A few weeks ago I sent an email over to America’s Test Kitchen to see if we could work on a project together. I was so excited when I got a very positive yes back from them. They wanted to know if I could help promote their Comfort Food Makeovers cookbook. They got a very excited yes in reply!
Comfort Food Makeovers is such a clever book that takes your and my favorite classics and popular restaurant dishes and gives them a makeover for the better. The goal was to drop fat and calories without sacrificing flavor, and if anyone could pull this off successfully it would be America’s Test Kitchen. The best part is they aren’t subbing in things like artificial sweeteners in the dessert, or on the other end of spectrum, there’s no cauliflower hiding in the mac-n-cheese. They use everyday classic ingredients but cook smarter. I love their approach to cooking!
If you are an old-timer to the blog you know that I’m an America’s Test Kitchen lover (fondly known as ATK to their fans). Husband got me three of their cookbooks a few years ago for Mother’s Day and I blog the recipes often. What I love is that they take the time to teach what they are doing and why they are doing it. They include way more than just a recipe and pictures; reading their cookbooks is like a mini cooking class which I love. So when presented with an opportunity to work with a new cookbook of theirs I jumped at the chance.
Comfort Food Makeovers doesn’t even come out until this Friday (March 1), so ATK sent me over to look at the recipe index for the book. Once I got through all of the delicious pictures and description of the book I stared in wonder at all it includes. Mozzerella sticks, Pork Lo Mein (compared to P.F. Chang’s), baked ziti, cheesy garlic bread, chicken marsala, and potato salad. Then comes cinnamon rolls, carrot cake, lightened up chocolate cupcakes, and key lime bars… can carrot cake really be lightened up?!
They let me pick out 6 recipes from the huge list and then they emailed the recipes over to me (the book isn’t out yet remember). So I just got a taste of what’s to come and boy oh boy am I hungry for the rest. America’s Test Kitchen also agreed to giveaway a copy of the book today! You can enter using the Rafflecopter tool below, and if you don’t want to wait to see if you are the winner you can always preorder your copy of the book here.
Now onto some cupcakes!
I was really excited to get the recipes and to see the approach that ATK was using to achieve a lighter version of such classic dishes. We’ve all heard of replacing applesauce for oil or even ground black beans in brownies, so how would they reduce the calories in cupcakes?! Well friends, I’m pleased to announce that they just swapped canola oil for butter and went from there… nothing too crazy and the results were phenomenal. I make a lot of cake and cupcakes and these lightened up chocolate cupcakes were probably the best I’ve ever made. I’m not buttering you up for the book; I’m telling you so you make them! The texture was perfect, which is normally my complaint when it comes to homemade cupcakes/reduced fat desserts and the flavor was very rich.
Thomas was out of town when I made them, so I saved him some as a little test (he LOVES cake). I just had him eat a few when he got back and asked him what he thought. He said they were excellent but he would call them dark chocolate cupcakes, not just chocolate (hence the richness and color). I explained that they were lower fat than normal and he was sincerely surprised but totally happy with the results.
I’m actually going to share a second recipe from the book on Thursday (mac-n-cheese!), but in the mean time enjoy these cupcakes and get excited about this book. The recipes aren’t written in the traditional double column format. You get a whole page per recipe with a paragraph at the top titled “why this works”. I love knowing what ATK tried, liked, didn’t like, and why they settled on what they did. They spill it all in that first paragraph. Each recipe also comes with the “before and afters” of calories, fat, and saturated fat right on the page (more detailed nutrition info is in the back of the book too). The stats for these lightened up chocolate cupcakes looked like this:
Not too shabby if you ask me. And my icing was a bit thinner than intended, so I was only able to get about 1 tablespoon on each cupcake which means even less calories. The thin icing was still delicious and the cupcakes tasted a lot like my grandma’s sheet cake which is a good thing.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
- 1/3 cup cocoa
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 3/4 cup bread flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 5 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups Low- Fat Chocolate Frosting (recipe follows)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl add the chocolate and cocoa. Pour the boiling water over the top and allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes to give the chocolate time to melt. Whisk until smooth and then let the mixture cool, about 10 minutes.
In a small bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine.
Once the chocolate mixture has cooled add the eggs, vinegar, and oil to the bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk everything together until well combined and a smooth batter is formed.
Measure out 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin tin. Bake the cupcakes for 17-19 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Pull the done cupcakes from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan, on the rack, for 10 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pan once the 10 minutes are up and allow them to cool completely on the wire rack, about 1 hour.
Frost each cooled cupcake with about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the chocolate frosting and serve.
Notes
The original recipe calls for 3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder to be added with the chocolate and cocoa. Leaving it out was the only thing I changed.
To properly measure boiling water allow a larger amount of water than you need to come to a boil in a small saucepan and then carefully measure out the amount of water needed once it has begun to boil.
I used dutch-processed cocoa with wonderful results, and would recommend it (something like Hershey's Special Dark). You could use traditional cocoa but your cupcakes and icing will look less black and more brown than mine.
Don't be tempted to switch all-purpose flour for the bread flour. The extra gluten in bread flour is a big part in the texture and structure of the cupcakes.
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 7 tablespoons one-percent milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Combine the powdered sugar and cocoa together in the food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the milk, butter, melted chocolate, and vanilla, and pocess untill smooth.
Notes
I don't recommend measuring out the milk over the hole in the top of the food processor... you might get a little crazy and spill some extra milk in which will make your icing too thin. This may or may not have happened to me ;)
I used dutch processed cocoa powder and would recommend it. You can use traditional but your icing won't be as dark as mine.
And here’s where you enter to win a copy of your own!
Lindsay from Pinch of Yum (adore her!) made Healthier General Tso’s Chicken from the cookbook and is giving away a copy too.
And did you know that ATK has a blog of their own? They post more than just recipes too. They have great how-to’s and recommendations on kitchen gadgets as well as fun articles like “The 5 cheesiest tips you’ll ever need” – get it?! Cheese tips! So clever…
Thanks so much for reading and good luck.
Disclosure: I emailed America’s Test Kitchen to see if they would work on a project with me. The were more than willing to supply the cookbook for this giveaway and are even doing the shipping. I’m also going to get a copy of the cookbook out of the deal (score!). I was not paid for this post because I was the one begging them to do let me do it :)
I would love this cookbook because recipes by ATK are guaranteed to work!
You are so right Suzanne! I’m a recipe tweeker and I never mess with thiers. They are always perfect.
My mouth is watering just thinking about these and all the other delicious recipes!
Those cupcakes look like they should be 2,000 calories! I cannot wait to make them!
I believe that Comfort Foods, along with soups and stews, are the heart of cooking and eating. They’re the soft foods that we ate when we were so young that we didn’t have much in the way of teeth, so we love the texture, and any book by Cook’s Illustrated is a please to read and cook from, so I’m looking forward to it.
I’m a huge fan of ATK as well! They honestly do make you feel like you’re learning something new every time you cook, and it’s always delicious. I can’t wait to try these cupcakes and I can’t wait to see their Mac and Cheese recipe!
this looks awesome!!
This sounds great, hope I win!
I love ATK and would love to get my hands on this cookbook!
Oh my goodness, Melissa! These are fabulous! I adore ATK…made one of their recipes yesterday! PS: gorgeous photos!!!
A while back I made this mistake of adding only half the butter to my cookie recipe and they turned out amazing. Since then I have been wondering how many other things can I make with less fat and calories and still have a great taste…I am so excited for this cook book!
Hey fancy pants, way to go!
So excited! Love ATK!
Yummy! I’m always looking for healthier alternatives to the comfort food my family and I love.
They Look amazing! I love ATK !
These look fabulous. I love ATK! Thanks for the recipe and the giveaway.
Awesome! What a great pairing. I love watching their show on PBS. My oldest daughter loves to cook and listens to their details in earnest :). And way to go for contacting them!
LOVE LOVE LOVE my ATK cookbooks & can’t wait to see this one!! Thanks for testing!
I have loved the give-a-ways not only for the chance to win something but because i have found some great blogs!! Thanks!!
The ATF!! And the cupcakes look amazing! Needed an idea for a dessert and just found it! Thank you!
Can I just say those look so yummy! Need to go get a few ingredients, but then I am definitely trying them!
I love ATK! I am addicted to their cookbooks! I have been eyeballing this one…
I would love to win this cookbook. I am a big fan of their slow cooker and baking cookbooks so I know this one will be great!
Hershey’s Special Dark is not 100% Dutch processed, however. For consistent results, I use 100% dutch processed cocoa.
Bread flour? Who would think up that? Only ATK! That is awesome!
I know it’s not all Dutch processed but I can’t get anything better here in the middle of no where and it’s a reasonable price while still being better than traditional cocoa. I wonder how much of it IS Dutch-processed though?! Do you know? And ATK didn’t recommend the Dutch-processed in the recipe… just cocoa. I used what I had and liked, with good results.
I have recently found dutch processed at a few places….one is an amish store near my house here in Indiana and a food storage company from Utah (shelf pantry or something like that).
But the other place I usually get it from is Penzey’s Spice- they have amazing spices for reasonable prices. There’s not one in Utah, but there’s one in Louisville (maybe your mom could pick it up next time she’s at the temple), but they also have free shipping on orders over $30. I just looked and a pound of dutch processed cocoa is $11.30. I love their cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, curry powders (used it when I made your curried coconut chicken with squash and dried cherries and made it amazing), and everything else I’ve tried. So much better than spices bought at Walmart and pretty comparable prices.
SO good to know! I should just do an internet order… is there a certain curry powder you like you just the “curry powder” LOL
I love sweet things so I use their sweet curry powder, but I also like their garam masala. I haven’t tried the others yet, but plan to in the future.
I have just recently discovered ATK (I know, I know) and I would LOVE this cookbook! Thanks for the chance to win!
Thank you for the opportunity to win this book!
Thanks. I love ATK recipes!
I love ATK! This cookbook looks fantastic! I have 3 of their cookbooks already.
I love your blog and I love ATK!!!
These look great and I’d love to win an ATK cookbook I don’t already own. I’m curious why you left the esspresso powder out? Was it because you just didn’t have any or for some other reason?
I’m Mormon! We have a bit of a health code we like to stick by (no alcohol, no smoking, moderation in all things…) and coffee happens to be on that list of things to avoid. I assume for it’s addicting qualities. I know a little espresso powder never killed anyone, but I have always liked to do things with my whole heart, religious convictions included. Is that crazy?! Thanks for asking.
Yum!
I entered!!! I’m new to your site but love that you are clean 80/20 I am hoping to get to this point!! Loveeee cookbooks and I too am a huge ATK fan :-)
New cookbooks are always exciting and I hear lots of wonderful things about these!
Wow, I’m totally making them!!! They look sooo good!!
I’m addicted to ATK, and I truly appreciate everyone there for doing what they do. Thanks for the opportunity to win the cookbook.
Another winner from ATK. Finger crossed that I can have that cookbook in my waiting little hands. Without ATK and blogs like your I’d be lost in the kitchen. :)
ATK has some of my favorite recipes. Making comfort foods more healthy is a smart thing to do.
Awesome giveaway. Keeping my fingers crossed
These look Sooooo yummy! Dark, delicious, and decadent! Will definitely make these. Thanks for the recipe!
Love ATK!! just recently bought my first book of theirs, love how well tested all recipes are!! would love to win this book!
These look so good!
This looks great!
LOVE ATK!!!!
I would LOVE to win this cookbook! I didn’t see a place to add my email or share the post on fb?
Who doesn’t need a ATK cookbook? I’m in…
You make this cookbook sound so good! I had no idea their cookbooks were so scientific…I realllly want one now! Here’s to hoping I win :)
I love ATK cookbooks and their show on PBS!
Yay Melissa! This is so exciting!
Congratulations!!
I was just wondering if I could use whole wheat flour instead of bread flour? Bread flour isn’t available where I live :(
Hmmm. I would use all-purpose white flour before whole wheat… whole wheat is pretty hard to work with when it comes to cakes. Are you able to buy gluten in a tub in the baking isle? Or does the internet tell you any good subs for bread flour?! Let me know!!
yum! these do not look lightened up so I love it!!! I’d love to get my hands on this cookbook!
Looks delicious!!
Wishing you lived closer so we could chat over these delicious cutie cupcakes!!!! :)
-Staci
I am currently crossing my fingers that I win! Ya ATK!!!!
And I have you to thank for the knowledge that they even exist! I started liking them after you told me how great they were :)
I am so excited about their new cookbook! I love ATk!
You are so fun! This cookbook looks fantastic.
Comfort food made healthier, oh wow I need this! And love your blog :)
I am a new follower of this blog and I am really excited about the giveaways!
P.S. Melissa, you might not remember me, but I actually know your sister. We roomed together at BYU when she was and RA. I’m really excited for her to be home soon. :)
I wouldn’t have know it by just the first name but OF COURSE I REMEMBER YOU!!! Sarah loved you and so did Macey and I :) How the heck are you!?
Looking forward to trying that Cupcake recipe! I would love to win the cookbook. Thanks.
I love your blog name! :-) And I adore the America’s Test Kitchen, so thanks for the giveaway!
Thank you! I literally spent weeks trying to think of what to call the blog and it came to me in the shower one morning. I’ve liked it ever since :)
Looks delicious!!! I could eat that frosting with a spoon :)
Sounds like a version of Devil’s Food cupcakes, except better with actual chocolate and not just cocoa :).
I’ve always liked the idea of lightened up comfort foods! Your cupcakes look delicious! :]
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have it marked to try. Those cupcakes look so chocolaty I can almost taste them!
i love their show and i love your blog. you are so honest and adorable!!!!
Nicest comment ever! Thank you Trish :)
I have never wanted a chocolate cupcake so badly! I love America’s Test Kitchen! Woo woo woo woo woo!
These cupcakes are seriously making my mouth water. Between the deep color and the drip on that frosting. Awesome photos. I frequently replace butter with olive oil in cakes and muffins and love it. So, I imagine these taste just as good as they look. Have a great day!
Cannot wait to try this recipe for my husband’s birthday party next month!
i love ATK too. their recipes are classic and they work!
I would love to win, because I’ve never failed when following a ATK recipe – made their roasted shrimp last week and it was so easy and soooooo tasty!
I am a huge ATK Fan!!!! I would love to get this book!
Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been on a great health kick and am constantly looking for ways to satisfy my horrible sweet tooth while still staying healthy.
I love ATK! Their recipes and explanations are awesome, and they always work!
Hi Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I will be making these to take to a pot-luck this weekend. Will you please give the amount of expresso powder and when it is to be added? Thanks again :)
I just went back and saw that you did give the amount in your preface to the recipe. Nevermind…lol
This is so great!!! I would love to try out these recipes :)
I never would have guessed these were lightened up. They look decadent.
Yum Yum!!! That looks really good
Could really use this! We both need to lighten things up
This sounds like the perfect cookbook! Still able to eat the classics but know that I’m eating a healthier version is ALWAYS the best!
These really look lovely and so moist! Yum!
This is any awesome giveaway! Thanks so much, and i cant wait to try those chocolate cupcakes!!
It would help our family eat better!
I am really excited about this giveaway. I have never used the ATK cookbook. I am always looking for good recipes that are easy to follow and always turn out. Thanks Melissa for getting this together. I am excited to try the cupcakes.
Great post. I love all things ATK and even have a couple of my cookbooks signed by Christopher Kimball…got to meet him at a local bookstore and I was literally star struck :) I’ll be buying this book if I don’t win.
I could use all the help I can get in the kitchen! I love reading your blog and trying your recipes :)
Melissa, can you believe I only just started following this blog last week? I read your family one all the time, but I had no idea you’re such a big deal in the blogosphere. You’ve gotten even more amazing than I thought you already were ;-) xo, Sarah
Bahaha… not a big deal, just like food enough to blab about it! Thanks Sarah :)
Ummm…YES! This cookbook would be amazing!
I haven’t heard of America Test Kitchen before. It sounds good.
What a great cookbook! I’d love to win a copy :)
Ooh, the cupcakes look divine. We like you, a lot!!
This would be perfect for me right now!! We are really trying to eat healthier but sometimes you just want some good comfort food! Yay for the giveaway!
The icing on these cupcakes is out of this world!
These are super quick and delicious! I used regular all purpose flour, and used half a cup of batter to fill “jumbo” tins (made six) for a dinner get together. Made a buttercream frosting to top them off so they were a lot higher in fat and calories! These were so quick and simple to make, and were such a decadent, dark and moist cupcake. Very impressed. Can’t go wrong with ATK!