Fresh Strawberry Margaritas

Toward the beginning of the summer, I made a big Mexican-themed meal and realized that I never blogged about it! So the next couple blog posts are going to be dedicated to that dinner.

Let’s start with the most important aspect – the drinks. For a Mexican-themed meal, I knew I wanted to drink a margarita but wanted to spruce it up a bit. Strawberries were on sale at the grocery store so I decided to do a strawberry variation.

God, these were good. Maybe too good, since my friend and I finished off two whole pitchers. They are so tasty that I think I forgot that they were alcoholic until it was too late. Wayyyyy too late.

There are so many excuses to make these. To celebrate Mexican holidays. To beat the heat of summer. To use up extra strawberries. To cure a bad day. To celebrate something awesome. Or just because margaritas are delicious.

Fresh Strawberry Margaritas (1 margarita) from How Sweet It Is

• 2 ounces triple sec
• 1 1/2 ounces Tequila (I was definitely heavy handed on the tequila…)
• 2 ounces lime juice
• 2 1/2 ounces strawberry simple syrup [recipe below]
• lime + fresh strawberries for garnish
• sugar for the rim

1. Rim the ridge of your glass with a lime wedge and dip in a mix of margarita salt + sugar [I used about 3 tablespoons salt to 2 teaspoons sugar]. Fill the glass with ice. In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, grand marnier, simple syrup and lime juice with ice, and shake for about 30 seconds. Pour over ice and squeeze in lime slices and add a few strawberries.
2. For strawberry simple syrup: combine equal parts sugar and water, bring to a boil and let sugar dissolve, then turn off heat and let cool completely. Combine 1 cup simply syrup + 1 1/2 cups slices strawberries in a blender and blend until combined. I don’t mind strawberry seeds, but if you’d like you can strain the mixture over a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

so pretty and delicious!

Individual Icebox Cakes

Part II of my mom's birthday!

My mom doesn't have a huge a sweet tooth. I can't decide if I'm jealous of her or not. Unlike me, she does not crave sugar, chocolate, peanut butter, candy, cake, cookies, ice cream, and anything dessert related constantly. Seriously, sometimes it's a battle to make myself stop baking cupcakes, seal the bag of gummy candy, and eat some real food. However, she also doesn't understand the happiness and satisfaction that I feel when I sit down each evening and indulge in my nightly dessert at exactly 9:30. Pure. Bliss.

Anyway, I asked my mom what she wanted for her birthday dessert. I sort of expected her to say "nothing" or name someone else's favorite dessert. But she surprised me and immediately told me that she had been craving a mint icebox cake. Your wish is my command, mom!

delivering the requested goodies!

My grandmother always used to make an icebox cake with creme de menthe in the traditional log form. As I've mentioned before, I'm not in love with mint. And if I'm going to make a dessert, I want to be able to enjoy it. I prefer my refrigerator cake flavored with Kahlua. Coffee and chocolate is always winning combo in book. I know my mom agrees because, though my sweet tooth is a personal struggle, I get my coffee addiction from her. However, my mom specifically mentioned mint and her boyfriend despises coffee so I was torn. That's when I came up with the idea to make individual icebox cakes!

The individual icebox cakes are far more tedious to make than the log but I like them better. The traditional icebox cake is supposed to be sliced at an angle so that you can see the cookie layers. In reality, it always ends up looking like a bowl of mush because the cake is too soft to slice or dish out. The individual cakes are so cute and the layers stay in place as you dig into it with your fork. Also, it's perfect portion control! And you can make exactly as many servings as you want/need without any guesswork. The individual desserts solved the problem of flavors because I was able to make half of cakes with creme de menthe and half with Kahlua. Most of the people wanted to try both so I ended up cutting the cakes in half. I stuck strictly with my Kahlua and my mom's boyfriend stuck to his mint... the true stand-off of flavors. Everyone enjoyed the cakes and thought the individual desserts were a great idea!

my mom satisfying her tiny sweet tooth :)

Individual Icebox Cakes (yields about 15 individual cakes) adapted from Smitten Kitchen

•  2 package of Nabisco chocolate wafers
• cupcake liners
• Hershey's chocolate (optional)
• chocolate covered espresso beans (optional)

For the whipped cream (adapted from How Sweet It Is)

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
•  1/4 cup alcohol (I used Bailey’s Irish Cream and creme de menthe)
• 1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1.  Flatten 15 cupcake liners.
2. Whip the whipped cream ingredients until the whipped cream holds firm peaks. Spread about two teaspoons whipped cream between each cookie, to the edges, and stack them on a cupcake liner until you reach the height you’d like (I made each cake using 5 wafers). 
3. Use a knife to spread frost the entire individual icebox cake with whipped cream. 
4. Garnish cakes with chocolate shavings and/or espresso beans.
5. Set them in the fridge at least overnight or up to a day. The cookies will soften as they set, and become cake-like.
6. Serve immediately from the refrigerator. 

creme de menthe whipped cream

5 cookie stack!

creme de menthe and kahlua

Boozy Bailey's Brownies

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

And my gift to you on this lovely Irish day is these Boozy Bailey's Brownies!

how festive and delicious is that?!?!

I made these with my friend Michelle. We had a pre-St. Patrick's Day bake and beverage get-together a couple weekends ago.

going back to my bartending days

white russians --> green irishmen?

Happy Pre-Patty's Day!

The brownies have a hard crusty exterior and a fudgy center.  The frosting is light and creamy.

Chocolatey. Sugary. Boozy.  Need I say more to convince you to make these?

Now I'm off to drink green beverages with my mom and friends all day! I'll also be wearing a tiara and a shirt that says "Kiss me, I'm drunk". God, I love being young and Irish on March 17th!

Boozy Bailey’s Brownies (adapted from How Sweet It Is)

For the brownies

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2-3 squares baking chocolate
• 2 cups sugar
•  2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

For the buttercream

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish cream

1.       Preheat oven to 350.

2.       Melt butter and baking sqaures in a microwave safe bowl. In the mixing bowl, cream melted butter and chocolate mixture. Add in sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, beating one at a time. Add flour and stir just until combined. Stir in Bailey’s.

3.       Pour into greased 9 x 13 baking dish (I used a 10 x 10 square cake pan).  Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until just barely done.

4.       For the frosting: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add the Bailey's one tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth and creamy. 

5.       Wait until the brownies are fully cooled and frost. These are the kind of brownies that have a hard top and a fudgy middle so don’t worry if the top of your brownies are pretty hard.

I want to drink the Bailey's from the bottle and eat the frosting with a shovel. Not appropriate?

See what I mean about the hard exterior and the fudgy center?

This is basically like three shots.

White Chocolate Bailey's Mousse Pie with Bailey's Whipped Cream

Happy pi(e) day!

Get it? Because it's March 14th. 3.14.

It's also just a really good excuse to make a pie.

And keeping with the St. Patrick's Day theme, I decided to make a pie with Bailey's. I chose this one because I like that it's made with white chocolate. Typically desserts that incorporate Bailey's have a milk or dark chocolate base.

Warning: This pie is very boozy. This is a good thing. It has a generous portion of Bailey's in the mousse and in the whipped cream. I actually felt a little tipsy after eating a piece. Granted it was a gigantic piece with enough whipped cream for a whole pie.  Accompanied by some Bailey's on the rocks. It was glorious.

This pie is light and fluffy and absolutely delicious. It's a little tricky to dish out because it is so soft so, after letting it chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, I would recommend popping it in the freezer for about an hour prior to cutting and serving. You can either refrigerate or freeze the leftovers. In the refrigerator, it will only last a day or two because the mousse and whipped cream will begin to breakdown and the crust will start to get soggy (though not even that would stop me from devouring it). It holds up wonderfully in the freezer. You can either thaw it out for about a half hour in the refrigerator or enjoy it frozen!

Not in the mood for pie?  That's fine! Serve the mousse in cup topped with a huge dollop of the whipped cream. 

God, this is a wonderful and versatile. And sugary and alcoholic. And Irish. I'm in love.

Bailey’s Mousse Pie with Bailey’s Whipped Cream

Bailey’s Mousse Pie (from Saving Room for Dessert)

• Graham cracker pie crust (or you could make your own but I was feeling lazy)
• 1 1/3 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
• 1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 eggs)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Bailey’s Whipped Cream (adapted from How Sweet It Is)

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
•  1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
• 1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1.  Melt chocolate and Bailey's in a metal bowl over hot water.  Make sure no water touches the chocolate or it will seize up.  Use a spatula to blend well and keep from burning.  Remove from heat.

2.  Using a mixer, whip egg whites until soft peaks form.  Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat until stiff peaks hold their shape.   Set aside.

3.  Whip 1 cup heavy cream until stiff.

4.  Gently fold egg and whipped cream together.

5.  With a large spatula, gently fold white chocolate mixture into egg white mixture.  Do not over mix. However, it will take some time because white chocolate mixture is very thick in comparison to the egg/whipped cream mixture.

6.  Spoon into cooled pie crust and chill in the freezer while preparing the whipped cream topping.

7.  For the whipped cream:  In the bowl, add cream, vanilla and Baileys. Mix with an electric mixer (or in your stand mixer). Then add sugar and mix a little more.

8.  Spread the whipped cream over the mousse and chill for another four hours. I would suggest putting it in the freezer for about an hour before cutting and serving so that it holds its shape.

melting the chocolate and bailey's in my really shady makeshift double boiler

melted white chocolate and bailey's

whipped egg whites and sugar

whipped heavy cream

the mousse pie without whipped cream

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S PI(E) DAY! :)

I didn't let it chill for long enough. I couldn't control myself.

a frozen piece of pie. much prettier.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Happy March, everyone!

I love St. Patrick's Day. I love four leaf clovers. And dark beer. And Bailey's. And green. And corned beef. And potatoes. And drinking. And eating. A lot.

I just love it.

So I've decided that this month will be completely dedicated to St. Patrick's Day. All of the recipes that I post during March will be St. Patty's Day themed.

GET. EXCITED. Because I'm already there.

I didn't actually make this first recipe. My friend had the idea to make them so I found her the recipe, she made them, and we ate them. But she gave me permission to blog about it.

I love that these sort of taste AND look like an Irish car bomb shot. It doesn't have any whiskey in it but that's fine by me because whiskey is the one alcoholic beverage that I just cannot stomach. The cake has a really dark and rich flavor from the Guinness. The frosting has a strong Bailey's flavor and a lot of sweetness to counteract the slight bitterness of the cake.

And here's a funny Irish car bomb story: On my 21st birthday, I went out with my whole family. I had always wanted to try an Irish car bomb but the bar I worked at didn't have Jameson so I couldn't. So after about 4 hours of drinking a deadly combination of liquor, I decided to order one. I dropped the Bailey's/Jameson shot into the Guinness. It curdled immediately and, as I took the first sip, I decided that my stomach couldn't handle it. My mother sauntered over and casually goes "Oh, stop. These are delicious." She proceeded to chug the 16 ounce glass in about two seconds.

I was put to shame by my mother on my 21st birthday. I guess there's no question as to where I got my love for adult beverages.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (inspired by Sweet Pea's Kitchen)

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup Guinness
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey’s Buttercream Frosting:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine Guinness and butter. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bow, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the eggs and sour cream until combined.
5. Add Guinness mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low speed until incorporated.
6. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.
7. For the frosting: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add the Bailey's one tablespoon at a time. Beat until smooth and creamy. 
8. When the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe on the frosting. 

perfect portions