Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Yesterday was the St. Patrick's Day celebration in Chicago.  It was also buddy, Lauren's, birthday and some of my best friends from college are in town as well! In fact, one of my friends is named Patrick so I was pretty pumped to celebrate St. Patty's day with my very own Patrick.  Last year, we went and saw the dyed green river and all of that so this year we decided to just hang out.

I started the day off with a nice 8 mile run outside!  I am so excited that spring weather is here and it no longer hurts to be outdoors.  It was fantastic.  After a much needed shower, my friends all got together and kicked off the day with green mimosas and cinnamon rolls!  We ended up hanging out on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather and it was just awesome.  After some pizza for lunch, we walked to a nearby Irish bar and saw some Irish step dancers.  This is something that I've always wanted to be able to do and I just can't figure out.  I mean, I am a decent dancer, but I just can't get my feet to do anything that resembles Irish step dancing and so I give those girls a lot of credit and I think it's crazy cool.  For dinner, we went to Cheesie's by the Belmont Red Line stop.  That place is so bad, but so good.  If you are ever in the area and respect a great grilled cheese sandwich, you have to go.  And then, we ended our night at Cesar's having some "killer" margaritas along with some delicious nachos.  Overall, it was a really fun day.  It's days like these where I am so grateful for the fantastic friends I have and the great city I live in.

Because it was the St. Patricks Day celebration and because it was a birthday celebration.  I decided to make Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.  I have tried a similar cupcake before and it was really yummy.  So, I wanted to make my own.  I was inspired by the Brown Eyed Baker and I made some adjustments to the recipe.  Here is what I came up with!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Cupcake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup Guinness beer
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
Filling:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tsp Irish whiskey
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions:
1. Make the cupcakes: preheat oven to 350 and line 24 cupcake wells with liners.  Or, if you want, I made 6 giant cupcakes in my silicon cupcake holders and 24 mini cupcakes in a mini cupcake pan.  Then, in a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder.  In a small saucepan, place butter, canola oil, Guinness, and cocoa powder.  Heat until butter melts and stir to combine.  Let cool while you beat the eggs and greek yogurt in a large bowl.  Beat in the chocolate mixture until well combined.  Beat in the flour mixture until just combined and fill your cupcake wells so that they are about 3/4 full.  For mini cupcakes, bake for about 12 minutes, for regular, bake for about 17 minutes, and for giant, bake for about 19 minutes.  Let cool completely.
2. Make the filling: chop the chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl.  In a separate, microwave safe bowl, pour the cream and heat for about 30-45 seconds.  You want it to be warm, but not boiling.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate completely melts.  Stir in the whiskey and the butter and then let sit so that the ganache starts to set.
3. Make the frosting: beat the butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy.  Beat in the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until it is well combined.  Beat in the Bailey's and continue to beat until your frosting because light and fluffy.  Add in more powdered sugar as needed.
4. To assemble: using a knife or a cupcake corer, cut out the centers of your cupcakes.  Spoon in the ganache to fill the centers.  Then, using a piping bag or an offset spatula, frost your cupcakes.  Serve immediately, or store in the fridge in a container.  Before serving, let the cupcakes sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes

Today was super fun and so I wanted to share with you! My cooperating teacher was out for the day and so I got to teach all day long! It was exhausting, but also fun.  And now, I am so ready to tell you about these guys: 

I started off my day with a few meetings about Algebra and Geometry with the other teachers who teach those topics.  Then, it was time for Algebra 2.  I had a substitute in the room, but she really let me take the lead and just sat back.  Today’s first lesson was about graphing in three dimensions.  With some handy manipulatives, students explored graphing in three dimensions with their groups.  Following a brief discussion about graphing 3-D things on a 2-D sheet of paper (things can get messy) we took a quick activity break. 

I led a “group juggle” activity.  In this activity, the entire class juggles three objects.  Every person throws a stuffed animal or other soft object to someone else and, following the same order, you try and get three or more objects flying through the air without crashing or dropping.  This is a good way to get people saying names and since I am fairly new, I was trying my best to learn all their names!  Also, the challenge of not getting confused or dropping any objects makes it a fun challenge for the students. 

After our 5-minute break, the students returned to their seats for the next lesson: The Cooling Corpse! IN this lesson, students use exponential relationships to solve a murder mystery.  The students acted out the murder story and then got to work in their teams.  They got to be detectives and use math to figure out who the murderer was.  It was so fun to see them get into this and learn more about exponential relationships.  It was a fun class all around.  Plus, the next class was the same thing! I got to do this all again, but better because I had already practiced it once!

After a long day, it was time for lunch and a little planning time before working out and then returning home for dinner.  PHEW!

Now, I am watching Pretty Little Liars (great show) and getting ready to share an amazing recipe that I made recently: Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes.  I brought these in for my teacher friends and they were an instant hit! These cupcakes were absolutely delicious!

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes (adapted from Recipe Girl)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tbsp cake flour

2 3/4 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)

10 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

3/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

4 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare enough cupcake pans for 24 cupcakes.

2. In a small bowl, mix the chocolate chips with the 1/2 tbsp of flour.  Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.   

4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and greek yogurt with both sugars until well combined.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla.  

5. Alternate adding the flour and Baileys starting and ending with the flour until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Fill cupcake wells almost to the top and bake for about 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool.

6. Make the frosting: beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.  Beat in the Baileys and vanilla.  Frost cooled cupcakes.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Espresso Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches

I know I know, this is insane! This dessert combines basically everything I love: dessert, chocolate, cookies, coffee, ice cream, and it's light! Crazy! The only thing that is missing here is peanut butter, but I suppose that's not everyone's cup of tea.  First I made the Chocolate Espresso Cookies.  I found the recipe  at Petite Kitchenesse and simply used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose! Then, I made my recipe for Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.  As I was finishing up mixing the yogurt, I decided to do something truly insane.  I went through my parents liquor cabinet! I found the Bailey's and I added a little bit of it.  It is so not overpowering and I did only add a tiny bit.  If you want more of an Irish Cream Coffee taste, just add more until you are satisfied! MMM!!! So here it is: Chocolate Espresso Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches with Bailey's FroYo!

Chocolate Espresso Cookies (adapted from Petite Kitchenesse)

Ingredients:
16 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp espresso
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a few cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Melt the bittersweet chocolate and the butter in a double boiler, stirring occasionally. While this is melting, combine the sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl with a mixer until well combined. Once you have a smooth chocolate mixture, beat the chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture.

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and espresso together. Slowly add to the wet ingredients until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

4.  The dough will be very runny.  You can stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes to let it harden a little if you want.  Otherwise, drop tbsp of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Make the FroYo if you want with the recipe here plus a few tsp of Bailey's (add as much as your taste desires).

Let the cookies cool completely on wire racks before assembling the ice cream sandwiches.

Enjoy :)

So there you have it! The greatest ice cream sandwich I've ever had! Plus, I didn't feel at all guilty about eating it! Also, get excited because I had so many extra cookies, that I brought them back to school with me for DTS Study Night! I can't wait to share these cookies with everyone.  The only downside to all of this: It's still Passover and I can't actually eat the cookies tonight :(.  I'll have to leave the room while everyone eats so that I don't torture myself.  Seriously, all I want is a good cookie right now...My family friend, Marcy, sent me a great Passover cookie recipe...might have to make those ASAP!