Nigella Lawson Christmas Cupcakes Food

CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Take everything you need out of the fridge in time to get to room temperature - and this makes a huge difference to the lightness of the cupcakes later - and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Put all of the ingredients for the cupcakes except for the milk into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pulse while adding the milk down the funnel, to make a smooth dropping consistency.
• Divide the mixture between a 12-bun muffin tin lined with muffin papers, and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. They should have risen and be golden on top. Let them cool a little in their tins on a rack, and then take them carefully out of the tin to cool in their papers, still on the wire rack.
• Ice with Royal Icing.
• Combine the egg whites and confectioners' sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium speed until opaque and shiny, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the lemon juice, this will thin out the icing. Beat for another couple of minutes until you reach the right spreading consistency for the cupcakes.

NIGELLA LAWSON CHRISTMAS CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper baking cups.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and soda, the mixed spice and salt.
• In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in one-third of flour mixture followed by a tablespoon of the sour cream, repeating till all is used up.
• Put water, chocolate, and instant coffee in a pan and heat gently, just until the chocolate is melted. Fold this into the batter, but don't overbeat. The mixture will be very thin; "so don't worry about that," advises Nigella.
• Pour batter carefully into waiting muffin cups and put in oven for about 20 minutes. The cakes should be cooked through but still dense and damp. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then lift out carefully onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.
• To ice them, make up the royal icing according to the package instructions and cover the tops of the cupcakes thickly. Cut out holly leaves from the green fondant using a small holly-leaf cutter with veining stamp . Arrange 2 leaves on each cake, then then press on the cranberries, 2 or 3 to a cake, to represent the holly berries.

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

Steps:

• Place all the ingredients for the base in the bowl of a food processor. Blend the mixture until the mixture takes on a sandy texture.
• Place 48 gold petit four cases in sets of miniature tart tins or mini-muffin tins (each indent about 1 3/4-inches in diameter). Use 1 teaspoon of the base mixture to fill the bases of the petit four cases. Press the sandy mixture down into the cases as best you can to form a layer at the bottom of each paper case.
• Place the milk chocolate and dark chocolate together into a heatproof bowl. Suspend the bowl over a pan of simmering water (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). Melt the chocolate gently while stirring. Spoon teaspoonfuls of the melted chocolate onto the top of each of the sandy bases of the petit four cases.
• Decorate the tops of the chocolate covered peanut butter cups with either a gold button or gold star in the middle of each and transfer them to the fridge. Let them set in the fridge, for about 30 minutes.
• To serve, arrange the chocolate peanut butter cups in their cases on a clean plate.

ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• Combine the egg whites and confectioners' sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium speed until opaque and shiny, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the lemon juice, this will thin out the icing. Beat for another couple of minutes until you reach the right spreading consistency for the cupcakes.

LILAC-OR CHOCOLATE-TOPPED CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Put all the ingredients for the cupcakes except the milk into a food processor and blitz furiously. Then pour in the milk, and process again until you have a smooth batter. Divide the mixture between either the big muffin pans or the 3 small pans.
• Cook the big cupcakes for about 15 to 20 minutes, and the small ones for about 10 minutes, although you might need to keep a closer eye on the little ones. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack.
• To ice the mini-cupcakes, mix the confectioners' sugar with a tablespoon or 2 of water from a recently boiled kettle or cold water (according to package instructions) for instant royal icing until you have a smooth, spreadable paste. In both cases add water slowly: you don't want this runny, and nothing is more irritating than having to start sifting more sugar. The merest, tiniest blob of food-coloring paste- in this case, as I said, Grape Violet - will be enough to bring a dizzy and rich-toned intensity to the proceedings; you can always add more coloring if you want, but again the important thing is to guard against having to do any more sifting. And if you have been too heavy-handed and landed yourself with a batch of unusable dark icing, then just make up some more plain white icing and add to tone down.
• Slice any peaking humps off the tops of the cakes with a sharp knife and then pour, from a dunked-in spoon, the icing over each cake until the tops are thickly and smoothly covered. Let stand for a couple of minutes until the icing has set a tiny bit and then dot a gold button or other decoration of your choice on top.
• Put both ingredients in a saucepan and, over low heat, cook until the chocolate's melted. Whisk together with handheld mixer or electric whisk (for ease and preference), watching the mixture become thick and glossy. Spoon and smooth over your waiting cupcakes. . Let stand for a couple of minutes until the icing has set a tiny bit and then decorate in whatever way you want.

NIGELLA LAWSON CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Nigella offers a very important tip to take everything you need out of the fridge in time to get to room temperature. This will give a lightness to the cupcakes later - and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• For those on a schedule, put all of the ingredients for the cupcakes except for the milk into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Pulse while adding the milk down the funnel, to make a smooth dropping consistency.
• Or if you're a bit more old fashioned using a bowl and wooden spoon, cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with a little of the flour. Then add the vanilla extract and fold in the rest of the flour, adding the milk to get the dropping consistency as before.
• Divide the mixture between a 12-bun muffin tin lined with muffin papers, and bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. They should have risen and be golden on top. Let them cool a little in their tins on a rack, and then take them carefully out of the tin to cool in their papers, still on the wire rack.
• Ice with Royal Icing.
• Royal Icing: *2 large egg whites (or substitute powdered egg whites, 3 cups confectioners' sugar(known to Australians as icing sugar. 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
• Combine the egg whites and confectioners' sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium speed until opaque and shiny, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the lemon juice, this will thin out the icing. Beat for another couple of minutes until you reach the right spreading consistency for the cupcakes.
• MUST use self rising flour. Substituting all purpose will result in cakes that do not rise, as no other levening agents are used in this recipe.