Strawberry Champagne Shortcake (and Cocktail)

It was the roommate's birthday and, as already established, she loves all things pink and sugary. Last year, I was overzealous with the party cake making. This year was a much more toned down affair. I basically re-hashed the cupcakes from New Year's (day jobs get in the way sometimes, sorry) into a loaf cake. 

Time: 1 hour, includes letting cake cool and having a glass of champagne... or two.

VERDICT: I had the cake in the oven for 40 minutes, which was probably too long, but the strawberry topping hides a multitude of baking sins. The champagne cake batter is a surprisingly versatile one. It paired really well with fresh fruit and whipped cream. And who hates strawberries, champagne, whipped cream, and cake?

It's hard to get a picture when your layers are sliding.

Strawberry Champagne Shortcake*

Champagne cake batter (I used store bought pink sugar in place of regular sugar and rosé champagne)
1 quart strawberries, washed and hulled
1/3 cup of sugar
4 tablespoons champagne
whipped cream (I used store bought)

1. Preheat oven 350F. grease loaf pan.

2. Fill pan, smoothing out any surface lumps. Bake for 30-35 or until toothpick inserted into middle comes out dry (no batter should stick).
3. While cake bakes, slice berries into 1/4" to 1/2" slices (you can be as precise or imprecise as you want). Coat evenly with sugar and champagne. Set aside and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

*I know that the definition of a shortcake is contested and there are some who insist that a shortcake involves a biscuit of some kind topped with strawberries. I have never been a fan of the biscuit posing as cake and the only people who persist in perpetuating this cake charade are from the South so I'm going to be Yankee about it and disregard the biscuit business.

So pink! And yes, that is André. Save the good stuff for DRINKING.

Strawberry Champagne Shortcake Cocktail

aka: the Shampagne Cocktail (S is for SHalls)

Rosé champagne
Splash whiskey vanilla
3 tablespoons strawberry-champagne syrup (the run-off from the cake topping)/strawberry liqueur

In a champagne flute, pour in syrup. Add whiskey vanilla. Fill remainder with champagne. Optional: before pouring syrup dip rim in water and bowl of sugar. Garnish with strawberry.

Boozy Bears Part II

In case you were waiting with baited breath after reading Part I of this post, the results are in! No, it did not take a month for the bears to soak up the vodka. It just took me an absurdly long time to muster up the brain power to get a ruler from my room and measure a bear.

Time: 12-24 hours to let bears soak up vodka.

VERDICT: Easiest boozy treat ever. You basically get little bear shaped jello shots (they are rather potent). I recommend that you use separate containers to soak each gummy bear flavor because you are after all putting them in an  organic solvent. No one wants weird puce-colored, unspecified fruit-flavored bears.

After: 2.6 cm bear

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) Pi Day Mini Apple Pies

I am a huge nerd and love all things STEM (I actually struggle with not writing this like a lab report and am surprised that this reads anything like a decent narrative). Anywhoodles, I celebrated Pi Day much like any other person would, by making pie. I also fortunate enough to have some fresh pie dough in the fridge, which is really a very compelling reason to make pie, no?

Total time: 40 minutes, NOT including dough prep.

VERDICT: I may make all of my pies mini pies if I don't have a group to eat the pie, much more portable (picnics!) and easier to store than a full-sized pie.

Apple Pi!

Mini Bourbon Apple Pies

adapted from Mark Bittman's apple pie recipe in How to Cook Everything, yields 6 mini pies.

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch salt
2-3 apples (I used Granny Smith)
1 tablespoon bourbon
3/4 cornstarch
1 pie crust
1 tablespoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Fit crust into muffin tin (my dough was wadded up, so I just took 1.5" balls and rolled them out into smaller circles to fit). Reserve leftover dough to decorate pies.

2. Toss together the dry ingredients. Peel and core the apples and cut into 1/2 slices. Toss the apples with bourbon and dry ingredients.

3. Spoon apple filling into tin until it is about level with the the tin. Decorate pis with reserved dough and top each pie with a small pat of butter.

4. Bake pies for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling just begins to bubble.

Not the neatest of crust fittings, but whatevs.

Note to self: stick to lattice crusts. No more freeform shapes.

Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes

It was Alison's birthday a few weeks ago. Surprisingly, the Martha Stewart high was still going strong so I made a pot roast and for her birthday cake I combined her two great (food) loves: chocolate and red wine.

Total time: 30 minutes, including time to cool and frost cupcakes.

VERDICT: The merlot flavor is really subtle in the cake. I can see why other recipes recommend using a wine syrup instead of straight wine. Overall, a good dessert with a roast, very at-home/Sunday dinner-y flavor. Alison (and Ken!) liked it so that's all that counts really.

Chocolate Merlot Cupcakes

adapted from "Wine Tasting Cakes" recipe from Boozy Cakes, yields ~1 dozen cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup merlot

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 oz melted dark chocolate/9 tablespoons cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven 350F. Line cupcake tin with liners.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, spices, and cocoa powder (if you're using it). Stir and set aside.

3. Cream butter and sugar together, make sure there are no lumps of butter or sugar.

4. Beat in eggs, one at a time, to butter mixture. Add melted chocolate (if you're using it) and stir..

5. Add flour mixture to batter, 1/2 cup at a time. Alternate with merlot. Mix well.

6. Fill cupcake tins 3/4 with batter and bake for 20-25 minutes or until just set. Cool before frosting.

Merlot Buttercream Frosting

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)

4 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup merlot

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Soften butter and sift powdered sugar to remove clumps.

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

Boozy Bears, Part I

No baking this last week I had a cold and the week was nuts. I've been on a bit of pantry cleaning kick lately and my latest experiment is boozy gummy bears.  I had a bunch of red gummy bears lying around and decided to get rid of them. Long story short, all red gummy bears taste like cough syrup to me...

Gummy Bears, Vodka, Done.

Vodka Gummy Bears

Shallow dish/tupperware

Vodka

Gummy bears

If this works, it will be the easiest boozy treat ever. I put the gummy bears in a single layer and poured enough vodka to just cover the bears; I wanted the vodka to diffuse into the bears and if memory of diffusion mechanics serves correctly, that means not having the bears swimming in vodka to begin with. *FINGERS CROSSED*

Yes, that is kale on my counter.  Sometimes, I'm healthy.

Before: 1.9 cm bear

Game Day Lemon Tea Cookies

Still high on the Martha Stewart crack that led to the New Year's cupcakes, I decided to make some Minnesota Vikings' themed snacks to eat while the game was on. No, I am not a Vikings' fan, but I live with one and I love any excuse for a theme party, even if it is only for 2 people. I'm far too lazy/frugal to buy food coloring so I thought I'd try to fashion appropriately colored snacks out of natural ingredients: blackberries (purple) and lemons (yellow).

Total time: ~1 hour, but that includes an icing mishap (blackberry juice looks more pink than purple), taking a break for a glass of Albariño, and making up a Vikings-inspired cocktail. Also, zesting lemons always takes longer than I think it will.

VERDICT: total self-call, but the cookies are AMAZING (and were an excellent way to continue the pantry clean out). So delicate and buttery. The lemon icing was surprisingly light and the Meyer lemons were not as cloying as I thought they would be. Definitely making these again for summer gatherings.

Lemon Tea Cookies (with icing)

adapted from What's Cooking America, yields 2-3 dozen cookies (depending on size).

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

4 teaspoons lemon zest

6 tablespoons lemon juice (strained please!)

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup corn starch

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine butter, 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar, and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.

2. Add flour, corn starch, salt, and lemon zest to butter mixture. Knead dough with hands to make sure that there are no lumps of butter.

3. Roll dough into 3/4 to 1-inch balls and space an inch apart on an un-greased cookie sheet.

4. For the icing: in a small bowl, whisk in powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, to remaining lemon juice until icing has the consistency of thick glue. Add more powdered sugar if needed. For a boozy icing, use limoncello and lemon zest instead of juice.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. The tops will be pale, but the bottoms should be golden brown. Let cool completely before icing (the cookies are very delicate when they first come out of the oven; let them cool for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack).

Minnesota Vikings' "Mojito" Cooler

frozen blackberries, muddled

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 oz lemon juice

1 oz vodka

mint-flavored sparkling water (I was too lazy to get mint so I substituted flavored sparkling water for the muddled mint and club soda.)

lemon twist (garnish)

ice

Added some yellow sugar to make the cookies pop.
The lemon 'V' was a complete accident.