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Letter to the editor

Books that Cook

Crank up the grill, then let them eat cupcakes

By ELLEN FOLKMAN
Published May 11, 2005

If cookbooks had a season, this just might be it.

With summer nearly upon us, the most popular subject is barbecuing. (Remember, not the entire country has the good fortune to grill year-round.) Cupcakes are another popular topic and with end-of-school parties, parents may find them useful.

Old-fashioned cupcakes are hot again. They can be tucked into lunch boxes or specially decorated and stacked high to create a novel wedding cake. Dress them up, and they make a nice personal dessert at a dinner party. The Cake Mix Doctor, Anne Byrn, has a new cookbook devoted to the mini-cake, Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor (Workman, $13.95).

Like her other cookbooks, all the recipes begin with a cake mix. Some interesting new twists to ho-hum cupcakes include s'mores cupcakes and cookie dough cupcakes. Kids will love the Groundhog Day, Easter basket and Halloween spider cupcakes. Lots of great tips scattered throughout the book make baking cupcakes easier.

Julie Hasson has written 125 Best Cupcake Recipes (Robert Rose, $18.95). All of these cupcakes are made from scratch. Recipes include french toast cupcakes, margarita cupcakes and cardamom plum cupcakes. The possibilities are endless with the numerous frosting suggestions for each recipe.

Again, lots of great tips are included.

Barbecuing and grilling are hot topics. With five new books out on the subject, I thought I'd see just how many different things there are to grill. 101 Things to Do With a BBQ (Gibbs Smith Publishers, $9.95) seemed intriguing, but nothing really stood out. Author Steve Tillet gets redundant, with recipes for smoked honey garlic barbecued pork, smoked honey garlic barbecued ribs and smoked honey garlic barbecued turkey. Tillet offers a "bonus section" of sauce and rub recipes: In a cookbook about barbecue, a section on sauces and rubs seems more a necessity than a bonus.

Women who feel intimidated by the grill need fear no more. The BBQ Queens' Big Book of Barbecue (Harvard Common Press, $18.95) brings a female perspective to the art of barbecuing. Authors Karen Adler and Judith Fertig are from Kansas City, Mo., home to some of the best barbecue in the land. They also seem to have a clue about what a family wants for dinner. They even have recipes for pizza on the grill and for using up leftover rotisserie turkey. Adding humor to the cookbook are bios about barbecue babes and grill gals.

These girls grill everything from vegetables to meats to fish to fruit. Pineapple sorbet in grilled pineapple rings sounds like summer personified.

The All American Cowboy Grill (Rutledge Hills Press, $16.99) is a fun cookbook with recipes from some of America's greatest cowboys. It is entertaining to read, with great recipes, too: among them, rancho del cielo tri-tip, submitted by Ronald Reagan, Maverick's chili jam chicken from actor James Garner, and the Lone Ranger's beefy-onion cheeseburgers.

Fun photos of actors and interesting facts - did you know the Texas Rangers were created in 1835 with a salary of $1.25 a day? - complete the book.

If you're stuck in a barbecue rut, Mastering Barbecue (Ten Speed Press, $19.95) will help get you out of it. Stop grilling the same cuts of meat every time. Author Michael H. Stines offers not only lots of recipes but tips, techniques and know-how: This would be a good starter barbecue cookbook.

Some standout recipes include mesquite-grilled chicken with citrus sauce, pork tenderloin with Hawaiian sauce and grilled scallops with plum marinade.

The last cookbook on the list is Barbecues and Other Outdoor Feasts (Kyle Cathie Limited, $19.95). What sets this cookbook apart is that these recipes have an international flavor. Inspired by Indian street food, Japanese teriyaki and Middle Eastern favorites, there are more than 120 recipes to try.

You can see these influences in recipes such as meat and chicken satay, lamb koftas with quinoa salad and raita and eggplant, spinach and basil salad with garlic-yogurt dressing. The color pictures make your mouth water.

- Ellen Folkman's cookbook review column appears monthly in the Taste section.

Sorbet:

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in heavy syrup, frozen in the unopened can

3 tablespoons dark rum or 2 teaspoons rum flavoring

3 tablespoons well-stirred canned cream of coconut

Grilled Pineapple Rings

1 large fresh pineapple, peeled and cored

To make the sorbet, submerge the unopened can of frozen pineapple in hot water for 1 minute.

Open the can and pour the pineapple and syrup into a food processor. Process until smooth.

Add the rum and cream of coconut and process to mix.

Serve immediately or freeze for up to 8 hours before serving.

To make the pineapple rings, cut the pineapple into 1-inch thick rings right before serving and place on a medium-hot grill.

Grill until the pineapple has browned and softened, about 2 minutes per side.

To serve, place a scoop of the pineapple sorbet in each grilled pineapple ring.

Serves 6.

Source: "The BBQ Queens' Big Book of Barbecue" by Karen Adler and Judith Fertig (Harvard Common Press, $18.95).

2 pounds ground beef

1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix

1 egg (can substitute 1/2 cup water)

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, shredded Monterey Jack cheese or crumbled Roquefort

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, soup mix and egg. Divide and shape the mixture into 12 fairly flat patties.

Place 2 tablespoons of cheese in the center of six patties.

Top with the remaining patties and seal edges tightly. If you're not careful, cheese will ooze all over the grill.

Put aside the remaining cheese for the top of the burgers.

Grill, barbecue or broil to desired doneness.

Serve with fresh, fluffy hamburger buns, cold, crisp lettuce, thick slices of tomatoes and lots of condiments.

Makes 6 servings.

Source: "The All American Cowboy Grill" by Cheryl Rogers-Barnett and Ken Beck (Rutledge Hills Press, $16.99).

24 paper liners for cupcake pan

7 whole graham crackers, coarsely chopped (do not use boxed graham cracker crumbs)

1 cup sour cream

1 package (18.25 ounces) plain German chocolate cake mix

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Marshmallow Frosting:

1 jar (13 ounces) marshmallow creme

3 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 Hershey's milk chocolate bars, broken into 24 small pieces (total), for garnish

Place rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set pans aside.

Place 1 scant tablespoon of chopped graham cracker crumbs in the bottom of each liner. Set aside. Reserve the remaining graham cracker crumbs for garnish.

Set aside 3 tablespoons of the sour cream for the frosting.

Place the cake mix, pudding mix, remaining sour cream, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl.

Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds.

Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides if needed. The batter should look thick and well-combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter.

Spoon or scoop 1/4 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 2/3 of the way. (You will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.) Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 19 to 22 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners; lift the cupcakes from the bottoms of the cups with the end of the knife and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips.

Place them on a wire rack to cool 15 minutes before frosting.

Carefully remove the liner from each cupcake, taking care that the graham cracker crumbs don't fall off, before frosting them.

Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and with a metal short spatula or spoon, swirl to spread it out, taking care to cover the tops completely.

Garnish with the reserved chopped graham crackers and a piece of milk chocolate.

The cupcakes are ready to serve.

To make frosting, remove the lid from the glass jar of marshmallow creme and place the jar in the microwave on high power for 45 seconds.

With small rubber spatula, scrape the creme out of the jar and into a mixing bowl. Add the sour cream and vanilla extract. With an electric mixer, beat the mixture on medium speed until the frosting is fluffy and well-blended, 1 minute.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Source: "Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor" by Anne Byrn (Workman; $13.95).

[Last modified May 10, 2005, 11:00:27]