Chocolate Stout Cuppies with Irish Whiskey Buttercream Frosting

The springtime inspires me to get back into baking.. and of course, who doesn’t love St. Patty’s Day?! Ever since I saw this recipe on my Facebook feed, I knew I had to make them. I actually made the cuppies pretty much verbatim, so I’ll simply include a link with the photos.. I did use olive oil in place of canola (didn’t have any canola on hand), but it worked out nicely! Check it out! Super deliciousness awaits you… 🙂 This recipe made about 5 dozen mini cuppies – and I baked at 350°F for 15 minutes.

Chef Chloe’s recipe – NOM NOM!

I did, however, tweak the frosting recipe a bit..so here’s my frosting recipe:

Ingredients:

1 C Earth Balance Vegan Butter, lightly softened
4.5-5 C sifted powdered sugar (I put in 3 C as the original recipe called for, but then added about 1.5-2 C more..didn’t measure it, but added until it was the right consistency)

4 TBSP Irish Whiskey

2 TBSP Coconut Milk Beverage

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Dump all ingredients into a mixer. Mix until smooth and delicious – adjusting moisture level as needed.
2. Taste for quality control, and frost cooled cuppies.

Happy Baking!

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Sugar Shamrocks

Happy St. Patty’s Day!!!! Every year, I make sugar cookie shamrocks for St Patty’s Day.. I used the white whole wheat sugar cookie dough, and cut them into shamrocks!

…dipped them in a basic green glaze (confectioner’s sugar and oat milk to the right viscosity, with green food coloring)….

…and dusted them with green sugar sprinkles…

These go great with a wee bit o’ vegan Bailey’s Irish Ice Cream!

Happy Baking!

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Irish Stew

Ok, so maybe not technically Irish…but potatoes and kale are fairly Irish, right? So here’s a stew that you can serve at a St Patty’s Day celebration (or any other celebration of Celtic origin, or any other time for that matter)! This recipe makes quite a bit, I’d say about 6 servings…so it would be great for leftover lunches! You could also add about 1 C white beans to stretch it even further, if you like 🙂

Ingredients:

4 C broth
3-4 C water
1 TBSP canola oil
3 large golden potatoes, diced
10-15 small red potatoes, halved
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 large carrots, peeled and largely chopped
2-3 large leaves kale (or spinach), prepped and chopped

Directions:

1. Warm canola oil over medium heat in a large stock pot. Add potatoes and green onions. Sauté about 8 minutes. Add liquid, salt, pepper, bay leaf and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
2. Add carrots and kale, and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, and serve!

 

Happy Cooking!

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Colcannon

As promised, here’s another kale recipe. Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish, often made with cabbage instead of kale. It’s basically mashed potatoes with kale and green onions, and it is so delicious! This would be a great dish for tricking people into eating their leafy greens. (Because, apparently, not everyone wants to eat them. Weird, I know.) The last step is optional, and it’s great either way. But if the words “fried” and “mashed potatoes” never occurred to you at the same time, you should give it a shot.

Ingredients:

1 head kale

4 lbs potatoes

3/4 C hemp milk

2.5 Tbs Earth Balance

1 Tbs salt

1/2 bunch green onions

Instructions:

1. Bring large pot of water to boil.

2. Peel potatoes and cut in half or quarters depending on size. Boil potatoes for 20 minutes, or until tender.

3. While potatoes are cooking, prepare kale.

4. In a small sauce pan, heat 2 Tbs Earth Balance over medium/low. Cook green onions for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. When potatoes are finished cooking, transfer to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. DO NOT turn off heat to the water pot.

6. Put kale in the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.

7. Meanwhile, mash the potatoes with the hemp milk, salt and pepper. They will seem a little drier than usual, but don’t worry.

8. Drain the kale and add to potatoes, along with green onions (with the Earth Balance they cooked in). Mash everything together. Yummy.

9. (Optional.) Heat a non-stick pan over medium, with a 1/2 Tbs of Earth Balance. Spread the colcannon into the pan and cook for 5-8 minutes, or until the bottom has browned. Stir up, to expose fresh taters to the heat and cook another 5-8 minutes to brown again.

Serve with any veggies, beans, or peas that you like.

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