Shamrock Shake at Home

It's St. Patty's weekend and I spent ~10 hours in the office staring at data. It was a less than ideal day so I made myself the ideal adult treat. Also, this takes my love of my aerolatte to a whole new level. Mind you, I love my aerolatte more than I love some people. It allows me to indulge my love of lattes without having to drop serious cash on an espresso machine or stand in line at Starbucks (how is there a line when there are 3 of them on every street? HOW?).

No blender? No problem.

Boozy Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles

I had a ton of peppermint candies and creme de menthe from making peppermint mocha cupcakes and obviously need to use them up. There was a serious lack of cookies in the apartment and making 2 cupcake batches in less than a week seemed excessive (I cannot have 2 tubs of leftover cake topping/frosting in the fridge), so I decided to make chocolate crinkle cookies with a minty and boozy twist.

Total time: ~45 minutes, includes letting cookies cool and drinking wine and catching up on T.I. and Tiny (best show on VH1 in my humble opinion).

VERDICT: the roommate was pleasantly surprised to see even more treats in the apartment and ate a good portion of them after dinner. She also agreed to share with her coworkers if there were leftovers. I assume it's a good sign that she thinks other people might want in on them. Sadly, the booze bakes out of the cookies, but making a cookie sandwich with some leftover boozy ganache would solve that problem or even a quick boozy buttercream.

Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles

adapted from Real Simple, yields 3-4 dozen cookies (depending on size).

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 salt

1 stick butter

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 shot creme de menthe

powdered sugar (for dusting)

crushed peppermint candies (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. Cream butter and brown sugar. Beat eggs in, one at a time, then add creme de menthe.

3. Add flour mixture and mix well. The dough should be smooth and pliable, but not elastic like bread dough. Let the dough rest for ~10 minutes in the fridge to making shaping cookies easier. Optional: crush peppermint candies (see peppermint mocha cupcake post) and mix with powdered sugar.

4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Roll dough in powdered sugar (or peppermint candy dust and powdered sugar). Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cracks form on cookie surface.

5. Let cookies cool and dust with more sugar.

Boozy Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

So I somehow convinced a friend to take me as her date to her work holiday party (free alcohol! yay, but no...) As a thank you, I made her these cupcakes, which were "christmas-y," as requested and as much as I hate to admit it, were inspired by the Starbucks holiday menu.

Total time: 2 hours --- 30 minutes to make the cakes and ganache, 30 minutes to let them cool, and an hour to let the ganache set/put on make up and blow out hair.

VERDICT: The friend/date really liked them or was nice enough to eat 3 for my benefit. Added bonus, the hardened ganache glaze keeps the cakes fresh for an extra couple of days.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes 

adapted from Mark Bittman's chocolate cake recipe in How to Cook Everything, yields 12 cupcakes.

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (or melted if you're lazy like I am)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
9 tablespoons coccoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 shot kahlua
1 shot creme de menthe


1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
2. Cream the butter until smooth gradually add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Beat in the yolks one at a time, followed by the coccoa powder and vanilla.
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to mixture a bit at a time and stir in by hand alternating with the milk and liqueurs. Don’t overmix.
4. Beat egg whites until they are soft peaks and gently fold into the rest of mixture.
5. Fill cupcake liners ~3/4 the way full. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcakes comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack before frosting.

Peppermint Ganache Glaze

12 oz dark/semisweet chocolate, chopped or in chips

1 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons creme de menthe, or more if you like

1. Heat cream on medium-high heat, take off stove JUST BEFORE cream boils.

2. Pour heated cream over chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy.

3. Add creme de menthe and let cool before topping cupcakes. To top cupcakes, dip cooled cakes into ganache and let set at room temperature for ~1 hour. 

Confession: the ganache glaze was really me being too lazy
to cream butter and sift sugar to make frosting.

Red cupcake liners make the cupcakes really festive AND
compliment the crushed candy topping.

Easiest topping ever. 

Add crushed peppermint candy before ganache
sets for that extra Martha Stewart touch.