12 Projects of Christmas: Guinness Cupcakes

This was definitely not a project I was planning to make, but it falls under the gift category so I decided to post it.  Plus, it had rave reviews from JP, so I thought it would be great to share!

My "brother" JP is proudly Irish, and LOVES anything to do with his heritage, especially the beers.  His favorite beer?  Guinness.  Now personally, I think Guinness is awful---it's thick and dry and the flavor is terrible.  But JP loves it so much, so as soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to make these for him.  I tweaked the recipe a little to make it work for his taste, and I have to say these did turn out really good!  Even for not liking Guinness, the flavor that it adds to the chocolate cupcake is wonderful!

So here we go:

Grab your ingredients!

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup Guinness stout
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream  
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 pinch table salt
3 tablespoons Bailey's (we used the coffee flavor)
1 tablespoon milk

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the butter, Guinness, cocoa powder, and brown sugar until the butter has melted and it's all smooth.  Make sure to whisk often because you don't want it to boil or burn.  The bubbles you see in the picture is actually the foam from the beer--the foam will cook down, don't worry.  Once it's all smooth, let it cool until it's room temp or a little warmer.

Now, in a bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together.

Add the Guinness mix to the bowl and mix until well combined.  Add the eggs and sour cream, and mix again.

Pour into your cupcake pan (make sure to use liners or grease the tin very well!) Bake at 325 degrees for 24 minutes, then let cool completely before frosting!

Here's the frosting recipe (ingredients are listed above)

Make sure you start with butter that's softened to room temp or else this will be very hard!  Cream the butter with a hand/stand mixer, then add the powdered sugar about 1/4 cup at a time (maybe even a little less than that--you be the judge) until you've added 2 cups total.  Add the milk and Bailey's, mix, and then continue to add the powdered sugar until the frosting is the consistency you want.  If you add too much powdered sugar, go ahead and add a little more milk.  Be careful adding too much Bailey's, because the frosting is very sweet so too much Bailey's can make it a little overpowering. 

So I gotta say, even though I don't like Guinness, these cupcakes are addictive and delicious!  I sprinkled with a little sanding sugar for decoration (not that JP actually cares about how they look, just how they taste! lol)

These would make a great gift for a guy in the family, or as a fun twist on Holiday treats at the family gathering ;)

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xoxo, Melissa

12 Projects of Christmas: Ooey Gooey Cocoa Cookies

I don't know about you, but I love hot cocoa, especially during the colder months.  And what goes better with hot cocoa than cookies, especially hot cocoa cookies!  I saw this recipe on Pinterest and immediately knew it was one I needed to try:  it's chocolatey, cocoay, cookie goodness with a marshmallow on top--seriously, what could be better?

So I decided to make these cookies today as one of our 12 Projects of Christmas.  H and I went to the recruiter's office today and I thought it would be a nice Christmas treat to take them some warm, homemade cookies, so I woke up this morning and got to baking (even though I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with a cold...boo).

I took the originally recipe and mixed it up a little.  I wanted some actual hot cocoa in the cookie, which isn't in the original recipe so I mixed that up a little.  So enjoy :)

First, get your ingredients:

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
12 oz. chopped semisweet chocolate (bars)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup hot cocoa mix
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Marshmallows
7.5 oz. of semisweet chocolate chips

Start my chopping up the semisweet chocolate bars.  I used Baker's baking chocolate and a big knife.  Place the chopped chocolate with the butter (I cut the butter into small cubes to make it melt faster) into a sauce pan and melt over medium heat.  DON'T STOP STIRRING or your chocolate might burn!  No bueno :(

Once it's all melted and mixed smooth, set it aside to cool for about 15 minutes.  In the mean time, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, hot cocoa mix, and cocoa powder with a whisk.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on low speed for about 2 minutes.  Mix in the melted chocolate until it's just incorporated, then mix in half of the flour mixture until it's just combined.  Then mix in the other half until it's just combined.  Don't over mix.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then spoon onto a cookie sheet in tablespoon-sized balls, pressing slightly on the top of each one to flatten a little.  

Sorry I don't have any pictures of this part.  H woke up and came into the kitchen to start cooking breakfast, which distracted me and I forgot to take pictures :(

Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes, until the tops start to crack.  While you're waiting for them to bake, cut your marshmallows into thirds, so each marshmallow gives you 3 round disks.  When the 10 minutes is up, push 4 to 5 chocolate chips in the top-center of each cookie, put a marshmallow disk on top of each one, and bake for 2 more minutes.  Cool on parchment paper on the counter, or on your favorite cookie cooling rack!

I sprinkled the tops with some extra shaved semisweet chocolate and powdered sugar---they look lovely, don't they?

You can see the gooey center from the melted chocolate chips, the marshmallow smushed on the top---mmmm, so good!  Serve with an ice cold glass of milk!

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Enjoy! 

xoxo, Melissa