Cooks' Books by Lisa Messinger

"The Cupcake Diaries: Recipes and Memories from the Sisters of Georgetown Cupcake" by Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne (HarperOne, $23.99).

Katherine Kallinis and her sister Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne are so busy that they've even filled your calendar up for the next year. The stars of the TLC cable series "DC Cupcakes" own the busy bakery Georgetown Cupcake and just wrote their first cookbook, "The Cupcake Diaries."

In that color photograph-filled treat, they cleverly provide you cupcake and a few other sweets recipes for every season and most special occasions of the year.

That means you'll get the up-until-now-secret Georgetown Cupcake red velvet cupcake recipe for Valentine's Day, hummingbird-themed cupcakes for spring (not to mention Irish cream liqueur-filled ones for St. Patrick's Day) and so on.

You'll probably quickly see why there are lines out the door at the sisters' bakery in our nation's capital. You also will receive lots of their inside tips along the way, born of much trial and tribulation, such as this one for adding "yummy hues."

"The best way to color buttercream is using a few small drops of no-taste gel food color. Better to put in too little first and blend it — you can always add more if the color isn't deep enough. It's like being an artist, mixing up your colors. We find that gels don't thin out the frosting either. We always use 'no-taste' color since sometimes food color can have a bitter taste to it."

What's equally delicious, though, is the diary-format of the bakers' memory journal that's sprinkled around the recipes. They'll tell you stories of (and show you family snapshots of) their Greek grandmother Babee — who was their daily after-school nanny and inspired them in both the culinary and business arenas — their 1980s family picnics and their lively lives today.

The book helpfully and charmingly also serves as a business success primer with sidebars on subjects such as "How to Raise Strong Women" by their mother.

Getting to know this family is a strategic — and scrumptious — networking move for the new year.

MAPLE CHOCOLATE CHIP CUPCAKES

2 1 / 2 cups all-purpose flour

1 / 2 teaspoon baking powder

1 / 2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 3 / 4 cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 1 / 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Seeds from 1 vanilla bean

1 1 / 4 cups whole milk, at room temperature

1 / 2 cup pure maple syrup

1 / 2 cup chocolate chips

Yields 12 cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper baking cups, or grease the pan with butter if not using baking cups.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt on a piece of parchment paper or wax paper and set aside.

Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Add the eggs — one at a time — mixing slowly after each addition.

Combine the vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.

Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and mix slowly until just combined.

Add in the maple syrup and mix slowly until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips, just until incorporated.

Scoop batter into baking cups, so they are two-thirds full and bake for18 to 20 minutes (start checking at 15 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. After it is completely cool, frost with whipped chocolate ganache frosting or other homemade or store-bought chocolate frosting.

WHIPPED CHOCOLATE GANACHE FROSTING

2 cups good-quality semisweet chocolate chips (Callebaut brand recommended)

1 cup heavy cream

Yields enough for 12 cupcakes.

Fill a medium saucepan with 1 to 2 inches water and place over medium-low heat. Place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a medium glass bowl over the saucepan and melt the chocolate chips. Stir occasionally until the chips are completely melted.

Carefully remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the saucepan and let it come to room temperature. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for one hour or until it reaches the consistency of peanut butter.

Using a spatula, whip up the ganache and place it in a plastic piping bag fitted with a large round metal tip. Frost your baked goods.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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