Iced Coffee with Coffee Ice

This is not my idea at all, but it's one I finally decided to try. When I want iced coffee, I usually just make coffee and chill it. With regular ice in it, I end up trying to drink it before the ice cubes melt though, so the coffee won't get too diluted. Enter coffee ice cubes.

They're really as easy as they sound. Just make coffee, pour into ice cube trays and freeze. We added some Bailey's flavored creamer too. After they were frozen, I put them into a freezer bag to keep them fresh. Today I decided to try one, and of course, since I was going to blog about it, I wanted pictures. I tried taking one of the glass with just the ice cubes in the living room with the laptop as the background, but I didn't like the way it looked. So I got up to take it to the kitchen, and I knocked over the glass with the coffee and it all went onto the carpet. Aaaahhhh! Help! Luckily, my fellas are used to this, and John sprang into action with paper towels. He even sacrificed one of his bathroom towels for the cause (it's in the washer now).

With the mess cleaned up, I made another cup of coffee and put it into a plastic cup to chill in the freezer. I wanted to keep my ice cubes on ice too. I was about to put the glass in the freezer too, but I decided I'd better switch them into a plastic cup too. That way, if I drop it later, it won't shatter. Follow my thinking here?

I think I'll get a festive ice cube tray now, like this one especially made for all the geeks out there.

Corned Beef, soda bread and Car Bomb Cupcakes?

I had a hard time narrowing down the title for this one. The close second, I guess I could call it a subtitle, is "Boys are so cute when they bake."

We don't eat corned beef and we don't really make traditional Irish fare for St. Patrick's Day but this year, Jeffrey had the idea to make these Car Bomb Cupcakes. The recipe uses Guinness, Bailey's and Jameson Irish whiskey. Let me say right up front here that they were delicious. Really really scrumptious.

There is Guinness in the dark chocolate cupcake. Bailey's goes in the chocolate ganache filling and Bailey's and Jameson are in the butter cream frosting. Jeffrey is a really good cook and does not need my help in the kitchen, though we really enjoy cooking together. This recipe was all him. I only wandered out into the kitchen when there were crashes or yelling. Like this time with the flour. I'll admit that I make my own share of messes in the kitchen, but I think people are used to that from me.

I just kept shaking my head because he was so determined. He carried on and finished making his batter. When he had it mixed and ready to bake, he put the cupcake papers in the muffin pans. The recipe said to pour the batter into the cups, but he used a spoon, which was probably a much better idea. But it was still a mess. Some of the cups had just a little batter while others were full to the top. There was batter all over the top of the muffin pans and one poor would-be cupcake was demolished before it even had a chance. I helped even them out a little and rescued the poor imploded one and then he baked them. We had to go out for a while so we left them to cool. When we got back, he made the ganache filling and the frosting. I did show him how to pipe on just one cupcake and then he did the rest. They looked great and tasted even better. Baking is just obviously not part of his comfort zone. I've been baking since I was 11, so I am just as comfortable baking as cooking (though I can't make a Lemon Meringue Pie....see this story in a future post). I'm glad Jeffrey made these and I hope he gets more comfortable with the more delicate culinary arts -- he does a great, if messy, job.