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| St. Patties Cupcakes |
Top of the mornin' to you! Or evening, as the case is for me currently. It is about 10:30P.M. out here on the west coast and I am just not finishing up another long day of cooking Irish Style. That's right my paddies! Okay, just gonna stop now. I sound like an Irish "Brutha" (thanks Turk) and I should really stop. I make a snow flake look tan. Anywho.....
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| Potato Champ |
So yeah, here it is late at night and my kitchen is in shreds and I doubt it is getting clean anytime soon. Granted the poor hubby has been trying to keep up but it just isn't working. He spent all day cooking some wonderful Irish dishes and well me? I was making cupcakes!
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| Irish Beef Stew |
Yes, nummy, nummy cupcake. Chocolate Boiled cupcakes with mint ganache injected into them. They didn't take long to make, it just took all freaking evening to decorate them. Would have taken longer if the hubby hadn't come to the rescue and started assembling them with me. Dozens of cup cakes with Clouds and grass and rainbows and even a pot of gold at the end for my sons 1st grade class. ^_^
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| Braised Irish Lamb |
Why? Well duh, St. Patrick's Day. For many it is a day of drinking, Boondock Saints and crappy impersonated Irish accents but hey! That's okay! On St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish!!!!! But things are different in the Gibson Home. Don't get me wrong, there is drinking. This is an Irish home, Catholic Lite. I think if there wasn't someone might run a cat scan on us.
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| Colcannon |
But you see, even though we are an Irish home, we are also a foodie home. I have all my nummies you see constantly and then there is the hubby, a chef. So, what does an Irish Foodie home do for St. Patties Day? We turn it into a Christmasesque Irish Cooking Extravaganza week! Started earlier and will continue to St. Patrick's Day. ^_^
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| Irish Soda Bread |
Yeah, yeah. I know what you are thinking. Irish cuisine? Laughing your balls off right now aren't ya? Well trust me there is more to it than Corned Beef and Cabbage and Whiskey and Beer, granted we don't need more but there is more. ^_~ It started with the Irish Lace Cookies, went onto Irish Soda Bread on Surreal Fare and has kept going!
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| Irish Lace Cookies |
From Irish Beef Stew to Potato Champs to Braised Irish Lamb and Colcannon! And we have not finished yet! So many yummy delights to share with not only our family but yours!
And that beings me to something new! Well not new for me but new for the hubby! He is kicking off his food blog tonight! And sharing a recipe from our kitchen to use in your own. Go see it at his page -
Cynical Cuisine!
So to celebrate that I am sharing one more Irish Sweet Treat recipe for you all! Traditional Irish Shortbread! This rich shortbread is beyond amazing. Salty and sweet, it melts in your mouth like butter and it better considering just how much butter is in it.
Now this recipe is NOT mine. It is an adapted recipe from
Kerrygold that I found on the net and fell in love with. Yes, I am so for changing up recipes but some recipes are so wonderfully perfect you dare not change a thing and just keep cooking. This is one of those rare moments.
Now, before I begin with the recipe, please take note....USE IRISH BUTTER!!!!! Seriously, it is a whole different animal compared to American Butter. It is a darker yellow butter than is so deviously rich you may have a yummygasm just by tasting it by itself. I recommend Kerrygold and it can usually be found in most grocery stores. I found mine in Safeway. It is very pricey but it well worth it. (Double the price + of American butter.) If you use any other butter I will not be held responsible if the Saints decide you have crossed a line.
Now, onto the recipe!
- 1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Cornstarch
- 1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt, fine grain
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Pound Salted Irish Butter, chilled and cubed
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Preheat the oven to 300 F.
- Spray down a 9 inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar.
- In a large mixer add the salt and with a paddle attachment mix on low until the dough becomes "grainy." Kind of like pie dough does.
- Add in the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Place into the cake pan and take press it out flat. I use another cake pan and press down to flatten it out evenly.
- Take a fork and poke the dough all over.
- Bake 1 hour in the oven.
- Remove from oven and quickly cut into desired number of slices. I do 12.
- Let cool fully!
- Carefully flip out, it breaks super easy. Might be easier to take 1 piece out, let that crumble, taste to make sure it is good. >.> lol And then take out the rest a slice at a time.
- Serve as is or with jam and enjoy!
This is said to keep up to 2 weeks in an air tight container and up to 2 months of frozen....I have no idea. We can't keep the stuff in the house for 24 hours so I honestly cannot comment on the shelf life.
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| Traditional Irish Shortbread |
Anywho! I will be posting more Irish themed pictures over the next couple of days but I hope you enjoy this! Now, hop on over to the hubbys blog and see what he is up to! Watch him, fav him, like him, pass him around like a cheap woman if you will. Once again -
Cynical Cuisine
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all and to all a good drink!
Now, before I begin with the recipe, please take note....USE IRISH BUTTER!!!!! Seriously, it is a whole different animal compared to American Butter. It is a darker yellow butter than is so deviously rich you may have a yummygasm just by tasting it by itself. I recommend Kerrygold and it can usually be found in most grocery stores. I found mine in Safeway. It is very pricey but it well worth it. (Double the price + of American butter.) If you use any other butter I will not be held responsible if the Saints decide you have crossed a line.
So I made everything from a hand tied Trinity Knot Cookie to hand cut Chefs coats, hats and knives. It was really fun to see what all I could come up with to make for him. Granted I did so some simpler things but still good, his favorite - Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies. 
Took that one a step further though and decided to make my first Cookie Cake. It was fun to make, even did a wonderful buttercream to decorate it with. Was very yummy! Think the new Buttercream is going to become my go to recipe for everything like that now. It just did so well, no separation and dried well. Very happy but that is actually another story.
