Everyone is Irish on March 17th!!!!

On March 17th our family becomes as Irish as we can be (even though we are German, Welsh, Hungarian, English and Polish). When Dad is in charge of picking out the clothes we just have one article of green clothing on and it doesn't matter if the rest matches.

 Case in point :

but they are dressed and that is truly what matters. It was one less thing I had to do that day. Besides I am usually in the kitchen early that day getting the corned beef going in the crock pot. We only have this dish one time of year because before I became a mom, I was a cook at a mid-evil style restaurant. Actually I was a waitress, cook, bar tender, hostess, and dishwasher depending on the day. I saw a lot of corned beef and cabbage being served day in and day out so I developed an association to serving and this dish.

The kids are not big fans of the boiled down cabbage and quite frankly, neither am I. So we usually have corned beef with a side of red skin potatoes. This year we are trying to roast the cabbage to see if that makes it taste better. It works for broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and asparagus so it should work for cabbage. Roasted cabbage recipe.

As for the corned beef, well the instructions are on the package but I find just tossing it in the crock and cooking on low for 6-8 hrs does the trick. There is a spice packet that you can add but most of the time I leave it out. I do add about 1 cup of Guinness to the bottom of the crock to add a bit of flavor. As for the rest of the beer, it is cupcake time!!!

 Irish Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:
1	cup Guinness stout
1	cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾	cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2	cups all-purpose flour
2	cups granulated sugar
1½	teaspoons baking soda
¾	teaspoons salt
2	eggs
⅔	cup sour cream

Directions

1. To Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

Now for the boys I make a basic vanilla frosting but for the adults I make a Baileys Irish Cream frosting. I make it different because the frosting isn't cooked so the alcohol content is still there, it is minor, but still present.

For the Baileys Frosting: 2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature 5 cups powdered sugar 6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream