Adventures in Kawanna-Land: The Miami Years: Day 219: 4/17/12

"I have become cumbersome

To this world...

Too heavy, too light

Too black or too white

Too wrong or too right

Today or tonight

Cumbersome..."

-"Cumbersome" by Seven Mary Three

Queen Kawanna Baker...Or Something Like That! That's what one of my friends called me tonight (I think - I may have mixed it up a bit!). What was I up to tonight? Peanut butter cupcakes (that I let get a bit too brown) with banana cream filling and Ill be making a peanut butter buttercream a little later. Though I slightly over cooked the cupcakes themselves - they taste pretty darn good! I should really not try to bake when I'm also covering chat and talking on the phone with my friend (and watching the Rangers play), but I don't have enough time to do all of the things I want unless I do them at the same time! One day I will learn to slow down and enjoy things, but not right now - right now I'm stressed...so I bake...and try to get over the stress that I feel by doing nice things for others...

Peanut Butter Cupcakes Recipe

2 cups of brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick, softened)
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line your muffin/cupcake pan with cupcake paper liners. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt. Mix together and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and the butter. Mix until creamy. Add in the peanut butter and mix until combined. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing in well. Take a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl at this point to make sure the mixture is well mixed. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately in four additions, adding flour then milk, then flour then milk. Spoon or pour the batter into the prepared cups, filling to about 2/3 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and check. If not done - put back in and check at 1 minute intervals. Remove when done - allow to cool in the pain for 5 minutes then remove to a wire rack.

Banana Cream Filling

1 1/2 bananas (ripe)
1 cup skim milk (you can use regular milk)
1 cup fat free half & half (you can use heavy cream instead or regular half & half)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp kosher salt (regular salt works too!)

Place all the items into the blender and mix together (make sure you don't have any chunks of banana left). Pour mixture into a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Cook until mixture starts to bubble, making sure to constantly whisk (or stir - I stir and it is fine!). Continue cooking the mixture until it thickens, about 5 - 7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. You can use it after about 20 minutes or you can store it in the fridge for later use. I'd suggest using it within a day or so though.

Here are the pics of tonight's baking extravaganza (I also made peanut butter banana cupcakes but not sure if they came out as well as I had hoped!