So that means I’m definitely celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this weekend, along with my VERY Irish husband, Doug, and our red-headed kids (OK, so Chloe is pretty red, Carter, not as much.)
We’ll be saving the Corned Beef + Cabbage for March 17th (recipe will follow!), but this weekend, we’ll be starting our party a little early with some sweet treats, nut-free. I hope you enjoy. The last time I made this recipe I was 8 months pregnant with Carter, and I LOVED them.
To find out if YOU’RE really IRISH, check out this amazing DNA testing site, 23&Me.com
Guinness Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Ingredients:
•1 cup unsalted butter
•1 cup Guinness Stout beer (and the rest for your tummy! YUM!)
•2/3 cup cocoa powder (Vermont nut-free powder, or Hersheys)
•1 cup light brown sugar, packed
•1 tsp salt
•2 cups all purpose flour
•1 cup granulated sugar
•1 1/4 tsp baking soda
•2 free range/cage free eggs (Pecatonica Farms)
•1/2 cup sour cream
•3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (Enjoy Life Foods brand)
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. Combine butter, Guinness, cocoa powder and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until melted. Remove from heat and let cool to almost room temperature.
3. In a large bowl (stand mixer bowl), add salt, flour, granulated sugar, and baking soda. Sift together to mix.
4. Add in cooled beer mixture and beat (slowly at first – then on medium speed) for about 1 minute.
5. Add in eggs and sour cream, mix on medium speed for another 1-2 minutes. Batter will be slightly runny.
6. Pour batter to fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine always take less time in this old, old, Viking range).
8. Set on cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Bailey’s Irish Cream Frosting (for the adults!)
Ingredients:
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, determines the thickness of your frosting
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 4 Tbsp Bailey’s Irish Cream
• Splash of Penzeys vanilla extract
• Splash of milk
Directions:
1. Make sure cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting.
2. Cream butter until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add salt and 1/2 of powdered sugar. Beat on low speed until sugar is slightly incorporated, then add remaining 1/2 of the powdered sugar.
4. Add Bailey’s, vanilla + splash of milk and combine.
5. Once the consistency is what you’d like, add the frosting to a piping bag + your favorite tip.
6. PIPING SECRET: to easily fill your piping bag, find a wide-mouthed mason jar, insert your piping bag with tip in, fold the top of your piping bag over the edge of the mason jar to keep the bag open and load the frosting in with spatula.
7. KIDS: for the kiddos, I generally make a simple butter cream frosting, which is the same as this recipe, sans the baileys. I will make this recipe as is, then add a little baileys to the remaining frosting for the adult cupcakes.
*Recipe modified from Cooking Light Magazine + Chunky Chef Blog
*Instagram will have some pics of this recipe!
Enjoy! jamiekeehn on insta