Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

I've been really wanting to get into making cupcakes. I love them, especially mini cupcakes. They're cute, bite size, and you don't have to feel guilty about eating one of them.  All cupcakes are are small versions of cakes, right? But I think they're something even more special. They can be their own little works of art in a tiny size.

This cupcake craving led me to hear about a place called Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank. They have all these different unique flavors that you would never really think of with cupcakes. Then I saw that they had a Guinness cupcake. I was like, "OoooOooooO I have to get that!". So I went and unfortunately missed the Guinness cupcakes by a day! Nooooooo! Ever since then I've been dying to know what these tasted like, so I decided to make my own.

My friend was having a housewarming party this past Saturday and thought it would be perfect to bring these cupcakes, and hope they turned out good. Of course, I had to make mini's because they're so cute. They went over sooo well! Everyone loved them. Next time I'm going to try this with Murphy's Irish Stout because that beer is a-ma-zing. I scoured the internet for recipes and found some that I thought sounded good.
 I forgot exactly where I got the recipe that I used to make these because I looked at so many, but I will post it below, of course.

Things in mini make everything taste better

 I made a few minor changes to the recipe, as I will let you know what I did as I go along. Also, I figured the Guinness and chocolate might be a little sweeter and heavier so I decided to make a Bailey's whipped cream frosting instead of the usual buttercream, to make it lighter.


So without further ado, Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes....
I doubled the recipe and it came out to around 40 small cupcakes and about 3 large ones.


BATTER
    1/2 cup Guinness (or other stout)
    1/2 cup butter (melted)
    3/8 cup (aka 1/4 + 1/8 cups) cocoa powder
    1 cup flour
    1 cup sugar
*Note: because I doubled the recipe it would have been 2 cups of sugar. I didn't want them too sweet so I used 1 1/2 cups and they were great. I also like to use Turbinado Raw Sugar instead of white.
    3/4 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 egg
    3/8 cup (aka 1/4 + 1/8 cups) cup sour cream

GNACHE
    3 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate
    1/3 cup heavy cream
    1 tablespoon butter
    1 teaspoon Jameson whiskey (or other whiskey)
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

BAILEY'S WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING
    2 c. heavy whipping cream
    2/3 c. sugar
    2 T Baileys Irish Cream

CUPCAKE INSTRUCTIONS:
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)
    Melt the butter (on the stovetop or in the microwave)
    Add Guinness and cocoa powder and stir to combine well
    In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda
    In an electric mixer, beat egg and sour cream just until combined
    Add the flour mixture a little at a time until all of it is in and it is mixed well
    Add chocolate mixture and mix well, for about 3-4 minutes (I did it for 5 actually)
    Place cupcake papers in the muffin tin
    Spoon the mixture into the tin to fill about 3/4 full (you'll have enough for 12 cupcakes)
*These puff up a lot so don't overfill
    Bake for 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
    Remove from oven and allow to cool fully

GNACHE:
    Gently heat cream on the stovetop
    Add chocolate and let sit for a few moments
    Stir gently until chocolate is melted and combined with the cream
    Mix in butter, vanilla, and Jameson
    Allow to cool until thick (semi-solid)
    Spoon into a pastry bag or plastic bag 
*Tip: You can add more alcohol to the gnache if you're careful. Just a lil less cream & butter

Mini heaven

FROSTING
    -Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
    -Mix in sugar and Baileys Irish Cream until just combined.
*
    After the cupcakes have cooled, use a small spoon or melon baller to scoop out the centers
    Pipe in ganache to fill (but try not to have them overflowing)
    Pipe icing onto the top. I used a Wilton decorating tip #18
    Lastly, I found some super cute golden sugar sprinkles to finish them

The Best French Toast I've Ever Made

French toast is one of the most amazing things I've eaten for breakfast. It all depends on how it's made, though. I've had some french toast where the bread was crispy and tasted like egg and salt, and I've had others that tasted like mush. I'd rather have the much. But a happy medium would be even better.
Well no further did I have to look for a great french toast recipe than the trusty Alton Brown from the Food Network show, Good Eats. I think I would trust him with any tips or tricks that he handed me. Maybe I'd even trust him with my life...okay, maybe just my kitchen.

His french toast recipe was really easy to make, and it ended up being the most amazing french toast I've tried as of yet.  Also, it being homemade and coming from my own kitchen is quite a nice thing to brag about sometimes; that I made it with my own two hands...and a griddle. It was nice and golden and crispy on the outside. Smooth and custardy on the inside. It didn't taste overbearingly like egg. I felt like Goldilocks. It was juuuust right.

I nixed the berries but I added bacon, so it was alright :)

 French toast is really all about the bread you use, and drying it out a bit beforehand. If you use bread that's fresh out of the bag then you'll get something like bread pudding when you're done, and that's no fun!
*See my extra tips at the bottom for this no-fail french toast.

Here is the recipe that made me.......The French Toast Fanatic!...and how I changed it up a tiny bit to make it even better:

Best French Toast....EVER
Serves: 4
Level: Easy

Ingredients 
1 cup half-and-half
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 (1/2-inch) slices day-old or stale country loaf, brioche or challah bread
4 tablespoons butter

Directions  

-In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the half-and-half, eggs, honey, and salt. You may do this the night before. When ready to cook, pour custard mixture into a pie pan and set aside.

-Preheat oven to 375 . Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

-Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all 8 slices. 

Serve immediately with maple syrup, whipped cream, and/or fruit. 

What I did to change it up...just a bit:

I didn't make it too much differently at all, but what I did add definitely made a world of difference:
To the custard mix I added: 
-1/2 a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and
-1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

That was it. You were expecting more, huh? Nope, that's it.

*TIPS FOR THIS RECIPE:
*You can use any kind of thicker bread really. I like to use the challah though, and get the un-sliced kind so I can cut big thick slices.
*You don't have to leave the bread out overnight to get "stale". But you need to have it stale! I pre-heat the oven to 250 and put it in there straight on the rack for about 15 minutes, checking on it periodically, until it feels pretty hard. You don't want it like a crouton but how it would feel if it were a bit stale.
*I used regular 2% milk for this one time and it turned out just as sweet and delicious. So if you're like me and like to cut the calories a bit, use milk instead. 
*I like to use Agave Nectar in place of the honey, also.


I hope you try out this recipe, and let me know how you like it. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and any other things you might have added to the recipe.

Question of the Day: Where is a restaurant that you've had really good french toast at?

Foodventure #2 - Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ

Location: Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ
Address:     6600 Topanga Cyn Blvd # 1010B
                     San Fernando Valley, CA 91303
Phone: (818) 888-4030

Happy hours are always my favorite times of the day. You can go out and have some drinks and food with friends, usually for a great price. I love finding all the good happy hours in town. This is the story of a pretty good one...

I thought to myself yesterday, "What would it be like to go to a restaurant and have to cook my food myself?"  Wouldn't it just be the same thing as staying home and having my usual salty concoction of whatever I can find in the fridge that looks appealing to my tummy? This thought just had to be investigated somehow. But where would I go for such a thing? Would a restaurant actually make you cook your own food? I've heard about these things. Oh, my brain hurts.

As I was pondering this yesterday, I decided to head on over to Gyu Kaku Japanese BBQ with some friends.  It's located at the Westfield Plaza on Topanga Canyon Blvd.  You order sliced raw meat and cook it at the table.  Sounded questionable enough.  It was a Wednesday night, so you would think it would be deserted. I mean, who goes out on Hump Day?! Well apparently everyone goes to this restaurant on Hump Day. Why? Well because for happy hour (11:30am-6:30pm & 8:30pm-10pm) you can get $1 Bud Light mugs, $5 Bud Light pitchers, and $7.50 Sapporo pitchers, along with an array of other drink and food specials. Sounds like my cup of tea...err, beer.

We showed up and it was super packed. It took a really long time to order at the bar, but it wasn't that busy with people ordering, so it threw me off a little. Then finally I was handed a pitcher of Bud Light. The bartender took a little bit longer than necessary to get me my beer, but I didn't care much. A cheap beer was now in my hands and the world was sweet.  I don't usually go for Bud Light, as it tastes like water with a slight hint of urine. Or maybe the other way around. But I was looking for inexpensive for the night and I got it

It was so busy in the restaurant that we waited about an hour to be seated, even after making reservations. No fun, but have no fear! Our seats are here! We were seated at a table with a cute little round grill cut out of the center of it where you cook your food.  The waitress came to take our order.  I ordered the Bistro Harami ($4.95), NY Steak Miso ($5.95), Mushroom Medley ($3.95), and steamed rice. I was only half done with the pitcher so I was good on the brewski. Cha-CHING! Surprisingly I didn't order a ridiculous amount of food like I always do when I'm kicking my brain into a buzzed stuper, so I surprised myself a little. Yay! Happy Birthday! Oh wait, is it my birthday?

Mushrooms, rice, ponzu sauce, steak, and my trusty chopsticks

The food took quite a while, being it was just raw sliced meat, but when it got to the table, the feast was on!  With meat in hand, we cooked it over the flame. Luckily I didn't overcook my meat.  I kept it at a nice, right-off-the-cow rare. The NY was fatty and delicious, as fat is flavor. The Bistro Harami was out of this world good, especially when paired with the steamed rice and Ponzu sauce.  It was like melt-in-your-mouth, meat flavored heaven in and around my mouth..and on my lap because I kept spilling rice all over the place. I blame it on the beer. The best thing for this girl's tastebuds was the buttery Mushroom Medley.  It had white and wild mushrooms where you cook it in a packet and it steams to shroomy perfection.  Warmed my little black heart.

By the end of my meal I had decided that I had had some great food and didn't have to spend too much money. Maybe this was actually a restaurant with a good idea? I actually think it still would have tasted amazing if I hadn't been tossed like vodka sauced linguine, from drinking that whole pitcher of beer. But alas, I will never know.

Unfortunately I had to rate this place 3 1/2 frosty beer mugs because it was almost too packed for my liking, and it took an extreeemely long time to get sat at a table. That's not a good thing when you're starting to feel your beer buzz creeping up on you, and your stomach decides there isn't enough food to balance it out. Otherwise, the food was great, and prices you can't really beat.
This is a great place to kick back with some friends at happy hour, socialize, drink some beers or a cocktail, and cook up some grub for a cheap price.


Question of the Day: Have you ever been to a restaurant where you had to cook your own food? What was your experience like?

*Always drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive.

Foodventure #1 - Hollywood Bar Hopping & Juicy Burger

Location: Juicy Burger
Address: 6340 Hollywood Blvd.
                Los Angeles, CA 90028-6303
Phone: (323) 465-8429

The other night was a doozie of a night! I gathered up two of my friends and we headed out to Hollywood.  Now when I'm going to Hollywood I know it's going to be a night full of drinks and fun, and this time it did not disappoint.

DRINKS ALONG THE WAY:

First we headed to Dillon's Irish Pub (on Hollywood Blvd.) to get a couple of drinks in our system.  You can't go wrong with their $3 beers on tap. Of course I had to have me some good ol' Boddingtons Pub Ale. Smooth, creamy goodness in pint size glasses.  Yes please!  After downing two of those brew babies I was pretty good and buzzed. Those Boddington's sure know how to kick a little girl around. I was also starting to get hungry, like always.

We decided to head over to Bardot (on Vine St.) because apparently Fred Durst was supposed to perform and my friends were uber excited to see him for some reason. I couldn't understand why, and I surely couldn't understand anything anybody was talking about when we were there because my head was spinning slightly with the sexy bitter beer that I had guzzled about 15 minutes before.  Unfortunately *cough cough sarcasm* Fred Durst was nowhere in sight.  All I could see were vision trails of hipsters and pretty flashy lights as a one-man-band performed a repetatively annoying song that I think only the hipsters in the room could decipher the meaning of.  I couldn't understand any of it and my impatient dimeaner was wearing quickly onto my friends.  That's when we decided to leave and head over to Big Wangs on Cahuenga Blvd.  Ahh, the chicken wing eatery for the 20-somethings. 

Hunger was brewing in my belly from the get-go.  We walked to Big Wangs and I figured I would get something to eat there.  But what did my eyes see??  Were they deceiving me?  Ahh, but the place I had imagined my next food review to be: Juicy Burger.  But wait!  Big Wangs is on the horizon.  You can't stop and eat now.  It has to be 2:00 in the morning to eat such heard-about deliciousness.  So I calmed my stomach and we headed to Big Wangs.

My, what a beer I had at Big Wangs. A black and tan in a 34oz. beast of a mug. 34 ounces sounded like a great monster to tackle, and I had to hold it with two hands to drink it. But I finished it with amazing smoothness. I was super-fly! Once they kicked us all out at 2am, Juicy Burger was on like Donkey Kong.

REVIEW:
We walked into Juicy Burger and it was all but us and 1 other small group of people.  I couldn't tell which way was up or down, I was too excited. All I knew is that I wanted a burger, fast!  I was handed a form to fill out with a pencil and was wondering how I was going to pass my multiple choice psych test here in this state. Then I focused my eyes and realized it wasn't a test, it had burger choices galore on it. Ohhh, I get it!

No, I didn't take this unfortunately because I was too tipsy to remember to pull the camera out =/

I decided to choose the Beef burger and just about every condiment you could imagine. The burgers started at around $9 and then you could add things for extra.  I added bacon and egg, each for $.50 each.  I don't remember what else I added but I didn't know what I was getting myself into.  It came out to about $12. Holy moly, $12 for a burger?!  Alright here is the rest of my money for the night.

Once I got the burger I could see that this was no ordinary burger.  The bun was fluffy and round.  Like my squishy pillow I would be laying on later that night.  The burger was piled about six inches high with all the crazy add-ons I had chosen.  I took my first bite.  "This jis the brest food I've evrerr eaten."  It really was juicy!  And cooked to medium rare perfection. This mound of satisfaction was like a burgergasm I hadn't had since trying Umami Burger a couple months back.  I couldn't even talk when I ate this burger, it was so good.  I tasted the mustard, ketchup and mayo. The pickles, and tomatoes, oh my! The crunch of the lettuce. I devoured the whole thing within about 4 minutes, along with most of the fries. The french fries were delicious, too. These looked like fresh-cut potatoes, and you got to choose your dipping sauce. I went with the chipotle mayo, which was great. They even have a Tabasco ketchup and a few other unique sauces.

I didn't take this pic either (borrowed photo, forgive my forgetful ass). But my burger looked just like this! Only 6 feet tall.

After I finished my divine 20 gajillion calorie burger and fries I wondered how I had fit so much into my tiny stomach that night. Maybe the drink gods had made room in there for this special night?  I will never know.  All I know is that my first Drink. Eat. Blog. review foodventure ended with a bang of a burger! The only thing that I would complain about is the price. A little expensive for a burger in my opinion, so I demoted it one frosty pilsner glass on my Tipsy Tisch ratings scale.  But my buzzin' tastebuds would have given it 6!

So that will lead to my Question of the Day: Where did you go the last time you had an out-of-this-world burger, and were you drinking or sober? What was your experience like?

*Always drink responsibly. Don't drink and drive.