Have a look at this scrumptious pie as I continue to distract you with all things non-crafty. I went on a weekday baking spree last week spurred by an intensive work meeting I helped plan. We figured we could liven it up with home baked treats so obviously I volunteered. And of course it's always a bonus when you can expense your grocery bill (of course I only expensed the ingredients).

Yes, that's a super fancy, hi-tech Bounty paper towel backdrop.

Recipe: Blueberry pie with cornmeal crust

I have only three words to describe this. MAKE. THIS. PIE.

My coworker made this for the 4th and got resounding compliments all around. She made it without the lemon cream so I followed suit. Besides, I was planning on baking TWO things for the meeting, I didn't want to bother with lemon cream. So really, the crust was amazing. The cornmeal and the turbinado sugar really helps add another dimension to the flavor. And the filling, perfectly sweetened. It could very well be the blueberries, but I didn't bother tasting them beforehand so I can't really say. But really, when you're watching the darn thing burst and bubble from the other side of the oven.. the only other place you wanna be is eating it all up.. with ice cream. Yuuuum. Really, do you need make lemon cream if all that it trully begs for is the simplest of pleasures? Some really good vanilla ice cream? Doubt it.

I realize I say this a lot, especially given that I say this a lot about food I've never made or even ate, but I think this is going to be my blueberry pie recipe of choice. And the coworkers, yes I think they enjoyed it, a lot. I'm hoping that this very last piece of pie that was left at the end of the meeting was because people were shy and didn't want to be that person.. you know, the one that ate the very last piece of pie. But a latecomer snatched it up. She said it was calling her name.. but really, I think it might have been calling mine.

Eat me!

And and for the grand finale, chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream. I was finally able to conquer the Martha Stewart Swiss Buttercream recipe. I had attempted her swiss meringue buttercream recipe a few months ago and failed miserably! This time around I had already executed one successful buttercream recipe from the King Arthur's Whole Grain cookbook (unblogged) and was convinced I could do it again.

Recipe: One bowl chocolate cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream, Marthat Stewart's Baking Handbook

The chocolate cupcakes were pretty good. What I've noticed to date is that chocolate cupcakes made with oil rather than a butter are a lot moister but lack a lot of structure. The cake pulls apart easily which isn't a bad thing, but for certain recipes, it's also not a good thing (hi-hats for example -- what's a hi-hat you ask, good question. You will find out soon).

Now the buttercream.. OH, the buttercream. It was creamy, milky and sweet, reminiscent of the frosting that accompanies the Magnolia Red Velvet cake (another one of my favorite frostings). The first buttercream recipe I made tasted like the buttercream of my childhood that I really didn't like. The kind that came on birthday cakes that really didn't taste like anything. Really, now that I think about it, it tastes like butter. This one does not taste like butter. Is it a far stretch for me to say it tastes like heaven? It tastes like heaven.. in a frosting.

So where did my first attempt at this recipe breakdown? Impatience and also naivete. I didn't allow the sugar and egg white mixture too cool down enough before adding the butter. The mixer bowl needs to be almost room temperature, mine was a little warmer, but it definitely can't be hot. Thanks to an episode of Good Eats, I was properly schooled on this (you gotta love Alton Brown). Even with one successful recipe under my belt, I was a bit skeptical as I was making this, you know, with all the Martha recipe failures I've been having as of late. But you really do have to be patient. I added the butter in one tablespoon at a time and waited until each was fully incorporated til I added the next. The buttercream really didn't start coming together until I had only a few tablespoons left. Then you hear the magic. The sound of the mixture all of a suddent starts to change and before you know it.. you've got silky smooth buttercream.

Great, now I'm craving a cupcake.