Cupcakes and cookies and soup, oh my!

This past weekend I was in the mood to make soup, so I borrowed a great recipe for my mom (I think she got it from Cyndy)... the great thing about soup is that you just throw everything together and let it do it's thing.
Italian Bean Soup
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1.25 lbs Italian sausage (I use 3 spicy sausages and 4 regular)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cans white (navy) beans, drained
2 quarts chicken stock (I used about 2/3 of a big can - no idea how much that really is)
4 cups of broccoli rabe (rapini) or spinach (I don't think I put this much in... more like 1 1/2 cups)
salt, pepper and garlic to taste (the sausage gives this a ton of flavor, so not sure if it's needed)
Parmesan cheese to taste (when serving, on top)

cut the sausage into bite size pieces and brown with the EVOO.
add the onion, beans and chicken stock and let cook for a good amount of time (an hour, all day, whatever works for you) as well as the spices if you feel like you need them
throw in the spinach or rapini and let get warm, or keep cooking for a while (again, however much time you have)
serve in bowls with the Parmesan sprinkled on top - and maybe with some crusty bread!

During some football games we were watching they kept having ads for diet dr. pepper that had cupcakes in them. So of course I got the urge to make cupcakes... I looked to the Joy of Cooking once again to help me out.
Quick Caramel Cupcakes
whisk together in a bowl:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Add and mix for 2 minutes at medium speed:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla (if desired)
Beat in for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl a few times with a spatula:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
then I threw in 1/2 a ghirardelli dark chocolate bar, cut into chunks (because I wanted to, damn it!)
cook at 350 degrees F for about 18-25 minutes or until brown.


I then made frosting:
Quick White Icing
in a medium bowl, combine and mix on medium:
4 cups powder sugar, sifted (don't have a sifter, tasted fine)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
add and beat until smooth:
4 to 6 Tablespoons milk, rum or coffee (I used Kahlua)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

We ended up with a bunch of extra frosting, so you could mess with the amounts to get however much you need. Also, the Kahlua was a little overwhelming, maybe 1/2 milk and 1/2 Kahlua next time... Still the cupcakes were DELICIOUS!


For school, we had an Ugly Sweater/Cookie Decorating Holiday Party... I went to the ARC to find an ugly sweater and came back with an entire ugly outfit. Also a little purple sweater that I convinced one of our professors to wear :)
I also got conned into making the cookies... it was a good thing I had some help because I have issues with rolling cookies out. The key with the icing for sugar cookies is that it should be pretty thin, so you might have to add more milk than you would think...

Christmas Cookies

1 cup of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. baking soda (sift together with flour)
1t. vanilla (ish)
3 cups of flour

Combine sugar and butter, beat until smooth, add egg.
Mix in dry ingredients and then chill......for an hour or so.
Roll out and cut out cookies to a thickness that is uniform so they cook evenly.
Bake at 350 until begin to smell and are a nice light brown. 8-12 minutes?
Ungreased cookie sheet.

Icing
2T. butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla.

Use milk to thin to desired consistency. Then add food coloring to desired color, and decorate your cookies!

Matt looks funny in my ugly outfit!