Shushas Cupcakes

Picture by: Oren Cohen

Picture by: Oren Cohen

"Cupcakes are adorable and fancy. They make me happy and also more importantly the reciver happy. They are fun to bake because they are full of color and you can make them different every time. Cupcakes always give a little something back to the eye. They are also perfect for almost any occation. Who don't love a mini-cake?"

By: Shusha Biton

Cupcakes  

Ingredients (12 pieces)

125 grams of self-rising flour

125 grams of butter, softened

125 grams of casted sugar

2 eggs

2-3 tbs milk
      

Cupcake butter cream  

1 kilo of powdered sugar 

400 grams of soft butter

1 tbs milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Optional: You can add any flavor or color to the butter cream, choice of your own. It's also good without any extra flavor.

1. Heat the oven to 180C degrees.

2. Mix flour and butter with a mixer until you get crumbs. Add the sugar and beat in the eggs. Finally add the milk and mix until the batter is combined and creamy. 

3. Take out a cupcake tin and add the paper muffin cups. With a spoon put in the batter, approx. 3/4 in every tin. 

4. Bake for about 15 minutes until they turn golden brown. Let cool on a cooling grid. 

5. Start preparing the butter cream. Put half of the sugar in a mixer and add the soft butter, the milk and the vanilla. Beat until combined and add the rest of the sugar. Mix until fluffy. If you want to add color and flavor, do it in this fase. 

6. Put the butter cream in to a pastry bag with a nozzle of your choice. Depending on how you want your batter to look on the cupcake. Press out the butter cream on the cupcakes in a nice pattern. Decorate with something cute and eatable if you want, or serve them just like that.

Enjoy! (YUMMY)

Tip: 

•  The butter cream can keep in the fridge for three days if stored proper. Just make sure to mix it again before you use it to make it fluffy and easier to work with. 

•  If you want to find cool muffin cups or other cool baking stuff you can't find in a normal super market, check out the store Motek - Sugar Boutique on Sderot Yehudit 15 in Tel Aviv. If you are lucky you might meet Shusha, because she works there part-time.  

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved

Pecan Pie a la Shusha

"This pie I always for some reason bake with my younger brother, who loves it. When I bake I always like to have people around. I think baking is something you should do together."

By: Shusha Biton

Pecan Pie

Crust
100 g of butter, melted and warm
3/4 cup powder of powdered sugar
1 egg
2 cups of flour

Filling
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
100 g of butter
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups chopped pecans
1 ½ cups whole pecans
1 tablespoon heavy cream

1. Prepare the crust. Mix melted butter and powdered sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add flour and mix just until the dough is smooth and combined. 
2. With your hands, work the dough in to a template (with loose bottom). Flatten out the edges of the crust with a knife. Pick with a fork and freeze until assembly.
3. Prepare filling. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
4. Heat maple syrup, brown sugar and butter and stir until the sugar and butter is completely melted. Cool slightly. Important!!! Divide the mixture evenly in to 2 bowls - one bowl, add sugar and eggs and whisk immediately (hot mixture so it is important to work quickly). Stir in chopped pecans. Pour in to the pastry crust and bake immediately for 30 minutes, until filling stabilizes the margins but still soft in the center.
5. Arrange whole pecans with your hands on the baked pie (Be careful, it's hot). Mix all the contents of the second bowl with heavy cream and pour over gently (heat slightly if the sauce is not liquid).
6. Return to the oven to finish baking for  another 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, let cool (preferably extract the pie from the pan while still warm) and refrigerate for two hours to make it stable.

Serve:
Slice and serve cold or slightly warm, with ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Tart

Picture by Oren Cohen

"My life is all about cooking and baking, and I love sharing my life with other people."

By: Shusha Biton

Chocolate Tart 

Crust 
100 g of sugar
200 g of butter 

300 g of flour 

1 egg  

Zest of one lemon 

A drop of vanilla extract

Filling

200 g of dark chocolate, good quality, at least 60% cacao

200 ml cream

Day one: 

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough. Work with it until uniformed.

2.  Wrap the dough with nylon and refrigerate over night. This dough is enough for one big tin, or approx. 7-8 smaller (the one on the pic is 8 cm).
 

Day two:

1. Heat the oven to 170C degrees.

2. Take out the dough from the fridge approx. 5 min before starting to work with it. 

3. Roll the dough and place it in a baking tin, not to thin. Pick small holes in the dough with a fork to prevent it form swelling (you can also, if ambitious, put baking paper on the dough and add rice to the tin. That way it will stay in place in the oven).

4.  Bake for 15 minutes in the oven until a nice golden color. Let cool.

5.  Melt the chocolate.

6. Boil the cream and add the chocolate. If you want you can add nuts, coconut, chocolate pieces, or even hard candy to the ganache. Mix well. Let cool.

7. Add the chocolate filling to the tin with the pie crust.

8. Put in the fridge until it's completely cold and stiff.

9. Decorate with nuts, candy or fruit. 

  
Enjoy! 

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved