Happy Birthday!

It was my husbands birthday a week ago and to celebrate I made him these Irish Coffee Brownie Cupcakes (by Paula Deen from her March newsletter) during my "mommy time".
My husband is a whiskey guy...I however, am NOT thanks to spring break 2004 in Arizona...Let's not go there...Anyways he love them and that's all that counts...right??


Irish Coffee Brownie Cupcakes

Yield: 16 cupcakes
Brownie Ingredients:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Directions:
In a medium-sized bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Mix in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
Mix in cocoa powder, flour, and salt until just combined.
Set aside.
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
1 cup whole roasted coffee beans
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
¼ cup whiskey
Brownie batter from above
Directions:

In a small saucepan on medium-high, heat milk and coffee beans until just boiling.

Remove from heat, cover, and steep for fifteen minutes.
Using a sieve, remove the beans from the milk and set the milk aside. Iit’s fine if some sticks to the beans during this process.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs to the butter/sugar mixture, mix
In a small bowl, mix together whiskey and ¾ cup of the coffee-infused milk.
Alternately mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients into the butter/sugar bowl, mixing until just combined.
Fill cupcake liners ¾ full with cupcake batter. 
Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of brownie batter into the center of each cupcake. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons whiskey 

Directions:
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
Mix in powdered sugar a little bit at a time until fully combined.
Mix in cocoa powder and whiskey.

 

 p.s. sorry for the very poor quality picture....i'm hoping to someday get a shiny new fancy camera (mostly to take pictures of my son)

Mommy's Little Helper

My one year old son,  Max has so much energy.  When he was about 5 months old I would just plop him in his jumperoo and be able to cook or bake whatever I wanted.  Then he started crawling and then walking...I couldn't keep him still.  Now he'll watch my cook or bake from his highchair for a little bit.  I just love this picture of him eating while I make dinner.

He also got a little green kitchen of his own from Grandma and Grandpa stocked with all the cooking gadgets...

Spicy Mayo Chicken

Welcome to my very first blog post!  I am so excited to share with everyone my culinary journey from my home kitchen.
I have to apologize for the not so great presentation of this meal as I have caught a cold this week (great time to start a blog huh?) so didn't have too much energy to make things look "pretty".
Anyways here is one of mine and my husbands favorite chicken recipes from of The Deen Brothers.

Spicy Mayo Chicken
Makes 4 servings (I usually cut everything in half since it's just my husband, 1 year old son and I)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayo
2 lemons, zest finely grated
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper

4 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with tin foil.
In a small bowl whisk together mayo, lemon zest, paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne.
Put chicken on prepared baking sheet and rub mixture on both sides of chicken.

Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes