Pistachio Cupcakes

These are delicious and aren't too sweet. They almost taste like muffins. The icing makes enough for two batches (24 cupcakes), so beware. I also made the second batch with a little extra milk to keep the cupcakes more moist.

Cupcakes

1/3 cup pistachio nuts

1 stick butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup self-rising flour

2 tablespoons of milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F, then line the muffin pan with paper liners.

Put the pistachio nuts in a food processor and process until finely ground.  Set aside.  Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Stir in the ground nuts, then sift the flour into the mixture and fold in.  Stir in the milk and spoon the mixture into the muffin cups.

Bake for about 18 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Icing

1 egg white

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 teaspoon lemon juice

green food coloring

To decorate, put the egg white in a bowl and gradually sift over the confectioners' sugar, beating in as you go until thick and glossy, then beat in the lemon juice.  The icing should be thick but spoonable.

Add a few drops of food coloring to the icing and beat to make a pale pistachio green icing.  Spoon on top of the cupcakes.  Let set before serving.  Icing will harden.

MOM CANTEY'S FRUIT COBBLER

I had another request for the cobbler, so I thought I would put it on the blog.

MOM CANTEY’S FRUIT COBBLER Vera Cantey
WINNER IN GOOD MORNING AMERICA’S EMERIL’S COMFORT FOOD FOR THE COAST CONTEST

Filling
4 cups fruit
½ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Prepare fruit as appropriate. Put prepared fruit into 8x8 baking dish. Combine sugar and cornstarch. Sprinkle over fruit.

Crust
1 stick, softened butter
1-cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1-cup self-rising flour

Mix butter and sugar. Stir in egg; gradually add flour and mix well. The mixture will have a consistency between that of heavy cake batter and light biscuit dough. Drop spoonfuls on top of fruit. The topping will spread out as it cooks. Bake at 325 degrees until light brow and the topping doesn’t shake - usually 45-50 minutes. (Could take as long as an hour) Test the same as you would a cake. Straw needs to come out clean.

When doubled this recipe works well in a 10.5x14.75 (4 quart) Pyrex baking dish. Topping may take longer as it’s crowded in. It will take 2 hours to bake. Test at 1 hr and 45 minutes.

If you are using frozen fruit, for single recipe – use 2 one-pound bags; for double recipe – use 3-4 pounds, depending on how juicey the fruit is. Any fruit will work. I’ve been told that canned peaches works too.