What is Mastic?

Mastic is a resin extracted from the trunk of the mastic tree.  The mastic drips out of the mastic tree trunk as if the tree were crying - so the resin is called mastic tears.  Although mastic starts as a liquid, it hardens to the yellowish crystals shown above.  Just like Champagne can only be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region of France, true mastic must come from a specific location - the Chios island of Greece. 

How Is Mastic Used?

Chocolate Banana Baklava Cupcakes

Take baklava (the middle Eastern dessert featuring buttery phyllo dough, nuts, and sticky sweet honey), add a layer of brownie, mix in some banana chunks, bake in jumbo silicone cupcake liners, and you get chocolate banana baklava cupcakes.  As a baklava fan through and through, I never thought baklava could get any better than the traditional Greek baklava that I order every chance I get.  I was wrong.  Silly me, everything is better with chocolate!  Plus, the banana adds one more surprising and delightful flavor to the mix.

Chocolate banana baklava cupcakes are more labor-intensive than most cupcake recipes that I make.  However, none of the steps are difficult.  If you've got time, you CAN make these and they will be worth every second!

Take a look at a couple more photos and then I'll tell you how to make them. 

Yogurt and Honey Cupcakes - A Taste of Greece

Licking honey off of one's paws may be the best way to eat it (assuming you aren't being stung by bees).

But if you must pair it with something, yogurt is the way to go - specifically, thick, rich, tart Greek yogurt.

I first discovered yogurt and honey in Greece.  In college, I had the good fortune to be able to attend Semester at Sea (a floating campus that travels around the world).  One of our stops was Greece.  While I don't remember every meal of my journey, I do clearly remember sitting at a cafe in Athens writing in my journal and eating yogurt and honey.  That meal sticks out in my mind not only because of the comforting sweet, smoothness of it, but because I was spending the day by myself; it was one of the few times that I have spent a whole day by myself in a foreign country.  To this day, yogurt and honey makes me feel independent and free. [Lie Detector: I wasn't by myself the whole day.  I actually ran into someone that I knew from the ship and ended up sharing lunch with him.]

A few days ago, I received a complimentary case of Greek yogurt from Voskos.  Not surprisingly, the flavor that I was the most excited about was this one:

Random fact: One of Cupcake Project's Facebook fans,
Sara Vogt, says that she uses this yogurt as a face mask.

I was worried that the honey yogurt might be too sweet (I hesitate to say it, but there is such a thing as too much honey).  It was not too sweet.  The honey yogurt was just as I would make it for myself - minus the dripping honey mess that always ends up all over my counter and sometimes makes its way onto my keyboard.  The Voskos Greek honey yogurt got me thinking about making a yogurt and honey cupcake.

Greek Bird's Nest Cupcakes: The Birds and the Bees

My Greek bird's nest cupcakes are all about honey. They are an extremely dense, honey soaked cake topped with a crunchy, honey soaked Greek bird's nest cupcake topper. If you love honey and more specifically love Greek desserts like baklava, you'll adore these cupcakes. The Greek bird's nest cupcakes are not for you if you can only handle honey in moderation.

I can eat honey by the spoonful, so these cupcakes were perfect for me! The only complaint honey lovers had about them was that it was really hard to eat the topper with the cake. You had to remove the topper and eat it separately. I could have perhaps stuck them together with some frosting, but with all the honey syrup, any frosting at all would have been overkill.

The Greek Bird's Nest Cupcake Recipe

I got the cake recipe by converting an amazing honey almond cake recipe on Poppalina to cupcakes. Here is the recipe with my modifications:

Makes 16 cupcakes

• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 C sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 C semolina flour
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 C ground almonds

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Fold in semolina flour, cinnamon, and ground almonds.
4. Fill cupcake wrappers 3/4 full.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. As stated on Popillina, "they will be heavy and not a bit springy and that's a good thing."

The Honey Syrup Recipe

The honey syrup that I used to top both the cake and the bird's nests also came from Poppalina's recipe. The only change that I would make if I made it again would be to add either a little lemon zest or some lemon juice to the recipe. One of my regular tasters is half Greek and he thought that it really needed the lemon to taste more authentic.

• 2 C honey (I used Greek honey since I saw some at the store. However, any honey you like would do.)
• 1 C water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cardamom pods (optional)
• lemon zest to taste (As noted above, I didn't use the lemon zest, but I think it would be a nice touch.)

1. Put all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer for 10-20 minutes.

Putting the Cupcakes Together

1. Poke lots of holes in all the cupcakes (you can use a toothpick or a fork or anything you have handy) and drizzle the hot syrup over the cupcakes.
2. Wait a minute or so for it to absorb and then do it again.
3. Continue letting the syrup absorb and adding more about 3 or 4 times.
4. Put the bird's nests on top of the cupcakes.
5. Drizzle syrup over the bird's nests so that they are completely covered in the honey.

You can eat the cupcakes right away while the syrup is warm, but be sure to save some to eat later. The cupcakes get better and better the longer the syrup has to absorb into them. They were still tasty a week after I made them.

Cupcake Hero

I am entering these cupcakes into this month's Cupcake Hero. The theme is Earth Day. How do these cupcakes fit the theme? I'm stretching here, but:

Birds and bees, nests and honey,
Are featured in these cupcakes - and not just to be yummy.
They are important to the Earth, so let's care for them well,
And important to my cupcakes, they taste so swell!
Happy Earth Day to all, a few days too late.
And enjoy Cupcake Hero - what cupcake's on your plate?

Greek Bird's Nest Cupcake Toppers: Not for Easter

I admit - I made these Greek bird's nest cupcake toppers because I thought they would be good for Easter. I don't celebrate Easter and clearly I have no clue what is good for Easter. I thought that because it was a nest, it would be Spring-like and perfect for a post about an Easter recipe.

Only after several people said something to me did it become apparent that I would have needed to use little pastel-colored eggs in the nests to be Easter-appropriate. Oh well! I finally caved in and decided to leave the Easter recipes for someone who celebrates Easter (at least this year!).

So now, I bring you my non-Easter Greek Bird's Nest Cupcake Toppers during Passover week (when I can't eat them, but I sure can think about them). Also, be sure to check out the Greek Bird's Nest Cupcakes that they go on.

Kataifi - The Key Ingredient

The easy way to make Greek bird's nests is to buy some kataifi. Kataifi is essentially shredded phyllo dough. You can buy it in the frozen section of an international supermarket or at a Greek deli. I imagine you could make kataifi from scratch, but I wasn't about to give that one a go.

The Greek Bird's Nest Recipe

I modified a recipe from about.com for kataifi to create my Greek Bird's Nest recipe:

• 1 lb of kataifi dough, defrosted per package instructions
• 1 C (2 sticks) of butter, melted

For the filling:

• 1 C walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 C almonds, coarsely ground
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground cloves
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 1 t brandy

Making the bird's nests is a bit of an art form. It would be a really fun job for a kid. First, you mix all the filling ingredients and stir them. Then, you grab some kataifi dough and form it into a bird's nest shape. Slather the bird's nest with butter (this will help it to stick together). Then, plop some of the nut mixture on top.

I made 12 of them. However, the recipe could have made a few more than that. I just got lazy. Too bad I didn't have a kid around to make some for me.

Place the bird's nests into a glass baking dish and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

The Syrup

What makes bird's nests yummy is that they are soaked in a honey syrup. If you are not using these as cupcake toppers, make syrup using the recipe at about.com and pour it over the bird's nests while they are still hot. Wait 3-4 hours for the syrup to absorb into the bird's nests before digging in. .

For my cupcakes, I made a different syrup that I used on both the cupcake and the bird's nest and poured it over both items at once. I'll write about that process and the syrup recipe in my upcoming cupcake post.

What To Do With the Extra Nut Mixture

When I made the bird's nests, I was left with a lot of extra nuts and a little extra syrup. I covered the nut mixture with the syrup, wrapped it aluminum foil and toasted it in our toaster oven twice. It was a great snack for a couple of days!