margarita cupcakes

I've wanted to make these for a really long time. I bought lime juice back in September specifically to make these. Thankfully that stuff stays fine for a while and the rest of the ingredients I have on hand normally. The original recipe is from a book called "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World". I'm not vegan, but some of their cupcakes are AMAZING. I tweak their recipes to suit my non-vegan pantry, but basically the credit goes there.


Ingredients:

1/3 cup lime juice

1 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons tequila

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Process:

mix together the wet ingredients with the sugar (first six items on the ingredients list)

separately mix the remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt)

then mix the two mixtures together

pour into muffin tins - will make 12

bake in oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter (softened so it's easier to mix)

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon tequila

2 cups confectioner's sugar

The cupcakes are light, moist, and delicious. And even though these are "margarita" cupcakes, you don't taste any alcohol in the cake itself - it's all in the frosting. So once the cupcakes were cool, I whipped some up. There's no real need to follow a recipe - just simple frosting with lime juice and tequila instead of water. My hand kind of tipped a bit in the process ... so my frosting turned out to be quite, um, strong. But yummy!

My roommate hasn't been home since I made these, so I'll have to make sure to tell her about the alcohol-content of the cupcakes. Then again, that would be quite the surprise, expecting a simple vanilla cupcake and getting a taste of a margarita instead. That girl better love me. Seriously, I must be in the running for best roommate ever.

Oh, and a belated linkage here to Bake at 350, which is having a little party. Next on my list, after I buy coconut and pineapple juice, are these pina colada cupcakes. Yum!

day of recovery

I have been sick for the past few days, but today, Sunday, I can finally take some time to rest. I woke up about an hour ago and I feel all-over achy (not to mention the sneezing and coughing). Oh, and I have a giant two-inch bruise on my arm from carrying groceries. Yucks. Times like these I really wish I had something stronger than Tylenol at home.


My lunch today reflects my current state. Orange juice for the Vitamin C ... does that even help? Then leftover pizza and a cupcake for a pick-me-up. As a whole, it looks pretty discordant, but I'm sick, so blah.

Things to do: homework, laundry, cleaning, check mail, organize finances, and sleep. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm only going to be doing the last item. And I'll probably have to skip work tomorrow, which would be the FIRST time I haven't come in to work. Darn.

hello again

I realize that it has been a long, long time since I last posted. Please forgive me. Tomorrow (er ... later today) is the first day of class and will thus be the beginning of my resolve to post regularly once again. I also haven't been reading the blogs in a while, so I have a lot of catching up to do.

I briefly perused On the Refrigerator Door, one of my favorite blogs, and the most recent article was about displaying jewelry. So for a quick post, I thought I'd show my system.


Even though I'm in a rather small apartment, I have a rather large bathroom (and closet! - but that's another story). My bathroom has two sinks and a large mirror, which is kind of ridiculous since I'm the only one who uses it. I bought a pack of little suction cup hooks at the dollar store, and I use them to hang jewelry on my mirror. I think it's rather pretty and it makes it easy for me to grab that necklace, ring, or bracelet for the day without having to rummage through my stash. When I'm bored, I'll move the suction cups into various patterns ... it's great fun.

I leave a few pieces out and the rest is in a container on my counter, which is actually a repurposed embroidery floss organizer. On a normal day, I don't wear much jewelry, but I do love buying it. Generally I'll only wear a simple ring that I bought with my sister a few years ago and that's enough. Having things displayed on my mirror, where it's functional as well as aesthetic, well that just makes me happy though.

Welcome to 2010, everyone. Enjoy the ride.