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DIRECTIONS

• Stir the yeast into the luke warm milk.
• Add sugar, egg, margarine in small bits.
• Add 3/4 of the flour.
• Work the dough with a wooden spoon, until it has combined.
• Then work the rest of the flour into the dough with the hands, but not more than just combined.
• Don't over work it.
• Let the dough rise with a small amount of flour dusting on top, cover with a clean dish-towel about 30 minutes in a normal kitchen temperature.
• Fill: Combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and candied fruit.
• Roll the dough out on the table to oblong.
• Use a light hand in the soft dough.
• Spread the fill onto the dough, but not quite to the edges.
• Fold over the ends so the fill doesn't run out.
• Fold over the short part, so you now have 3 layers.
• Set the cake to rise again with a thin dish-towel to cover for another 30 minutes.
• Then brush carefully with cold coffee, or an whisked together egg, and sprinkle with sugar (not the fine kind) and 1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds.
• Bake in the middle part of oven at 400 degrees F about 30 minutes.
• Note: The cake will rise quite a bit and becomes surprisingly large.
• You can actually easily make two cakes instead of one if you wish.
• You can freeze the one, then thaw and reheat in the oven when needed.

DIRECTIONS

• To prep, discard the tough ends of the asparagus and cut the tips diagonally in 1 1/2-inch lengths.
• Blanch in boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, until tender.
• Drain and cool immediately in ice water.
• Heat the olive oil and butter (or margarine, if using) in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the leeks and fennel and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender.
• Add rice and stir for a minute to coat with the oil and butter.
• Add white wine and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until most of the wine has been absorbed.
• Add the stock, two ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more.
• The whole cooking process will take 25 to 30 minutes.
• When the risotto has been cooking for 15 minutes, drain the asparagus and add to the risotto with the peas, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.
• Continue cooking and adding stock, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is tender but still firm.
• Whisk the lemon juice and mascarpone together in a small bowl.
• When the risotto is done, turn off the heat and stir in the mascarpone mixture, plus the Parmesan cheese.
• Allow to sit off the heat for a few minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and serve hot with a sprinkling of chives and more Parmesan cheese.
• Gustare!

DIRECTIONS

• Thoroughly mix first two ingredients.
• Add eggs one at a time and completely mix after each.
• Add the extract and beat until smooth.
• Whisk flour and baking powder together and add to egg mixture just enough to make a workable dough.
• Roll a piece of dough into a ball and flatten it to make a 4-inch diameter round onto cookie sheet.
• Roll some dough into a 1/4-inch diameter "rope" and cut 2 pieces enough to crisscross a raw egg which is placed in the center of the round and the edges sealed.o.
• Repeat until all six eggs are used up and bake at 350 degrees F. 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Leftover scraps of dough can be shaped into cookies and baked along with the egg baskets.

• Place eggs in pot and cover with water. Bring to a rolling boil. When the water reaches the boiling point, turn the flame off and put a lid on the pot and set aside for twenty minutes.
• Peel and discard all of the egg shells. Take 3 of the eggs and remove the yolk and discard the whites. With the remaining hard boiled eggs carefully slice through the eggs length wise and remove the yolks.
• Place all the yolks in a bowl. Finely chop parsley and add all the ingredients to the egg yolks, then combine well with a fork. Consistency should be smooth, add olive oil if needed and taste for seasoning. Transfer egg yolk mixture to a plastic bag, maneuvering to one corner of the bag, twist the excess of the bag pushing the yolks down to the corner.
• With scissors snip a small opening in the corner of the bag. Fill the egg white halves with the yolk mixture.
• Garnish with finely chopped scallions or parsley.

DIRECTIONS

• Before you begin, you will also want to gather white fondant, pink icing gel color, and 1/4 cup black candy melts (or black decorating icing) for the alpaca decorations. You will also need toothpicks, wax paper, a piping bag, 12 foil baking cups, and a large round piping tip (I used a Wilton #12).
• This recipe can easily be modified for your preferences. The nuts can be removed or swapped for walnuts. The raisins can be replaced with all pineapple or vice versa.
• Preheat the oven to 325°F Line a 12 cup muffin pan with the foil baking wrappers. Set aside.
• Spread the pecans out onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake for 8-10 minutes. You will know they are done when they are slightly darkened and fragrant. Set aside to cool. Raise the oven temp to 350°F.
• Place the raisins in a small bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to cover them completely. Soak for 10 minutes, then drain and pat the raisins dry with a paper towel. Soaking the raisins rehydrates them so that they don't absorb moisture from the cake, while baking, and dry it out.
• Beat the eggs, oil, both sugars, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, until lighter in color (about 3 minutes).
• In a separate, medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring to incorporate (be careful to only mix until combined).
• Use either a box grater or a food processor to finely grate the carrots. The food processor will give you an even finer consistency. To do this, wash and peel 3 carrots, and then cut the top off of each. Cut each carrot into about 1-2 inch sections, and chop in the food processor until they are finely chopped but not juiced. (You can dice the pineapple in the food processor as well – you don’t need to rinse the machine out first).
• Fold the carrots and pineapple into the cupcake batter. Chop up the nuts and fold them and the soaked raisins inches.
• Place 3 tablespoons of batter into each baking cup, and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin pan before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely. (I like to then move them to the refrigerator while working on the frosting and decorations so they can firm up a bit to hold all the creamy, fluffy frosting ☺ ).
• To make RJ's (alpaca) face you can either use black candy melts (this is what I did), or you can pipe the faces onto the cupcakes, after they are finished, with black decorating icing. To make the candy designs you will want to place 1/4 cup of the melts into a small heat-safe bowl, and microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir, and then continue to microwave and stir at the same power and amount of time until smooth.
• Dip a toothpick into the candy melts, and draw the eyes, eyebrows, and noses/mouths onto wax paper (you can use a sketch of his face underneath the wax paper as a guide). Allow the candy melts to set completely before carefully removing them.
• To make the frosting, cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the salt and vanilla, and mix inches Scrape the sides of the bowl, and slowly add in the powdered sugar and mix, on medium speed, until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes).
• Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip, and pipe large dots in rows starting at the top of the cupcake and working your way down (making sure to cover the entire cupcake). If the frosting is too soft you can refrigerate it for about 15-20 minutes to help it firm up. Do not worry about peaks from the dots, they will be smoothed after the cupcakes are chilled.
• Transfer the decorated cupcakes to the freezer for 15 minutes.
• Take about a 2 inch ball of the fondant and split it in half. Color 1 half with just a little of the pink icing gel and knead it in until it is evenly colored light pink. Divide the pink into 12 tiny balls, and split each ball in half. Roll the halves into small ovals on top of wax paper, for RJ's cheeks.
• Divide the white fondant into 12 balls, split each in half, and use your fingers to mold each half into a rounded triangle for RJ's ears (you can use more white fondant, if needed, for the size).
• Once the cupcakes are chilled remove them from the freezer. Put a little water into a mug and heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Dip a clean finger into the water, tap it on a paper towel or kitchen towel, and then tap the peaks on the icing dots to smooth them out. Repeat until all the peaks are smoothed (if you have any air bubbles in the icing you can fix it the same way).
• Place an ear on either side of the cupcake. Use a toothpick to carefully transfer the face details on top, and then add a cheek under each eye. Your cute cupcakes are now ready to enjoy! Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.