Blueberry Muffins and Spring Cocktails

I hope everyone got to celebrate the mothers in their lives yesterday! It was such a beautiful weekend. I saw a lot of moms doing yard work (eh hem, where you at on that one, dads?). Mother's day here was celebrated by a homemade brunch and dinner, and the building of a chicken coop. Hopefully that made up for the tattoo I got the day before. Moms aren't usually thrilled when their children come home with tattoos. Poor timing on my part. Lucky for me, I have the nicest mom in the world.

My dad and brothers took care of brunch while Mom and I went to church and enjoyed a run together. They did an amazing job! Spinach quiche, potatoes, bacon, fruit salad, even homemade ketchup. I was able to squeeze in making some blueberry muffins before church, since they're Mom's favorite. And she contributed some chocolate chip banana bread (made the day before so it doesn't count as making her work on Mother's day). Dinner was a winner too! Rib-eye steaks with crab, asparagus, fried onions, and roasted garlic and chive mashed potatoes. We decided that only two meals need to be served every day if they're like that. As in large. And fattening.

A celebratory day isn't complete without some celebratory cocktails around here. A few years ago Dad came up with a Chive Blossom Martini. It's such a pretty and refreshing cocktail for spring, especially if you have chives growing around that you can pick right from the ground. We also made Hummingbirds, a drink that's ordered quite a bit at the bar where I work. It's floral and bubbly, and slightly sweet. It's made with St. Germain elderflower liqueur, and if you haven't tried it yet, you should! Or just buy a bottle of it to display somewhere in your home. It's really fancy. 

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

6 Tbsp butter, softened

2 Tbsp canola oil

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

2 cups blueberries 

1 Tbsp turbinado sugar

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup brown sugar

6 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp butter, softened

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with liners (makes about 9 jumbo muffins or 12 standard-sized muffins). Cream butter, oil and sugar in mixer. Mix in eggs one at a time until combined, then add vanilla. Add one cup of flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix in milk until just combined, then add the remaining flour. Gently fold in blueberries. Prepare streusel topping: mix all ingredients together with fork, pastry blender or hands until all ingredients are incorporated and texture is crumbly. Divide batter among muffin tins, top with streusel topping, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center (20-25 minutes for standard size, 25-30 minutes for large).

Chive Blossom Martini

3 oz. gin

0.5 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur 

3 oz. club soda

2-3 chives, chopped into one-inch pieces

1/2 tsp. sugar

Ice

Chive stem and blossom, for garnish

In a shaker, muddle chives and sugar with a splash of water. Fill shaker with ice. Add gin and St. Germain. Shake well and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a chive stem (as a straw! How clever!) and blossom. 

Hummingbird

From St. Germain

2 parts brut champagne or dry sparkling white wine
1 part St. Germain
2 parts club soda
Lemon twist, for garnish

Pour all ingredients over ice in a Collins glass. Top with a lemon twist. Drink. Then make another one.

Pecan Pie and a Flop

I hope everyone had a relaxing and blessed Easter! It's always good to be reminded of how great our God is, and remember that Jesus died and rose from the cross so that our sins would be forgiven, and so we could have everlasting life ourselves.

Holidays always mean lots of time spent in the kitchen--a feast is definitely in order! And a feast is what we had. Baked ham, rosemary lamb chops, grilled asparagus, deviled eggs, potato salad, homemade pickles, crescent rolls, cornbread, fruit salad...it goes on and on and on. Mom always outdoes herself. And that's before all the baked goods! I tackled some pies and cupcakes, then the two of us teamed up to make some egg bread and frosted sugar cookies. 

Let's talk pie. One pie, the pecan pie--the one I'm sharing with you today, was a give-away. But I'm told it got rave reviews. The other pie, lemon meringue, was a recipe featured on the cover of the latest Fine Cooking magazine and caught my attention immediately. I knew I had to attempt it! Then I realized I've never even eaten lemon meringue pie before, I've only made up in my head what I think it would taste like. I guess it's the unnatural fluorescent yellow filling that's kept me away for so long. Anyway, this pie is a marathon to make, and I was surprised at how smoothly the process was going. By the end I had a picture-perfect pie. 

That turned to soup when we cut into it. 

It's currently sitting, half-eaten, on the kitchen table positioned right next to the magazine with its shining cover photo looking at my pie and straight up mocking it. I think no one knows if it should be thrown out or mourned. The taste was right-on (I'm told, since I guess I can't say that I actually know what it was supposed to taste like). I'm not sure where it went wrong since the magazine had pictures to go along with the steps, but I'm determined to get this one right. And hopefully next time we can use forks instead of spoons...!

Back to the other pie (the one I know will come out as a solid as opposed to a liquid). Pecan pie often times calls for a touch of bourbon, which we didn't have on hand at the time (no worries, I've already solved that problem), so I substituted with some Crown Royal, which we always have hanging around. I had some leftover ground gingersnap cookies so I tossed them in the filling to add a little extra spice. You can use your favorite pie dough for the crust or an uncooked store-bought version. 

Classic Pie Dough

(makes top and bottom crust)

2 cups flour

3 Tbsp cold shortening, cut in cubes

3 Tbsp cold butter, cut in cubes

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

6-8 Tbsp ice-cold water

Combine dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender (or two forks) to cut in butter and shortening until the mixture resembles wet sand and the fat is no bigger than pea-sized. Add 6 Tbsp of water and toss mixture with a fork to combine. Continue to add more water until the dough comes together and is no longer dry, but not sticky (you may need more than 8 Tbsp of water total). Divide dough in two, form into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Avoid touching the dough with your hands as much as possible, since your hands are warm and you want the dough to stay cold. Put dough in the fridge for at least a half hour before rolling out. 

Pecan Pie 

Adapted from youngmarriedchic.com

3 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp ground gingersnaps

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup corn syrup

2 Tbsp melted butter

2 Tbsp Crown Royal (or bourbon)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup pecan halves, toasted

1 tsp maple sugar (white sugar or vanilla is fine too!)

1 uncooked pie shell

Place baking sheet on middle rack in oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Beat eggs with sugar until well combined. Stir in corn syrup, and add gingersnaps and flour. Mix in butter, Crown Royal and vanilla, then fold in chopped pecans. Pour filling into pie shell and top with pecan halves placed in a decorative pattern (or just mix them in-it all tastes the same!). Sprinkle with maple sugar. Place pie on baking sheet in oven and bake for an hour. 

I just got back from a trip down to Port Orange, Florida for a week spent with some crazy cousins. I'll be recounting my trip soon! Which may or my not include my attempt at surfing coming from someone who can barely stand on two feet on dry ground.

 Have a blessed week!

Irish Car Bomb Brownies

Just a quick recipe post! I hope everyone's St. Paddy's Day was thoroughly enjoyed with plenty of family, friends, beer and whiskey. I was bartending, and it wasn't too busy during the day (most likely due to the restaurant's lack of Irish affiliation), but we still had fun! We kind of made it our mission to fit as much green into our black-on-black uniforms as possible.

I was hoping someone at the bar would order an actual Irish Car Bomb, it being St. Paddy's and all. But I guess mid-afternoon is a little too early for those. Luckily for me, I had about an hour between working out and heading off to work, and that left me just enough time to whip up some Irish Car Bomb Brownies.

These brownies have a texture closer to fudge than cake-like brownies because there's no leavening agent used (like baking powder or baking soda). The recipe is adapted from a gluten-free version I found on The Dusty Baker. Since I have no reason not to use gluten, I decided to put it back in (duh). But if for some reason you're on a gluten-free diet, by all means follow their original recipe!

Irish Car Bomb Brownies

Guinness Brownies
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder (I use Valrhona since it's super dark, but any good cocoa will work!)
1/2 cup Guinness
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup AP flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 square baking dish (or something similar) and line with parchment. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and whisk in cocoa until smooth. Mix in beer. Add sugar and whisk until it's dissolved (about a minute). Transfer mixture to large bowl and cool slightly. Add eggs and whisk until completely combined. Fold in flour and salt, and pour into baking dish. Bake 15-20 minutes until middle is set. Cool before frosting.

Jameson and Baileys Ganache 
1 cup chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp butter
1 oz Jameson Irish Whiskey
1 oz Baileys Irish Cream

Place chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. Heat cream just until it begins to bubble. Pour over chocolate and let sit for a couple minutes. Begin slowly mixing the chocolate and cream mixture until all chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Whisk in butter, Jameson and Baileys. Pour on top of cooled brownies, and allow to set for a few hours at room temperature before cutting and serving.


Check back soon for a second review of some eateries in NYC! Have a wonderful night!

Loco Cocoa Cake!

This post is devoted to my incredibly supportive, loving, intelligent and crazy dad. Today is his birthday! Happy birthday, Dad! 

I can thank him for my competitiveness, my need to challenge myself, and my spontaneity. He's the one that runs beside me, gives me a glance and the next thing you know we're sprinting until one of us burns out. He's there 10:00 in the morning on my birthday doing a shot of tequila with me (though we opted for 10pm this time around). He's the one you can say "I kind of feel like going on a road trip," and his response is, "Which car should we take?" And I can always count on him walking through the door with his enthusiastic, "Hey Mandy May!" every day when he gets home from work.

All in all, my dad is a pretty awesome guy.

And that means he needs an awesome cake. One that's not usual, a little surprising, and definitely keeps you on your toes.

Two years ago for his birthday I made what I like to call "The Man Cake," which was a cake made with his own Pumpkin Ale topped with a bacon buttercream, made with bacon fat and butter. Oh, yeah. I did that. And I topped it with crumbled bacon.

Since The Man Cake was pretty out of the box, I needed to come up with something that was at least comparable this year.

I decided on a chocolate cake, soaked in Patron Xo Cafe Dark Cocoa tequila, filled with cayenne-chocolate custard and topped with a spicy dark chocolate ganache. Loco Cocoa, no?

The cake was made from my favorite chocolate cake recipe, cut into four layers, and doused in the tequila. I filled the cake with my standard chocolate custard recipe with about a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne added in (we like things spicy! Adjust according to your tastes). I frosted the cake with a dark chocolate ganache that also had cayenne and a little cinnamon added. The cake was decorated with shards of chocolate sprayed with edible gold and amber sugar.

I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful dad who keeps up with my crazy life and supports me every step of the way. Hope you had a great day, Dad!

"And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..." Malachi 4:6

Birthday Cake Cocktail

So, the real reason I've been MIA for the past month and a half is because my life has been all over the place. For instance, that new job I had mentioned in a previous post got replaced with another job after a mere week. Let's just say I found myself in the back of a walk-in freezer for much of my 13-hour workday. And I don't know about you, but I don't typically wear my long johns to work. 

Maybe you do. What's under your clothes is none of my business, really.  

Anyway, now you can find me at the Columbus Cupcakery doing all of the custom cake orders. If you're from this wonderful area of South Jersey, you need to stop in and try a cupcake or four. Flavors are always being updated (Tiramisu cupcakes, anyone?). This wonderful new career opportunity has been great, mostly because we don't have a walk-in freezer. Oh, and I get to do what I love. That's good, too. 

Okay, that's the end of my public service announcement. My days have also been crazy because another huge, life-changing event.......

We joined a new gym. 

Was that a let-down? Well, it's big for me and my mom. I'm pretty sure she was a member of our old gym for like a decade or a century or something along those lines. And I was probably there since before high school. We spent every morning with the same wonderful, sweaty people. Then one day, an eviction notice was posted, and that was that. I don't do well with change in my routine, especially my morning routine. But it turns out that pretty much everyone we knew from the old place are at this new one with us, and it's closer, and cleaner, and we all lived happily ever after. 

Now to go with all this gym talk: a healthy, energy-boosting protein drink that I think you should all start your day with. 

I'm lying again. It's calorie-laden and flirting with the idea of being sickeningly sweet. But it isn't, so you should try it. 

How do you feel about drinking your birthday cake? Do you feel as good about it as I do? Or do I only feel good because I had to drink some of these as a quality control procedure before writing this post? Anyway, if you're too lazy to bake a cake for your birthday, or no one made one for you because they're also too lazy, you both can whip up this cocktail in a matter of seconds. Hell, I'm probably going to start replacing birthday cakes with this. It's like the Easy Bake approach, but instead of cake mix you have alcohol, and instead of a light bulb oven you have more alcohol. 

Birthday Cake Cocktail 
Original Recipe
1 oz. vanilla frosting vodka (such as Cupcake brand vodka) or vanilla vodka
1 oz. Frangelico
1/2 oz. of creme liquor (such as Starbucks brand liquor)
1 1/2 oz. simple syrup
Splash of half-and-half
Whipped cream and/or sprinkles for garnish
Ice

Fill shaker a little more than halfway full with ice. Add vodka, Frangelico, creme liquor, simple syrup and half-and-half, and shake well. Pour into chilled martini glass and garnish with whipped cream and sprinkles.

PS--If you read my last post, I went with my better judgment and decided to post that picture of my beautiful, loving mother. If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, that's your problem. Have a great day! 

Butternut Squash Ale

There's nothing like brewing in the fall. The weather is perfect and the flavors typically used are some of the best we get all year. The air is crisp and you can probably find me huddling closer to the propane burner as the day goes on, but I like it that way (until I catch fire, which is bound to happen sometime soon. Stayed tuned for that post).

Pumpkin ale has made its way back on tap in the past few weeks, and I know that's something we all look forward to over here. We usually brew our own pumpkin ale this time of year as well. But we're over it. 

Well I wouldn't say we're over it, but it's been done...a lot. And I should probably just speak for myself, but after two years of doing the same thing this time of year, it's time for a change. So we did a little swap of the pumpkin for butternut squash. Butternut squash ale, doesn't that sound good? It's not revolutionary, but it's still festive and just enough change to keep things interesting. 

For the grain we used 8lbs of pale malt two row, 2lbs of Crystal 30-L, 1lb of Cara-Pils, and 1/4lb of Victory, and 4lbs of the butternut squash (I keep automatically writing "buttnut" instead, which personally, I think is a better name) went into the mash with it. 

Dinner, anyone?

We spiced the boil with ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon (and vanilla, but that didn't go in until the secondary fermenter). Then you add eggs, sugar, butter...kidding. We're not making pie.

We eventually added 1 oz of Mount Hood hops and 1 oz Liberty hops to the wort.

Looks like fall to me. 

We finally added some London Ale yeast, and it's off to ferment for a bit. I'll report back when it's drinkable. I suppose I never let ya'll know how the Lavender Pale Ale turned out. Well it was delicious. More of an amber ale when all was said and done, but still pretty awesome. The lavender didn't smack you in the face or anything, but it definitely had some herby-ness goin' on. 

Cousins of ours came up from Florida and Virginia and popped in to help brew. And maybe to spend some time with their family, but mostly for the beer. And you know what? This is not the beer we brewed with them. But it was pretty great having their company. 

In other news, has anyone else been plagued by fruit flies lately? It's like they divide and multiply mid-air, then fester in anything containing food (NOT just fruit, don't be fooled). So my family (mostly my father), being the leader in good ideas, has taken to keeping the vacuum within reach in the kitchen and making a sport of sucking up the little buggers, and may or may not be keeping score (Bothwell's: 187, Fruit Flies: I'll give you 1 point for frustration). It's almost a full-time job, being a professional fruit fly trapper. 

Go get 'em, Dad!

PS--Thanks, Ma, for taking the pics! Besides that winner at the end. That was all me. 

Lavender Pale Ale: Part II

I hope you're not totally lost from the last post. I'm a little lost myself. I don't even remember where we left off. Oh, right..needing beer to make beer. I must have taken that a little too seriously and blacked out (totally kidding). 

Heh.

Moving on. So after the hops are added and the wort boils a little longer, it has to be cooled. It's done by inserting a copper coil thing attached to the garden hose. (I thought we agreed on not making things technical?) 

Taking a sample of the beer. Which isn't even alcohol yet so it's basically pointless. Oh, I was just informed that it's needed for more important numbers and things that are beyond my brain capacity right now.

The wort is then strained and transferred to the primary fermentor (...I  mean a big, plastic bucket). 

That's the lavender!

Finally, the yeast is added and the lid is secured. 

My brother holding the bag o' yeast. Note his Bonnaroo shirt...he would feel this is necessary to point out. 

Well, that's the gist of it! Not too shabby, eh? The hardest part comes next...for a few weeks it'll sit in the big, plastic bucket bubbling away. Then we'll transfer it to the carboy where it'll sit for a few more weeks. Then keg it, let it sit, then DRINK IT. FINALLY. (Dammit, beer, you're almost worse than waiting in line for the ladies' room at a sporting event.) I'll post random updates, but I hope you enjoyed a little insight into a pretty typical weekend around here! Unless I just completely freaked you out...yeah I'll just stick to the baked goods for a little while. 

PS-Here's the pizza we made with the spent grain dough, in case you were wondering. Even if you weren't wondering I'm going to show you anyway. That's right, because I can. 

Lavender Pale Ale: Part I

I like to think my family is pretty "normal," whatever the heck that is. I mean, we all genuinely get along and enjoy each other's company (unless they secretly have always been annoyed by my awkward jokes and love of country music and haven't told me, which is definitely plausible. Update: My brothers have since made it very clear that they, in fact, do not enjoy my company, and reminded me that they tell me on almost a daily basis that I'm weird and a nuisance in their lives. Who knew? Must've blocked that out).


However. I no longer think we're normal. I believe it hit me while sitting in a circle of lawn chairs in the back yard, surrounding a boiling pot of water in 90 degree weather, with this music blaring from giant speakers that are pressed up one of the windows. I wouldn't blame you for thinking there's witchcraft going on back there. Or a 70s funk convention. Either way, both sound kinda fun. So even if a misinterpretation of my family being normal has dramatically changed the way I view the past 20+ years, at least we're having fun turning people into rabid animals making beer.

For those of you who don't know, brewing is quite a process. Thus why I will be sharing it with you over a couple of posts. From deciding on a recipe to having the finished, drinkable product, it can take over a month. My dad and brothers are the main force behind brewing in this house, but my mama and I offer our (obviously well-informed) opinions, temperature-gauging abilities, excellent (and definitely not intrusive) photography skills, and snacks (my God, I can't believe I just used that word. I despise that word in the way that most people despise the word "moist." Did you just cringe? Well, I hate the s-word, so don't expect to hear it again. And don't ask questions.)

For this beer, we wanted to use herbs we have growing in the garden. So step one was gathering a bunch of herbs and making tea out of them to decide on a flavor that we liked.

1. Sage 2. Lavender 3. Costmary 4. Chocolate Mint 5. Rosemary 6. Tarragon 7. Oregano 8. Savory 

9. Broadleaf Sage 10. Thyme 11. Hop Flowers

We decided lavender was the most enjoyable and settled on it for this beer. Pretty girly if you ask me, Dad, but you didn't. So moving on. (Just kidding, it was a great choice, Pops. The rest were kinda gross.)

Next we got the grains we wanted to use: 9 lbs of 2-row, 1 lb Crystal malt 60L, and 1 lb of Victory malt. (You totally understand what that means, right? Cause I definitely do.)

This is bound to get slightly technical. Technical=boring. So you might want to just look at the pictures. That's what I'll probably do so I don't fall asleep reading this later. 

When it came time to brew, we created a mash by mixing the grains with hot water. After letting the mash sit at 155 degrees F for a little while, the liquid is extracted and the spent grains are disposed (or used to make pizza dough. Refer to paragraph 1 for reasons why my family is not normal). This precious liquid is the wort. 

The mash

USA! USA!

I'm over technicalities. You are, too? That's what I like to hear. Yeah, so then we boil the wort for a while, certain temperatures, specific timing, yada yada...Well, if you really want to know you can ask and I'll refer to the brains behind this operation. (Oh, you thought that was me? That's so kind of you.) 

It's during this time that the lavender and hops are added. We used hop pellets and hop flowers we have growing in our garden. 

Oh, snap! I almost forgot the most crucial part! 

"It takes beer to make beer."

Did you grab yourself a brew too? Good. Check back for Part II to see the rest of the process! And keep drinking...maybe you'll actually find my humor less awkward that way (unlike my family).