Soft Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

It looks like all this "free" time over the holidays is lending itself to baking! I've been working collegiate basketball games, dedicating time to language-learning, reading and of course, playing piano.

The most recent recipe I stumbled across was for soft and chewy pumpkin cookies! I know it's the wrong season for pumpkin now, but after Thanksgiving I purchased a reduced-price can of pumpkin purée and this week, it finally occurred to me what to do with it.

Soft Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 2 1/2 c flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t salt 
• 1 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1 c canned pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 c chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes.

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The recipe yielded around 20 massively large cookies. I was using a table spoon to shape my cookies, like suggested in the recipe, but eventually switched to the teaspoon because they were so huge! The cookies never became crunchy, since this is a soft cookie recipe, but more retained the texture of something akin to pumpkin bread. Perfection :)

So who cares if it's not pumpkin season anymore... dig in and enjoy some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

Vanilla Candy Cane Cupcakes

Now that it's Christmas, I'm back to my old baking ways. Or maybe that can be attributed to my lack of motivation to study for finals.

Either way, I am DONE with grad school for the semester and have an entire month to do nothing create my lesson plans for the spring semester. We have a party in both my classes today, since it's the last day of class before finals week. 

My contribution to the class party was not related to international languages or studies, as we are a multitude of international and foreign students. Instead, I had to go with the Christmas theme :)

Remember those mint chocolate chip cupcakes I made inspired by my favorite ice cream flavor? Well let's just say the only thing I love more is PEPPERMINT ICE CREAM. It's a tragedy such a flavor only exists from November to January. Try it if you haven't yet, you'll thank me later.

This ice cream essentially inspired my in-class treats this time around (I feel like I'm in elementary school again baking goodies for class parties, NOT grad school).

Vanilla Candy Cane Cupcakes (semi-homemade)

• 1 box of white cupcake mix
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1.5 T peppermint extract
• oil, eggs and water as stated on package directions
• vanilla frosting
• 5 candy canes, crushed

Essentially, I just made regular boxed cupcakes (lazy, I know, but it's finals week!) and then added my own vanilla and peppermint extract. Cook according to package directions. When they cooled, I frosted the cupcakes and then garnished with crushed candy canes.

I can't wait for the class party to try these little guys. I've been so good -- for once! ...Is it 3:00 yet!?!?!

P.S..... Based on my limited income and cholesterol/blood sugar related levels, I am seriously considering following a vegetarian or pescatarian diet as soon as I finish all the meat in my fridge. AKA when I return from Christmas break. How's that for dropping a bomb at the end of a post?! :)

Week 30: Infused alcohol

Prior to this week, I’d never cut a pineapple. Others have done it for me and I’ve eaten pre-cut pineapple, but I never got my hands dirty while doing so. It scared me.

This week, I rolled up my sleeves and got down to business. Silly me, I didn’t even realized pineapples had seeds under their spiny skin! Fun fact for the day.

Once I had several pineapple spears, I cut them down farther and set out to infuse my own tequila. Yes, I started making pineapple tequila!

Infusing alcohol is pretty easy. Especially since luck would have me randomly purchasing small mason jars just the day before. In my quest to come up with something new, I browsed many crafty blogs and found a recipe for grapefruit vodka from Not Martha. Won over by this simple idea, I knew I could kill two birds with one stone and a.) cut my very first pineapple and b.) infuse my very first jar of alcohol!

All I did was fill the jar with pineapple spears and then topped off with lots of tequila (tequila and I aren’t really friends anyways, so why not make it taste better?). Note: When infusing alcohol, make sure to use the best quality you’ve got on hand. The fruit is only going to give it a hint of flavor, it’s not overpowering. In my case, the bf would have FLIPPED if I used all of our Patrón, so instead I went with a mélange of our remaining José Cuervo and then topped it off with Patrón ;)

As a tip for mild-flavored fruits (such as pineapple), most recipes I browsed said to leave the pineapple in the alcohol for up to two weeks. Then when ready, strain the liquid and use to your tastes.

After two days, I couldn’t wait to try it. I was so excited. So as soon as I woke up the second day, I took a spoon to my jar and tasted. What a horrendous idea that was. Even though it smelled like pineapple, it straight up tasted like tequila. I almost spat it out. Clearly it needed more time!

So four days later, I wanted to test it out in a beverage. My remaining pineapple was close to the end of its life and I honestly couldn’t wait any longer. So that pineapple tequila turned into this:

Yes, that’s a piña colada margarita! No I didn't have any mini drink umbrellas. Leave me alone for a few seconds while I pout.

Although it ended up being a lot more watery than I would have liked, the margarita tasted pretty darn delicious. And now that my curiosities have been satisfied, I still have 4/5 of the jar left to soak up more pineapple flavor. Then I can really enjoy it next week (though, who really enjoys tequila anyways?!).

Piña Colada Margarita

• 2 shots (4 oz) pineapple infused tequila
• 1/2 c fresh pineapple
• 1/2 c coconut milk
• ice to thicken up
• salt to rim the glass

Enjoy the warm weather this weekend!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Yes, you read that right.

No, it wasn’t my birthday… but it should have been.

I freakin’ LOVE mint chocolate chip ice cream. And it’s got to be the green kind, not the cop out white minty variety (you can tell I’ve had a lot of experience eating mint chip ice cream before). In fact, if it weren’t for the holiday peppermint candy cane ice cream, mint chip would be the very top of my list. Thank God that stuff can only be found two-to-three months out of the year.

But I digress… let’s get back to my obsession with mint chocolate chip!

For the past week or so, I searched and searched for a decent cupcake recipe. After the success I had tweaking base recipes with peanut butter and lemon cakes, the mint thing couldn’t be that hard, could it?

Yes it could. The major problem I encountered with every recipe was that they were all chocolate-based cakes with mint flavoring and green mint frosting.

What I really wanted was green cupcakes that looked exactly like little scoops of ice cream. So I took matters into my own hands:

You’re lying to yourself if you don’t think those look like ice cream cups :)

Eventually I found a base for mint cupcakes (from the Sprinkles cupcake bakery!) and added my own touch.

I present to you:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

(yields 14 cupcakes)

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour, sifted

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 c skim milk

1 1/2 t peppermint extract

1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 c (1 stick) butter

1 c sugar

1 large egg

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 mini chocolate chips

green food coloring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk and extracts; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture and food coloring; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended. Finally, by hand, fold in chocolate chips.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

For the frosting:

• 3 c powdered sugar
• 2/3 c cocoa
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/3 c milk

Sift together powdered sugar and cocoa. Melt butter. Add butter and vanilla to sifted mixture. Stir. Add milk to get desired spreading consistency. If more milk is required, add by tablespoon at a time. Can store up to 3 months in the freezer.

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There you have it! Mint chocolate chip cupcakes that taste EXACTLY like the ice cream – only better because they didn’t melt. Not like I’d let them sit around long enough to melt, please!

Other than that, I really can’t tell you how freakin’ good these were. You’re just going to have to make them yourselves :)

Just send me some in the mail… I “gave some of mine to friends and coworkers” and ate the other half of the batch myself in less than a week.

(P.S., I didn’t realize at the time, but I accidentally bought gluten free graham flour instead of whole wheat flour. So, there, these just so happen to be gluten free cupcakes too. And they still came out exactly like I’d hoped!)

Week 29: Home made chocolate cranberry & toasted coconut granola

Every week in 2011, for 52-straight weeks, I hope to try something new and blog about it here. This is the 29th post in the series, when I finally made my own granola at home. Here you can find a list of all my weekly adventures thus far.

I’ve always loved granola. Especially when it’s incorporated into trail mixes with nuts, fruit and chocolate. But mostly chocolate.

One of my best friends from home always makes granola, and she makes it look so easy! When I visited her at UCLA one summer I was still at UC Santa Barbara, she made honey nut granola and we ate it like there was no tomorrow.

Since then, I’ve been telling myself I’ve always wanted to make granola. But, something about it scared me. And I have no idea why, because it’s one of the easier things a person could possibly make.

Chocolate, Cranberry & Toasted Coconut Granola

Adapted from Blog Critics

• 4 c rolled oats
• 3 T cocoa powder
• 1/2 c dried cranberries
• 1/4 c coconut flakes
• 1/4 c white chocolate chips
• 1/2 c chopped nuts
• 1/3 c honey
• 3 T maple syrup
• 1/2 c almond oil
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ginger
• 1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Stir all ingredients together in a bowl. Combine until oats are totally coated. Spread in a thin layer on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes or until a spoonful left to cool to room temperature is crunchy. Stir every 15 minutes for evenly cooked granola or leave unstirred for chunkier granola.

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Although I’ve been semi bed-ridden today, all I could think about was a bowl of this granola. For breakfast I dished out a bowl of plain Greek yogurt, sliced up strawberries and included a generous heaping of granola. I may have also grabbed a few handfuls to snack on.

So there you have it! Beautiful, chocolatey granola with a healthy serving of fruits and nuts. The cocoa powder is sort of subtle, it’s not overly chocolatey, but every now and then you get a bite of a white chocolate chip and it adds another layer of chocolate! If you’re crazy like I am, you could also throw in mini chocolate morsels prior to baking. Let’s be gourmet and call it triple chocolate granola then, instead of exposing it for the sugar overload it really is…

But come on, do you blame me?! I mean, I have been bed-ridden after all :)

Besides, I have grand ideas for this granola!

Garlic Fries, a little taste of SF

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been to the City many, many times in my life. Even last year when I lived a several hours east of SF at my old job, J.D. and I still made a few trips out to San Francisco.

We played tourists for the Valentine’s Day weekend, doing all the things I’d never done before because I felt too “local” for them. You know, like going to Alcatraz.

 

 

We went to a wine and chocolate tasting boutique, on another occasion paired wine and cupcakes at American Cupcake (!!!) and ate seafood until we turned into seals or something.

But I’m pretty sure all of that pales in comparison to the Gordon Biersch garlic fries we always get on the pier and at Giants or A’s games! (Did I really just say that?!)

If you’ve never had garlic fries… you’re missing out! They are so wonderfully crispy and garlicy and amazing. Even if it comes at the expense of fresh breath. Learn how they came to the United States and started at Gordon Biersch, here.

Well if you haven’t yet tried them, you now have zero excuses, because I finally made them at home myself! And we didn’t even get all intense with cutting our own potatoes, we used freezer fries and baked them, then made garlic magic.

San Franciscan Garlic Fries

• 1/2 package frozen French fries
• 5 t minced garlic
• 2 t chopped parsley
• 2 T olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Bake the French fries (I’m sure this could be amazing with sweet potato fries too), according to package directions and while they are still warm, toss in a bowl with all remaining ingredients. Do not let the fries cool after cooking, otherwise the ingredients won’t stick. We decided to kick it up a notch and add in 1 T garlic salt and pepper for taste.

While these weren’t as breath-killingly garlic as the fries I’m used to, the taste still brought me back to snacking on the piers or hanging out in the bleachers at Bay Area baseball games! It’s a little bite of home, from deep in the desert where temperatures are currently 109 degrees and rising.

So what did we pair those glories fries with?! Home made Italian meatball subs… but that’s a story for another time.

French Friday: Crustless Quiche

I’ve been a terrible Frenchie lately. I mean, yesterday was Bastille Day (the equivalent of Independence Day here in the U.S., just, a celebration of royal heads rolling through the streets of Paris…) and I drank GERMAN wine with dinner.

I haven’t even been watching much of the Tour de France… but I did root for France in the Women’s World Cup semi-final match against the United States. And I did make kir a few weeks ago. Oh yeah, and I made a quiche.

So at least I’ve got something going for me with regards to my Frenchness.

Crustless Shrimp, Spinach & Asparagus Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 10-15 asparagus spears
• 2 c spinach, rough chopped
• 2 T cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2  T rosemary, finely chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 2 T milk
• 1/2 c parmesan cheese , shredded
• 8 T sour cream (I used plain Greek yogurt again)
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 6 oz shrimp , cooked
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Heat oven to 350. Spray pie plate with cooking spray.

Heat skillet over medium heat with oil. Saute onion and asparagus and 5 – 8 minutes until tender. Whip eggs and milk in mixing bowl.

Layer onion, asparagus, shrimp, parsley, thyme, spinach and cheese in pie plate. Pour egg mixture over the top, pressing the spinach down into the egg mixture. Bake at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes until set.

Top with chopped tomatoes and Greek yogurt for each serving.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of full-fat creams, cheeses and buttery crusts. On special occasions, generally, but not in my daily cooking.

So this was perfect! It was super easy, didn’t require an intricate crust and is fairly healthy. I ate it everyday for almost a week and never got bored of my quiche.

Oh and I even consumed a bottle of red, FRENCH wine with each of my quichey meals. Take that, German Gewürztraminer!

Since I’m not intimidated by quiche-making, you shouldn’t be either! This is a very simple French meal anyone can make at home. Might as well make it and catch the final eight stages of the Tour de France (aired on tape delay on Versus). My favorite scene is always the cyclists pushing through the final stage on the Champs-Élysées:

Bon appétit!

Queen Creek Peach Festival

Remember how I told you about our picnic at the local park? Let’s continue on with another free activity that took place a few weeks back: The Queen Creek Peach Festival. I’m so far behind on updates from May… going back home to California is like a vacuum that sucks me right up every time. It was great to be home; I am sad every time I head back to Arizona!

A local family-owned farm hosted the Queen Creek Peach Festival four days during what seemed like the hottest weekend of the year thus far. On the final day of the festival, we jumped into the car, grabbed some Starbucks (story for another time, I’ve almost entirely cut caffeine out of my diet) and were ready to tackle the festival.

There were tractors providing rides to the orchard, celebrity chef demonstrations (which we couldn’t seem to locate), peach pancake breakfasts and tastings.

It was crazy hot and everyone and their mom wanted to ride the tractor, but we opted to brave the mile walk on the way to the orchard. I couldn’t get over how hot it was already in May. I’m also pretty sure there wasn’t a minute that went by without me wiping sweat off myself. Hot, I know.

But eventually we picked several pounds of peaches and also came home with a jar of farm-bottled peach salsa. Yummy!

So what’s the first thing we did with all those peaches?! Make breakfast, of course!

Sausage and Peach Pancakes

Pancake Ingredients:

• 2 c pancake mix
• 1 c water
• 2 peaches
• 8 oz package sausage

Syrup Ingredients:

• 1/4 c sugar
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1/2 c peach juice (we just blended up half a peach with water)
• 3/4 c maple syrup
• 1 T butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pancake mix and water and pour into greased 9"x13" pan. Arrange peaches alternately with sausages that have been cut in pieces. Bake for 30 minutes. For Topping: mix sugar and cornstarch with juice and cook until thick. Add maple syrup and butter.

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My mom used to make pancake and French toast “casseroles” often. This reminded me of a specific Dutch baby recipe she’s made several times. As an added bonus, ours was made from Swedish pancake mix. Oddly enough, it puffed up to the same thickness as a regular pancake, which confused my crepe-eating palate.

I also enjoyed peach smoothies for days. Funny, we never made any cobblers or grilled peach halves with all those peaches!

Oh well, at least summer (produce) is finally here!! I love watermelon and cherries and am waiting to strike as soon as they’re available at the grocery store.

Week 21: Home Made Garlic Hummus

Every week in 2011, for 52-straight weeks, I hope to try something new and blog about it here. This is the 21st week of the year, when I made my very first jar of (garlic) hummus. Here you can find a list of all my weekly adventures in 2011.

This girl looooveeees hummus. My favorite is Sabra, and I especially love their garlic and olive (two different flavors) hummuses. Hummi? Whatever, kinds of hummus. But I’ve never tried making it myself.

 

Hummus is crazy easy to make!!! (And it looks even prettier with the Instagram app, it’s probably my favorite iPhone application and it’s freeeee) What the heck have I been doing with my life before this?!?! The one thing I will say is make sure to refrigerate it before eating. I sampled it right out of the food processor and was not pleased. Chill that crap. Then enjoy.

Garlic Hummus:

• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T minced roasted garlic
• 1 T Italian herb blend
• salt and pepper to taste

All you have to do is pulse everything in the food processor for about 30 seconds. And voilà, your hummus is done.

Just so you know, my favorite thing to eat hummus with are veggies and pita chips. But I went balls out this week. I’ve been talking about making falafel at home for-EVER now. And since I had the hummus, why not?!?!

Sadly, I did not have Kalamata olives or Feta. I’d make a terrible Greek. My mouth is watering just thinking about those olives….

Know why else I’d make a terrible Greek? That’s naan and not a pita. Oy vey.

Either way, it was a pretty good meal. And just like hummus, falafel is one of the easiest things I’ve ever made! This actually came out of a box, all I had to do was add water, roll into balls and then grill on each side for three minutes. So yummy.

And just like that you, too, can have a quick and easy – and ridiculously tasty – “Greek” meal at home. Trust me on this, if you haven’t made hummus at home yet, get on it. It costs less than $1.50. And now I have an excuse to eat more pita chips.

Birthday Bacon Cupcakes

Yes, you heard that right.

For my bf’s birthday on Monday, one of my friends joked I should take him to Denny’s for their bacon-fest. They even have bacon sundaes. She wasn’t joking – she knows how much that boy loves bacon.

Well, instead we had plans to go to Fogo de Chão, but I figured I’d finally attempt cooking dessert with bacon. Yes, I’m late to the party. If we’re being honest though, I never would have even considered making these if I hadn’t tasted the bacon French toast cupcakes with maple frosting my sister made for Easter. They were good, and I can’t believe I’m admitting that. So the scary factor of throwing bacon in cupcakes was gone. I rolled up my sleeves and knocked out a few of these babies:

Peanut Butter Bacon Cupcakes with Peanut Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/2 package bacon
• 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/8 cup bacon grease
• 1/8 stick of butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 package yellow cake mix
• 1/3 cup water

Directions:

Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1/8 cup bacon grease and set aside to cool. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Chop the bacon.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Beat the crunchy peanut butter, bacon grease and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the peanut butter mixture before adding the next. Pour in the cake mix alternately with the water, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in 2/3 of the chopped bacon (saving the rest to top the cupcakes after frosting); mixing just enough to evenly combine. Pour the batter into prepared cupcake pan, about 2/3 full.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c peanut butter (if piping, learn from my mistake: use creamy and not crunchy so you don’t clog it up)
• 1 c powdered sugar

Directions:

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Frost cupcakes once cupcakes are completely cooled.

Then, top with bacon! Confession: I topped mine with bacon before baking, so they looked like little muffins. Not only is there bacon inside, but also on top of the cupcakes AND atop the frosting!

And enjoyed them with Cupcake wine… silly I know. But I’d do it again. If only I had more of that wine…

Tant pis. Oh well. Off to watch the French Open am I! And I also should start packing and/or cleaning my house. We’re driving back to California for Memorial Day Weekend in THREE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

Avocado Daiquiris: more good than weird

Before I get into the good stuff (booze), I have to tell you about this show J.D. loves called Drinking Made Easy. It's a pretty neat show and it's based loosely off Zane Lamprey's earlier show, Three Sheets. Three Sheets is actually the show that sparked my desire to one day travel to Belize :)

We all know I'm a sucker for travel, so why not throw in some interesting alcohol facts and recipes, right?! Well, when Drinking Made Easy hit Portland, Ore., the illusive avocado daiquiri caught my eye.

And it was only a matter of time before I put my own spin on it.

Avocado Daiquiri (adapted from Mint/820)

Ingredients:

• 4 oz mango rum (original recipe calls for 4 oz light & gold rum)
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 2 oz simple syrup
• 1/4 medium-ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
• 1/2 oz heavy cream
• 1/2 oz skim milk
• 1 1/2 c ice

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients together and enjoy!

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As weird as it sounds, I really enjoyed this cocktail! It was creamy and fruity and refreshing. I think it would be a lot bolder without the mango rum, and will definitely have to try it again. Although I had to work during the night of Cinco de Mayo (and I'm French, remember?! I shouldn't even have to acknowledge that "holiday") I'd definitely make these again to "catch up". Or for any occasion, really.

Enjoy! Oh and...

To summarize, two posts ago I said I was going on an alcohol detox, didn't I...?! Oops :)

Week 17: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Remember my deep love for all things cupcake?! Does it surprise you to learn I've never made a batch from scratch before?

Up until now, all my cupcake-making adventures involved pre-mixed boxes. Despite it being Monday, last week I finally rolled up my sleeves and made my own cupcakes from scratch.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes, that is.

(Side note, aren't these silicone cupcake holders my mom got me for Easter adorable?!)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c unsweetened cocoa
• 2 c sugar
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch fine salt
• 1 bottle stout beer
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 c sour cream (I subbed plain Greek yogurt)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.

In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.

And the recipe on the website for the frosting calls for powdered sugar. That I did not have on hand, but I had heavy cream. So I scoured the Internet and came up with this recipe for Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting.

This was also the first time I've ever piped on frosting! Usually I'll just slather it on with a knife and make those messy peaks. But since buying piping bags in Sonoma last weekend, I figured this was as good as any time to start! Regardless, the messy look still shone through with my piped whipped cupcakes... Soooo, I really need to learn techniques. I tried to make flower petals instead of spiral frosting toppers, but they turned out heinous. Instead, I just swirled right on top haha. If you know of any websites/videos on how to pipe pretty designs, please send them my way :)

Now about the beer:

Yes there is an entire bottle of beer in my batter. Mixing it all together in my KitchenAid, you could DEFINITELY smell the stout. It reminded me of staying at a bar near closing and smelling the booze freshly spilled all over counters and floors ;) Ok, it was actually more of a pleasant aroma. And, interestingly enough, despite baking for 24 minutes, you can distinctly taste the beer in the cupcakes! It is interesting and very subtle, which I think makes for a delicious cupcake. Kind of reminds me of the time I dumped a whole lot of Bailey's into chocolate chip cookies....

Sensing a theme here? Seriously, try this. Or at least try alcoholic baked goods. It's kind of fun, in a childish-I-want-to-be-an-adult sort of way.

One final note. I found this recipe because I had all that stout on hand. Why?! Because I found alcoholic whipped cream at Total Wine and bought some when my sister was in town. My sister bought German Chocolate and I went with Amaretto. We honest-to-God tried whipped cream shots in our mouths, but this was too much. It literally tastes like taking shots. Stings the mouth, even.

I initially thought they'd be really good on top of a glass of stout. I've actually had whipped cream on top of a pumpkin beer before, in a restaurant, so this seemed similar. Upon contact with the beer, the alcoholic whipped cream curdled. Needless to say, I didn't finish it, at all. As unpleasant as that sounds, who knows, maybe it'll be decent on top of stout cupcakes...

Homemade Pulled Pork

Since moving to Arizona, the crock pot hasn't come out of hiding in over eight months! Thinking of this fact, and also my longing for some pulled pork, we bought some pork loin at Target last weekend. Slow-cooked pulled pork was in the near future.

Ingredients:

• A generous cut of pork loin/shoulder
• 12 oz. cola
• large white onion, quartered
• chopped carrots
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 c water
• 2 bay leaves
• pepper and cumin for seasoning

Crock pot meals are the easiest things in the world. I basically seasoned the meat, placed it in the bottom of the slow cooker and put the remaining ingredients on top. With the lid in place, I set the concoction to medium and let it simmer away for about six hours.

When ready to prepare, strain the meat from the liquid (be careful to keep the entire cut of meat intact) and place on a large cutting board. Using two forks, shred or pull the pork into bite-sized pieces.

And that, my friends, is it! Now it is ready for whatever preparation you choose! Since you're here, I'll show you two of the ways we've eaten this pulled pork :)

Carnitas Nachos (for lunch & dinner)

...and BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

To transform into BBQ pork, simply fill a pot with enough pork to prepare two sandwiches. Top with 1/4 of a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce and let it heat up together at your desired temperature/consistency.

Famous Dave's BBQ sauce is a personal favorite! For a sweet kick, try the Apricot Bourbon BBQ sauce. My mouth is watering thinking about it.

Easy, delicious and this yielded enough meat for at least four meals (for two people)! We're going to be eating pulled pork for days.

...Or until I leave for California on Tuesday. Then I'll probably have J.D. throw out whatever remains. And by "throw out" I don't mean into Woodstock's mouth.