A Peachy Summer Night

One of my favorite things about summer is being able to sit outside, enjoy a drink and a delicious meal from the grill. We are pretty fortunate that less than a block away there is a little fresh produce stand that I can walk to in about 3 minutes. I think they may know me by name by the time the summer is over. I forked over a well spent $6 today on 3 ears of sweet corn and 5 delicious, juicy peaches. Originally, we thought about grilling the peaches for dessert but I thought that those peaches were far too delicious to be eaten in only one fashion. I decided to make some of those lovely peaches into some delicious drinks. I started by breaking down my peaches.

Skinning Peaches:

1) Take a knife and make an X on the bottom of the peaches.
2) Get a pot of water to a rolling boil.
3) Drop Peaches in boiling water for 30-60 seconds.
4) Take peaches out of water and put in an ice bath to cool down.
5) The skin should peel right off the peaches.

Once your peaches are peeled, put them in the food processor and blend until they are finely pureed.
Take the puree and put in through a sieve to get rid of any grit or chunks.

You now have delicious base for a lot of different drinks!
Drink #1: Peach Ginger Fizz

2 ounces peach vodka
1 ounce passion fruit vodka
2 ounces peach puree
dash of sugar
3 oz ginger ale

Put in a shaker with ice and shake until cold and mixed. Pour into a glass and top off with ginger ale to taste.

Drink #2: Peach Julep- A Brendan Connolly suggestion.  

3 ounces bourbon

1 ounce simple syrup

1 spring mint

quarter fresh peach

1 ounce peach puree

dash of bitters.

Muddle simple syrup, mint and peaches together. Add bourbon and ice and shake. Top with dash of bitters and garnish with a mint sprig. 

We really enjoyed drinking outside, grilling and enjoying the amazing weather. It was an ideal summer night and I hope there are many more to come this summer! 

Limoncello Coconut Cupcakes

If there are two things that go over well in this household its lemon and coconut. We bought a bottle of limoncello for a delicious limoncello tiramisu for my birthday. However, it needs to be used in more than just the occasional martini! I've been itching to bake and what else to do but use some of those delicious ingredients for a tart, delicious summertime cupcake. It's time for some Limoncello Cupcakes!!

Lemon Cupcakes

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter
1/2 cup sour cream (I used 1/4 C Sour cream 1/4 C buttermilk)
1 large egg
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons of lemon zest

1) Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to your mixer. Use paddle attachment and beat until combined. 2) Add butter, sour cream, buttermilk (if using it, eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add in lemon zest.
3) Divide into cupcake liners and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes










Limoncello Curd

1 cup lemon juice (preferably fresh squeezed)
1 cup sugar
Zest from about 2 lemons
7 egg yolks
10 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 C Limoncello

1) Whisk egg yolks and set aside in a medium sized sauce pan.
2) Please lemon juice, zest and sugar in another sauce pan. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Add butter until melted.
3) Temper the eggs with the sugar/lemon mixture by slowly adding hot mixture to eggs while whisking quickly to avoid cooking the eggs before incorporated. Continue to mix until fully combined.
4) But mixture back to heat until reaches 160 Degrees.
5) Take off heat and add limoncello.
6) Cool













Coconut Frosting
2 Sticks of Butter
1/2 Cup cream of coconut
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4-5 Cups of Powdered sugar

1) Cream butter in mixer.
2) Alternate cream of coconut with powdered sugar until desired consistency is achieved.

*Side Note*
If you can keep yourself from thinking inappropriate things whole using cream of coconut you get bonus points!
I'm fairly certain its impossible.









Assembly:

Cut holes in your cupcakes using a large piping tip or a paring knife.

Fill with delicious lemon curd.

Frost cupcakes and top with toasted coconut. 

Enjoy!!

If this doesn't look absolutely delicious than you are absolutely crazy!!

Super, Super Yum. 

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Long story short with these cupcakes. They are pure and simple delicious...if you like coconut.
If friends offer to make you birthday cupcakes for your outing and give no input what-so-ever you may end up with coconut cupcakes when you don't like coconut. If nothing else, we enjoyed making them and many more will enjoy eating them. Don't stay silent!

I will say that if you enjoy lime and/ or coconut, these cupcakes are absolutely delicious. They are tart and not overly sweet. The toasted coconut on the top gives it a great texture that pairs really well with the citrus lime flavor. I will definitely be making these again.

Super yummy delicious coconut lime cupcakes

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Makes 12 regular or about 40 mini cupcakes

I doubled the recipe and it made 31 perfectly sized cupcakes. 

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

§                                 1/3 cup vegetable oil

§                                 3/4 cup granulated sugar

§                                 1 cup coconut milk

§                                 1/4 cup milk

§                                 1 tsp vanilla extract

§                                 1 tsp coconut extract 

§                                 1 tbsp lightly packed, finely grated lime zest

§                                 1 cup all purpose flour

§                                 1/2 tsp baking soda

§                                 1/2 tsp baking powder

§                                 1/4 tsp salt

§                                 1 cup sweetened coconut

Lime Buttercream Frosting:  (I thought this frosting was AMAZING and I don't even like frosting!)

§                                 2 sticks butter

§                                 1 tsp vanilla extract

§                                 1/4 cup fresh lime juice

§                                 3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

§                                 1 tsp finely grated lime zest (or more because its delicious)

Optional topping:

§                                 1 cup sweetened coconut, toasted in the oven until browned and crunchy

Directions

Can you tell I like green?

Cupcakes:

1.                              Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with liners. 

2.                              In a medium bowl, mix together the vegetable oil and sugar. Add the coconut milk, milk, vanilla, coconut extract, and lime zest. Mix to combine.

3.                              Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until smooth. Add the coconut and mix to incorporate.

4.                              Bake for about 20 minutes for regular cupcakes and slightly less for mini cupcakes, until the cupcake top springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted through the center comes out clean.

5.                              Cool completely on racks before icing.

Frosting:

1.                              Beat the butter until fluffy.

2.                              Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.

3.                              Add the vanilla and lime juice, beat for another 5 to 7 minutes or so until fluffy.

4.                              Add the zest and mix to distribute.

5.                              Chill until ready to use.

To Assemble:

1.                              Heap the frosting onto the cupcakes or pipe onto cupcakes using a pastry bag and decorating tip of your choice.

2.                              If using toasted coconut on top, sprinkle the cupcakes with the toasted coconut and press lightly so that it adheres to the frosting.

3.                              Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

If any of you know how Teresa and I bake together, it usually involves me baking and Teresa doing the dishes, snitching batter and frosting and taking pictures. This venture was no different. 

Teresa's job while I finished frosting the cupcakes.

Everyone deserves a little reward. 

The frosting was absolutely amazing if you like limes. As you can see Teresa took the liberty of dipping the paddle from the frosting INTO the toasted coconut. 

Bitch Cake

I know I haven't baked or posted in a while but I'm super excited to see a cake of mine has gone viral. A few years ago my friend Teresa Prince was doing an amazing photography project reclaiming the word Bitch.

You can see all her awesome photos here. A lot of my friends posed for her with their talents and strengths being reclaimed with the term bitch. As I love baking I made sure that was what my picture encompassed.

I threw together a quick soft pink yellow cake. Donned it sweetly with the term bitch on it and rocked my sign.

Sugar and Spice and everything nice, that's what BITCHES are made of!

Admittedly, it wasn't my most beautiful cake, it wasn't anything special. I even used a cake mix, which goes against my better judgement but it wasn't about the cake, it was about the message.

However, today I logged into www.theberry.com and saw my cake! It was of course under the heading of being brutally honest. Check it out if you can. It's #8. As you can imagine I slightly freaked out. So to everyone who stole my photo off flicker, pinned it, or submitted it elsewhere. Thank you for allowing me to constantly stumble upon my cake in so many different mediums. 

Be sure to check out Teresa's project as she's the one who helped create the idea for the cake!