These Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes are a great brunch recipe and so easy to make! I modified a recipe by Grandbaby Cakes (one of my favorite food blogs) by putting the recipe in muffin cups & used crushed pineapples instead of the rings. I added 1/4 tsp of cinnamon to the batter as well. Fun, tasty & easy recipe! You can eat leftovers with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert or along with your coffee or afternoon tea.
Below is the modified recipe:
Makes about 12 cupcakes
Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup granulated sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsps pure vanilla extract 3 large eggs 1/4 cup pineapple juice 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) 3/4 cup light brown sugar About 1 cup of crushed pineapples (either canned or fresh) Maraschino cherries
Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Liberally grease your muffin tin with vegetable oil or cooking spray.
For the cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla extract, eggs and pineapple juice until well mixed. Set aside.
Next melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in brown sugar and cook for 1 minute.
Put one tablespoon of the brown sugar/butter mixture into each of the muffin cups.
Add about 2 teaspoons of crushed pineapple on top of the brown sugar mixture in each muffin cup. Be sure to spread the pineapple evenly.
Add a maraschino cherry if you so desire (I like to cut the cherries in half instead of using a full cherry. If you use half a cherry, be sure to place it upside down so that it looks nice when you flip the muffins)
Pour cake batter on top of the pineapples/cherry mix.
**Only fill the muffin cups 3/4 full so that it won’t create a “muffin top”. This will make it easier for them to release from the muffin tin after baking.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes then invert the muffins onto a cooling rack or serving plate and serve.
*Note – be careful when you are inverting the cupcakes – this can get a little bit messy as some of the cupcakes release faster than others.
Tip- before you invert the cupcakes, run a knife along the ring of each of the cupcakes to help them come out of the tins easier.
When my friend asked if I would be interested in going to Iceland, I said “Why not?” (I read Shonda Rhimes book the Year of Yes, so I’m very open to things this year).
It’s a surprisingly short flight (only 5 hours from JFK airport in New York), it’s clean, modern, they speak English, and there are drop-dead gorgeous landscapes.
As I started my research, I kept reading that Iceland has terrible food. I will admit that I didn’t have any of the dried fish or rotten shark BUT I was able to have some food that was tasty and delicious. I will note that the food in Iceland is expensive. It seemed as if everything costs a minimum of $20. Minimum.
If you ever make your way to Reykjavik Iceland, be sure to check out these dishes and restaurants:
I stayed at the Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Marina (excellent hotel that I would HIGHLY recommend) and the breakfast and Sunday brunch were excellent. They have a fantastic variety with foods including oatmeal, flatbreads, waffles, bacon, quiche, breakfast pastries, fruit, etc.
The Sunday brunch costs about $30 USD and the breakfasts during the week are about $25. This breakfast/brunch is worth the price. We ended up going there 3 times. So good.
Flatbread pizza – YUM!
Nutella heaven
Brunch variety
Lamb Soup:
I had some lamb & vegetable soup at Geysir Restaurant during one of the tours I went on to see a Geyser, and it was absolutely delicious. According to my tour guide, sheep live as wild animals in the mountains resulting in excellent quality meat. The soup had a light broth, had a mild in flavor, and great texture. I would highly recommend it if you like lamb. The cost was $20 and included bread and butter along with 1 free soup refill.
As cool as it was in Reykjavik in August (Mid-50’s), Ice Cream was a popular treat.
A local suggested that we visit Valdis over by the marina, and it did not disappoint. The flavors were incredible. I had a flavor called Bailey’s & Ranill, which tasted like RumChata, and I paired that with a coffee-flavored ice cream. Best combination of all time. They also had an interesting grey-colored licorice flavor, which tasted like a black jelly bean. The shop is a little bit off the beaten path, and there seemed to be mostly locals at this shop. They also give huge portions if you wanted to share with a friend. My two scoops of Ice Cream on a cone cost me about $6 USD.
This place was so good that I forgot to take a picture. There was a line out the door that was about a 30-minute wait. They are known for their lobster soup & they offer a number of grilled fish items on skewers, and you can also get potatoes and vegetable skewers. I had the salmon skewer, and it was perfectly cooked and seasoned. After I ordered, they said that it would take another 30 minutes for the food to come out. It was worth the wait – definitely stop by here for some fresh seafood. It was also relatively inexpensive at ~$25 USD for the Salmon skewer and the potato skewer.
Hot Dogs at Bæjarins Beztu
This is a famous hot dog stand in Reykjavik where celebrities frequent, including Bill Clinton and most recently the Kardashians. The hot dog was tasty and had unique toppings including ketchup, a mayo sauce, sweet mustard, and fried crispy onions underneath the hot dog. The crispy onions added nice flavor and crunch – I would definitely get it again. My hot dog cost about $5 USD.
For a change of pace, we tried a Himalayan-Tibetan restaurant with Ramen noodles. I had the chicken broth and chicken added to my noodles but found it to be bland. Be sure to ask to for it to be spicy, as my friend did and liked hers better. The chicken dumplings were ordered as a side item and those were crunchy & delicious! The space is tiny, so we got the food to-go and ate it at the hotel. The cost for the Ramen and fried dumplings was about $25 USD.
Nice change of pace
Lava Restaurant at the Blue Lagoon
The food here was good, but ridiculously overpriced. For lunch, I ordered the Cod fish with potatoes along with a beet salad, and tasted my friend’s crème brulee. The cost was about $65 USD.
Skyr Yogurt
The Skyr yogurt in Iceland is delicious, silky, smooth, and packs a lot of protein. In general, be sure to have any dairy products that you can – the texture really is fantastic. Almost luxurious. This yogurt is available everywhere, from hotels to convenience stores – you won’t be able to miss it. I’m going to be looking for this at Whole Foods here in the states.
Silky, luxurious yogurt
Fast Food: Domino’s Pizza
I hate to admit it, but I ate Domino’s Pizza in Iceland. (I know. Shameful.) There was a late bus schedule at the Blue Lagoon and we got back to Reykyavik after 10pm. Little did we know that all the restaurants close around 10pm in Iceland. We ordered pizza delivery because we were tired and cold and didn’t feel like walking across town to the one restaurant that was open. Note that a small pizza in Iceland is more like a personal-pan pizza size in the US. Itty bitty. I live in Chicago so I never eat Domino’s but it was actually pretty tasty (or maybe we were just hungry). The cost for a small pizza and wings was about $25 USD.
As a side note, there is no McDonalds or Starbucks in Reykjavík. I was told that there was a McDonalds but it closed down because the prices were too high.
Reykjavik is a charming city and I hope that it can maintain it’s charm with the influx of tourists. I ate very well in Iceland & hopefully with these tips, you will too!
Thursday, I attended the Common Threads Cook Off hosted by the Associate Board (which I’m a member of). What a fantastic event. This is the kind of event that leaves you feeling like an honored guest – well fed, well watered and well taken care-of.
The event was held downtown at the Fulton’s on the River restaurant, which is an excellent venue for an event of this magnitude. The entire downstairs section was used for this event, which was very well attended with approximately 350-400 guests. The tables on the terrace outside allowed guests to admire the breathtaking views of the Chicago river.
Chicago-area chefs from all of the popular restaurants came together to duke it out for the best dish in a glass, on a stick, in a shell and on a bun. The chefs seemed to have a level of friendly competition between each other, encouraging the cook-off guests to vote for them by placing a voting chip (in the form of a bottlecap) into their bucket. Sara Greunberg (Top Chef Runner Up) was there representing Spiaggia and was shaking her bucket like “vote for us!” Very fun.
When I walked in, I was almost overwhelmed by the number of restaurants participating in this event. All of the popular Chicago restaurants were in one place, including some new restaurants that I’ve been wanting to visit. There was so much food, but below were some of my personal favorites and highlights:
Pecking Order: This country chicken sandwich on a Filipino-style bun had me saying Chik-Fi-Who? K-F-what? Best chicken sandwich I’ve had in quite a while. It was dressed with pimento mayo, gouda tomato, onion and cilantro. The bun and the sauce are what really made it stand out. Pecking Order is a relatively new restaurant headed up by chef Kristine Subido – formerly of the Wave Restaurant in the W Hotel. She told me that they are now open for brunch on Sundays, along with lunch and dinner during the week. I gave Pecking Order one of my chips. Guess where I’m going to be going for brunch?
ZED 451: Served this amazing Maple Cajun BLT. Time stopped for a moment and my eyes literally rolled to the back of my head. For the “On a Bun” category, this place tied with the Pecking Order for me.
Lockwood: Heirloom Tomato soup and Burrata Cheese Crostini served in an elegant shot glass. Best tomato soup I’ve had in a long time. The crostini is what really made it shine.
Masa Azul – Chef Jonathan Zaragoza was representing Maza Azul (Mexican restaurant) in Logan Square, and had a tender and delicious Grilled Chicken Thigh Kabob with Chipotle Greek Yogurt Sauce. I love Chipotle anything, and this was very tasty. This is another restaurants that is on my list. How could I not know about this place? It has 4 ½ stars on Yelp. I’m going.
Union Sushi & Barbeque Bar – Union Sushi gets the “out of the box” award from me because they served Grilled Kangaroo with Citrus Zest and Sweet Potato Cream. I have never seen Kangaroo on a menu, and I didn’t know that people ate Kangaroo. Quite frankly, I was a little disturbed by the thought because they are so cute. But then I thought to myself, “When would I ever have the chance to taste Kangaroo.” (Unless I go to Australia). I reluctantly tasted it, but was pleasantly surprised. It tastes like beef with a hint of lamb. Very good.
Spiaggia – Sara Gruenberg at Spiaggia had a very creative presentation of a Cured Salmon and Squid Ink Grissino. The salmon was beautifully wrapped around a twisted black breadstick (grissino), and the black color came from Squid Ink. This was a well thought dish.
In addition to all of this food, there were also mixologists that had beautiful and delicious custom crafted cocktails. I loved the creativity that came from the chefs, and this event reminded me that these chefs really are culinary artists. This is their art. It was beautiful and delicious.
From the food and drinks to the adorable kids walking around helping to get donations, this was a wonderful event. Where else can you have amazing food from Chicago’s top restaurants, and contribute to a great cause at the same time?
The icing on the cake for me was when Art Smith came by my table and introduced himself. Art is a well-accomplished celebrity chef and the founder of this organization, and it really meant a lot to see him there supporting the Associate Board and interacting with the guests. This is an organization that I’m proud to be a part of because it allows me to serve the community through my passion for food. The best of both worlds.
The next Common Threads event is the World Festival in March. I’m told that the World Festival is a super-sized version of this event, and rumor has it that the event in March is going to be the best one yet. Stay tuned!
Learn more about Common Threads at www.commonthreads.org
