Salted Beer Caramels

 

As good as it sounds. I imagine this is how the butter beer in Harry Potter actually tastes. Super creamy, a nice beer taste, and the salt really puts it over. Be generous so that each bit will have a little bit of salt on it. 

Ingredients

2 cups brown sugar

2 sticks butter

1 cup corn syrup

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 bottle of Ale (I used Anchor Steam's Brown Ale)

Sea Salt

Directions

Line a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper.

Melt butter and brown sugar together in medium saucepan over medium heat.

Slowly add beer, syrup then milk while stirring constantly.

Cook caramels to 240°F. Do not stop stirring once milk is added or caramels will scorch.

Once you reach 240°F, take mixture off of heat and stir in vanilla extract.

Pour mixture into pan.

Sprinkle sea salt on top of hot caramels. Let caramels set for a few hours until firm enough to cut.

Wrap in wax paper or caramel wraps. 

They will keep for a couple weeks at least. They would probably work well with something like Guinness or another kind of stout. St. Patrick's Day is coming!

Guinness Cupcakes with Whiskey Mascarpone Frosting

Yeah, it's that time of year again. Guinness cupcakes are all over the place. And for good reason: they're tasty. The subtly bitter beer flavor pairs well with chocolate. But unlike the standard Irish Cream or plain cream cheese frosting, I thought I'd go over board this time.
Taking a tip from the Tiramisu cupcakes I make, (which I realize now I haven't actually posted), I opted for a whiskey "curd" that is then mixed with cream cheese and mascarpone to make a soft, rich and flavorful frosting that kicks buttercream's butt any day. Not that there's anything wrong with buttercream, but did you hear me say mascarpone? Can you ever beat that, really? Besides, you can pack in a lot more alcohol flavor in this way. ;-)

So here goes:

Whiskey Curd
Best to make this first as it needs time to cool.

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Whiskey of choice

In a heat proof bowl, whisk together egg and sugar until creamy. Heat over a saucepan of boiling water (don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the boiling water), whisking constantly for about 15-20 minutes (should get a little thick). Pour in whiskey and whisk until mixture is thick like pudding). Remove from heat (be careful of the steam) and pour into a cool dish. I just let mine sit out until I was ready to make the frosting, but you could cover closely with saran wrap and let cool in the fridge. It keeps for a couple days too, if you want to make it ahead.

Guinness Cupcakes 
(I stole this recipe a while ago so am not even sure where from any more. Sorry blogosphere!)
Makes Approx. 12-15 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup Guinness
• 1/4 cup butter, sliced
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 cups superfine sugar
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 + teaspoons baking soda

Preheat over to 350˚. Line cupcake tins.
Heat Guinness and butter in a saucepan until butter has melted. Whisk in cocoa and then sugar. In a separate bowl, mix sour cream, egg, and vanilla. In a bigger bowl whisk together flour and baking soda. Gradually pour the Guinness mixture into flour bowl until just incorporated, then add sour cream mixture. (This is totally backwards from how the instructions were written, but it seemed to work fine).
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 way full (exactly 1/4 cup measure will do, btw, which is my preferred method for filling tins).
Bake for 20 minutes. Cool.

Whiskey Mascarpone Frosting
Once curd and cupcakes have cooled, make frosting. This will make more frosting than you have cupcakes for, but not quite twice as much (if you were to double the cupcake recipe).

• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 4 oz. mascarpone
• Whiskey curd 
• 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

Whip cream cheese and mascarpone together until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl, then add in curd gradually, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go. Once incorporated and fluffy, add in the powdered sugar, and whip until the mixture has firmed up slightly. It's going to be a pretty soft frosting, so don't try anything too fancy as far as decorating or piping. A dollop on top of the cupcake works nicely for me. You can add a more firm buttercream frosting on top if you want to get fancy with the St. Patty's Day pride.

Don't eat cupcakes and drive!
Just kidding, they're not that strong. But do enjoy!

Guinness Cupcake

Happy March!

I'm ringing it in on time, with a lovely festive cupcake. Being that I'm about 50% Irish, I do take pride in the heritage, minus the incessant freckles, so am very happy to have found a way to celebrate it in cupcake form.

I did have the pleasure of visiting the lovely Emerald Isle, and on that trip, went on a tour of the famous Guinness Brewing Factory - a worthwhile venture, if you happen to be visiting the area. We got a special lunch of delightful Guinness beef stew and pints of a type of beer they don't export to the states. Not that it was appreciated by everyone.

When I was sent a Guinness cupcake recipe from a friend, I was intrigued. Knowing that the stout has a rather strong, roasted flavor, and seeing the combo of Guinness and chocolate before, I had a feeling the two would compliment each other well. And so they do! This cupcake is rich, very moist, and does have a lingering stout flavor - a truly unique cupcake experience.

I did see quite a few variations on the stout cupcake posted online, but seriously have no qualms with the recipe I used, so recommend it and would use it again in a heart beat.

Ingredients

1 cup Guinness
1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350° and line 2 cupcake tins.
Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan and add the sliced butter. Heat until the butter is melted and remove from the heat. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla. Add the sour cream mixture to the Guinness mixture in the saucepan. Finally, beat in the flour and baking soda.
Pour the batter into the tins and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
Frost with vanilla cream cheese frosting (1 stick of room temperature butter whipped with 1 bar (8 oz.) cream cheese, along with 3 cups of powdered sugar and 1-1/2 tsp vanilla).

If you are too skeptical to try the beer-in-cupcake method, but still need a St. Patty's Day option, there's always Irish Cream Cupcakes.