A look back at my June BBQ-themed posts plus a round up of five more fantastic menus. There is something here for everyone!
Our barbecue-themed month on Baking Mischief has come and gone. Did you do much June BBQing? I actually didn’t do a ton, but summer has just begun. Who knows what July and August will bring! Since this month’s theme was a barbecue menu, we cooked through an entire menu over the course of the month, starting with Strawberry Limeades and ending with gooey S’mores Cupcakes.
Drink: Strawberry Limeade Mix Side: Loaded Baked Potato Salad with Yogurt Main: Basil and Garlic Steak Marinade Dessert: Gooey Chocolate S’mores Cupcakes
And as I do at the end of every monthly series, I rounded up some more recipes from some of my favorite bloggers. This time I assembled them into themed menus and I had so much fun putting them together!
There is a beverage, a side/appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert for each, and the themes range from kid-friendly to vegan, so there should be something here for everyone. Happy barbecuing!
Kid Friendly
Magical color-changing drinks, bacon-stuffed beans, a patriotic tart, and PIZZA! This is the BBQ of my inner child’s dreams.
Drink: Color changing Purple and Pink Lemonade Slushies from The Flavor Bender Side: BBQ Baked Beans from Southern Kissed Main: Grilled Pizza Recipe from Melanie Cooks Dessert: Red, White and Blueberry Tart from Fox and Briar
South of the Border
A little culinary trip south of the border is just what the doctor ordered…
Drink: Grilled Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita from Platings & Pairings Side: Roasted Corn, Black Bean and Ancient Grains Salad from Making Healthy Choices Main: Carne Asada Borracha from Diversivore Dessert: Kahlua Tres Leches Cupcakes
The Unexpected
Sometimes BBQ means steak and potatoes. Sometimes it’s basil in your lemonade, beets in your eggs, and spicy cantaloupe.
Drink: Blueberry Basil (Bourbon) Lemonade from Bunsen Burner Bakery Side: Beet-Dyed Mustard Ranch Deviled Eggs from A Side of Sweet Main: Macanese Pork Chop Bun (猪扒包) from Omnivore’s Cookbook Dessert: Sweet + Spicy Grilled Cantaloupe from Luci’s Morsels
On the Lighter Side
Just because it’s BBQ doesn’t mean it has to be heavy and calorie-laden!
Drink: Agua de Jamaica from Green Healthy Cooking Side: Garden Macaroni Salad from Healthy Seasonal Recipes Main: Chicken Kabob Salad with Peanut Lime Dressing from Salt & Lavender Dessert: Cinnamon Caramel Nectarines from The Tofu Diaries
Vegan
Who needs meat when you can make meatless look so good!
Drink: Lemon Infused Water from Green Healthy Cooking Side: Vegan German Noodle Salad from Elephantastic Vegan Main: Vegan Falafel Burger with Tahini Sauce from Sweet Potato Fries from Happy Kitchen.Rocks Dessert: Easy Vegan & Gluten-Free Peach Crisp from Eating by Elaine
These are the perfect s’mores cupcakes: a graham cracker base, soft and decadent chocolate cake, gooey Hershey’s chocolate buttercream center, and toasted marshmallow frosting.
It’s week four of my June Barbecue Menu where I’ve spent the month putting together an entire meal’s worth of BBQ courses. I started with Strawberry Limeades , followed that up with Loaded Baked Potato Salad with Yogurt as the side, used some Basil and Garlic Steak Marinade on some gorgeous rib-eyes for the main course, and now it’s time for dessert!
And surprising absolutely no one in the world who knows me, it’s s’mores themed. S’mores Cupcakes!! I love s’mores. They are the best part of summer and if I can s’moreize anything, I will.
I just typed the word “s’mores” so many times it doesn’t look real any more.
S’mores.
These cupcakes are total show stoppers. I’ve tested them a couple times since they are multi-step cupcakes, and every time leftovers go out into the world, they are met with rave reviews. They even got a “this is the best cupcake I’ve ever tasted” from one taste tester. Sooooooo.
There’s a lot going on with these cupcakes, so I’m going to break it down for you.
We start with a brown sugar graham cracker base. It’s a little crunchy, a little crumbly, and the beeeeeest thing. I’m obsessed with it.
On top of that, there is the chocolate cupcake. This cupcake is moist and chocolatey and amazing.
Inside of the cupcake, we have more chocolate. Here’s the thing about s’mores. A classic summer s’more HAS to use Hershey’s chocolate bars. I will fight you on this. So of course, for the inside of my s’mores cupcakes, I used Hershey’s bars to make the 2-ingredient chocolate buttercream frosting. It’s my favorite part of the cupcakes.
Finally, there is the marshmallow frosting. This stuff is beautiful and fluffy and a perfect marshmallow dream sitting on top of the cupcakes. Sadly, for those of us who like to make our s’mores by setting our marshmallows on fire, it is not the right type of flammable to do this with–I did not try to set my cupcake on fire (I did), but they do toast up absolutely beautifully.
And yes, these S’mores Cupcakes are what I like to call “project cupcakes.” They are kind of involved but so much fun to make and so satisfying.
Like my Brooklyn Blackout Cupcakes , making these cupcakes is a multi-step process, but none of the steps are hard, and I wrote an entire post walking you through making the easy marshmallow frosting. If you are a s’mores lover or one of those people who likes weekend baking projects with impressive results, you have to try these.
Ingredients
Chocolate Buttercream
- ▢ 2 Hershey’s Bars 3 oz of chocolate
- ▢ 8 tablespoons ( 4 oz) unsalted butter
Graham Cracker Layer
- ▢ 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs ( 2 1/2 ) graham crackers
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 30 g) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25 g) brown sugar
- ▢ 3 tablespoons ( 1.5 oz) melted butter
Cupcakes
- ▢ 4 tablespoons ( 2 oz) unsalted butter
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 1.5 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chopped (high-quality chips are fine)
- ▢ 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 60 g) all-purpose flour
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 20 g) unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 100 g) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk at room temperature
- ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ 1/4 cup buttermilk
- ▢ 1/4 cup hot coffee or hot water
- ▢ 5 cups marshmallow frosting see recipe for when to start the frosting
Instructions
Start Chocolate Buttercream
- Start the buttercream about an hour before you are ready to make your cupcakes. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, melt together butter and chocolate until completely melted. Stir together and then remove from heat.
- Allow to cool on the counter for 10 minutes before placing in the refrigerator until solid, about 1 hour.
Graham Cracker Layer
- Preheat oven to 350° Line cupcake pan with grease-proof liners.
- In your food processor, pulse graham cracker pieces until they are a fine crumb. Add in flour and sugar and pulse until combined. Drizzle in butter and continue to process until completely incorporated. If you don’t have a food processor, you can crush the graham crackers with a rolling pin in a plastic bag and mix everything in a bowl.
- Divide graham cracker mixture between cupcakes cups, a little less than one tablespoon per cup, and use your fingers or a shot glass to press mixture down firmly.
- Bake for 5 minutes until tops look set.
Cupcakes
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter until almost completely melted. Add chocolate and oil and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave for an additional 15 seconds if necessary, until chocolate is completely melted. Stir until well-combined and set aside to cool.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk in cooled chocolate mixture. (It can be warm, but if it is hot to the touch, set aside for another couple of minutes. You don’t want to scramble the eggs!)
- Whisk in half of the flour mixture until just combined. Add all of the buttermilk and mix. Whisk in the last of the flour, mixing until just combined.
- Whisk in the coffee (or water). The batter will be thin and runny. It’s supposed to look like that.
- Fill cupcake tins just under 3/4 of the way full (if you transfer the batter to a liquid measuring cup first, it makes filling easier). Don’t overfill–you might have a tiny bit of batter left over.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Take chocolate frosting mixture out of the refrigerator and set on the counter to soften while your cupcakes cool.
Finish Chocolate Filling and Assemble
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely, about half an hour. Once cupcakes are cool, use a handheld electric mixer, or scoop softened chocolate mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and use the whisk attachment, to whisk mixture on medium-high until light in color, about 2 minutes.
- Using a serrated knife with a sharp tip, cut a cone-shaped piece out of the center of each cupcake. You don’t have to be neat about it, and you can discard (or eat) the cone.
- Transfer chocolate frosting to a plastic bag by placing the bag over an empty cup and scooping the mixture inside. Seal bag and snip off one of the corners. Use the bag to “pipe” chocolate mixture into the cupcakes and fill to the top.
- Make marshmallow frosting and top cupcakes with big swirls using a piping bag.
- Turn broiler on high and place cupcakes on a tray in the oven. Watch closely and do not walk away from the oven. Leave cupcakes in just long enough to toast the marshmallow frosting, 2 to 4 minutes.
Notes
Nutritional Information Cupcakes Adapted From Baker by Nature Chocolate Buttercream Adapted From Cookies and Cups
These scalloped potatoes for one are a shortcut version of one of my favorite comfort foods! Layers of bubbly cheddar cheese, ham, and pre-cooked potatoes in a perfect, quick-cooking, portion-controlled serving.
Looking for more Single-Serving Recipes? Scroll through the Recipes for One archive or check out my Quick Macaroni and Cheese for One , Chicken Noodle Soup for One , and Fettuccine Alfredo for One !
How was your holiday weekend? Did you take a vacation? Eat lots of good food? Spend time with family? Mine was fantastic. I celebrated my birthday, saw Finding Dory (like the grown up that I am), and did the whole family BBQ thing. It was great.
The start of a new month means it’s time for a new monthly recipe theme, and since July is my birthday month, this month’s theme is very loose and very dear to my heart: my favorite recipes!
Every Tuesday in July, I’ll be posting the recipe for one of my very favorite dishes, and first up is a single-serving version of one of my childhood favorites, Shortcut Scalloped Potatoes for One!
The full-size version of this was much-loved in my house growing up and honestly, we didn’t even have a recipe for it. It was just cut a ton of potatoes, shred a mountain of cheese, throw some ham and butter in there, and pour milk or cream over the entire thing.
It’s literally the greatest comfort food known to man. And I haven’t made it in two years.
It’s so decadent and delicious that when I make it I always eat waaaaaaaaaay too much of it and want to die afterwards, so I limit my exposure. Today, in order to be able to eat one of my favorite meals more than a couple times a decade, I built in some portion control and shrunk it down.
How cute is that!? This is a single-serving version of scalloped potatoes. It’s quick and easy to make, and while still nowhere near healthy (all those beautiful layers of potatoes, ham, and cheese…), it confines your indulgence to a single meal, so you won’t go back for seconds and thirds, and pick at it for the rest of the night, and eat if for breakfast the next morning…
But if you want to make this for a crowd, it scales up with no changes except the size of the cooking dishes.
What makes this dish a shortcut version is that where most scalloped potato recipes have you pop raw potatoes right in to the oven, for this recipe, you cook the potatoes almost completely before assembling and baking.
That means that you only need to bake it until your cheese is nice and melty. So you get to eat in about a quarter of the time.
My mom started making it that way when we were kids and involved in a million-and-one activities and expecting everyone to wait an hour for a casserole to bake was just unthinkable.
As an adult, I’m all for long, slow baking projects, but if it’s just serving me, no thanks. I’ll take the shortcut!
I made these scalloped potatoes for one in one of these super adorable 12-ounce stoneware ramekins (they come in a set of four, I just got them, I’m obsessed with how cute they are), but you could use a Pyrex container, an oven-safe bowl, or even an large oven-safe mug.
More Easy Potato Recipes
- Ham and Potato Soup
- Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies
- Cheese Fries
- Baked Potatoes With Broccoli and Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
- ▢ Oven-safe 12-ounce (1 1/2 cup) dish
Scalloped Potatoes
- ▢ 1 medium red potato sliced 1/8-inch*
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 1 oz) sharp cheddar cheese
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 1.5 oz) cooked ham
- ▢ 1/2 tablespoon ( 7 g) butter diced
- ▢ 2 tablespoons milk half-and-half, or heavy cream
- ▢ Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° F.
- In a medium saucepan, cover potatoes with cold water and salt the water generously. Bring to a low boil and continue to boil for 3 to 5 minutes, until potatoes are just fork tender. (They won’t get much more cooking after this, so pull them when the texture seems good to you. And if you accidentally overcook your potatoes, don’t worry too much. They will be a little smushy, but will still taste delicious.)
- Drain potatoes and layer potato slices, cheese, ham, and butter pieces in your baking dish, sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper over each set of layers, and finish with a final layer of cheese and ham. Pour milk or cream over the top.
- Place dish on a cookie sheet in the oven to catch drips and bake for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!!
