Cookin' with Whiskey

I recently had the opportunity to be a part of a special birthday.  All birthday's are special, but when you are turning 93 that is pretty awesome.  What is even better, is when you turn 93 you can pretty much do whatever you want for your birthday.  And if a big blow out party is what you want, a big blow out is what you get.

Our neighbor is a character in the neighborhood, everyone knows him and he knows everyone.  He often puts in requests for the "young guys" to have fire pits so he can join them and have an excuse for a shot or two of Crown Royal.  It is known throughout the neighborhood that he has a love for the Crown, so it wasn't a surprise when his daughter asked if I could make a Crown Royal cake for his birthday.

The cake was a chocolate and vanilla layer and  was super easy to do, although my icing marbled when I applied it, which was super annoying.  Since the cake wasn't very exciting I decided to do something that the birthday boy might appreciate a little bit more - Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.  Now I'm not a big fan of the name, but the drink is fun and the cupcake is fabulous.

 I have made Stout cupcakes in the past and they good.  The stout is a perfect pairing with the chocolate, but you add a little whiskey and Bailey's and these cupcakes become great.  They are a wonderful addition to a 93rd birthday celebration, a St. Patrick's day party or anytime some special adult only treats are needed.

Stout Cupcakes (Courtesy of Jami Schmidt)

3/4 cup of unsweetened coca plus more for dusting at the end
2 cups sugar
2 cups AP Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
Pinch of fine salt
1 bottle of Guinness (room temperature)
1 stick melted butter (cooled slightly)
1 tbs Pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cups sour cream

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 24 cupcake tins with liners
Mix together dry ingredients in one bowl. In another mixing bowl combine stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream until combined and smooth. Gradually add in the dry.

 Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating half way through  

Whiskey Ganache
8 oz. dark chocolate (chips or finely chopped)
2/3 cup milk 
2 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
2 Tbsp. Whiskey

Place chocolate in small bowl.  In small saucepan heat milk over medium high heat, bring to a simmer.  Pour milk over chocolate, let sit for 1-2 minutes then stir until smooth. Add butter and whiskey, stir until smooth and combined.  Let ganache cool and thicken. 

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting (Courtesy Martha Stewart)
3 sticks unsalted, room temp butter
4 C. powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur


In mixing bowl cream butter until smooth.  Slowly add powder sugar, scraping down the sides as needed.  Beat for 3-4 until frosting is light and fluffy.  Add Bailey's, mix for another 3-4 minutes making a light and creamy frosting.  

Cupcake assembly:  Once cooled remove center of cupcake using the bottom of a large pastry tip.  Fill with ganache.  Once all cupcakes are filled top with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting.  

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Sushi and Lego

We just finished a wonderful 7th birthday celebration and like last year the birthday boy requested a sushi and lego birthday.

This year the Lego aspect was fulfilled by a trip to the Lego store.  My boy loves Lego.  He plays with it constantly and has many sets on his wish list, but in his opinion no set compares with the wall of bricks and the create a guy station.  He can spend a crazy amount of time selecting just the right pieces to fill up a huge cup and even more time creating the perfect guys.  I find Lego an absolutely fascinating toy and I love hearing all the different approaches with which it is used.  There is the buy a set, put it together and leave it together to play with approach. There is the Lego as a puzzle approach where all the pieces to a set are kept together and built over and over.  And then there is the throw all the pieces together and build new creations each time approach.  I think it would be very interesting to study how Lego is used and personality types, but that is a study for another day, for now lets just study some of the yummy birthday treats.


As I said sushi was the other aspect of the birthday celebration and this year Will decided to have lunch at Wasabi rather than a birthday party.  Yes my boy chose eating out over a party with friends and presents.  But, the restaurant he chose wasn't just a regular old sushi place.  Wasabi is in the middle of a mall and the food is served on a conveyor belt and really how can you say no to food served in this style.

This is Bolt, the mascot for Will's class, he came home for the weekend to help celebrate.  

The birthday cake was simple this year.  The girls helped me decorate the cake and while I had envisioned a simple finish  with just a few sprinkles this is what we ended up with.  I was fine with this final product as I love sprinkles and this cake reminded me of my favorite summer treat  - a soft twist sprinkles, oh how I love soft serve ice cream.  

For the school treat we continued the sushi theme with Rice Krispie sushi treats.  I love krispie treats and don't usually like messing around with their simple perfection, but the addition of a Swedish fish is pretty yummy.  The Fruit by the Foot and Gummy Worms were too much for me, but the kids loved them and that's what's important.

Nigiri Krispies
Printer Ready

¼ cup butter
32 large marshmallows (or 4 cups mini marshmallows)
6 cup crispie rice cereal
½  cup white chocolate chips
1 bag Swedish Fish

Butter 9x13 sheet pan.  

In a 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat melt butter.  Once butter has melted add marshmallows and stir until smooth.  Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until combined.  Pour mixture into prepared pan, lightly butter hands and press mixture to evenly distribute.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes.  

While treats are cooling melt chocolate.  Fill bottom half of double boiler with water, bring to a simmer.  Put chocolate in top of boiler pan and place over simmering water.  Gently stir chocolate until smooth.  

Cut the krispies into 2"x1” pieces.  Dip the top of each piece into chocolate, top with Swedish Fish  

Family Fun has a great tutorial on the rolls and the kids had a great time making these.