The Best Frosting the Pioneer Woman's Ever Had

In case you haven't noticed, I've been doing a lot of veggie posts lately. It was part of my New Year's resolution for the blog, but also for myself. I so often forget to photograph the less 'exciting' foods I prepare (i.e. anything that's not a dessert!) in my rush to get things on the table, so I'm making a concerted effort to feature a few things won't send you into sugar-shock. But, in case you were worried that this was goodbye to all things carb-laden and delicious, I thought I'd give you a little surprise. I'm sharing a great frosting recipe with you today - but that's just the tip of the iceberg, because next week we'll get to put this frosting to work during an entire week of Valentine-themed cookies!

I'm kicking myself for not have photos of the finished icing before tinting and decorating - but here's a foretaste of what's to come next week!

I know it's still January, but blogland is already decked out in red-and-pink and, really, I don't ever need much of an excuse to make cookies. If you're not feeling cupid's arrow this year, don't worry - I won't tell if you don't use a single drop of red food coloring or make all your cookies heart-shaped. Just make sure you whip up a batch of this frosting and come back next week for some COOKIES!

Now, about the frosting - and its unusual title. I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but this recipe is everywhere and from what I can tell, it was popularized by the Pioneer Woman. I'm going to make an admission (which might get me thrown out of food-blogger-land) and tell you that this is my first ever Pioneer woman recipe! Still, even she found the recipe elsewhere, and it's been around for a lot, lot longer than food blogging. It's usually called a 'roux' frosting, because it's built on a base of hot milk and flour...yes, flour. Don't let that deter you (it's the magic, secret ingredient!) This recipe makes an airy, whipped-cream like frosting which is less sweet than traditional confectioners sugar icings.

Since it even tastes like you've used whipped cream, the frosting is also called Mock Whipped Cream Frosting, or Poor Man's Whipped Cream Frosting. But how appetizing does that sound? Instead, I think we'll call it...

I stiffened the frosting with a bit of confectioners sugar to help it 'set' for cookies, but it's perfect for cakes and cupcakes as-is

Recession-Proof Whipped Cream Frosting (or Secret Ingredient Frosting!)

5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup salted butter (the original recipe doesn't specify salted, but I recommend it!)
1 cup granulated sugar

In a medium saucepan, whisk flour into the milk and stir constantly, over medium heat, until the mixture thickens (the mixture should be very thick - thicker than cake batter - but not lumpy, so keep whisking!). Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

While the milk mixture is cooling, cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until sugar is completely incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir vanilla into the cooled milk mixture. Add mixture to the butter and sugar, and beat thoroughly (I used my whip attachment on my mixer). Don't under-beat - if the mixture appears separated, keep going! Eventually, it should resemble whipped cream (and taste utterly divine!!). Keep refrigerated until just before you're ready to serve and refrigerate any leftover icing.

A few notes: Be sure to use cool ingredients and allow your milk mixture to cool completely before mixing - I can't stress that enough. My frosting came out a little runny because I wasn't patient (that, and the Pioneer Woman's instructions spooked me into under-whipping the final product) - so learn from my mistakes! You can find better, step-by-step pictures on The Pioneer Woman, and better instructions here (this is the recipe the Pioneer Woman used, so she deserves the credit!), but all of these recipes will produce an amazingly delicious frosting. You won't believe it has flour in it - and neither will anyone else! This makes a great frosting for a dark chocolate cake or a good, fluffy filling for sandwich cookies. Or, of course, you could just eat it right out of the bowl....I won't tell.

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