There has been some progress, so I'm not as glum about it as I could be. Progress is progress.

There's also been some progress in the baking hobby.



Lemon bars from the recipe of a friend's mother (thank you, Scout!) and another stab at the Guinness chocolate cupcakes, this time with a lemon cream filling and a ganache icing. The lemon bars are amazing. Can't believe I made them. The cupcakes? Aren't supposed to crunch like that.

Yeah, crunch. I think it's time to let this recipe die and move on to something else.

Labels: baking, book, meta

Lots of baking this weekend:









And Adam got a macro lens for the D40. All in all, a very good weekend.

Labels: baking, camera, food, transformers, uglydolls

Every single day, I get dinged a couple of times by people looking for Guinness cupcakes. So I may as well post the recipe, which I fliched off of the internet somewhere, and may or may not be totally stolen from Nigella, but if that's the case, I apologize.

It's also been modified for the mile-high altitude, where cakes (like pie crusts) like a little extra wet. In this case, I added an egg and a teaspoon of baking powder.

GUINNESS CUPCAKES

1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (I sometimes up this to a full cup and then throw in a handful of semi-sweet morsels if I'm thinking about it)
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract -- (which I'm out of at the moment, which SUCKS!)
2 cups flour
2-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt -- I am of the "you need salt" school of thought

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add cocoa and sugar. Whisk like a crazed whisker.

In a bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, and vanilla; mix well. Add Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda. Whisk until it's velvety smooth. Pour into cupcake/muffin tin. I prefer the huge size, but I can't find size-appropriate cups, so break out that butter and flour!

Drink rest of Guinness.

Bake 45 - 50 minutes or until a tooth pick in the center comes away free, blah, blah, blah. You've made cupcakes before.

And then comes the most awesome part: icing the cupcakes. Again, I nicked this off of the internet and I don't remember where now. If it's your recipe, props! It's fantastic.

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk (whole, for the love of all that is holy. You're making cupcakes for pity's sake)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sling butter, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla into your mixer. Trust me, you want a mixer here. Add two tablespoons of milk. Beat the heck out of it. Add more milk a tablespoon at a time as needed until you have the consistancy of beer froth.



And hey, if you're really talented with the frosting, you can do the traditional shamrock on top.

I am not that clever.

Happy eating. Let me know how it turned out.

Labels: baking, guinness cupcakes, home