Stewed Apples

I spent most of the waking hours of today baking for the baking contest that was earlier this evening. I enjoyed all five hours of it, I must say; I love that feeling of creating something, especially something delicious. So I guess a recipe and some pictures will have to do to summarize my day:

Cinnamon Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
(modified from the recipe for Long Winter cupcakes at shimelle.com)

250g unsalted butter
400g sugar
5 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
170g self-raising flour
170g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cup stewed apples

Heat the oven to 160C. Place liners in cupcake pan and set aside.
In mixing bowl, beat softened butter until smooth, then add sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix until well distributed.
Stir in the self-raising flour until consistent.
Add the milk and vanilla and mix again.
Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until even.
Fold in the apple pie filling. If your filling is too solid and the batter seems excessively thick, add milk or apple juice to thin slightly.
Fill cake cases 3/4 full and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a chopstick comes out clean.
Makes about 32 average sized cupcakes.

Stewed Apples

Six regular-sized apples, peeled & chopped
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine in a saucepan, cover, and let "stew" until tender (depending on the type of apples 25-45 minutes).

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:
500g cream cheese
175g unsalted butter
150g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling

Soften the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and mix with a spatula or mixer until there are no lumps.
Add remaining ingredients and mix until even in colour and texture.
Chill overnight in the fridge to thicken and improve the texture of the sugar (brown sugar is crunchy until it sets).
Pipe or spread over cupcakes.
Sprinkle with cinnamon to garnish.

Last night was International Food Night. It was worth all the 15francs I paid for it. There were a number of different booths sponsored by different clubs--California Club, Cooking Club, Latin Club, Greek Club, Arab Club, Asian Club, and Texas Club. I think that was all of them. And there was an enormous amount of food. Latin Club ended up winning, and it was deserved--they had a huge selection and great presentation. Their booth was pretty much being mobbed the whole evening. Arab Club & Asian Club tied for second and third. Texas Club had some fantastic chili and cornbread, as well as some pretty wonderful peach cobbler. But I've got to say Cooking Club may have been my favorite--they had all desserts. Lemon cake, lemon bars, apple torte, tiramisu, brownies, banana bread, banana cake, oatmeal raisin cookies... And there's an excellent chance that I'm forgetting something. In any case, it was all well worth it and very delicious. I was back down the hill around 9:30pm, I think (it started at 7:30, Alyssa & I walked up around 7:15). I went and visited with Deniz for a couple of hours; Deniz, Katie, and I freaked out for a little while in there because we couldn't figure out what happened to Keely. We quickly came to the assumption that she had died some horrific death at the hands of the Ticinese, of course (our imaginings were entirely ridiculous, I promise; we've all just been a little paranoid since Protectas came and talked to us). We finally came to our senses and called her on her cellphone though, and she was fine and walking down the hill back to Girasole with Gabby. So all was well. She and Katie went to meet Katie's brother at the train station; her brother's been stationed in Iraq and is on leave right now, so he came out to visit her here in Lugano.

All right, I've really got to study for my Marketing midterm tomorrow morning!!

I miss you guys!