i got this icebox where my [stomach] used to be.

Oh Omarion. 

I used to dance like that. In my mind. hehehe. I suppose I'll stick to baking.

As St. Patrick's Day just passed and the smell of Shamrock Shakes lingers in my car, I was itching to bake something related to this glorious Irish holiday. Now, I'm not Irish. I think the hubs is a fraction Irish? And I think I only went out once to celebrate during my college years [the city is out of control, and it's not because they dye the river green].

So why the interest, you ask? Well, the Irish are known for their indulgent adult beverage intake and strong livers. I wanted to pay tribute to this by incorporating such special ingredients. My first choice: Bailey's. It seemed natural to use it, and it played nice with my homemade whipped cream.

A couple weeks ago, I was searching icebox cakes and stumbled upon this blog. I know I've read her blog before, but not regularly. I'm not sure why not though. She's a woman after my own stomach -- she created cupcakes instead of the usual icebox cake. Following her cue, it only made sense to use the icebox wafers with my Bailey's whipped cream. They're so cute!

Bailey's Whipped Cream

(I'm sure this is out there, but this one's from my tastebuds)

Ingredients:
1 c heavy whipping cream

4 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream (or to taste)
1/3 c powdered sugar (or to taste)

Directions:
Mix heavy whipping cream on medium-high until soft peaks form. Add Bailey's and sugar. Whip until well incorporated and cream is more firm.

I think the sugar enhanced the Bailey's flavor...this could very well just be in my head. I actually started with just the Bailey's, and then added the sugar after I wasn't getting the taste I was looking for. I might have added a little bit more than 1/3 cup of sugar too...but it was definitely less than a 1/2 cup! So that's not too bad, right?

And since I was already in the supermarket aisle seeking out the Bailey's, I figured that I might as well grab some Guinness. Even though I don't drink the stuff (or its wheat/barley counterparts), I knew of recipes that called for it. Over the past years that I've spent blog-stalking, these recipes had always intrigued me, so I caved and threw some in my cart. How convenient it was for the morning news to do a segment on Irish dishes the day after my purchase.

If you scroll down on that page, the recipe for the Guinness cake is there, and I used it to a 't'. Except!! I made cupcakes. Of course I made cupcakes instead, silly! I baked these with cupcake liners at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Wayne's Weekend

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 tbs. butter, softened

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1-1/3 c. powdered sugar

1/4 c. heavy whipping cream

1/4 c. Bailey's (or to taste)

Directions:

Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Add cinnamon. Slowly incorporate powdered sugar, alternating cream and Bailey's to get a stiffer, but spreadable frosting (the Bailey's will quickly make the frosting very runny, so be careful!). 

I could definitely get used to Guinness in cupcake form. This was such a good cake! I'm mostly surprised because of said beverage. Who knew barley and hops could taste so yummy? I thought the frosting was a nice balance for the cake. My oldest sister sent me a different link to a similar recipe, but that one included a Bailey's chocolate ganache. I thought about incorporating it into my cupcake, but I didn't have the time. Perhaps next year...and I'll work on having them ON the actual day. 

You'll see that I have an abundance of ideas; I just have a hard time executing them 'on time'...or at least blogging about them on time. I'm working on my timeliness. Honest. In the meantime, you can search through my labels ;) The least I can do is be organized for you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Wednesday!

my belated valentine post.

One of my guilty pleasures: the prepackaged sugar cookies with cake frosting and sprinkles that you can get at the supermarket. They're convenient when I don't have time to bake and I want cookies right then and there. But I know I should stick to baking them on my own. I've made my fair share of sugar cookies, but usually I make them with royal icing, like these. However, since I had about 20 valentines this past February 14th, I wanted to do something a little more special. And after seeing my aforementioned guilty pleasures at the store, I had the perfect idea.

I'm sure most of you remember having classroom valentines in grade school and getting the conversation hearts in your milk carton mailbox. I remember loving the sayings, but not caring too much for the actual candy.  But these, I would gladly welcome these in my milk carton mailbox. [Or my hot pink mailbox from a superstore's dollar section.]

 

With music being one of my first loves, I couldn't help but choose some of my favorite songs and use them for my cookie sayings. Naturally, they would be called "song-versation" hearts, right? ;) And when I brought them in to my students, some of the titles sparked some conversation, such as, Student: "What does emm-fey-oh mean?" Me: "Do you mean MFEO?" or Student: "What's P.Y.T.? Is that like 'peace to you'? I think you did it wrong." hahaha...these kids crack me up!

The kiddies thoroughly enjoyed the cookies -- and one of the teachers I work with promptly told me that I spoil them. True story. I love baking for my students, and since I have the time, I might as well, right? Plus, they think I'm extra-amazing because I bake...hehehe.

I made everything from scratch, but I know this can be a daunting task for some. Wanna make these too?

quick version of songversation hearts

You'll need:

Sugar cookie mix -- prepared to make cut-out cookies

Heart shaped cookie cutters

Vanilla frosting

Food coloring (to make pink, red, light purple, yellow, green)

Small spatula

Directions:

Make cookies according to package directions. While baking, begin preparing the frosting. Use food coloring to make your desired colors. I began with vanilla (white frosting). Take about a spoonful of frosting and place on the cookie. Using your small spatula, spread out the frosting evenly to the edge of your cookie. Take the side of your spatula (perpendicular to the cookie) and run it around the edge to clean up the sides of your cookie. 

After frosting a few cookies with white frosting, divide the remainder into two bowls: one bowl should have twice the frosting than the other. The bowl with more frosting will start with a couple drops of red coloring to make a light pink.  Frost a few cookies. Add a little blue coloring to make a light purple. Frost a few cookies. For the remainder of the light purple frosting, add more red coloring until the frosting is red (if you let this sit for a few hours or overnight, the red will be more pronounced). Transfer the red frosting into a pastry bag that is fitted with a writing tip (this is to write on the cookies). Alternatively, you could buy a red frosting cookie writer as it may be a simpler option. 

With the second bowl of white frosting, start with a couple drops of yellow coloring to make a light yellow. Frost a few cookies. Add a little blue coloring to make a light green. After all of your cookies are frosted, use the red frosting to write your message.

Another true story: I love this new plate that I bought. love and songversation cookie hearts. Sounds like a perfectly complete valentine to me.

And as a belated celebration, my niece and nephew came over, and I sent them home with valentines of their own. As the trade off, they snapped a couple pictures for me -- this was the best shot I could get where they weren't laughing their heads off. They may be grown now, but it's like they're still little! :D I love them to pieces! <3

P.S. Don't fret friends...The hubs, my numero uno valentine, received the first of the cookies, with song titles for him too. My fave? MLWSW You [My Life Would Suck Without You...hehehe]

project!

I have been pondering about this project for a couple years now: how to send a decorated cupcake in the mail. Initially, I was thinking: "I'll just send the cupcake and frosting separately." But then I decided that wasn't as special. One blogger got it down, but that required more work and worry than I wanted.

Other bloggers would bake the cupcakes, cut them up, and put them in the glass jars and layer the frosting. I preferred the idea of baking the cakes in the jar and frosting them as I would a normal cupcake. I couldn't find the jar size I was initially thinking of, but these worked just as well for my first trial.

A friend of the hubs and mine recently bought a new place (Hi Ben!). Now he's been on the search for quite some time. And finally, he found his perfect "sweet home", and I vowed to myself that he would get the first mailed cupcake jars. What better way is there to celebrate your new home?

It took me a while to actually get these baked up and shipped out. I gave him two frosting options; his choice: clearly Oreo. Naturally, I had to dress up the jars, so I took my cue from canners -- grabbed some pretty fabric that I had on hand and some matching ribbon and finished off the jars. I shipped the cupcake jars from frozen and two days later, they were received as a success! I contemplated overnighting them, but again, it was a trial. If they arrived bad, I was surely going to replace them :) and of course, re-think my strategy.

Ben was kind enough to post a couple of photos for me, and aside from the flattened frosting, they were perfect! He was excited for the package waiting for him when he got home, and he told me they were wonderful. I love me some satisfied customers!

i'm just here for the food.

Cinderella and football: they go together, right? I love the story of Cinderella. One of my favorite versions? 'Ever After' with Drew Barrymore. Remember the part where the step-sister was like, "Of course not mother. I'm only here for the food." That's who I am when it comes to sports.

Now I know that 2011 Superbowl XLV has come and gone, but I can't help but post about my treats [Again, I'm still catching up on my posts]. First thing's first. I don't follow football. I enjoy watching college games every now and again, and I definitely enjoy tailgating and parties. But I don't know much about the actual game. My hubs knows a lot of facts and rules and such, but he doesn't follow either.

To you sports fans out there, it will come as a disappointment to you that I am a bit of a bandwagon sports fan. It's just not exciting for me unless I know it's high stakes or something of the sort. So I only watched the last couple Bears' games, including their loss to the Packers. No Superbowl for Chicago. Oh well.

Every year, we get invited to a couple Superbowl parties; this year we ended up going to my sister-in-law's. They were rooting for the Steelers. I was rooting for the food. Going to my sister-in-law's (shout out to Anne!), there's never a shortage of good grub. The hubs and I weren't staying for the whole game -- long drive and work in the morning peeps -- we literally were going for the food...and the company of course!

Since we were going to arrive a little earlier, I figured a pre-game snack would be perf. Everybody loves the standard salty Chex mix party mix, or even puppy chow/muddy buddies, but I was feeling a bit crazy and decided on a sweet and salty mix. I saw a Christmas version with Santa hats, and I knew team megaphones would work out great. I made it all the night before, threw it in a huge bowl, and took it to the party, where it was enjoyed by most [not everyone can handle the sweet and salty together...it's a serious combination].

Sweet n Salty Party Mix

adapted from cookies and cups

Ingredients:

3 cups mini pretzels (I used 4)

1/2 cup craisins (I used 3/4 cup dried cranberries)

2 cups Rice Chex (I used 3)

(I added about 1 cup of plain bugles, on top of the 1 cup of 'megaphone' covered bugles) 1 cup salted dry roasted peanuts (I used 1 cup cinnamon almonds)

2 cups holiday colored m&m's (I didn't measure, just picked out team colors from the large bag)

8 oz. white chocolate for melting

Directions:

Spread all of your ingredients, EXCEPT cinnamon almonds, m&m's and megaphone Bugles, out on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Melt the white chocolate according to the package directions and drizzle over the mix. Transfer into a large bowl and gently stir to coat the mix with chocolate. Return mix to the baking sheet to allow chocolate to set and dry. Add the 'megaphone' covered bugles after this.

For Megaphone Bugles:

Bugles

Colored candy melts

Toothpicks

Choose about 1 cup of "well-shaped" (not too curved, etc.) Bugles. Melt candy melts according the package directions. Dip each Bugle using a fork and toothpick in order to let the excess candy melts to drip off. Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Repeat until all Bugles are coated. After they have set and dried, using another candy melt color, use a toothpick to write/draw the team's logo. You could probably use a pastry bag/triangle, but I prefer the control of the toothpick.

And since I had some blue candy melts on hand, I couldn't help but give a shout out to Chicago.

Like I said, I'm here for the food. 

And so is she. ;)