Happy Sunday!
Last Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and I made a delicious
Irish-inspired dinner. My brother and
sister came over for dinner and we ate Shepard's Pie, Irish Soda Bread, and St.
Patrick's Day Cupcakes while watching sappy Irish movies on the Hallmark
Channel! Good times!
I didn't really follow a recipe for the Shepard's Pie (I
know, I know, big surprise right?! I'm
notorious for making up great recipes, but not writing them down, so I can't
ever make them again! I like to think of
it like a work of art....there's only on Mona Lisa, right? Everything else is just a copy.)
ANYWAY, back to Irish cooking...for my Shepard's Pie, I
browned about a pound of ground beef, added some diced onion, carrot, and
garlic and cooked that for a few minutes until the carrots started to become
tender. Then I added some tomato paste,
Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper and cooked that down a little bit
more. I took the mixture off the heat
and added some frozen corn and peas. I
poured all of this into my favorite green casserole dish (perfect for the
occasion) and spread some mashed potatoes on top. Since everything was hot, it only took about
25 minutes in the oven and everything was bubbly and smelled delicious!
I really wish I had kept track of how much of everything
I added because the filling was really good....savory, but not too salty and a
nice balance of meat and veggies.
I also wanted to make a gluten-free Irish Soda Bread
recipe, but I couldn't find one anywhere that sounded right to me, so, you
guessed it....I made up my own. BUT,
this time, I wrote down what I did in case it turned out and I wanted to make
it again.
So here it is:
3 cups almond flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
1-2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Combine the almond flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar in
a medium bowl. Whisk until well
combined. (There are few things worse
than biting into a piece of bread or a cookie and getting a lump of baking
soda....blah!)
Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth and no
streaks of egg remain. Since almond
flour doesn't contain any gluten, you can stir the mixture as much as you want
and it will never become tough like traditional biscuits, scones, or muffins
made with flour.
I poured all the batter onto a greased cookie sheet and
shaped it into a mound. Bake for about
45 minutes at 350 until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the
middle of the loaf comes out clean.
While the Shepard's Pie and Irish Soda Bread were really
tasty, I thought the best part was dessert.
Again, not a surprise though :)
I wanted to make a cupcake version of a popular St
Patrick's Day drink using Guinness, Irish Whiskey, and Bailey's Irish
Cream. So, I made a chocolate Guinness
cupcake, filled it with Irish Whiskey Ganache, and frosted it with Bailey's
buttercream. The result was superb! Perfectly balanced between the flavors....no
one component dominated the cupcake. And
bonus, these too were gluten-free!
Guinness Cupcakes
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup Guinness
1 tsp vanilla
Thoroughly combine almond flour, cocoa powder, baking
soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl.
Add eggs, melted butter, Guinness, and vanilla and whisk until well
blended. Evenly divide between 12
muffins tins with paper liners. These
cupcakes are more delicate, so you definitely want to bake them in cupcake
liners instead of just greasing the pan.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes are until a toothpick inserted
in the middle comes out clean. They will
still feel soft.
Cool completely!
Then scoop out a little of the center of the cupcake so there's more
room for ganache :) It is very important
that the cupcakes are not warm or the ganache will melt.
Whiskey Ganache:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons whiskey
Finely chop the chocolate and put it in a heatproof bowl.
Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for
about 2 minutes, then whisk until smooth and not lumps of chocolate
remain. Add the butter and whiskey and
stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but not hard. This took about 20 minutes in the
fridge. Once ganache is firm, use a
small spoon or cookie scoop and place about 2 tsp of ganache in the center of
each cupcake.
Bailey's Buttercream
1 stick butter, softened
Pinch salt
2 cups powdered sugar
about 2-3 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
In the bowl of an electric mixture, beat butter and salt
until smooth. Then alternately add
powdered sugar and Bailey's. Once all
the sugar is incorporated, increase speed to medium-high and beat for about 45
seconds until light and fluffy. Frost
cupcakes.
The recipe sounds like a lot a work, and it does take
some time, but the ganache and buttercream can be prepared while the cupcakes
bake and cool. So it didn't take as long
as I though. And, trust me, the results
are worth it!
As always, post a comment here or email me at
creativecrumbsnashville@gmail.com with questions, suggestions, or to place an
order. You can follow me on twitter
too! @creativecrumbs or click the
"follow me" button on the right.
Happy baking and cooking!
