Last week I made chocolate cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting. The one above is not exactly what I'd call a model cupcake. It's messy and looks as though it's been tossed around a bit. But it was the only one left, so I guess that's a good sign that they were tasty. I'm really happy with the way the big cupcakes turned out. It had been so long since I'd had a really good gluten-free cake that I was starting to think I had to accept the grainy packaged stuff. But these were so tasty! I also made mini cupcakes of the same thing, but I think I may have baked them too long and they weren't as moist.
Just so you know, that's the last time on here that I say that word. It's on my list of gross unspeakable words. From this day forward, it shall be referred to as "the M word". Let's hope that all my cupcakes in the future are nice and M word.
I just bought a mega ton of mason jars so I could start making my own vanilla extract. Right now, I have more beans than booze, so I need to go buy some Smirnoff red label vodka (because it's gluten-free!) and fill up a few more jars so I always have a good stash on hand. Homemade vanilla extract really does taste so much better than store bought, and turns out to be a lot cheaper.
So now I have one mason jar for vanilla, and Julian is using one as a jail for his bad guys. Lots more jars left....maybe more mason jar projects? I've got a good one I'll be posting about soon.
What do you do with mason jars?
4 comments:
M word....Moist is good.
Vanilla beans, inexpensive on Ebay in Europe.
http://cgi.ebay.fr/1000-GR-VANILLE-NOUVELLE-GUINEE-15-CM-a-20-CM_W0QQitemZ180347836005QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFR_JG_Vins_Gastronomie?hash=item180347836005&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1526%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
The cupcakes look good. Do you make them (and choc. cake) from scratch these days, or do you have some kind of mix to recommend?
I just got a teeny tiny bottle of Vanilla from Trader Joe's and it was $5. I'll bet you're right, homemade would be cheaper, and not that hard. If you know any good website with how-to directions please pass it on...sounds really yummy!
i have an idea for the mason jars...let's chat!!
CANNING! YES!
You can make jellies and can them by boiling the sealed mason jar + seal + lid in boiling water, but this only works for high acidic jellies and foods. Tomatoes, marmalade, strawberry jelly-- you can always add acid to them too, as well as pectin but I'm not sure about the gluten of pectin. But yes, homemade jelly is ten trillion times better than the shit you get in the stores. And HFCS free!
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