Guiness Cupcakes with Macadamia Frosting

Guinness = delicious, and cupcakes = delicious. So Guinness cupcakes should be stellar, right? A good friend who is a fellow Guinness lover had a medical procedure done where he couldn't eat/drink for awhile, so I thought I would make him some cupcakes for when he got home. And I figured it would be ok to make a dozen of them since my brother and his wife came in later that day. The point being that I knew I wouldn't eat them all because I had enough people to help me.


I found this great recipe on Dulcedo for Guinness Cupcakes with Baily's Irish Cream Frosting and I had to make it. Evidently it's actually from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, which was an excellent gift from a great friend for my 10 year cancer survivorship anniversary. I must have been too busy ogling the hazelnut cupcakes to notice the stout cupcakes.



Ingredients for Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup soy milk


• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar


• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour


• 1/3 cup unprocessed cocoa powder (original recipe calls for Dutch-processed)


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/4 cup Guinness


• 3/4 cup sugar


• 1/3 cup canola oil


• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I omitted this because I'm running low)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.


In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the soy milk and the vinegar. Add the Guinness, sugar, oil, and vanilla to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. Add the dry ingredients in two batches and beat until well incorporated.Fill your cupcakes containers of choice 3/4 full.


Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack and allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.


Icing

I got lazy and made a simple icing:

• 2-3 cups confectioner's sugar


• 2 TB macadamia liqueur


• Splash of vanilla soy milk

Mix together and enjoy.

These were solid chocolate cupcakes. I think I overdid it with the icing- it's incredibly sweet and may detract from the cake. There was a nice thing crunch on top where I evidently overcooked them, but I think it made them better. And you cannot taste the (very minimal amount of) Guinness.

Creamy Beer Onion Soup

Shiner Bock. I had one tonight at the movies as I watched The Unforseen, a great movie about uncontrolled growth in Austin and the environmental impact. It took me back and made me a little homesick. Especially the Shiner.




I got home and was starving, and the Shiner wouldn't leave my thoughts. The only vegetables I have left are beets and onions and the beets seem like they'll take forever to cook. Beer Onion Soup just seemed ideal.





Ingredients

• 2 medium/large red onions, cut in thin half circles
• Olive oil to coat the onions
• 1 bottle beer (Shiner)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup soy milk (optional)
• Salt and pepper

Roast the onions and get the beer boiling in a pot with water. When the onions are done, add them to the beer along with salt and peper and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the beer reduces down by half. Blend with immersion blender to smooth out, especially if you used 2 onions. Remove from heat and mix in soy milk.





At one point while the onions were simmering in the beer, I tasted the broth and was immediaely disappointed. I probably would have cried except I'd gotten rid of all my tears once I sliced into the onions. But I added some more water and let it cook a little longer. It got better but I was still concerned. Then I added the soy milk and it was perfect. Exactly what I wanted on a cold night. I also used 2 slices of bread to soak it all up. I would have made croutons but didn't feel like turning the oven back on.

Herbed Onion Beer Bread

I realized that I spend entirely too much time inside cooking. But that's ok.

For dinner I made one of my favorites- roasted Brussels sprouts (add some olive oil and put in a 375-400 degree oven until brown and toasty and sprinkled with the last remaining morsels of salt I could find in my kitchen). I also decided to use up that one bottle of Anchor Porter that's been in my fridge for...about 5 months now. What a better way than making beer bread?

I added 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, lots of Italian dried spices (basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary), 1/3 large onion chopped/minced, a touch of sugar, and a touch of baking powder. I put it in the bread pan and baked on 375 for about 50 or 55 minutes. When I first took it out of the oven after 45 minutes, I got scared it wasn't done in the middle since I made that mistake once, so I let it go a little bit longer.

After waiting an agonizing 10 mintues for it to cool on the rack, I cut it into thirds. One third is about 450 calories, and since I did a lot of hiking today with the dog, I felt it was worth it. I topped 2 slices with some Earth Balance Soy Butter and dipped the other two in olive oil, only because I was watching something on food on TV today and they mentioned that you eat less if you eat bread with olive oil than with butter. And olive oil is amazing.

The last time I made this bread, I forgot the herbs, salt, sugar, and onion. Oops. But I ate it anyway. This time, I forgot to add some salt, partly because I have none. This time it came out much better. I wish I'd added more onions, but it's probably sufficient for more people. I also could use more herbs, but again, it's probably about right for most. There is a fantastic crust on the top and bottom of the bread. It's really easy to make and quite tasty.

Now I just need to put it away before I eat the entire loaf...