Archive for the ‘Holiday’ Category

Irish Cupcake Bombs

I came across this recipe some time last year and was waiting for an opportunity to try it out. When someone asked me if I would bring cupcakes to Friendmas 2011, I knew I had the perfect group to experiment on!

Irish Cupcake Bombs (from the Brown Eyed Baker, renamed due to controversy)

Yield: 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 40 minutes | Bake Time: 17 minutes

For the Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.
2. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Take off heat and whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine.
5. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

1. Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate.
3. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth.
4. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

For the Baileys Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

1. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
2. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated.
3. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

To Decorate the Cupcakes:
1. Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down. Transfer the ganache to a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
2. Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

Notes:
- Used Youngs double chocolate stout because I like it better.
- Used semi-sweet chocolate for the ganache because that’s what I had, but altered the cream slightly based on Carolyn’s research.
- Cut the frosting with a little whiskey because the cream made the frosting extra buttery.
- Made ganache while cupcakes were cooling; made frosting while ganache was cooling.
- Recommend not making a triple batch of these. It’s just too much. Note to self: Never make triple batches of stuff. Just don’t do it.

 

Cookie Day!

Ian and I went over to his parents’ house today for a day of baking with his family. We made all the usuals: sugar cookies, almond tree cookies, rum balls, and crullers.

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And the ones I’m most proud of, this year’s addition of gingerbread cookies:


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After all the other cookies, no one else was interested in decorating the gingerbread cookies, so I drew on all of them. The first few were pretty boring because I didn’t know what I was doing, so I was just outlining the shapes. But after I got the hang of things, I started getting more detailed — patterns on shirts and dresses, pockets, ties, different hair styles, etc. Plus, we also made some pets for the gingerbread people, so the dogs got spots, the birds got wings, and the stegosaurus got polka dotted and striped.

 

Halloween in the ‘Dorf

Ian and I went over to TattooGirl [and Mr. TattooGirl]‘s place last night to hand out candy for Halloween! It was loads of fun!

Here is the candy bucket when we started the evening:

Candy Bucket Pre-Halloween

Had some trouble getting the dogs to sit still for their pictures, but got a couple blurry pictures. There was Buddy in an Elvis costume as a “Hound Dog.” And Charley was “Count Dogula.”

Buddy the Hound Dog Charlie as Count Dogula Count Dogula

I didn’t get any pictures of the kids dressed up, but here are my top picks:

Best costume: ~5-year-old kid in full astronaut costume. It was probably a little unsafe because the helmet looked like it was a little too big and limited his visibility. But it was a fantastic costume.

Best costume on the cheap: Teenager wearing a clear garbage bag/poncho filled with purple balloons. He was a bunch of grapes.

Most common costume: princess.

Other notable costumes:

- Little girl in full Sponge Bob get-up, including shoes.
- Star Trek character in red uniform. Because, really, what is more scary than wearing a red uniform when you go out?
- Little kid in Yoda costume. About the same size that I would picture real life Yoda.
- Two girls dressed as nerds — suspenders, ties, and broken glasses taped together. They didn’t really seem pro-nerds, but they were good costumes.
- The numerous girls who dressed as prostitutes. I mean, I don’t know what they were actually supposed to be, but that’s what they looked like.
- Woman who looked like she was in her 50s, not with any kids or in costume… TattooGirl says she stops by every year. She might be homeless.

Oh, so TG’s sister-in-law lives with them. And she and a friend were going out to a party later in the evening. So TG’s sister-in-law’s friend came over a little early to get ready. None of the rest of us had met her before. And she was in a hippy costume with a big purse. She also showed up at the same time a mob of kids came to the door. So, I maybe dropped a handful of candy in her purse before she tried to get me to stop… And then I realized she was just a short adult… Whoops! ;)

Then there was the one kid whose parents saw us standing in the open doorway waiting for the next bunch of kids to walk up…. and called the kid back to skip this house. What? Just because a few of us were standing in the doorway with bottles of “juice” in our hands? I don’t understand.

After handing out candy for 3 hours and watching Hunt for Red October (you know, October… so it’s a Halloween movie…), we were a little punchy and running out of candy:

Mr. TattooGirl

 

Happy 1234567890!

I just found out, but there’s still time to celebrate:
Happy 1234567890!

 

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Happy new year!!

I forgot to tell my boss I wanted today off, so I’m spending my day in meetings for work. Woo. Hope you all are having more fun than me! (Plus flurries today!)

 

Happy Inauguration Day!

The World Unseen ipod

buy Changeling Not a very good view today, if you like cars.

Spending the day in front of the TV. Hope you’re all watching! :)Superman: Doomsday move download Invincible

Birdman of Alcatraz movie

Intolerable Cruelty rip

Troglodyte release

 

Happy New Year!!!

 

Christmas weekend

Thursday started out with breakfast with Ian’s parents. I got my first stocking and have plenty of Christmas candy to last me until the new year. :)

Thursday afternoon was with Ian’s extended family. The big differences from previous years was the musical extravaganza and birthday cake for dessert. We sang happy birthday to Jesus. It was a fun day.

Ian's mom's fancy veggie platter Daisy White Elephant Exchange

Did Christmas with my family on Boxing Day. There was dancing, more snorking, and bingo! Plus, Anna had a chance to enjoy the activity book I received the day before.

Mac & Cheese (I made this for Thanksgiving too, but forgot to link the recipe. Thanks to Anna for sending this to me!)

INGREDIENTS
For topping
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 cups panko (coarse Japanese bread crumbs) or 3 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from 6 slices firm white sandwich bread)
1/4 pound coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

For macaroni and sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups whole milk
1 pound coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (6 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 pound elbow macaroni

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Make topping:
Melt butter, then stir together with panko and topping cheeses in a bowl until combined well.

Make sauce:
Melt butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes, then whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cheeses, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until smooth. Remove from heat and cover surface of sauce with wax paper.

Make Macaroni:
Cook macaroni in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 4 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in a colander. Stir together macaroni, reserved cooking water, and sauce in a large bowl. Transfer to 2 buttered 2-quart shallow baking dishes.

Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

NOTES: Add a tablespoon of mustard to the roux. I’ve been using progressively more pasta each time and I think for my taste, about a pound and a half of pasta with some ham mixed in was a good cheese ratio (can reduce final baking time to ~15 mins). I mixed whole wheat with regular rotinis and started that when I started the sauce and let it sit in the water to overcook the noodles until the sauce was ready.

 

GOTV

Go vote!

 

Happy Birthday!

 

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Anna! :)

 

Birthdays!

Happy birthday Laura and Pamela! :)

 

Spread the word! | RSSDay.org

Spread the word! | RSSDay.org

Feedburner recently reported that they track around 60 million RSS subscribers. Even if we bump that number to 70 million RSS users (counting people that use RSS with other applications or platforms) this would still convert to a meager 5,4% of the Internet users around the world, as of today.

Really?? 5.4%? That’s nuts. You guys all use RSS, right? Right…?

 

What’s a pirate’s favorite holiday?

ARRRRRbor Day!

Hahha. Hope everyone has fun plans to plant a tree this weekend! Or maybe another weekend if you don’t live in the same region as me.

 

Happy Earth Day

Hmm… I feel like I should make an Earth Day resolution or something. I know I’m more wasteful than I should be and it’s mostly out of laziness. So, I can at least try to do something about it.

I get a lot of tote bags from conferences and stuff. I think I’m going to gather some of those up and throw them in my trunk for when I go grocery shopping. I have a lot more plastic bags at home than I need. I usually use them to line small trash cans, but I also try not to produce so much trash. So I have a lot of plastic bags around already.

I also need a lunch bag. I usually put my lunch in a plastic bag and put the bag in a box at work. Then, when the box is full, I bring all the bags home and start over. But, alternatively, I could just use a lunch bag. Thrilling life I lead, right? :)

What’s your Earth Day resolution?