Sewing Crafts

So, did I mention that I was one of the winners of Martha’s 2009 Cutest Cupcake Contest? I did? Oh right, here. Well, I’ll boast again. I was one of the winners of Martha’s 2009 Cutest Cupcake Contest, uh huh. And I won her cupcake book and have been wanting to try out a recipe.

Now, I’m mostly a baking purist because I grew up in a purist baking household. I would not could not ever dare to use anything but butter when baking. Or real sugar. And I would not could not ever dare to use a cookie mix or a brownie mix. But, alas, I heartily use cake mixes. I risk this hypocrisy because cakes and cupcakes from scratch are often dry and simply not as good as the cake mix (though I would not could not ever use canned frosting). So I had my skepticism about pulling a random recipe from the cupcake book. Foolish me. These brown butter pumpkin cupcakes from Martha are moist, soft, just the right amount of sweet and absolutely scrumptious.

pumpkin brown-butter cupcakes
{adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes}
3/4 cup butter (plus more for tins)
1 2/3 cups all-purposes flour (plus more for tins)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I use Libby’s)
1 cup packed brown sugar (I use dark brown, Martha uses light)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter and flour muffin tins (I made a dozen minis and 6 large). Melt butter over medium-low heat in saucepan, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown. Skim foam from top and pour butter into a bowl to stop the cooking, let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugars, eggs and brown-butter mixture. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Fill tins 3/4 full and bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. When cool, dip tops in brown-butter icing.

brown-butter icing
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup unsalted butter, swirling pan occasionally, until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into bowl (leave sediment behind). Add 2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar, 2 tsp. vanilla extract and 2 tblsp. milk to the butter and stir until smooth. Add more milk if necessary.

for the fondant pumpkin cupcake toppers CLICK HERE to see my previous post

Just a quick word about a very very beautiful blog I’ve been looking at with my morning coffee for a long time – Threads Across the Web by Carol-Anne Conway in the U.K.

This came to my mind – to share it – when a young designer/friend asked me what blogs I like to read. I told her I really don’t look at needlepoint blogs except for two or three, as I get much better inspiration and images to “implant” in my brain by watching the very talented fiber artists at work.

The ladies of Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. are superb in their taste and techniques – and although it isn’t needlepoint, they do motivate and inspire me – exquisite taste on this one, as well as imaginative and beautiful projects.

There are great stitches and combinations of stitches that can be adapted to needlepoint, as well as just plain visual beauty. This is a picture of a beaded flower in progress, with a great explanation of how it’s accomplished.