Stout Cupcakes

"Stout beer which gets its dark color and bold flavor from roasted malt, is sometimes used in English and Irish recipes for spice cakes and quick breads. The cupcake versions make excellent hostess gifts or after-dinner treats; serve them with coffee or glasses of stout." --Martha

My goodness, I must be on a drinking binge! I didn't realize I was ever on the wagon to go off of it! But, this is the 2nd recipe in a row with liquor. Thank goodness we just had a party on Saturday night or I wouldn't have had the stout for these recipes. Leftover beers are always a bonus when you have friends over...of course, this one I indeed put "BYO Potent Potable" on the invitation; so, we were bound to have leftovers. Not that, THAT was the reason for the party! I didn't plan on stocking my frig with the graciousness of guests....did I? (a subconscious thought perhaps?)

Anyway, I digress....not only does this recipe have the liquor, it also has that dreaded unsulfured molasses again. Honestly, how many people continue to bake with molasses that there should be so many recipes with it? I really can't stand it. I mean once it is baked into the recipe, it's OK, but it's not the kind of thing you can lick off of your fingers. (Not that I do that either! Right?) Thankfully, I have emptied the bottle I bought a while back and I do believe that there are no more in the book with molasses. You know, if I come across one, I am just going to go back to my standard substitute of pancake syrup with dark brown sugar mixed in, anyway. Hasn't failed yet! (AND it's so much better tasting off the digits.)

Ground cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg and orange zest give these dark babies a fantastic flavor too. This was an easy recipe to follow and make, aside from the need for the molasses. Martha is hooked on the double-bowl thing and sometimes goes as far as using three bowls for one simple recipe. I prefer to mix my liquids first, then with a sieve over the top of the bowl, simply add the dry ingredients to it and sift away into the mixture. Save yourself the dirtying of the 2nd bowl and use one. It works.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes

"Unlike the creamy American dessert of the same name, puddings from Great Britain are dense and cakey. This small-scale version includes pureed dates and a splash of brandy; after baking, the puddings are coated with a delectable toffee glaze." --Martha

Yummmmm! Brandy! You can't go wrong if a recipe calls for brandy at some point. I like to say "I like to cook with brandy; sometimes I even put it in my recipes!" ha-ha. For those of you who follow my blog but do not know me well, you should know I don't really drink liquor...alot. But there are times when not only it is appropriate to have a drink, but it is needed.

For instance, if I were trapped say, at the top of a ski slope when everyone else had gone downhill, when the ski teams of rescue workers had all left and the biggest blizzard in 20 years was about to converge on the precipice; then I would say that it would be extremely appropriate to have a brandy when I finally made it down the mountain...on my rear...with one ski...zipper stuck on my parka in the half-way skewed cockeyed position...crying...out of breath...and chilled to the bejeebers. In fact, I'd say it would have been very appropriate for me to have had say, the entire bottle; if I would have been in that position, which, of course, may or maynot have happened in December of 1986. But I don't drink...usually.

A neat little treat about liqour in recipes is that you can cook with it and when done properly, one can cook the alcohol out of the liquor and remain with the flavor in the foods. In this recipe, the brandy flavor is retained and when combined with the caramel-toffee, it is a match made in heaven! I did change up the recipe ever-so-slightly when I replaced the required dates...eh hem...Madjool plump, moist, halved and pitted dates, with raisins. Plain ol' Sunmaid raisins. The cupcakes still were yummy and gooey and delicious. Just ask my boss; he wouldn't stop eating them! (Luckily all of the patients were out of the office for the day, just in case not all of the alcohol baked out!)

The toffee is your standard mix of brown sugar, butter, cream and more brandy! Very easy to make and super to eat..especially out of the pan! These are great llittle cakes with a candy topping, but for another quote (Thank you Ogden Nash), "Candy, is dandy; but liqour is quicker!

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Ginger and Molasses Cupcakes

"Spicy cupcakes packed with a generous amount of fresh ginger are just right for cool weather days. Choose fresh ginger that is plump with smooth skin. To peel, run the edge of a teaspoon along the length of a piece, working in and out of the crevices; use a firm but light touch to remove only the papery coating, not the flavorful flesh beneath. A mini chopper or food processor makes quick work of mincing the ginger." -- Martha

I live in Texas. And such as it has been hot and hotter since mid-May, and I didn't get around to making any of these recipes during the winter months, there is slight chance that I'd have picked a day to make these Ginger and Molasses Cupcakes when the weather was cool. Nope, that won't happen for at least another 3 1/2 months or so.....if we are lucky! So I made them this morning...before the tmperature hit the mid 90's...or higher.

When I was reading over this recipe I had thought to myself..."Self? Don't you think that we should be using nutmeg instead of ginger with the molasses? Aren't those two a staple together in many concoctions from the kitchen?" As I pondered answering myself, I realized that I happened to have some ginger in the freezer anyway (Rachel always says, peel it, and place it in a plastic bag for the freezer and it will stay for months. That's what I had done alright.) So, just stick to the game plan; make the cupcakes as written.

The ingredients are pretty standard, albeit the ginger and molasses...both of which you really can't say you are making "Ginger and Molasses Cupcakes" without. But because I had run into this situation i previous recipes, I had both on hand. Well, I had regular molasses not the unsulfured kind martha recommends....same dif.) SIDE NOTE: I can't stand it when someone says "same dif or difference. 2-1=1 and 4-3=1 both have 1 as the same difference. I am pretty sure that is the only applicable use of the term. Although I could be wrong...I was once, in 1975.)

Anyway, the recipe was easy and straight forward, the taste? I would have preferred the nutmeg. Until next time.....

Choclate Spice Cupcakes with Ginger

"Over the years some of the most popular recipes in Martha Stewart Living have featured the combination of chocolate, ginger and other spices, including cookies, brownies and spice cakes. These dapper upside-down cupcakes are the latest variation on the theme." - Martha


First of all, I have to say that I love, love, love the way my photograph turned out. I think it's better than the one in the book! These cupcakes were really very easy to make. They do have alot of ingredients, but everything is pretty standard as pantries go. Probably the "harder-to-come-by" items would be the unsulfured molasses (which I simply substituted the only molasses I had in the pantry for a previous cupcake....regular old molasses), maybe you'd have to get the dark brown sugar (alot of people only keep light brown in their pantry but for this recipe, dark brown is a must especially if you want the dark molasses flavor and again if you don't have unsulfured molasses...oh brother!), but of course the candied ginger may seem a bit out of reach for some folks too.



But I am here to say that believe it or not, you can get candied ginger in both the refrigerated area of the produce section in the grocery store and over in the spice aisle. McCormick Gourmet Collection and Spice Islands both carried it! So how about that? But you know, Martha actually has a "recipe" for candy-ing your own ginger...try that sometime when don't have anything else to do.



This recipe may not appeal to all tastes, but I liked them alot. And the bonus is that, at first glance, most people (my kiddos) think that they are simply chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and they try 'em! ha-ha-ha I sneaked a couple of spices in there and now they've eaten gourmet again! It's nice that this recipe only makes 12 cupcakes so cutting it in half only made 6. That was just enough to photograph, for everyone to get one, and for me to have a mid-night snack later. That's usually the most important factor....Enjoy!

Lavender Iced Cupcakes

"I'm ba-ack!"

"Appearances can be deceiving: these sugared flower-topped cupcakes look like dainty petits four, but the lavender-flavored and colored icing hides a rich cupcake. look for dried lavender at specialty markets or line; edible pesticide-free flowers can be found at baking supply stores. You can also make the icing without the lavender." -- Martha



So it's a coincidence that the cupcakes I chose to make had crystalized flowers on them in her book's photo as I re-read over my previous blog post from way back in November 2009. I wasn't about to go there again trying to grow or keep any pansies or the such when I already know my calling is in the kitchen NOT the yard! I know I have a brown-thumb and there it will stay, never changing, no matter how much work I put into it. (And I have put work into it. So much failure I even resorted to asking for a Chia Herb Garden for my Christmas present and still managed not to grow anything but a few sprigs of chives...teeny, tiny chives that lasted all of a week. And everybody knows that growing chives is super easy.)


But where I do have fun and enjoy the fruits of my labor is in my kitchen baking and cooking. I think I own just about every contraption (thanks, Karen) that has been made for baking and so rather than simply placing these cupcakes in cupcake papers, I chose to use the oft un-used cast-iron mini-rosette bundt pan. These specialty pans rarely come out of the big drawer and so today I allowed them to soak in the light-of-day...something I guess I should do with my garden plants once in a while!


These cupcakes are so moist and rich with flavor; the lavender icing really sets them apart on the scale of good to great. Infusing boiled milk steeping with lavender and then adding the powdered sugar to it, refreshed the air around the house and the cloud in my brain after so many months of grayness. I iced the vanilla cupcakes in the photo as well as some chocolate brownies and both were a taste of fantasia. But you might say, "Where does one get the lavender to use? Martha says specialty stores or on-line. But I shop kitcheny stores all the time and have never seen lavender for sale. I would say your best-bet is to order on-line...if you have the time and can plan that far ahead. Otherwise, you can visit your favorite french cafe like I did and take some from off of the display at the hostess desk. (You only need about 1 teaspoon.) Yes, I did that! Slap my hand now....it was for an experiment in the kitchen, all in the name of science.

I highly recommend using this icing the next time you want to impress the PTA or church bake sale or even your relatives (who rarely impress because they are all so talented in their own right.) Go ahead - git 'er done!