That's right! You heard correctly!
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I have experimented with different combinations of recipes to come up with this one. And let me just say, after THREE attempts, I finally got it right...or at least I hope I did.
But before we get into my ordeal, let's back track a little bit and find out how St. Patty's day and its infamous green came to be.
To keep it short and sweet, March 17th was named after the most common and esteemed Saints of Ireland -- Saint Patrick. Why March 17th? Well, that's when he died. It is originally suppose to be a Holy Day of Obligation -- the faithful have to participate in Mass.
Today, St. Patrick's day is widely known for getting drunk and being pinched if you're not wearing green. So why green? Surprisingly, blue was the color of Saint Patrick. But because Saint Patrick often used and wore shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity, it quickly stuck on.
Now imagine if the color blue stayed...the Chicago River would be dyed blue. But what's the point, if that's what color it is already. Boring right?
So moving on...
For St. Patty's day, I wanted to make some yummy cupcakes that I could share with my classmates and coworkers. And since Red Velvet cupcakes are so popular, I figured, "Why not make GREEn Velvet cupcakes!" Now if you didn't already know, Red Velvet cupcakes are basically a white cake mix with red food coloring topped with cream cheese frosting.
So the first recipe I tried, I found from the Food Network website. This recipe, though beautiful in color in the end
, tasted utterly bland, not to mention dry as the Mojave desert. I was so completely shocked at the results. You would think if it came from the Food Network, it must be good. Big NO! It was so horrible, I had to throw it away.
After attempt #1, being that I'm not a big fan of plain old white/vanilla cupcake anyways, I changed it up to green CHOCOLATE velvet. So here comes attempt #2.
What went wrong? I accidentally put 1 tablespoon of baking powder instead of 1 TEASPOON. And to add to it, the second recipe I found in one of my cookbooks did not call for enough sugar. So not only was it not sweet enough, it had a bitter after taste from the baking powder. TRASH.
Attempt #3? Much, much better! This recipe is from Food.com and it is oh so moist and just enough chocolatey goodness. What makes this recipe different? Much more water, cocoa powder, no buttermilk, and no eggs. Though the texture is crumbly, the difference in water (and perhaps no eggs) definitely makes the cake moist, soft, and fluffy -- which is way better than solid and dry.
To give these cupcakes its St. Patrick's day flare, I added 2 tablespoons of green food coloring to the cupcake batch, 2 drops of the food coloring into the cream cheese frosting, and topped it off with green sprinkles and Lucky Charms shamrock hats. But beware, wear gloves and an apron when dealing with the food coloring as it can get stained on your skin and nails. I did, however, find acetone nail polish remover to work pretty well. I can't say for the counter tops though.
Here's the final product..voila!
Side note: The easiest and neatest way to top the frosting is to put it all in a gallon zip lock bag, cut a teeny tiny hole in the corner and squeeze away. I found it neater to frost it in a circular motion and pulling away at the top. For those of you fancy bakers, you could use a piping bag and an 1/4 inch tip.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Ever wondered how this irresistible gooey creamy goodness of peanut butter came to be? It all began where all things basically started (or so it seems in movies) -- the Aztecs.
The Aztecs had originally used pure roasted peanuts to concoct this paste. Whether they ate it or used it for some other purpose is unclear. We don't know what the Aztecs actually did with peanut butter but they are credited with inventing it. However, we can't give the Aztecs all the credit. Their peanut butter was very bitter and very difficult to work with. It wasn't until George Washington Carver (the scientist...not the president) came along and mixed the peanut paste with sugar and sweet molasses that we got the familiar flavor we know today. It wasn't until someone added vegetable oil and made it...wait for it...SPREADABLE! [ooooh! ahhhh!], that we got the modern Jif and Skippy brands so popular among school children today.
So what is it about peanut butter that makes kids go crazy when paired with jelly/ chocolate/ nutella? Or that it makes dogs smack their tongues relentlessly while we sit back and watch, laughing hysterically? Is it because of it's high in protein or antioxidants? Is it because it can prevent cancer? Or is it just because it tastes so damn good? Who knows! But really? WHO CARES!
In honor of this creamy goodness, I decided to make some peanut butter cookies from a recipe I found in one of my cookbooks. This recipe is EXTREMELY easy. Don't be surprised of the short list of ingredients...the result will be yummy and wholesome :)
What You'll Need:
52 Hershey's Kisses
2 cups of peanut butter (About a jar and half)
1 - 1 1/4 cups of sugar
2 eggs
In a large bowl, cream the peanut butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy. If you're using a Stand Mixer, I did it with the flat beater on the 6th power for about a minute and a half.
Now add the eggs, one at a time, making sure it's well beaten into the mix before adding the next. The dough will be sticky but should fall right off of the flat beater.
With floured hands, roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls.
I put the dish of flour in the sink to flour my hands to avoid any flour mess on the countertops. Place your rolled balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 14 - 16 minutes or until the tops have cracked. Now I must warn you, if you're gonna do what I did and place two baking sheets on the top and bottom rack in the oven, I highly suggest switching them halfway between baking. But if you want perfect cookies, play it safe and stick with baking one batch at a time on the middle rack or top rack.
While your cookies are baking, now would be a good time to unwrap all those hershey kisses so that they would be ready to place on the cookies right when it comes out. Also, to add my own flare to the recipe, I used Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and Almond Kisses to give a little variety.
When the cookies are done, immediately press the Hershey Kisses into the middle of each cookies. Move to wire racks and let semi-cool before serving. Usually, you would want to cool these cookies completely before serving as it is a little fragile. But personally, I think the cookies are better when the chocolate is still gooey. Here's what the finished product should look like...
Add a cup of ice cold milk and this would a perfect treat for that midnight craving and afternoon snack. Enjoy! :)
And just for kicks...here are some great uses to Peanut Butter:
1. Plumpy'nut is a peanut butter-based food used to fight malnutrition in famine stricken countries. A single pack contains 500 calories, can be stored unrefrigerated for 2 years, and requires no cooking or preparation.
2, You can make a simple bird feeder to hang outside your house. Just coat a pine cone with peanut butter and cover with bird seeds.
3. A great home remedy to remove gum from your hair!
4. For those pesky mice in your home, peanut butter works better than cheese
I apologize to readers..and my one follower...for my lack of blogging the past week or so. I've been bombarded with a severe case of the sinus infection. It all started last thursday...
I had been having a steady runny nose (allergies?) for couple weeks already. But that Thursday morning, I woke up with a little cough thinking it was just the super cold weather constricting my lungs. Having a history of asthma, I brushed it off thinking the cause was the cold weather and it would soon go away. But as I got to school, an elephant was sitting on my chest and I could barely get a breath in, and before I knew it, I was hyperventilating. So on to the Student Health Urgent Care I go. After an hour or so breathing into a paper bag and going on the albuterol drip, I finally started to feel better.
Then friday morning came around and that elephant came back and the cough had worsen. To play it safe, I went to go see my primary doctor. Turns out, I had bronchospasms -- my lungs like to constrict whenever it wants causing me to cough and feel extremely week and tired. The treatment? Huffing and puffing out of my inhaler three times a day until the cough subsides.
Come Saturday, I was feeling like tip top shape again so I decided to take my mom to afternoon tea filled with buttery, flaky scones, savory sandwiches, and exotic teas imported from around the world. Nearing the end of our afternoon delight, my breathing starting to weigh me down and it was as if all the energy got sucked right out of me. Thinking that I was just tired, I took a nap. Once woken up, instead of feeling refreshed and bright-eyed, I felt like the living dead. I could not force myself to eat as my runny nose was acting like an overflowing faucet. It was non-stop sniffling and blowing. I would have been casted for a Kleenex commercial.
That night, as I was trying to fall asleep, something wasn't right. So I woke my dad up and my parents took me to the emergency room. We got there around 12:30 in the morning and as my mom and I were walking through the ER, I had supposedly fainted.
Somewhere in between arriving at the ER and being knocked out with some super strong narcotic, I had been screaming in pain. I had a headache that was worse than a migraine... my head felt like it was about to explode. Seeing how much pain I was in, the docs drugged me up and took me on my way to a head CT scan. And that's when they found it. A sever sinus infection that had spread all over my forehead and both sides of my cheeks.
After 7 hours in the emergency room, I was finally discharged.
It's safe to say that we caught the infection early enough to where there is no harm done, other than my extremely painful migraine and what nots. Let's hope these super strong antibiotics are effective, cause if not, I'm gonna need surgery to remove those infections.
There are times where I feel ok enough to eat, talk, facebook...but then there are times where I feel like death -- extreme hot flashes, cold sweats, shortness of breath, extreme stomach pains from the antibiotic, nausea, and dizziness. For now, I gonna be glued to my bed as much as I can. Walking around is the worse, so I definitely gotta take it easy for the next couple days.
Until then...stay warm, stay dry, and stay healthy.
, tasted utterly bland, not to mention dry as the Mojave desert. I was so completely shocked at the results. You would think if it came from the Food Network, it must be good. Big NO! It was so horrible, I had to throw it away.
