Cooking
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Sparkly Cake Balls for St. Patrick’s Day
I’m usually pretty good at resisting dessert temptation. Usually. Turns out these cake balls have a power over me that I can’t resist. I don’t know whether it was sheer joy that they actually were tasty, the spider cake balls I made for Halloween were a tad on the nasty side, or if it was their small size. I’d pop one in my mouth and then feel as though a few hundred more wouldn’t hurt me. When I reheated the morning’s leftover coffee after preparing the milk chocolate dip – I knew I was in trouble. It wasn’t long before I was walking around the house holding my stomach wondering just how many…
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Sparkly Bites of Joy
Day five of my St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza. Whew! I made it. I feel as though I’ve spent the past five days in a very unnatural habitat – my kitchen. Here’s a quick recap of the recipes. Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: And last – at least for a few days… My own creation (kind of but not really) cake pops pot of gold. I combined two recipes. I took the pot of gold cookie pot and tried it in a regular sized cupcake tin. It worked! Then I made the cake pops from Bakerella‘s recipe and added yellow chocolate to make them look like gold. I’ll call them…
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All Hail The King
I thought I’d finish up the five days of St. Patrick’s Day madness with the king of Irish beers – Guinness. The beer itself comes in a gleaming black can with the instantly recognizable harp logo on the outside and a clever nitrogen widget hiding within. Many people don’t know it but the fine folks at Guinness actually invented the nitrogen widget. They did this so that the beers they sold in stores would match the quality of their beers when served in the pub. A brilliant concept – beautifully executed. When pouring a pint of Guinness Draught, the widget instantly turns the beer into an inviting tan froth. As…
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Murphy’s Stout
Today’s beer is Murphy’s Stout. Like the Wexford Irish Cream I reviewed yesterday, Murphy’s comes in a can with a nitrogen widget. When opened, the widget releases the nitrogen into the beer and turns pouring it into an event. The Japanese can keep their tea ceremony, crack open one of these and see what makes the lads in Ireland say, “if you’re lucky enough to be born Irish, you’re lucky enough.” So what happens when you start the pour? In this case you’re greeted by a dark, almost black beer with a not quite white head. The nitrogen bubbles in the beer begin to wash down the inside of the…
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Beer Fondue
Day four of my St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza… Fondue! Every January fifth Eric and I can be found at the Melting Pot enjoying our anniversary fondue. It’s one of my favorite foods. I even tried to have a fondue party when I was in high school many, many years ago. It ended with a group of us girls dumping a pot full of half melted cheese in the woods. Silly us, we thought the cheese had to be cooked in the fondue pot over the little can of sterno. Yeah, kind of embarrassing to admit. This recipe is cooked on a stove and is almost as good as the Melting Pot’s…
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Chocolate Mint Eclair
Day 3 of St. Patrick’s Day Extravaganza! Today I learned a very important lesson… read the entire recipe carefully the night before or the morning of baking. No, I didn’t forget any ingredients. I had that checked off my list two days ago. What I didn’t realize was that this recipe needed 2 hours in the refrigerator. Ooops. And I discovered I had to add those two hours to my baking time just as I remembered Kai’s orthodontist appointment that I also didn’t make time for in my day. Ooops again. What I thought was going to be a quick dessert turned out to be hours in the kitchen… after the orthodontist…
