Boozy Chai Spice Pumpkin Cupcakes

Nothing says Fall like pumpkin spice (thanks Starbucks). This recipe was actually on my brain for the better part of a year when I decided to spoof the seasonal lattes in cake form, but I had only managed to make a boozy peppermint mocha cake. I love pumpkin-themed foods and drinks, but they can be sickeningly sweet and one-dimensional sometimes (hi Starbucks). I decided to change up the usual fall spice note and go bold with garam masala.  It's difficult to put a twist on something that gets done to the nth degree. Luckily with my birthday and Thanksgiving, I get lots of opportunities to try and guests make great taste testers. And no one objects to a baby bourbon.


Total time: 1 hour --- 30 minutes to make the cakes and frosting, 30 minutes to let them cool/blow out my hair.


VERDICT: I made these while cleaning and packing for a work conference so my mind was in at least 3 other places. Everyone seemed to like them enough go back for extra helpings. Hooray!

And the Hudson Baby Bourbon makes another appearance.

Boozy Chai Spice Pumpkin Cupcakes

adapted from chow.com, yields 12 cupcakes

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

1 /2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus more as needed

2 large eggs

1/2 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée

3-4 tablespoons bourbon

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Line muffin tin with paper liners or coat with oil/cooking spray.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to break up any lumps and set aside.

3. Place the sugar and vegetable oil in the bowl. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the sugar is incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a rubber spatula.

Then, add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Add the pumpkin, and beat on low speed until just combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then, add the flour mixture, and beat for about a minute or until it is almost completely incorporated. Fold in any unincorporated flour at the edges, making sure to scrape to the bottom of the bowl. Stir in bourbon.

5. Fill the muffin tin three-quarters of the way (~1/4 cup per well). Place the muffin  tin in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the tin and bake for ~10 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool before frosting. Optional: brush cakes with bourbon while they're still slightly warm.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, boozy if you like.

2 teaspoons garam masala
2-3 tablespoons bourbon

1. Soften cream cheese and sift powdered sugar and garam masala to remove clumps.

2. Add powdered sugar to butter, 1 cup at a time. Alternate with rum in small batches. You may need more or less powdered sugar/bourbon to get your desired consistency/booziness.

Bourbon Peach Pie

It was unseasonably warm so I decided it was still peach weather and the farmers' market agreed with me. I had guests this weekend so it was the perfect excuse to bake with peaches again. I don't know why, but I got it in my head that I NEEDED to make a lattice pie. So I did (suck it, imaginary reader).

Total time: This is not something you just whip up. Peach preparation is more messy and tedious than you'd think. I want to say set aside 4 hours if you don't have a crust already made and ready to go. With a crust, give yourself 2 hours, 3 if you want a completely cooled pie.


VERDICT: Made this Friday and I don't remember there being much left by Monday. I wish that the bourbon came through more, but a clean pie tin speaks for itself?

Bourbon Peach Pie

adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe in How to Cook Everything, makes 1 8" pie

About 2 pounds of peaches, or a little more (whatever, just eat the leftovers)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
About 1/2 cup sugar, more if the peaches are not quite ripe, plus a little for the top
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bourbon
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 pie crusts (I used the shortening recipe from What's Cooking America)
Milk as needed (I used almond milk, but I'm sure regular milk will work).


1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Prep peaches:  bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the peaches into it, a couple at a time, for 10 to 30 seconds, until the skins loosen. Plunge into a bowl of ice water. Slip the skins off, using a paring knife to ease the process. Pit, slice, and toss with lemon juice.
3. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and bourbon. Toss the peaches with this mixture. Pile into the rolld-out shell, making the pile a little higher in the center than at the sides. Cover with the top crust (or lattice it). Crimp the edges with a fork or your fingers.
4. Put the pie on a baking sheet and brush the top lightly with milk; sprinkle with sugar. Use a sharp paring knife to cut two or three 2-inch long slits in the top crust to steam to escape (skip this if you go the lattice route).
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown. Err or the side of over-baking if you must. Cool on a rack before serving warm or at room temperature.

There should be some bubbling of the filling and it should have a thick, syrupy consistency.

Bourbon Peach Upside Down Cake

I have been even worse at updating and baking than usual. I've been meaning to make something summery for the better part of a month and I nearly had an anxiety attack when I saw mums and acorn squash outside of Whole Foods last week. Seriously fall, back off. I am not ready for you yet and I want at least another week to laze around and be on semi-vacation mode all.

I was in Connecticut visiting friends over Labor Day weekend or, as I like to call it, Last Weekend of Summer. I decided to commemorate my last trip of the summer with a cake. Nothing says summer like peaches and my go-to summer whiskey: bourbon. This bourbon cake was really a multi-tasker. I failed to bring a gift and it was an excuse to go to the liquor store and find some Hudson Baby Bourbon, which I had been hunting down all summer because it's handmade in New York (first home state bourbon!) and it's the first whiskey made there since Prohibition. A bit pricey at $40, but it was totally worth it.

Total time: 1 hour for baking, plus 10 minutes for cooling.

VERDICT: Having never made an upside down cake, I was rather pleased with how it turned out. The topping really caramelizes in the oven and the brown sugar gives it this intense taste that stands up to the bourbon. My peach slices were 1/4" thick. I would go for a thicker cut so that there's more peach flavor. My only other regret was not having some vanilla ice cream over a warm slice of cake (yum).

Left: Cake. The peaches slide when the sauce is poured. Not the prettiest, but it gets the job done.
Right: The inspiration. Hudson Baby Bourbon and fresh peaches :)

Bourbon Peach Upside Down Cake

adapted from "Whisky Peach Upside Down Cake" recipe from Crepes of Wrath, yields 1 8"X8" cake

Topping:
3-4 ripe peaches, sliced 1/2" thick
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 cup butter

Batter:
1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon whiskey vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup bourbon

1. Preheat oven 350F. Butter bottom and sides of baking pan (my host had a square one, feel free to use a round one).

2. Prepare topping. Melt butter in saucepan on low-medium. Add brown sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Take off heat and stir in bourbon.

3. Line bottom of baking pan with peaches. Pour butter and brown sugar sauce over the peaches.

4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
5. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, to butter mixture. Add vanilla.

7. Alternate flour mixture with bourbon and mix until just blended. The batter may look slightly curdled; this is fine.
8. Spoon batter evenly over peaches. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before inverting and serving cake.

Booze: it's what's for dinner

In light of the fact that it is summer (yes, the summer solstice isn't until the 20-22nd, but socially summer starts after Memorial Day), I am obsessing over not having rolls of fat like anyone else with a pulse in North America. Thus, I have decided to switch things up a bit and incorporate booze into some non-cake items in an attempt to lay off dessert and be slightly more healthful (I don't envision this lasting very long). Last week, I used up the Kahlua for some boozy mocha brownies for a study date.* In keeping with the spirit of cleaning out bottles, I made some whiskey-marinated steaks.

Time: 5 minutes to prepare marinade, 15 minutes to cook steak.

VERDICT: surprisingly tasty, subtle hint of whiskey at the end of each bite. I suspect this would work really well for something on the grill or something that involves more sauce like steak tips. It'd probably also work really well in a barbecue chicken type situation.


*The brownies came out a little dry so I don't think they're worth writing about until I get them right.

Yes, those are shot glasses.

Whiskey Marinade

1 part whiskey (I used Jack Daniels because that's what I have excessive amounts of)

1 part soy sauce

1/2 part Dijon mustard

1 part brown sugar (I had a clump left in the pantry, white sugar probably works too)

1 part chopped green onion

1/2 part garlic

1. Dissolve sugar in whiskey and soy sauce. Combine with other ingredients in a large mixing bowl or Tupperware and coat meat evenly. I opted to not put precise measurements because I wanted to be able to scale up/down easily later.

2. Depending on what kind of meat you're working with, let the meat marinate between 2 hours-overnight (I cut up a round roast slab into smaller portions so I let them sit overnight).

I suspect the combination of fat marbling and whiskey is what made this tasty.

The finished product. And some veggies in the back.

Boozy Cake Challenge #1

The idea for this cupcake from an old friend who sent me an article for a  s'muffin and asked for the boozy version. The result: a graham cracker cake with a boozy hershey kiss filling topped off with a toasted marshmallow. I dedicate this recipe to my original drinking buddy/favorite engineer Ricky (what happens in Boston stays in Boston).

Ricky's Boozy S'mores Cupcakes

Graham Cracker Cupcake (adapted from Ming Makes Cupcakes #32), yields 12 cupcakes

1 cup flour

3/4* cup graham cracker crumbs - use original/honey crackers NOT cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon Whiskey Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup milk

*original recipe called for 1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs, but I really wanted the flavor to come through.

"Boozy Hershey kisses"

12 plain chocolate kisses

1 shot of Whiskey - I used Jameson because that's what I had

Topping

1 bag regular sized marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Take out butter and eggs so that they come to room temperature. Unwrap chocolate kisses, pour whiskey over them and set aside (keep the runoff, it will be chocolate infused booze).

2. Graham cracker crumbs: take out a bunch and blend into a fine powder by pulsing in a blender/food processor OR put in a ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin or whatever's handy (boozy tip: a bottle makes for a great impromptu rolling pin).

3. Combine flour, cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Make sure there are no clumps and set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla extract, then add the flour mixture and milk in alternate batches starting with the flour mixture. If the batter looks too dry, add a little milk or booze (try to make sure it's the same booze you used to make the boozy extract).

5. Add 1 tablespoon of batter to cupcake tin, then place boozy chocolate kiss in center and add more batter. Fill cupcake tin to about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes at 400F.

6. Place a marshmallow on top of each cupcake. Bake at 400F for another 5 minutes. The marshmallow melts off center, but it's an easy fix with a butter knife.

7. Let the cupcakes cool for 10-20 minutes. When they are just warm, carefully drizzle the runoff from making the boozy kisses onto the cakes (confession: I used a syringe and shot 6 cc's into each cake).

Taste test: One taster felt compelled to eat 3 and commented "FYI: These were the best cupcakes I've ever had." on Facebook.

Booziness: "the Jameson kicks in after couple of these."

VERDICT: I think the cake would've been better if it had been a ganache and not just a hershey kiss, but I didn't want to work that hard on my own birthday cake and I don't like chocolate so I didn't want to be stuck with a ton of ganache. Also, I'm pretty sure the ganache would be a mess if it went into the the oven so   the only way to make the ganache work is modify it or  make a marshmallow frosting and then toast it with a torch.

Cupcake rave!

Toasty topping: do NOT try to do this with the broiler,
you'll burn the marshmallows. No one wants charred cupcakes.

Cross-section.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Whiskey* Vanilla Extract

2 vanilla beans

Jameson Whiskey (about a shot give or take)

dark or lightproof bottle

Spilt the vanilla beans in half and cut in half so that they fit into a small bottle. Add Whiskey and let sit in a cool, dark place for a month. 

*I was planning on having a whiskey-themed cake so I used whiskey, but I'm sure vodka or rum would work just as well (obviously Bourbon should work given all of the bourbon extracts on the market).

Easiest recipe ever. The only hard part is waiting a month for it to mature, but considering it's REAL vanilla extract for a fraction of what you'd pay at Williams Sonoma or Whole Foods, it's totally worth the wait. I bought my beans from Trader Joes for $3.99 and used booze that I had on hand in the apartment. I also forgot to take pictures because I am the worst blogger ever BUT I will do a controlled experiment with different boozes and document it as soon as I have enough guinea pigs to taste all of the resulting cakes.