Holiday Brunch (592 views)

Thanks for all the advice. I love chatting about plans here.

I put out some marcona almonds and holiday M&Ms Had a drink bar with coffee (Kahlua), OJ and cranberry juice (Blanc de Blanc from TJ's), and hot tea--plus pop. We have some diehard Diet Coke drinkers.

All the casseroles were good. The spinach quiche was a big hit--I made it in a 10.5x7.25 casserole so that it was close to as thick as the other stratas. It baked in 40-45 minutes. I got recipe requests so that's always a good sign. My favorite was the sausage/apple strata (not usually a fan of meat and fruit and sweet), but I would reduce the amount of bread next time and make it more strata and less bread pudding. I also would do the same with the ham/leek one. I probably inadvertently upped the bread on this one when I made it since I did not make it as sandwiches. I basically matched the other recipe. I did end up putting in 1/4 c evoo and an extra egg. The winter fruit salad was good, but not very nice to look at and people were confused when I told them not to eat the star anise! It was tasty though--and different. The dried fruit just didn't look appealing and sunk to the bottom of the bowl. I did switch the ratio of pears to apples so I had more apples. It might be better served individually so that the pomegranate seeds could be on top of each serving for some color. The salad with pomegranate dressing (my mom and dad made it) was also a hit (evoo, rice wine vinegar, pom juice, sugar, S&P).

The true stars of the show were the cupcakes--really good. I got requests for the recipe and was told I should enter them in the fair next year. I got 27 instead of 30 (probably should have gotten 28 as they overflowed a bit). I left the espresso beans out of the filling since we have some non-coffee people. Really easy to fill and frost. I made the cupcakes the night before. I am sure I got this recipe from the old CLBB, but didn't credit the source and I have had it in my to-try folder forever! Thanks to that long-ago poster.

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes (CLBB)
2 ½ c flour
1 ¼ c Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Droste)
2 ½ c sugar
2 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 ¼ c whole milk
2/3 c oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 c brewed coffee (with 2 tsp instant espresso dissolved in it)
8ozs mascarpone cheese, room temp
2 tbsp milk
½ tsp vanilla
2 tsp finely-ground espresso beans
2 c powdered sugar
6oz semi or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Valrhona 71%)
3ozs unsalted butter
¼ c light corn syrup (I used half corn syup/half golden syrup)
1 tsp vanilla
350. Sift together flour through salt. Add eggs through coffee—stir or beat until combined. Fill 30 paper-lined muffin cups about 2/3 full with batter. Bake 18-23 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack. Beat together mascarpone, milk, and vanilla. Slowly add in sifted powdered sugar and mix until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with ¼ inch plain tip. Insert tip in center of cupcake and dispense about 2 tsp of filling into each cupcake. (I could see the cupcake rise a bit.) Combine chocolate, butter, and corn syrup in a pan and heat until melted and smooth. Add vanilla off heat and stir and then spoon over the tops of the filled cupcakes.