Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

with Bailey’s Irish Cream Frosting

March 17: Feast Day of St. Patrick

Irish beer, Irish butter, Irish cream. The trinity of these traditional Irish ingredients is included in a contemporary chocolate cupcake recipe for the Feast Day of St. Patrick, the patron of Ireland. Legend states that he used the shamrock to explain about the Holy Trinity when he converted the Irish pagans and Druids to Christianity.

We baked these “spirited” shamrock-sprinkled sweets for a St. Patrick’s celebration at Islander’s brother’s Catholic university. The cupcakes were a festive dessert that provided not only food for thought about Irish cuisine, culture, politics and religion but also an opportunity for campus ministers to teach students about the trinity and our faith, much like St. Patrick did in Ireland in the fifth century.

Recipe

(Adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson)

For the cupcakes

• 1 cup Guinness beer, room temperature
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter (we used Kerrygold brand unsalted butter)
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar, granulated white
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour, all-purpose, sifted
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Directions

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat and pour in the beer.  Whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar and mix until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sour cream and vanilla. Pour in the beer mixture and blend well.

Gradually add the flour and baking soda and mix the batter until smooth. Scoop into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the muffin tins for another 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Make the frosting.

For the frosting

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• +3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream
• pinch of salt

Directions

Cream the butter with a mixer paddle. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing until the frosting is smooth. Pour in the Bailey’s Irish Cream until the frosting is at a spreadable consistency. Fill a pastry bag and pipe the frosting on top of each cupcake. Decorate with shamrock-shaped sprinkles. Yield: Approximately two dozen cupcakes.

Notes

• The cupcakes are moist and aromatic. The Guinness beer’s sourness is balanced by the Bailey’s Irish cream frosting’s sweetness.

Lumpia

March 16: National Lumpia Day

Lumpia is a livelihood! When Islander was a child, she would help her Daddy separate sheets of spring roll wrappers so he could quickly make the favorite Filipino snack and sell them on the side. Sometimes people would order from Daddy frozen or fried lumpia for parties around West Oahu. Auntie Maria B. also caters lumpia, Filipino foods and wedding cakes from her home in Waianae. And Auntie Laarni C. is successful at the swap meet in Aiea when she hawks hot lumpia at her stall on the weekends. Islander learned how to make lumpia from them but, unfortunately, not so much about how to commercialize her cooking.

Lumpia is most requested by mainlanders when Islander is invited to potlucks. They take so long to prepare yet they are the fastest to be eaten. Love lumpia? Make them for National Lumpia Day! Or please pay Islander for her lumpia labor so she could supplement our income like her Daddy and aunties do!

Recipe

(Inspired by Daddy and Aunties)

Ingredients

• spring roll wrappers
• 1 egg
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 carrot, grated
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Directions

Defrost the spring roll wrappers, separate the sheets, place in a container and cover with a damp cloth until ready to use. Beat the egg with a tablespoon of water and set aside. Combine the ground pork, oyster sauce and grated carrot. Salt and pepper to taste.

With the wrapper in a diamond-shaped direction, place a one-inch size of meat filling in the center. Stretch the meat filling horizontally. Fold the sides of the wrapper inward. Then fold the bottom of the wrapper upward and roll tightly toward the top corner.

Moisten the top corner of the wrapper with the egg wash. Roll and seal. Place each lumpia in a container lined with wax paper. Continue rolling all the lumpia, separating each layer with a sheet of wax paper.

Cover the container with foil and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen lumpia to zipper-top freezer bags until ready to cook. Heat the oil in a deep fryer. Do not defrost the lumpia.  Carefully plunge them frozen into the hot oil and fry until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot with dipping sauce of your choice.

Notes

• The above recipe is in the style of lumpiang shanghai. Learn about the different varieties of lumpia from Wikipedia.
• Facebook fans have designated March 16 as National Lumpia Day (observed in the United States but not yet in the Philippines).
• For a fruit-filled version of lumpia, try our turon (banana lumpia) recipe for National Banana Lovers Day on August 27.

Crack π

March 14: Pi Day

Algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, differential equations, physics—this is a partial list of courses, some of which involved the solving of formulae with the mathematical constant π (pi), required for Highlander to take as an engineering major in college. He did crack open the books to study hard for his degrees.

Oats, cream, flour, butter, sugar—this is a partial list of ingredients, none of which include cocaine, required for Islander to bake Crack Pie. She did crack open several eggs in her attempt to make the (in)famous Momofuku Milk Bar dessert (which currently costs $44 for one pie, without shipping charges from New York City!!!).

“Pi” and “pie” are homonyms that add up as reasons to celebrate Pi Day by baking and eating pie. So we took a crack at making the costly confection at home and see what the fuss is all about, since Martha Stewart and Anderson Cooper raved about it on television. Although crack pie is labor-intensive, the savings are significant and the recipe yields two fresh pies instead of one. The dessert’s name is certainly intriguing, the crust texture is crackly and the filling is sweetly rich.

Is crack pie reputedly addictive and all that it is cracked up to be? Or is it overrated and whacked? Try it and tell us in the comment section of our blog. Happy Pi Day!

Recipe

(Slightly adapted from a report in the Los Angeles Times)

For the cookie base

• 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup rolled oats

Directions

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Mix the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Gradually add the flour mixture until well combined.

Stir in the oats. Press into a 9×13-inch baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer the cookie base to a wire rack to cool.

For the crust

• Crumbs from the cookie base
• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter, softened
• 1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large bowl, break the cookie base into pieces to make fine crumbs for the crust (pulse in a food processor, if necessary). Blend the rest of the ingredients together until sticky.

Divide the contents between two pie pans (the original recipe calls for 10-inches in diameter but we used 9-inch disposable foil pie tins). Pie are SQUAREd (πr²) but they are ROUND in this case! Press along the sides and evenly on the bottom to form a thin crust. Refrigerate to set while making the filling.

For the filling

• 1 ½ cups granulated white sugar
• ¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon milk powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 egg yolks
• powdered sugar, for a garnish

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugars, salt and milk powder. Stir in the melted butter, cream and vanilla. In another bowl, gently whisk the egg yolks but do not add too much air.  Pour the egg yolks into the other mixture and stir until smooth.

Divide the filling evenly into both of the prepared pie crusts. Bake one pie separately at a time in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F and bake for another 15 minutes (for 10-inch pies) or 20 minutes (for 9-inch pies).  The middle of the filling will be slightly runny but it will be golden brown. Remove each pie from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate to set until well chilled.

Some like it hot or warmed up, but some prefer the traditional cold slice of pie. Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar to resemble crack.

For the pi decoration

Use the Symbol font with the lower case “p” and enlarge the size to make the pi template. Print it out, preferably on card stock paper. Carefully slice the pi piece using an X-Acto knife.

If the paper is too flimsy over a sunken pie filling, tape toothpicks on the back of the template for support. Position the template over the center of the pie. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top using a sieve. Carefully remove the template. Use a toothpick to smudge out the powdered sugar on any blank spaces in the pi symbol.

Notes

• The Chowhound website has a topic thread on troubleshooting tips for making Crack Pie.
• Cities around the world are celebrating Pi Day! For information about the mathematical symbol and Pi Day, go to PiDay.org.
• We used the same powdered sugar-template decorating technique on our St. Ignatius Almond Cake.