Crunchy Rooftop Cupcakes

This particular recipe is a creation of a craving I had for a certain combo of flavors.  I wanted something that had the rich taste of graham and cinnamon with a pop of tart lemon.

The graham/cinnamon combo was easily found in the biscoff spread and the cookies.  To add the lemon, I poked holes in the cakes and soaked them with a lemon syrup.  Then the topping is made even better when it is dipped in the sugary cinnamon.  Lastly a touch of whipped cream holds half of a Biscoff cookie on top

As you bite into one of these, you will have the crunch of the cinnamon topping, the tartness of the lemon and then the deep graham flavor of the cake. The syrup is an exact mimic of the flavor your get in a lemon drop. Needless to say, this recipe hit the mark in what I wanted in flavor as well as texture.

Also, I had to quickly pack them away so I would have enough for the pot luck.  It seems that I am building a reputation at the monthly event , for upon arrival it is "what did you bring this time?".  There is a lot of curiosity around the creations I bring, mainly due to the fact the attendees are people that stick with making the tried and true classic recipes.  A small country town does not have that much exposure to the big variety that exists beyond the classics.

Crunchy Rooftop Cupcakes (makes 16-18 standard cupcakes)
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Cakes
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup Biscoff spread
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2/3 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup ground Biscoff cookies (do not pack)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Ingredients/Topping & Syrup
juice from 2 lemons
zest from 1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar (for syrup)
1 tbs cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
whipped cream
8-9 cookies broken in half

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the top edge of muffin cavities and line with cupcake papers

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.  Then stir in the ground Biscoff cookies. Set aside.

 In a mixing bowl, cream together sugar, butter and Biscoff spread. Then beat in one egg and vanilla extract for 30 seconds.  Add the additional egg and beat for another 30 seconds.  Take a wooden spoon and fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.  Take 1/3 cup of the sour cream and fold into batter.  Continue with the process of adding and mixing, ending with the last 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.  Place in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until tester indicates cupcakes are done.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the simple syrup.  Place the lemon, lemon zest and 1/2 of sugar in a sauce pan and place over medium high heat.  Let the mixture come to a boil.  Turn down heat and stir until mixture turns to a syrup type consistency.  Remove from heat.

Remove cupcakes from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes then transfer to a rack.  Let cool for about 5 minutes.  Using a wooden skewer, poke holes in the top of the cupcake about 1 1/2 inches in depth.  Then take a pastry brush and brush syrup on cupcakes.  Brush twice and then let set for another 5 minutes.  During this time the syrup will get thicker.  Then brush the tops again. All cupcake tops should be coated.

In a small bowl mix together the cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sugar.  Take each cupcake and dip the top in the mixture, making sure it is well coated.  Place cupcake back on cooling rack.  Continue until all cupcakes are topped with cinnamon.

Then take 1/2 cup of whipped cream and pipe or drop a dollop on the center of each cupcake.  Stick 1/2 a cookie upright into the whipped cream.

Tips:
Cupcakes do need a day for flavors to meld, so do the whipped cream and cookie the following day prior to serving.
Keep a careful eye on the syrup while cooking as well as cooling, the consistency can become too thick very quickly.
The baking powder and baking soda do react quickly, so it is wise to only prepare what you can bake at one time.
I was not pleased at the taste of these warm from the oven, so reserve your taste testing for the next day when all the flavors have melded.

Enjoy!                    

Pier Thirty Nine Bars

The namesake for these bars has to do with San Francisco.  At the corner of Pier 39 there is a coffee shop that sells Biscoff coffee, according the package of the Biscoff cookies.  Since this is a bar made with Biscoff, I thought that it would go well with the coffee!  Sadly I am not in San Francisco, so I guess I will have to make due with just these bars to satisfy my craving for the flavor of Biscoff.

It is a moist bar, falling between the brownie texture of fudgy and cakey.  Outside of that unique Biscoff flavor, the cinnamon streusel topping adds a delightful crunch.  Also, with the streusel, it can be a delicious breakfast treat as well as a snack. 

The streusel here can be made to your own preference.  You may want big buttery clumps while others like theirs more crumbly.  However, remember that the wait time required before use will cause it to dry out more.

Pier Thirty Nine Bars
by flourtrader

Ingredients/ Streusel
4 tbs of butter
2 tbs ground Biscoff cookies (I used a blender to grind)
1/2 cup flour ( or more depending how crumbly you like the topping to be)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs finely chopped walnuts

Melt butter in a small saucepan and then remove from heat.  Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients except for the walnuts.  After sifting, stir in the nuts.  Pour this dry mixture into the melted butter and stir with a fork until crumbs form.  Squeeze the mixture to make a large clump and then break apart so you have some pebble sized clumps.  Set the mixture aside for 15 minutes before using.

Ingredients/Bar base


1/4 plus 1/8 tsp baking powder
2 tbs of ground Biscoff cookies
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs flour
1/4 cup Biscoff spread
1 tbs butter
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1 egg
6 tbs sour cream
1 tbs dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (for sprinkling on top)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8 inch square pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder and ground Biscoff cookies and set aside.

Place a saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter.  Then add the oil and the Biscoff spread.  Stir and let the spread melt into the butter and oil.  Once melted, turn the heat down to low.

In another bowl beat the egg with the granulated sugar until it becomes thick.  It should take about 2 minutes to reach that consistency.  Add the dark brown sugar and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Then beat in the vanilla extract.  Your mixture should be quite thick at this point.

Pour in the warm Biscoff mixture and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes, stopping ocassionally
to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing to make sure it is all even.

Then take some of the streusel mixture and clump it in your hands again and break apart.  Then sprinkle it onto the batter.  Continue with the process until all the streusel is sprinkled on top of the batter.  Using a light touch, press the sprinkled crumbs onto the top of the batter.  Sprinkle on the mini chips and press lightly again.

Place in oven and bake until tester comes out clean and cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan.  This should take about 25-30 minutes.  Remove pan and let cake cool in pan on rack.  Cut into squares when ready to serve.
                          **LAST YEAR: Cranberry Fudge Pie**

Cinnagrog Pie

 When I saw vanilla spice eggnog in the grocery store, I could not pass it up.  Regular eggnog is good by itself but the extra spice sounded like it would be better.  Also, for the same cost as plain, why not?

I decided that I would make an eggnog pie, but I wanted to have another extra flavor in there.  I started considering all the fall spices and decided on the cinnamon.  Instead of just adding this spice to the pie, I thought about a layer of a cinnamon cream pie.  The best ingredient for that would be Biscoff spread.

After trial and error, I came up with a pie that has a Biscoff cream cheese layer topped with an eggnog rum cream.  The crust is made out of ground Biscoff cookies and I sprinkled the top with the crumbs as well.

My original intent was to swirl the two, however, the consistency variation did not allow for that, the eggnog cream is lighter than the biscoff. That is how I arrived at the layers.  I was a little worried about the eggnog layer, because when I tasted the batter before putting it on the pies the rum was very strong.  The chilling overnight cause the flavor to dissapate, so the true flavor comes with time. I have included the measurement for rum extract for those that do not like alcohol. This recipe makes 6 mini pies, 4 1/2 inch in diameter or one 9 inch pie.

Cinnagrog Pie
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Crust
1 1/4 cup ground Biscoff cookies (plus 1/2 cup extra for sprinkling on top)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs melted butter
2 1/2 tbs sugar
3/4 tsp nutmeg

Ingredients/Biscoff Filling
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 cups  heavy cream (whipped)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup Biscoff spread

Ingredients/Eggnog Filling
1 1/2 tsp of unflavored gelatin
1 tbs conrstarch
2 tbs cold water
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbs rum or 3/4 tsp rum extract
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 cup eggnog

For the crust. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix together cookie crumbs, sugar and nutmeg.  Then stir in the melted butter.  Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the insides of your pie pan(s).  If making mini pies, place pies on a baking sheet.  Place baking sheet or 9 inch pie pan in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Remove pie pan(s) and let cool on rack.

For the Biscoff filling, beat together the cream cheese, Biscoff spread and sugar until smooth.  Then fold in the whipped cream.  Fill each of the cooled pie crusts halfway with the filling, smoothing the top.  Place in fridge to chill while you prepare the next layer of filling.

For the eggnog filling, put the water in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top and set aside.  In a medium saucepan, stir together the cornstarch, sugar and eggnog.  Place over medium heat and cook, continuing to stir.  Once you can run your finger through the mixture on the back of a spoon and it leave a streak, it is done cooking.  My cook time was about 8 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin. Then use a sieve placed over a heat proof bowl and pour the mixture into the sieve.  You may have some cornstarch and/or gelatin that is left in the bottom of the sieve but push it through with a spoon and scrape all off of the bottom outside into the bowl.  Chill the mixture in the fridge until it turns into a pudding like consistency, about 30-40 minutes.

Then fold in the whipped cream and rum.  Take this batter and finish filling the pies.  Sprinkle the cookie crumbs on top of the pie(s). Let chill overnight before serving.
                             **LAST YEAR:Almost Tortuga Rum Cake