Oh. My. Leprechauns.

Although only a wee bit of Irish blood flows through these veins, every March 17th my inner Lord of the Dance ensemble member seems to come out. This year, I’m celebrating St. Patty’s in a most delicious way…

These cupcakes are unreal. They’re bursting with luxurious chocolatey goodness and topped with a sweet and buttery Irish whiskey frosting. I decided to go for mini cupcakes for two reasons and two reasons only: 1) portion control 2) they’re adorable.

Your family, friends, and coworkers will be extra lucky this year if you make these boozy cupcakes for them.

Disclaimer: I’m sure that some of the alcohol in the cupcakes bakes out, but the alcohol in the frosting does not, so DON’T eat these if you can’t or shouldn’t have alcohol.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Buttercream

Prep Time: 25 min. Cook Time: 14 min.

Adapted from Bon Appetit and Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

1 cup stout

2 sticks unsalted butter

4 oz. dark chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup brewed coffee

2 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

For the Irish Whiskey Buttercream Frosting:

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup whole milk

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons Irish whiskey

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a mini muffin tin with seasonalLy appropriate liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the 4 ounces of dark chocolate and cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Add coffee and continue to whisk. Once smooth, set aside chocolate mixture to cool.

In a separate large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Beat the sour cream and vanilla together in another large bowl, or in the stand of an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture until just combined.

Add the flour mixture 1/2 at a time, beating the batter on low between additions. Using a spatula, fold the batter the rest of the way and pour into muffin tins, filling each 3/4 of the way. Bake 14 min. until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Once cupcakes are completely cool, make the frosting. Beat all ingredients together until creamy and smooth. Frost and enjoy.

Makes 72 mini cupcakes.

I think I’m in love.

No, I know I’m in love.

Perhaps the feeling is mutual?

You’ll have a crush on these brownies once you try them, too. Back when Neil and I lived in North Carolina, one of our favorite spots was a French bakery named Amelie’s. They have a salted caramel brownie there that is to-die-for, and I tried to recreate it here. This brownie recipe has low flour content, and tastes similar to a flourless chocolate torte.

Lucky little sister that I am, my big sister brought me high quality cocoa powder and fleur de sel from Paris to use in my most special baked goods. I used some of the cooca powder making a chocolate cheesecake for Neil’s birthday, and I was super excited to use the fleur de sel in this Valentine’s recipe. This flaky, light, potent salt is the perfect finishing salt and adds a perfect salty balance to the sweetness of the caramel. You can find fleur de sel at most speciality food stores, and certainly online.

As hokey as it might be, I like Valentine’s Day. It’s nice to set aside a day just to honor your sweetie, the love you share, and remember what brought you two together in the first place. Yes, I believe you should do this more often than every February 14, but still, it’s nice that there is a holiday just for that. Make these for your boo this Friday and you’ll fall in love all over again.

OH! And we have a TARGET GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY going on right now. Head on over and enter by the end of the day on Valentine’s Day to win!

Fleur de Sel Caramel Brownies

Prep Time: 30 min. Cook Time: 20 min.

Ingredients:

For the Brownies:

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 cups milk chocolate chips

4 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Fleur de Sel Caramel Topping:

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2  cup water

1/2  cup unsalted butter, cubed

2 teaspoons fleur de sel

1 teaspoon fleur de sel to sprinkle

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Place parchment paper in a 13×9″ glass baking pan and set aside.

In a medium sized saucepan over medium heat, melt the two sticks of butter. Once butter is completely melted, remove from heat and add the chocolate chips and baking chocolate. Stir until all chocolate is melted. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add a little bit of the cooled chocolate to the egg mixture, and stir. Continue adding the entire chocolate mixture, whisking gently as you pour. Set aside.

Using a separate small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add this mix to the other chocolatey bowl, and stir with a wooden spoon. Once mixture is thoroughly combined, pour into the baking pan, and evenly spread with the spoon.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out clean. Cool completely. They will look wrinkly, and that’s okay.

In a separate tall saucepan, combine sugar and water. Place over medium-high heat. Boil sugar, occasionally swirling the pot and scraping down sides with a wet pastry brush. Do not stir though, as sugar boils and reaches a dark amber color, about 12 minutes.

Don’t walk away from this. The next part needs to happen quickly. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in cream, butter, and salt until smooth. Pour over cooled brownies and sprinkle with additional fleur de sel. Allow brownies to set for an hour, or as long as you can wait.

Once cool, transfer brownies to a cutting board and peel back the parchment. Cut into shapes and serve.

Fleur de Sel Caramel Topping Recipe Adapted From: Amelie’s French Bakery

Halloween has come, gone, and left us with a mountain of leftover candy. It was a rainy, chilly evening here in St. Louis for trick or treating. Although some faithful trick or treaters braved the elements in search of full sized candy bars, the numbers were limited. The rain finally stopped around 8pm, but by then, most of the little ones were tucked in bed. Whether you were stuck with candy to give, or your neighbors were super generous to your children who brought home piles of sugar, baking these cookies is a delicious way to use up some of that leftover candy.

This recipe is super nostalgic to me. When I was young, my favorite part of sitting in a suite to watch the mighty St. Louis Blues was the food. The game was great, the seats were awesome, but really… for this six year old it was all about the food- especially the dessert cart. When I heard that brisk knock on the door during the game, I would leap up and run to the door to welcome the dessert cart man to our suite. Of all the delicious treats, the one I remember most was the snickerdoodle cookie with a candy center on a stick. I’ve been wanting to make these for a while now (20 something years), and with all of this leftover Halloween candy, it seemed like an opportune time.

Sweet cinnamon sugar coats these chewy cookies with a melty sweet center. I think a variety of Halloween candies will work for the center. I used Snickers, but you can try Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Baby Ruth, Rolos and more. The jumbo size popsicle sticks are  found at your local craft store and hold the cookies well. I wrapped these cookies with plastic candy bags over the cookies and tied them with a ribbon. We recently took them to a tailgate and they were a hit (pardon the ubiquitous Solo cups in the picture). They won’t last long at any birthday party, baby shower, luncheon, or bake sale!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Pops

Prep Time: 40 min. Cook Time: 14 min.

Adapted From: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

12 fun-size chocolate coated candies (or 24 bite-size 1 x 1″ candies)

Topping:

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut each candy piece in half into a 1 x 1″ square. Insert a baking stick in the candy pieces about 3/4 of the way through and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, 1 cup of white sugar, and brown sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs and continue to mix. Then, add the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the 1/4 cup white sugar and cinnamon together.

Using your hands, wrap a heaping tablespoon of dough around the candy so that none of the candy is showing.

Next, use a spoon to generously roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar until coated.

Bake on a silicone mat for 12-14 minutes.

Cool on the pan until they are easy to remove, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes 24 cookie pops

 

If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you know that we’re crazy for the Cardinals. There has been a lot of media lately about Cardinal fans and our antics. We’re loyal. We’re emotional. And most importantly, we believe in our boys. I’m writing this post as the Cards are battling the Red Sox in the World Series. Go birds! I love this season because not only because we get to dance on baseball cloud nine, but also cheer on our favorite college football team, the Mizzou tigers. Sadly, we witnessed their homecoming loss this weekend. Oh also, Neil recently went to his very first NHL game (Let’s Go Blues!) and is hooked. St. Louis is truly a great sports town. Wait a sec…this is a food blog. I’m just writing about sports. Not food. Is that bad?

Let’s get back to food. Here’s what I think: seasonal food tastes good. When we’re looking for ideas on what to cook, often times we’ll just go to the grocery store and see what looks good. Honeycrisp apples are my favorite. I’ve always found granny smith a little tart for my liking, and although most people cook with them, I wanted to see what would happen if I used honeycrisp instead. The results were delicious. This cinnamon spiced bundt cake is reminiscent of a sticky sweet caramel apple. Served warm à la mode, this cake might settle any competitive tiffs amongst your friends. But really… Go Cards!

Caramel Apple Bundt Cake

Prep Time: 30 min. Cook Time: 90 min.

Ingredients:

5 honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored, and diced

3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter, melted

4 eggs

1 cup caramel sauce

1 cup lightly toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 10-cup bundt pan well and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the eggs and sugar together until fluffy. Add cooled melted butter and vanilla together and continue to mix.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add 1/2 of the dry mixture to wet and combine until just incorporated. Do the same with the other half of the dry mixture. Using a spatula, fold in apples.

Evenly distribute the batter in the bundt pan and place pan on a baking sheet.

Bake for 50-60 min. When it’s done, a sharp knife will come out clean. Cool in the bundt pan placed on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Loosen cake with a knife, flip on a serving plate and tap hard on the pan to loosen. Hopefully yours will slide right out of the pan!

Top with your favorite caramel sauce and chopped nuts.

Serves 12