Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

 

I love cupcakes. I think it’s been well established on here already! One of my favourite food blogs to look for ideas if Fake Ginger. I’ve been following Amanda since before I even knew what blogs really were! I just love her photography, it’s stunning. I had some Oreos to use up and decided to look at the website to see what I could make. And boy did Amanda pull through with these Cookie and Cream Cupcakes!

 

Cookie and Cream Cupcakes

Adapted from Fake Ginger

Ingredients

For the cupcakes: 24 Oreo halves (with cream filling attached), 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, 8 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature), 1 2/3 cup sugar, 3 large egg whites (at room temperature), 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 cup milk , 20 Oreo cookies (coarsely chopped)

For the frosting: 8 oz cream cheese (at room temperature), 6 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature), 1 tbsp vanilla extract, 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted, 2 tbsp heavy cream, 6-8 crushed Oreos (optional)

For garnish: 24 Oreo cookie halves

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.Line two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place an Oreo half in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, stir together with a fork and leave aside.
2. Add the sugar and butter to a bowl and cream until light and fluffy, either user a hand mixer or an electric bowl mixer. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix in.
3. On a low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Add the milk and whisk until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
4. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula or a spoon until evenly incorporate, being careful not to over-mix.
5. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in a bowl and beat on a medium-high speed until smooth (roughly 1 minute). Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated and smooth. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the crushed Oreos if you want even more Oreo goodness!
7. Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Garnish with Oreo halves.

June’s Using it Up!

As I mentioned in one of my last posts, I was using June as an opportunity to use up different beauty products. I’m not the only person doing this, Cornflakegirl has also been using things up! I’m like a magpie when it comes to buying new products, anything new and ‘shiny’ and I WANT it. I have a handful of products I regularly rebuy but I like trying out new things. Considering I don’t buy high end stuff (sob, I wish!), this means my habit is a relatively inexpensive one. The downside to this is what while everything does eventually get used up, I tend to get side tracked and start using new products before finishing the ones I was using. So I have tons of half used bottles and jars lying around. So I rooted through my stash, throwing anything that couldn’t be used anymore and pulling out the stuff I could use in June. Let’s see how I did!

Not too bad I think! I managed to finish off a Dove deodorant, Pearl Drops toothpaste, a face scrub, a L’Oreal Perfect Clean cleanser, Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel, Lush Vanilla Dee-Lite Body Lotion, Trilogy Cream Cleanser, Jelly Belly Shower Gel and Lush Olive Branch Shower Gel. I also finished Schwarzkopf Liquid Silk Gloss shampoo, a small Boots Soltan Factor 25 sun cream and a lip balm. That’s 12 items!

I enjoyed doing this, I only bought new deodorant, shampoo and conditioner (the conditioner has gone AWOL, I think it’s been robbed from me!). I think I’ll do this again for July, I still have loads of bits and bobs lying around to finish up.

Ireland: Should I stay or should I go?

Australia. There’s probably more Irish there at the moment than Australians. It seems to be the place for Irish people to emigrate to and yet, despite the fact that several of my friends are over there right now, I have zero interest. Sure, I would like to visit Australia at some stage, but I don’t want to move there. Though when I say this to people, even close friends, they look at me like I have two heads or something. When my boyfriend returned after spending 4 months there, one of the most common questions he got was ‘Would you go back?’. And most times he answers ‘No, not without Breige’. Cue people turning to me with an inquisitive look on their face. Which quickly turned to shock when I said I had no intention of heading out there anytime soon.

Why is this so shocking? Why is it such a bad thing to want to be close to home? Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel and can’t wait until I can jet off somewhere again. I’m not one of those people who never wants to leave their county, let alone the country. But Australia isn’t a priority right now. If someone handed me a wad of money and said ‘Here, go travel!’. Europe would be first on my list. Which apparently is ‘boring’ as it’s on the doorstep and I can go there anytime. But it’s what I want! And people seem to sneer at this for some reason.

I don’t want to leave Ireland like my grandparents had to. I’ve lived here most of my life, it’s my home and I’m damn proud of it. Especially after the international spotlight has shone so brightly on us recently, I can’t tell you how happy I was that the Queen of England and Barack Obama’s visits went smoothly. The atmosphere here after that was amazing, a mix of hope, pride and happiness. There was no talk of IMFs, recessions or bankers, just the sheer pride of being Irish.

As much as I want to stay home and help rebuild the economy, it’s looking worse as the days go by. The timing for my college graduating year couldn’t have been worse. We went into college during a boom, when jobs were plentiful. One of the first things that was said to us in college was that everyone in the course who had graduated that year either went into a job or into further studies. 4 years later and it’s a different story. Even after a year, there’s still so many of us unemployed. It is disheartening and at the same time frustrating, because my generation didn’t cause this recession and yet we’re suffering for it. Suffering for something we had no control over.

It’s no wonder that so many people I know are now living abroad. And it’s in my mind more and more everyday. Should I stay or should I go? By the end of this year, unless things pick up, I might just have to go. Where to? I don’t really know. London maybe, or perhaps Canada. Australia? I might not want to go there, but the way things are, I might not have a choice.

Foodie Friday: Yoghurt Pancakes

I always find that I buy large tubs of yoghurt, forget about them until they’re just going out of date and then think ‘How the hell am I going to use these up?!’. I usually turn to my trusty Yoghurt Cake recipe (which I shall post another time), but the other week I was bored of this and off I went to Google, to see what other ways yoghurt could be used up. And yoghurt pancakes was the first thing that popped up. Now when I make pancakes, it’s usually crepe style ones, but recently I’ve been dying to try out American style thick fluffy pancakes, thanks to AtebyAte and Babaduck. So this was the perfect excuse!

The recipes I got back were American ones (natch), so there were no metric measurements. So I used the measuring cups I have. While I usually like to using metric measurements and use my weighing scales, for a recipe like this that doesn’t need much precision, measuring cups are perfect!

Yoghurt Pancakes

Adapted from http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Yogurt-Pancakes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

2 cups (1 large tub) plain yoghurt (I use vanilla)

1/4 cup water

1. Combine dry ingredients into one bowl and stir. Combine wet ingredients into another bowl and stir.

2. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until it is completely combined with no lumps.

3. Heat the frying pan with some oil. Pour batter in using 1/4 cup.

4. When bubble form on the top, flip over and cook the other side until golden brown.

5. Enjoy!

You can also sprinkle extra ingredients on top of the pancake at step 3, like fruits or chocolate chips. I served mine with golden syrup! Definitely a wonderful weekend treat!

What recipes do you like to use when there’s yoghurt to be used up? I’d love to hear them in the comments below. Don’t be shy!

Update

Put simply, May wasn’t my month. It started off well, with my boyfriend’s return from Oz but quickly went downhill. I was involved in an accident. Something I luckily managed to walk out of pretty much unharmed. It could have been a hell of a lot worse though. So it’s because of that I haven’t been inspired to post anything here. I have a list of things as long as my arm to write about but zero motivation for the moment.

Besides the above, here are some other things I’ve been up!

-Finishing up work, just a few more weeks left before it’s all over. I really need to start thinking about my next move!

-Reading. Lots of reading. Just finished the new book from Dave Gorman called ‘Dave Gorman vs. The Rest  of the World’. Makes me want to play Connect 4 or something.

-Using things up. It’s something I meant to write about before but never got around to it. I don’t have any particular loyalty to beauty brands, when something new comes out I want to try it. That leaves me with loads of unfinished bottles of shampoo and shower gel. It all gets used up in the end but it sure takes up a lot of room. For the month of June I’m going to try use up as much odds and ends as I can. And also not buy anything new unless it’s all gone and I need it. So far so good!

-Pinning. It’s addictive

That’s about it really. Boring right? May turned me into a hermit. I have lots of other stuff to write up, I’m hoping this will help get the creative juices flowing again. I also have so many blogs to catch up on too! I’ll hopefully get around to that by the end of the week.

Eurovision Party!

I LOVE the Eurovision! Sure, it’s cheesy, cringey and camp at time but it’s good fun for all the family. I have fond memories of watching it as a child and now that I’m an adult I love the fact you can have a big old party! I had one last year at a friend’s house and while I unfortunately can’t go all out again this year, I thought I’d share some of my ideas so you can host your own!
Fancy Dress
I love fancy dress parties and Eurovision is a great excuse for you. You can either dress as past acts or else dress up people from the countries.

Past Acts

ABBA (short skirts, long hair, hippish)

Johnny Logan (white suit!)

Gina G (short sparkly dress)

Bucks Fizz (rip off skirts!)

Ruslana (Wild Dances song, Xena Warrior Princess vibe)

Lordi (scary monster masks and costumes)

Scooch (air hostess)

Cliff Richard

Michael Flatley (Not a contestant but sure ya know!)

Terry Wogan (or Marty Wheelan!)

Countries
Spanish senorita
French mime
Irish Leprechaun
Irish dancer
Scots kilt
Dutch girl with clogs
Heidi
Gladiator
German beer maid
Russian doll
German Lederhosen
French Maid
French can-can dancer
Viking
Matador
Greek God/Goddess
Mafia
There’s always someone who won’t dress up, throwing on a funny hat or mask will suffice! Terry Wogan mask was found here.



Food
If you want to go all out and have some food, buffet style is ideal. Again, try and represent different countries with different foods. Not that difficult thanks to the likes of Aldi and Lidl!


Some suggestions
Italy: Lasagne, mini pizzas, pasta salads
Belgium: Chocolate, paté, waffles
Greece: Lamb kebabs, feta cheese, pita bread, baklava, Greek salad
UK: Pork pies, Cornish pasties, sandwiches, scones, fish and chips, shortbread
France: Quiche, baguettes, cheeses
Germany: Sausages, Black Forest Gateaux, Pretzels
Spain: Paella, tortilla Española, Chorizo
BBC lists some recipes ideas here and here. I also got some of my ideas from this site here, which is great for Eurovision party ideas!

Drinks
Bucks Fizz! Though anything goes here really. Wines from France and Spain, beers from Germany, English and Ireland, spirits like vodka (Russia, Sweden and, Poland), English gin, Irish and Scottish whiskey, Liquors and other drinks such as Baileys (Ireland), Pimm’s (England) and Jagermeister (Germany). It’s safe to say Europe has the drinks aspect of things covered. You could mix up cocktails, the BBC 2008 Eurovision guide as some listed here. Or you could throw together a quick punch in the form of sangria.

Decorations
Flags and maps! This website has flags, you could search for an updated list of countries playing in the final if you wanted to put in some extra effort. You could also search eBay and other party sites for flags, bunting and maps. If you have kiddies going to the party, maybe you could get them to colour in some flags before the party begins? You can camp things up a notch with some disco balls and glitter too!

On the Night
BBC website has scorecards which you can print off and give to each guest so they can give each entry their own marks. One way to add some competition is for everyone to choose a country to support at the beginning of the night (either by drawing countries out of a hat or by just choosing). It can add great excitement when it comes to the scoring section of the night. If you want you can also have a prize for the person who has chosen the winner.
If this is a child-free event, then Eurovision is really the perfect excuse for drinking games. If you Google Eurovision drinking game, you’ll probably get a good few hits, here’s one website I found. Another way I searched was through Facebook (I think there’s a Facebook drinking group for nearly anything, I found one for RTE News!). Anyway, this was my favourite Eurovision drinking game found on Facebook. Or you could make up your own rules, I’d love to hear some of them!

After party
So the Eurovision is over for the night, what to do now? Why, stick on some past Eurovision tunes and dance that’s what! (or you could have a karaoke contest too!) Here’s some suggestions
Making Your Mind Up - Bucks Fizz
Hold Me Now - Johnny Logan
Ooh Aah (Just a Little Bit) - Gina G
Hard Rock Hallelujah - Lordi
Boom bang-a-bang – Lulu
Waterloo – ABBA
All Kinds of Everything – Dana
And here’s a snapshot of my Eurovision playlist.

The good ol’ BBC have some playlists suggestions as well, or you could of course also splash out and just buy the Best of Eurovision CD!

I also made a list of general cheesy Euro pop for when we got sick of Eurovision stuff. Bands like Aqua, Vengaboys, songs like Macarena, Saturday Night etc. If anyone wants a picture of that playlist, I’ll gladly upload it.

I think the best advice really is to have fun. I really wasn’t this organized last year but everyone had fun. One of the best costumes were the last minute ones. If you do have a party, let me know! I’d love to know how it went!

I got some of my ideas from these wonderful sites
http://blog.alism.com/the-eurovision-party-pack/
http://www.joel.co.uk/eurovision.php
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/party/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/2008/index.shtml

Pig Cake!

Sorry about the huge break, I personally blame the two Bank Holidays coming after each other, work and my boyfriend coming back from Oz. I got side tracked big time!

So I spoke about this on Twitter before, about how I wanted to make a pig cake for my sister’s birthday. That is, a cake in the shape of a pig, not made out of pork! For Christmas I got a giant cupcake mould and on the box there was a picture of a cake decorated like a pig.

So I decided to give it a bash. Except I never really stopped to think about what I was going to make the face of the pig look like. This then caused a mad dash around the pick ‘n’ mix section of the local garage! And resulted in a pig head cake instead of the entire pig!

The finished result! Now, I think he resembles a pig (vaguely), but my brothers and father thought he looked like a fat mouse! And proceeded to mock me over it. My sister was happy with it and that’s the main thing. And he tasted nice too!

On a side note, I think he looks a tiny bit like Mr Blobby sans ears!