patty pans

3. Sift together flour, baking powder and cocoa in a medium mixing bowl then set aside

4. Beat together the softened butter, vanilla essence and white sugar in a large mixing bowl until well combined and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes)
5. Add eggs in one at a time and mix 

Strawberry & Chocolate batter

6. Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients and 1/2 of the milk into the butter/sugar mixture and mix

7. Repeat step 6 until all ingredients are all combined
8. Add sliced strawberries and gently mix until well incorporated

9. Spoon about 2 Tbs. of the cupcake mixture evenly into each of the lined patty pans
10. Add  Lindt truffle into the centre of each patty pan
11. Add a further 2-3 Tbs. of batter into patty pans or until it fills up to the 3/4 mark

12. Pop into the oven for 18 minutes checking with a skewer at the end to see if it's cooked

13. Rest the cupcakes for 15-20 minutes

How To: Strawberry cream frosting
1. Pre-chill your mixing bowl and cream in the fridge to minimise the chance of your cream splitting
2. Beat cream, sugar and vanilla essence until soft peaks form (about 4 minutes using a hand/ stand mixer)
3. Add diced strawberries and continue mixing until desired texture (about 2 minutes). I like the frosting to be quite stiff because it holds more shape when piped onto the cupcakes
4. Decorate your cupcakes

       I made the mistake of pushing my Lindt truffles to the bottom of the patty pan so most of the cupcakes didn't have the oozy effect when cross-sectioned. However, they tasted delightful and thoroughly enjoyed.

Don't push those truffles to the bottom!

Truffle sunk and burst itself at the bottom of the patty pan

Batman

     

       I would also love to thank Kevin for making my baking adventures much more enjoyable by spoiling me with Batman, my new KitchenAid stand mixer! I'm so excited to use it and can't wait to share more recipes with you.
     
        Hope you enjoyed this post and leave a comment if you gave this a try.

Nibble Away,
         
            Jo

How to: Chicken Schnitzel

Hey Nibblers!

           Chicken Schnitzels are one of my all-time faves. They're great by themselves, in a sandwich packed with lettuce, mayo and bacon or in a salad. The only problem is I try and only gobble one but, let's face it, I don't actually just eat one, more like five in one sitting. The other thing that I find with most chicken schnitzels you buy is that most of the time, it's so thin that you're pretty much only eating the breadcrumb crust and flour. So, how do I fix this problem? Make my own 'healthier,' heartier version of chicken schnitzel!

What you'll need: (Approx. 4 servings)
- 1x chicken breast (double-breasted)
- 80g of cous cous (cooked)
- 100g of plain flour (or per required)
- 3/4 Tbs. salt
- 3/4 Tbs. garlic salt
- 1 Tbs. mixed herbs
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 2 eggs (beaten)

How to:

1. Pre-heat oven (preferably fan-forced) to 180 degrees celsius

2. Cut the double breasts in half so that you have one breast

3. Slice any excess meat underneath the breast (save these to make smaller nugget-like pieces)

4. Butterfly-cut each chicken breast (cutting the breast in half sideways so that when you open it up, it looks like a butterfly) 

5. Line the halved chicken breasts on some cling wrap or grease-proof paper
6. Add another layer of cling wrap/ grease proof paper over the breasts
7. Pound those breasts using a rolling pin or meat hammer until thin (approx. 0.5cm)
8. Mix the herbs, pepper, salt and garlic with the flour

8. Dip those chicken breasts in the beaten eggs

9. Coat them in the seasoned flour

10. Lay them on a baking tray with grease-proof paper and sprinkle with cous cous

11. Spray lightly with extra olive oil and pop into oven to bake for 45 mins or until cous cous is golden

12. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and serve with favourite dipping sauces         

I made three variations, the top level is the cous cous battered, the second layer is egg/floured and the third is floured and sprinkled with spring onions

The flour/egg batter compared to the cous cous coated

The verdict. The couc cous battered chicken reigned supreme! It was crispy, perfectly seasoned and a much healthier version of the schnitzel. 

The flour/egg coated chicken breast has great flavour but was drier as it did not have the protection of the cous cous in the oven. To counter-act this you would have to paste it with oil every 10 minutes. It was slightly crispy which was nice and still great in anything.

The onion sprinkled chicken pieces were not amazing. The onions burnt too quickly and it was dry. So, failed experiment on that point.

All in all, I'm really happy with the results and now have an obsession with chicken. I'm thinking of making these babies again for the finger food component of a party I'm throwing. Hope you give this a try and are all having an amazing week!

Nibble Away,
            Jo x.