Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

Nick recently made a sarcastic comment that he "used to know someone who made cupcakes" when he spotted me looking at cupcake wrappers at a store recently. I got a little miffed at first, but then realized I had been lacking on the cupcake making of late.

I quickly remedied that when, after looking through my recipes, I noticed one labeled "Beer Cupcakes". They sounded good, but when I noticed chocolate was involved, I almost changed my mind. I decided, though, that the beer and the cream cheese frosting might make them good enough for even me to like. I was right.
I used an entire bottle of Guinness for one batch of cupcakes, lots of flour, brown sugar, sour cream, vanilla, baking soda, butter and cocoa powder.

First, the Guinness and butter are combined and heated in a saucepan.

Next, the brown sugar and the cocoa get whisked in, and this is where I fell in love. The smell that was coming from the pan was so intoxicating, I wanted to eat it with a spoon right then and there.


But, I didn't. Instead, I continued with the recipe and mixed the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and added it to the beer mixture. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? Glad I finally got a coated whisk!

The flour and baking soda are then sifted together and folded into the beer mixture (batter). Folding is always hard for me, because I never seem to get the two mixtures to incorporate in an amount of time that seems appropriate for not over folding.

Then, bake. As you can see, I had too many cupcakes for one pan, and not enough for two. I have been told that you should space them out in this situation, so they cook more evenly, so that's what I did.
I am really liking cream cheese frosting lately. It is not as overpowering or as greasy seeming as buttercream, and cream cheese frosting seems to compliment, or bring out the flavors, of the cake more. Cream cheese, sugar and milk made a great frosting to top these cupcakes.

These cupcakes had a good beer flavor, they were not too sweet, they were moist, and they went very quickly at our house. I will definitely make these again. And, I guess I have to stop saying how much I don't like chocolate since I've found so many tasty recipes to bake that use chocolate. That's a crazy thought!

Lonely Chicago Pie

I have a Sunday morning ritual of getting up early and watching a movie, while the house is still quiet. I always like watching movies, and especially enjoy this tradition as it is a nice bit of relaxation and me time. When I was younger and had cable, it was old movies on the movie channel; in recent years it was Elvis movies (I have many on DVD); and lately, since I've worked through my Elvis collection and have no cable, it’s been whatever movie I think will start my day off right. Yesterday, it was the Waitress.

I love the Waitress not only for the story and the actors, but for the amazing looking pies! I, sit almost slack-jawed, in amazement of how easy they seem to be to make, and at how beautiful the scenes are in which Kerri Russell’s character (Jenna) is making them. I wonder if that was part of the point? The movie doesn't really provide you with instructions on how to bake said pies though, so I've never been sure about attempting to make one of them. Yesterday was a different story...

The Bad Baby Pie (first called the "I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie") sounded good, but we are not big on quiches in our house, and the Marshmallow Mermaid Pie sounded intriguing. But, in the scene where Jenna teaches Dr. Pomatter how to make one of her mother's pies - the Lonely Chicago - I found my pie. Now, you know I don't normally like chocolate, but chocolate ganache (especially made with dark chocolate) is a bit of a different story, and if you put berries on it you practically have me sold. So, I decided to attempt it.

I talked Nick, who was having a bit of a bad week, into helping me. We can all benefit from baking therapy! He chopped up the chocolate.

Then, I stirred it while it melted in a double boiler.

Then, he stirred while I measured and added cream.

I got the crust ready and he poured in the chocolate,

which he then spread out evenly.

Next, we washed the berries, added some brandy to them and mashed slightly,

and spooned them over the chocolate.

After that, we put it into the oven for 30 minutes, chilled it on the counter for 1 hour and in the fridge for 30 minutes. Finally, we cut some and ate it!

That is not the most picture pretty piece of pie, but it sure tasted awesome! The pie set nicely, the chocolate was like dark chocolate pudding, the berries were nice and firm, some tart and some sweet. The crust was my only complaint. After my morning movie time, we did a lot of housework, projects and grocery shopping. By the time we got around to making the pie, we were both a little tired and decided to use a store bough pie crust. It was a little thinner and not as flaky and tasty as we wanted. Next time, I think we will make the pie before the housework, so we have time to make the crust too.

Like I said, the movie only outlined the basic idea of the pie, so I had to use some of the skills I've learned over the past year and wing it. That was an interesting thought - me making up a recipe. A year ago, I wouldn't have thought this could happen, but it turned out wonderfully!

Here's the info:

Ingredients

about 12 ounces of dark chocolate

about 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

3 small containers of berries, or about 3 cups total (I used 2 of blackberries and 1 of raspberries)

1 tablespoon brandy

1 pie crust

Instructions

Make pie crust and place in a 9 inch pie pan and set aside

Pre heat over to 350 degrees

Shave the chocolate into little pieces and melt it over medium heat in a double boiler

once the chocolate is melted, slowly stir in the cream (don't do this too fast otherwise it might seize up on you and not mix well)

Once the chocolate and cream are well incorporated, pour into pie crust and even out with spatula and set aside

Wash the berries, dry them on a paper towel and put them into a bowl

Measure the brandy and pour over the berries

mash the berries slightly with a spoon or potato masher (don't mash too much otherwise they will be wet mush)

Spoon the berries carefully over the chocolate in the pie crust (don't plop them into the chocolate too hard, otherwise they will sink)

Bake the pie for about 30 minutes, or until soft-set (this means that when you shake the pan softly, it wiggles only a little and seems semi-set, or hardened a bit)

Cool the pie on the counter for at least one hour, then place in fridge for at least 30 minutes to finish setting

Note - the pie will be a fudgy consistency the longer you let it set in the fridge, and if you eat it right out of the fridge in the days after making it. If you want it to be a more pudding consistency, bring it to room temperature before serving.

Quinoa Ginger Pecan Muffins

I've been on a little bit of health kick lately. Not only because I wanted to get a bit healthier (and more in shape), but because my doctor told me I needed to. It's kind of scary when someone else, especially your doctor, tells you that you need to get healthier; it hits home a bit more. So, I have been trying to follow the Mediterranean diet, exercise some, and bake things that could be considered not all bad for you. That's where this recipe comes in. It is full of healthy and filling quinoa, some dried fruit and nuts, and it goes nicely with an egg, for breakfast.

First, gather the ingredients, cook the quinoa, cut up the apricots, roast the nuts, etc. Oops - forgot the ginger in the picture. Do not forget this in the recipe as it adds a lot of flavor! You can see there is a box of Bisquick there, which isn't normally the most healthy seeming thing, but you don't use very much and it does add a good texture to the muffin.

Then, mix everything together

and put it into muffin tins and bake

Super easy, supper yummy, and good for you, too!

How can you go wrong?

Picture Day: Cherry Bread

A few weeks ago (I don't remember when exactly), Nick and I were going through our freezer and came across a bunch of cherries we had gotten in Door County in July. Nick said "Cherries, hmm. Maybe you should make something with these." So, I pulled out my Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook and took a look. It has so much more than strictly Christmas recipes in it! Lo and behold, there was a recipe for pumpkin bread, with a cranberry variation. Cranberries, cherries, they should be interchangeable, right? I decided to give it a try.

First, I gathered the ingredients. I have started doing this lately so I can (1) show my readers what I all used; and (2) remember everything, because I have been known to forget something or race around trying to find something when I need it.

Door County cherries are so good! Yes, we pick them ourselves - that is part of the fun of Door County cherries. And, thanks to my mom-in-law, I have a handy cherry pitter to help pit all of them.

I decided to make one big loaf to eat right away, and couple of small loaves to freeze. That way, I didn't have to eat all the bread at once, and I have something ready (after thawed) if I want it in the future. This was my step-mom's idea, and it works lovely for all kinds of baked goods!

I enjoyed mine with a couple of slices of cave aged white cheddar from Hooks, a very good cheese! Cheese goes with anything doesn't it? :)

Looks like nothing went wrong, doesn't it? Not so fast...The cherries were really wet to work with, probably because they were frozen prior to use, so I had to cook the bread longer than suggested (a few minutes on the small loaves and about 30 on the large loaf - yikes!). Next time I might thaw them farther ahead of time and dry them on paper towels. Also, a couple of pits managed to make it through. Luckily, I was the one who got that piece! Even with those mishaps, I would say this baking adventure turned out pretty well. Not one I will be sharing with anyone, but that is OK.

Elvis Cupcakes

Elvis is amazing. Some people might not agree, but I think he really is a king. So, in honor of the King's birthday (yesterday), I had to post something. However, I am posting about cupcakes I made last year in honor of the day, since I never got around to posting about them then, and they turned out to be something I just can't think of trying to top for such an occasion.

I got the recipe for banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and candied bacon here. Though, as usual, I made a few modifications. And, please note that though Elvis' famed favorite - the PB and B (peanut butter and banana sandwich) - did not contain bacon, I think it makes a great addition to this sweet treat.

First, I fried some bacon. Oh, beautiful bacon!

Then, I chopped the bacon, put it back in the pan, drizzled some honey and a little brown sugar over it, and cooked it until it became harder, sticky and "candied."

Next, I decided to take a few extra strips of bacon that I had fried and puree them in the food processor to add a little extra goodness to the cupcake base. There are many food/drink things that I love - whiskey, cupcakes, bacon, etc. - as I am sure you have noticed, since I tend to write more about them. So, when the opportunity to combine two of those things arises, I take it! And, let me tell you, bacon in cupcakes is grrreat! ;)

Then, I added the bananas to the bacon and pureed some more.

Next, I combined the bacon banana mush with the other ingredients of the recipe.

Finally, I mixed up the peanut butter frosting (however, I did not use the eggs, but added a little milk instead), frosted the cupcakes, added a few pieces of candied bacon, and viola! Cupcake heaven! We ate the heck out of these, and I am sure the King would've too, given his penchant for peanut butter banana sandwiches, and bacon!