Midnight Sessions - Port Brewing Co.

Currently in my fridge: 

So delicious! Ironic that I went to Seattle and bought it up there when it's so close to home. I have a new found love for Schwarzbiers and so far this is my fave. I've got a lot more to explore. 

Some on my list are: 

Death and Taxes - Moonlight Brewing Co. 

Black Bavarian - Sprecher Brewing Co. 

Howl - Magic Hat Brewing Co. 

Now lets go enjoy a pint!

She and Him Volume 2 out today!

She and Him finally have their second edition of their joyous music out today.

I'm not a big fan of the music video, it's a little too cheesy for my liking, but nonetheless it's a great song.

Beer cupcakes??? Say what?!?

Yeah this is a little late, but regardless it doesn't take away how awesome these cupcakes were. 

It all started when we were going to have a dessert contest/St. Patrick's Day Pictionary at work for lunch. I had been wanting to incorporate beer into recipes so why not pick the drunken Irish day? 

Okay so the recipe calls for Guinness and sure that would have made more sense for the holiday and all, however I like Old Rasputin better and I had it in my fridge at the time. 

After making the batter I needed something to use to pour it into the cupcake holders. The bowl just wouldn't work. I remembered I had a pitcher I got from the dollar store, so I poured all the batter in there which created the greatest picture for these particular cupcakes. 

I combined 2 recipes, 1 for the cake and 1 for the frosting/glaze. 

Here they are: 

Cake (original by Dave Lieberman):

Ingredients

1 (12-ounce) bottle Old Rasputin

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for garnish

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Old Rasputin, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet Guinness mixture.

4. Line 12 muffin tins and divide the batter among the muffin tins.

5. Bake 18-20 minutes, until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out of the tins

Frosting (original on Big City, Little Kitchen): 

Ingredients

8 oz. Cream cheese

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup milk

Directions 

Using a mixer, whip cream cheese until smooth, sift in sugar, and beat. Add milk, and beat until smooth. Spread glaze over cooled cupcakes. 

 I will caution that I received more good reviews from males, probably because the cupcakes weren't really sweet, which I happened to like a lot. But you will definitely win over that guy's heart with these!

Music: Lykke Li's "Possiblity" first performance

First "Live" performance of Lykke Li's "Possibility" from the New Moon Soundtrack, just in time for the release of the DVD, which comes out Friday at Midnight. 

It sounds about the same as the studio recording except for a gentle pause a little past the 4:30 mark on the video that adds a little something. 

Enjoy!