Sasha's Kitchen: Chinese Style Cashew Chicken

I love Chinese food but only really good, quality Chinese food made with quality ingredients and good meats, which is quite hard to come by, to say the least. Recently, I received a package of all kinds of delicious nuts from ShopRite, everything from cashews to almonds to a variety of mixed nuts. I made a great salad that incorporated some of the cashews, but decided to save the rest to make a Chinese style sesame chicken. A good sauce for most Chinese dishes, will include some amount of hoisin sauce in the mixture. I came up with my own recipe for the cashew chicken sauce here which was relatively easy, and tasted authentic and delicious. This dish was a huge winner with my husband and is one that we will surely make again and again.

Sasha's Chinese Style Cashew Chicken
1 package chicken breasts (I used Empire Kosher, my favorite type of chicken)
2 T canola oil
3 cloves of garlic, diced
7 scallions, diced
2 T rice vinegar
4 T hoisin sauce
2/3 cup of cashews
1 T soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tsp honey (I used delicious homemade honey from a family friend in Danville, PA, Jan, who make his own honey from his own bees!)

Chop up the chicken breasts into small pieces. Coat with the cornstarch and saute in the canola oil until the chicken is about two thirds complete. Add the scallions, cashews and the garlic next. While the chicken is cooking, mix the hoisin sauce, water, rice vinegar, honey and soy sauce, and add the mixture to the chicken. Continue to cook until the sauce thickens a bit (the water will evaporate) and the chicken is fully cooked. Serve with rice and either steamed snow peas or sugar snap peas.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chinese Style Cashew Chicken

Sasha's Kitchen: Vanilla-Dark Chocolate Cupcakes and Dr Seuss Cupcakes

More cute cupcakes? But of course! A couple of weeks ago, I visited Brooklyn's Mast Brothers Chocolate factory and tasting room where they make delicious, vegan bean to bar craft dark chocolate.  I bought some dark chocolate chips (really pellets) for use in making vanilla dark chocolate chip cupcakes because I liked the chocolate there so much. You can read my post about my visit and tour of Mast Brothers here.

At any rate, I was initially intending on making a series of Dr Seuss cupcakes with these but my vision on creating the designs I wanted wasn't well thought out enough. I am sure I will get back to doing that series one of these days soon. I did do one Cat In The Hat cupcake design which is featured below, before simply making some pretty and delicious teal cupcakes with the vanilla and dark chocolate flavors. I still plan on doing Thing One and Thing Two and a better cat in the hat, as well as green eggs and ham for a future cupcake series that is all-Seuss.

Sasha's Vanilla Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 1 tsp
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
2/3 of a cup Mast Brothers' chocolate chips, chopped in a nut chopper

Frosting
1 1/2 stick of butter
4 oz lowfat cream cheese
1 small box (about four cups) confectioner's sugar
drop of teal colored gel food coloring
Fondant and red gel food coloring (if you wish to make Dr Seuss hats)

To make the cupcakes, beat together the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes at high speed in a stand mixer until smooth. Then, beat in the eggs, one by one, followed by the vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients (minus the extra teaspoon of flour) in a bowl and then add the dry ingredients to the mixer, alternating with the mix, and mix until combined and smooth. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full (this makes about 15-16 cupcakes). Chop the chocolate in a nut chopper and mix with the tsp of flour to coat. The flour keeps them suspended and from all sinking to the bottom of the cupcakes. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean (the cupcakes should not brown or the bottoms will be burnt).

Beat the ingredients for the frosting in a stand mixer until smooth. Add a drop of teal food coloring and beat until combined and fluffy. Pipe with a frosting bag.

Sasha's Kitchen: Vanilla-Dark Chocolate Cupcakes and Dr Seuss Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: New Orleans Style Eggs Sardou

I am a big fan of cooking classes at Williamsburg's The Brooklyn Kitchen. Its a great place to learn new recipes, cooking skills and a great environment to cook with others. About a week ago, I took the New Orleans Brunch cooking class with Emily Casey and learned and helped make a bunch of fun New Orleans recipes, including beignets, shrimp remoulade, eggs sardou, creole grillades and grits, Commander's Palace bread pudding souffle and creole blood mary's. It was a great time and after the class, I couldn't wait to try out some (well most) of these recipes on my husband. So this past weekend, I made a nice brunch for Brad with some of these recipes. My eggs sardou came out pretty good as I practiced one of the skills I learned in the class - egg poaching. I still need to work to poach a bit more gently, but I am getting the hang of it. I have included the whole recipe below, although I only made six poached eggs for the two of us yesterday. Also, since I don't eat ham, I left that out both of the recipe below and my own version.

Eggs Sardou (recipe adapted from the Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine by John Folse)
8 poached eggs (see below for instructions on poaching)
1 T white vinegar
8 cooked or canned artichoke bottoms
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 cup milk
4 cups cleaned, fresh spinach leaves
salt, pepper and tabasco sauce to taste
1 cup hollandaise sauce

Hollandaise Sauce
3 egg yolks
1 T lemon juice
 1 stick butter
1/2 tsp salt1/8 tsp cayenne, or a few drops of tabasco

Rince the artichoke bottoms (mine were canned). Cover with lightly salted water in a saucepan and simmer five to ten minutes until tender but not overcooked.

Add butter to a pot and melt, incorporating with the flour. Whisk in the milk and let come to a boil, then reducing to a simmer. Let simmer for five minutes, and then add the salt, pepper and tabasco to taste. Sir in the spinach into this béchamel sauce, one cup at a time, allowing each cup to wilt before adding the next.

When ready to serve, poach the eggs into a pot of boiling water with a tablespoon of white vinegar added. Gently break the eggs apart and release into the poaching solution. Gently fold over the whites and when they are done after a few minutes remove with a slotted spoon.

To make the hollandaise, melt the butter slowly in a sauce pan. Put cayenne, egg yolks, lemon juice and salt in the blender. Blend at medium to high speed about 20-30 seconds until it lightens in color. Then, lowering the blender speed to low, slowly add the melted butter while the blender is going. The resulting sauce should be buttery, lemony and just a tad salty.

To assemble, top each artichoke bottom with creamed spinach, a poached egg, and drizzle with hollandaise, and sprinkle with a bit of cayenne. My husband loved this - it's the perfect springtime brunch entree!

Below, I have included some pictures from the NOLA Brunch cooking class at the Brooklyn Kitchen as well.

Cafe du Monde's chickery coffee, used to make a NOLA style Cafe Au Lait. 

Creole bloody mary and a delicious beignet! Yum!

Shrimp remoulade

A whole bunch of yummy eggs sardou 

Creole grillades and grits (veal chops)

Commander's Palace bread pudding souffle with a whiskey sauce - a real NOLA treat using the recipe from the famous Garden District restaurant!

Sasha's Kitchen: New Orleans Style Eggs Sardou

Sasha's Kitchen: Asian Sweet Potato Salad with Cashews

This delicious salad recipe is loosely based on a salad recipe from Tyler Florence's  cookbook, Tyler Florence's Family Meal. The main change I made was instead of using friend asian noodles in the salad, or friend wontons, I went with cashews. I had just received some fabulous nuts to try from ShopRite as part of the Potluck Blog Panel that I am involved with, and I was eager to try them in some Asian-inspired cuisine.  I was careful to only use half of them, because I am saving the other half to make Chinese cashew chicken the following week. At any rate, this sweet potato salad is a winner, and the cashews are a perfect addition and replacement for the friend wontons. The dressing - a creamy sesame/carrot/ginger dressing, which is an interesting take on the traditional carrot/ginger dressing, is absolutely delicious.

Asian Sweet Potato Salad with Cashews
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into one inch cubes
4 cups lightly packed arugula
two handfulls of cashews
1/2 of a hothouse cucumber, finely sliced
1 cup pitted and halved dates
2 T fresh cilantro, diced
juice of one lemon

Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 T low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup grated carrots
2 tsp grated ginger
2 T rice vinegar
2 T mirin

Place the sweet potatoes in a saucepan with lightly salted water, and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat until just tender (they should still have a tiny bit of crunch; remember, you are not trying to make mashed potatoes!)

Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.

Combine the arugula, dates, and cilantro (I used much less than the recipe called for) in a large mixing bowl. Some alfalfa bean spouts might be in order as well for the next time I make this - just an idea. Add the lemon juice and a tiny bit of salt and pepper and toss well. Combine the potatoes with the dressing and mix everything together. Yum!

Sasha's Kitchen: Asian Sweet Potato Salad with Cashews

Sasha's Kitchen: Chinese-Style Duck Dumplings

I have made different types of dumplings in the past, as have some of my guest blogging friends. Yet, I have usually used store bought wonton or dumpling wrappers, which work pretty well but are slightly hard to seal. For these dumplings, Chinese duck dumplings, I used the author's recipe for the dough, as I have been small bite savory pastry happy lately (I have made empanadas, dumplings and spanikopita all within the past week, all with my own dough). This recipe is from the Food Network's Bobby Flay, and is really a winner as far as Chinese style duck dumplings go. The one difference - instead of using duck breasts, I used two medium sized legs of duck confit for my half recipe - less fat and still delicious.

Chinese Style Duck Dumplings (modified from this recipe from Bobby Flay)

Dough
4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups hot water

Filling
2 boneless duck breasts, or 2 legs of duck confit, cooked and shredded, fat removed
1 1/2 cup finely chopped savoy cabbage
3 T fresh chopped scallions
2 T fresh chopped cilantro
2 T fresh chopped chives
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T chili paste
1 T hoisin sauce
2 T cornstarch
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
salt and pepper

Canola oil, for frying

Sauce
1 cup black vinegar (I used balsamic instead)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 T hoisin sauce
2 T fresh lime juice
1 T chile paste
2 T freshly chopped cilantro
1 tsp diced habanero pepper
2 T freshly chopped mint

Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl. For the dough, combine the ingredients in a stand mixer and turn on lightly floured surface to knead with some excess flour if needed. Rest covered. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in another bowl.

To assemble the dumplings, roll out the dough to about an 1/8 inch thick and cut circles using a 3 inch round cookie cutter, or a similarly sized top of a glass. Put a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each and fold into a half moon shape, so that the filling sits in the center of the dumpling. Wet the edge of the dough and pinch to seal with your fingers. If you like, pleat the edge of the dumplings using a fork and curl the dumpling slightly using your fingers to tug gently.

Heat a skillet with a thin coating of canola oil and add the dumplings in concentric circles so that they are touching. Cool until the bottoms are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. The reduce the heat and add water to cover 1/4 of the way up the dies of the dumplings. Be careful - it will spatter. No surprise - my husband does this part! Cover the skilled and adjust the heat to simmer the water. Cook for seven minutes. They will be done when the water is gone.

Yum - these were perfect, addictive and delicious!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chinese-Style Duck Dumplings

Sasha's Kitchen: Visit to Mast Brothers Chocolate

I live in Park Slope, but recently I've discovered some great places in Williamsburg/Dumbo as well. A couple weekends ago, my husband and I visited and took a tour of brooklyn's "bean to bar" craft chocolate producer, Mast Brothers Chocolate.  You can buy tickets for the tours, which cost about $10 here.

At Mast Brothers, they make all of their lovely wrapped chocolate bars on site from start to finish. All are different types of vegan dark chocolate. Some of my favorites include Madagascar, Fleur de Sel, Almonds & Sea Salt, Hazelnut and Serrano peppers - all ingredients lovingly mixed with handmade dark chocolate.

Mast Brothers uses the bean to bar approach, which means all of the dark chocolate is made directly from cacao beans, by extracting the cocoa right here in Brooklyn. The whole process uses the finest organic ingredients, a wholesome handcrafted approach and some beautifully wrapped chocolate bars. We enjoyed the tour to learn how the chocolates are made, and tasted all of their delicious dark chocolates in the tasting room. Below are some pictures from the time we spent there.

Above is a picture of me with some of the chocolate, while below is one of the cacao pods. Chocolate is made from the beans inside. There is also a bit of fruit inside which apparently tastes like mango. Who knew?

Below is where they wrap and package the chocolate.

Mixing, from the ground up beans . . .

Tempering of the chocolate, below . . .

Sasha's Kitchen: Visit to Mast Brothers Chocolate

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemon Black Bottom Pie

Lemon and chocolate . . .  most people would pretty confidently say that this would not be the best flavor combination. It's not something I would have ever tried until I tasted a slice of the lemon black bottom pie at Four & Twenty Blackbirds. A slice of that pie was like pure high calorie heaven. Pie is of course notoriously unhealthy. Don't kid yourself - more butter and calories are in a slice of pie than a cupcake any date of the week. At any rate, I had no recipe to go on, so I tried my very best to recreate the delicious pie. Here's how I did it. It was superb, but still a slice below the one at Four & Twenty Blackbirds.

I made a standard pie crust. I've experimented a lot, and used some canola oil to make the crust flake a bit more than my standard apple pie crust. The best way to do this would have been adding some lard instead, but I don't do lard, so the crust uses mostly butter with a bit of canola. Then I made a chocolate cream for a thin layer for the brown bottom, topped with a lemon curd for the lemon pie portion. Yum! Tart but sweet with a thin layer of chocolate. Trust me, it works! Just be sure to share with some friends.

Sasha's Lemon Black Bottom Pie
Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick of butter at room temperature
1/4 cup ice water, or very cold water
3 oz canola oil


Chocolate Layer
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
2.5 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 tsp cornstarch

Lemon Filling
4 large eggs
2 large eegg yolks
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 stick of butter, cut into pieces
1/2 tsp cornstarch

To make the crust, beat the butter into the flour and salt in your mixture, until it is well combined. Slowly add the canola oil and cold water and combine until it just forms a dough. Wrap with plastic wrap and allow to chill for one hour. Roll the dough and following typical pie making etiquette,  lay out in a pie dish. Bake using ceramic pie weights to weigh it down at 375 for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Make the chocolate brown bottom by bringing the cream to a simmer over low-medium heat. Stir in the chocolate until melted and well combined. Remove from heat and beat in the egg yolks. Add the cornstarch (mix with a tiny bit of water first), and stir well over medium heat until it thickens into a custard. Spread across the pie in a thin later, using either a pastry brush or a spoon. Allow to chill for about 15 minutes, while you make the lemon filling.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice and a pinch of salt until smooth. Add the butter, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add in the cornstarch to thicken. It should form a loose pudding after about 10 minutes. Filter through a sieve and allow to cool to room temperature. Fill the pie and refrigerate until firm, for at least three hours.  The recipe for the lemon curd portion was very loosely adapted from this recipe, with my own variations to get it the way I wanted it to go with the chocolate and pie crust.

Sasha's Kitchen: Lemon Black Bottom Pie

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Pot Au Creme

Ah, chocolate pot au creme, one of those wonderful desserts I enjoyed so much in Paris during our trip to Europe last August. I finally decided to bring a taste of that home and try it out here - its easy enough. Pot a creme is a bit like chocolate pudding, except its more of a cream than a pudding in its consistency - a very subtle difference. I used the following recipe, which resulted in a thick, rich and creamy pot au creme.

Chocolate Pot Au Creme
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
5 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 large egg yolks
1/3 of a cup of sugar

Preheat the oven to 325 and place the milk and cream in a saucepan, bringing it to a simmer. Remove from heat, and add the chocolate, whisking until melted and smooth. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in another bowl with a whisk, and gradually combine this with the chocolate mixture. Strain into another bowl and cool for ten minutes.

Divide into 6 custard or souffle dishes. Cover the top of each one with foil and place in a large baking pan. Bring a pot of water to boil, and surround the dishes halfway up the side of the cups with the hot water, just like when you make creme brulee. Bake for about 55 minutes, then chill for three hours before eating.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Pot Au Creme

Sasha's Kitchen: Impromptu Fruit Salad with Yogurt and Almonds

My little pug, Dakota loves fruit. Everytime I make anything that involves peeling fruit, she runs over thinking it is time for a snack because she knows that I have a soft spot for giving her fresh fruits. She loves just about all the fruits that went into this impromptu fruit, yogurt and nut salad, so when I make this, I always have a little pug beggar around. If she wasn't so cute that might be a problem!

At any rate, this salad takes just a few minutes to make and is quite possibly the healthiest thing you could make for lunch. I made this after I received some smoked almonds in a shipment of fabulous nuts, courtesy of ShopRite, and decided to try them out with some of my favorite fruits. The smoked almonds are great - really addictive even on their own, but perfect with a mix of fruit, yogurt and a bit of cinnamon. This is a very simple lunch, so feel free to change the fruits depending on what you prefer, and what is in season. Just combine the ingredients below, top with a bit of cinnamon and enjoy!

Sasha's Fruit, Nut and Yogurt Lunch
One granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
One banana, sliced
handful of blueberries
handful of smoked almonds
one small, individual sized container of 2% greek yogurt, such as Fage
ground cinnamon

Sasha's Kitchen: Impromptu Fruit Salad with Yogurt and Almonds

Sasha's Kitchen: Beef Empanadas

I have been making empanadas over the years since I was a kid. I have used quote a few different recipes for the filling and the pastry, always with delicious results. Below is my recipe for empanadas that I have revised from various earlier recipes. I have combined this with Marcus Samuelsson's recipe for peanut-mango sambal sauce from his book, New American Table (a truly great cookbook). I used my own recipe for the pastry and filling since his contains pork, which I don't eat.  These beef empanadas were delicious and went nicely with the nutty, yet tart and fruity sauce.

Sasha's Beef Empanada Filling
2/3 lb lean ground beef
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup raisons
salt and pepper to taste
1 small onion, diced


Sasha's Empanada Dough
1 cup skim milk
three small packages (about one ounce) dry active yeast
1 T butter, melted
1/4 cup of cold water (approximate)
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar


Marcus Samuelsson's Peanut Mango Sambal
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp coriander
3 T unsalted, roasted, skinless peanuts
2 birds eye chilis, crumbled
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup coconut milk
2 T sugar
1/2 T fish sauche
1 mango, pitted and chopped into cubes

First, warm the milk in the microwave a bit. Add the sugar and the dry active yeast, and let rest until it becomes foamy and yeast activates, about ten minutes. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Form a well and add the liquid with the yeast. Add the water and butter (melted) as well and combine into a dough.  Knead dough until smooth, to get rid of any lumps. Allow to rise in a well-oiled bowl (covered) for about an hour.

While the dough is risking, prepare the filling. Saute the onion in olive oil and mix in the spices, beef and other ingredients. Cook until the beef is done and the mixture is combined and flavorful.

Using a square shaped cookie cutter, roll out the dough and cut into 3 inch squares. Fill with a teaspoon or so of the empanada filling and pinch to form a triangle. Seal, and brush with an egg white. Bake for 30 minutes or so at 325, until lightly browned.

To make Marcus's sambal to serve these, combine the garlic and coriander with a mortar and pestle. Add the peanuts, after pulverizing them in a food processor. Cook at medium heat in a pan until golden. Add the fresh ginger, ground ginger, coconut milk, and sugar. bring to a simmer and cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a blender, and add the fish sauce and the mango. Puree until smooth and serve as a dipping sauce for the empanadas.  Alternatively, if you prefer a lumpier texture, you can just stir in the mango cubes like Marcus suggests.

Sasha's Kitchen: Beef Empanadas

Sasha's Kitchen: Salmon En Papillotte Salad

This is a healthy salmon salad that is just delicious, and is the perfect meal for a weekday dinner that is both health and satisfying. Next time I make this, I might try adding some crunch string beans as well. The combination of the tangy fruits and avocado with the salmon, salad and dressing is scrumptious and the perfect after-work meal that doesn't take to long to prepare. The En papillotte method of preparing salmon results in a moist and delicious fish that is preferable to many other methods of preparation which dry out the salmon. It's also quite easy, as well.


Sasha's Salmon En Papillotte Salad
2 6-8 oz filets of salmon, skinned
mesculin field greens or other mixed greens
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup of sweet corn
juice of one lemon, plus 2 T lemon juice
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, diced
1/2 cup canola oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
parchment paper

First, season the salmon filets with salt and pepper. Combine the lemon juice and zest of one lemon in a mixing bowl. Use this to coat the salmon filets and wrap the seasoned salmon with the parchment paper. Fold in 2 sides of the parchment paper, then fold in the other sides so that all the edges meet at the top, then twist the edges together to seal. Take the packages of salmon and place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes at 350.

Combine the lettuce, avocado, mango and corn into salad plates. Add the salmon. Top with a dressing made of canola oil, balsamic vinegar and the remaining lemon juice. Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: Salmon En Papillotte Salad

Sasha's Kitchen: Tea Party Strawberry Sodapop Cupcakes with Poprocks for Ovarian Cancer Research

Breast cancer and ovarian cancer are both causes dear to my heart. In fact, my beloved mother is a breast cancer survivor. So, when Foodbuzz and Kelly Confidential announced that they would be donating money to ovarian cancer research for each entry in Top Nine Tea Party Takeover on Foodbuzz, that gave me even more incentive to create the perfect cupcake recipe for a tea party. Kelly Confidential is a great organization that is sponsoring Electrolux and Kelly Ripa's virtual tea party for a truly important and cause - sponsoring ovarian cancer research. If you enter the tea party promotion on Kelly Confidential's website, they will donate $1 for each entry to this terrific cause.

These cupcakes are, of course, pink, both because they are tea party inspired, and as a tribute to women everywhere who are fighting ovarian and breast cancer. What could be cuter and better for a tea party than strawberry sodapop (or even strawberry champagne) cupcakes with crackling strawberry poprocks on the top, my all time favorite candy? I absolutely love everything about tea parties - they just bring out the feminine little girl cuteness in life. That's probably why Manhattan's Alice's Tea Cup - a tea party restaurants, is one of my favorite tea party spots.

Nothing is better for a tea party than these pretty pink cupcakes. They are fabulously strawberry flavored, and are the perfect match for a cup of tea with milk and honey for your next all-girl gathering. Perhaps you'd also like them alongside my Alice In Wonderland cupcakes for the ultimate tea party?

Oh, and what could be more perfect for a tea party than these cupcakes - mini strawberry sodapop cupcakes with poprocks! I was sure to keep enough batter to make a tray and a half of these too!

So, go PINK for your next tea party, pink for ovarian cancer research to put an end to this deadly disease.

Sasha's Strawberry Sodapop Cupcakes with Poprocks
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup seltzer with strawberry syrup (or Champagne with strawberry syrup)
1 stick of butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup fresh strawberry puree

Sasha's Strawberry Poprocks Frosting
1 stick of butter
4 oz cream cheese
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 T strawberry syrup
3 T seltzer or Champagne

To make the cupcakes, beat the butter and sugar for three minutes on medium speed in your mixer, until smooth. Beat in the eggs and the seltzer, which you can make strawberry flavored with Hershey's Strawberry Syrup. Alternatively, if you prefer to go all out for your tea party, replace the seltzer with Champagne - by all means! Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Alternatively beat in the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, until combined. Then add in the strawberry puree, which you should make from fresh strawberries.  Fill your full size and mini cupcakes trays with the batter- I filled one one and a half mini trays and a dozen regular size cupcakes. The large cupcakes bake for about 35 minutes at 350, the minis take closer to 20 minutes or so. They are done when a toothpick comes out clean, before they start to brown.

For the frosting, in your mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and confectioner's sugar until smooth and frosting like. Combine 3 T of seltzer and 1 T of strawberry syrup and beat that in as well.  Using a fluted tip, pipe the frosting onto each cupcake (or mini cupcake) using a frosting bag. Top with plenty of cracking poprocks and serve with delicious organic teas. Party time!

Sasha's Kitchen: Tea Party Strawberry Sodapop Cupcakes with Poprocks for Ovarian Cancer Research