Cooking Club March

"Irish Cuisine or Something Green"

Laura / Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes
Shauna / Slow Cooked Corned Beef in Beer
Lori / Bangers in Champs
Betty / Chile Rellenos Casserole
Summer / Irish Donuts with Leprechaun Glaze
Susan / Black and Tan Irish Mac N' Cheddar
Teresa / Green Goblin Cocktails and Guacamole Dip
Cheryl / Mom's Irish Potatoes
Sarah / Irish Lamb Stew with Herbed Goat Cheese Dumplings
Carrie / Blue Cheese Coleslaw
Dana / Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Creamy, Gooey Stout Mac N' Cheese, topped with panko crumbs and bacon. Need I say more?

A very addictive Guacamole
Some green treats, including jelly beans, Hershey kisses and a green chocolate rabbit.


Bangers in Rum Sauce. Sausage steeped in rum and brown sugar, then baked. Delicious
Irish Champs. Creamy Potatoes topped with scallions

Crispy donuts with chocolate and vanilla almond glaze and sprinkles of course.



Good Ole' Corned Beef and Cabbage
Cheryl's Mom's simple and tasty recipe for Irish Potatoes.

Chile Relleno Casserole


Green Pesto Pasta with Pecans and Parmesan


Coleslaw with fresh blue cheese and cranberries


To finish it off, Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Great Job on all your dishes ladies!

Up Next...
April's Cooking Club: Cinco De Mayo! Get your Sombreros ready!

Recipes

Irish Donuts with Leprechaun Icing

Ingredients
Peanut oil, for frying
Icings:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
5 tablespoons milk, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Green food coloring
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cans large buttermilk biscuits
Green colored sprinkles / sanding sugar

Directions
Heat 2 inches peanut oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a few drops of green food coloring, set aside. This is the leprechaun icing. In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup of confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of milk and set aside. This is the chocolate icing.

Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1 1/2-inch round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. You can even fry the donut holes. Drain on paper towels and cool. Dip tops in glaze and decorate as desired.

* You can also dip the drained, warm donuts in a mix of cinnamon and sugar.

Bangers in Rum Sauce
1 pound Shannon Traditional Sausages (Bangers)
1-1/2 to 2 ounces rum (white or dark)
2-1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
Cook sausage until lightly browned in a skillet with a little oil. Drain on paper towel. Slice sausage into three equal parts. Steep in rum for 2 hours. Sprinkle sugar over rum and sausages making sure they are covered with liquid. Cook in 325 C oven for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling. Serve with cocktail sticks.Serves 6 to 8

Irish Champ (Potatoes)

1lb potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup scallions/spring onions
2 oz butter
2-3 fl oz milk
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
Serves 4
Simmer the potatoes in lightly salted water until cooked - when pierced with a sharp knife the potato is soft in the middle. Finely chop the white part of the scallion/spring onion and roughly chop the green part. Keep to one side.
Drain the potatoes and add the butter and milk and mash the until smooth and creamy.
Add the finely chopped white part of the onion and mix well.
Season well with salt and pepper. Serve with the green part of the onion sprinkled on the top.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

Ingredients
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for dusting finished cupcakes
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purposeflour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch fine salt
1 bottle stout beer (recommended: Guinness)
1 stick butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt.
In another medium mixing bowl, combine the stout, melted butter, and vanilla. Beat in eggs, 1 at time. Mix in sour cream until thoroughly combined and smooth. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.

Lightly grease 24 muffin tins. Divide the batter equally between muffin tins, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for about 12 minutes and then rotate the pans. Bake another 12 to 13 minutes until risen, nicely domed, and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out.
To make the icing:

In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. On low speed, slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Icing can be made several hours ahead and kept covered and chilled. Top each cupcake with a heap of frosting and dust with cocoa.

Black and Tan Irish Mac N Cheddar

Ingredients
6 cups water
24 ounces lager beer
16 ounces rustic shaped pasta (Ziti)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup half-and-half
12 ounces evaporated milk
5 tablespoons lightly salted quality Irish butter
2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground dry mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/3 cup stout beer
3 ounces shredded smoked Gruyere
8 ounces shredded Irish Cheddar
1/2 cup bread crumbs, Japanese panko, or fresh country white
1/2 cup crisp cooked apple wood or maple bacon crumbles
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves or several sage leaves for garnish

Directions
Place water and lager beer into a 4 1/2 quart or larger saucepan over high heat and bring to boil, add pasta and cook until just al dente. Drain and keep warm.
Meanwhile in 3 quart saucepan, over medium-high heat, bring the milk, half-and-half, and evaporated milk just to a boil, keep hot. In a 4 quart saucepan, over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter and stir in flour until it begins to color slightly, whisk in hot milk, mustard, salt, cayenne, and stout, and bring to a strong simmer. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheeses until melted. Place pasta into serving dish and pour the cheese sauce over the pasta.
Place remaining butter in a large saute pan over medium heat and stir in bread crumbs, stir until golden brown, stir in bacon crumbles. Spread mixture over top of macaroni. Garnish with cilantro or sage leaves

The rest of the recipes are on there way...

Milk-Chocolate Cookies with Malted Cream

For a baby shower gift, I received a magazine subscription to Food and Wine. It was nice to get a little something for myself, especially a magazine devoted to food. In the first issue that arrived to my house, they had a 10-page feature on "Milk Chocolate Desserts". It was nice to see chocolate recipes that weren't made with bittersweet and dark chocolate.

I'm a semi-sweet/milk chocolate fan, so I was excited to have everything on hand to make these Milk-Chocolate Cookies with Malted Cream. These take a bit of time. The cookie dough has to be rolled out, stamped, then chilled. After you get all rounds prepared and baked the malted cream comes together pretty quick and then all you have to do is fill and sandwich the cookies.

The cookies have a great brown sugar and cocoa flavor, but are pretty crispy (I prefer soft or slightly chewy cookies). The filling was really yummy and different. The chocolate malt powder was a nice touch and made for a unique and rich chocolate flavor that paired well with cocoa cookies.

If you having a craving for milk chocolate and want a yummy twist on a basic sandwich cookie, these were very tasty and great the next morning with coffee.

Recipe: foodandwine.com

A Few of My Favorite Things

Peppermint Candy Sandwich Cookies

Creamy peppermint frosting is encased between two buttery vanilla cookies. Tiny bits of peppermint candy add a nice crunch to the filling and pink sanding sugar adds a pretty sparkle to the top.

Cookie Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Butter, softened
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, if desired
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Pink decorator sugar
Filling Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup Butter, softened
2 to 3 tablespoons Milk
1 drop red food color
1/4 cup finely crushed peppermint candies or candy canes

Decorations Ingredients:

Red, white or pink decorator sugar or edible glitter, if desiredCombine 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 cup butter in large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and peppermint extract; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour. Beat until well mixed. Divide dough into fourths; wrap each fourth in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour).

Heat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-fourth at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated) to 1/16 to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch cookie cutter. Cut a 1/2-inch circle from center of half of cookies. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle cookies with center cut-out with decorator sugar. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool on cookie sheets 1minute; remove to wire rack. Cool completely.

Combine 2 cups powdered sugar and 1/4 cup butter in small bowl. Beat at low speed, adding enough half & half for desired spreading consistency. Add red food color and crushed candies; continue beating until creamy. Spread 1 teaspoon filling onto bottom-side of cookie without holes. Top with cookie with center cut–out, bottom-side down. Sprinkle with decorator sugar or edible glitter, if desired.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

I was just browsing through recipes and stumbled upon one for pumpkin cake. I thought some pumpkin spiced cupcakes sounded really good and would be a nice way to kick off November. I choose a cream cheese frosting to top of the orange gems and sprinkled them with a little nutmeg for extra kick.

These cupcakes are super moist from the applesauce and oil. The original recipe only called for 2 tsps. of cinnamon, but I love spice and these need it. I added nutmeg, all-spice, cloves and ground ginger. After I frosted them I grated fresh nutmeg on top, but you can add cinnamon or nutmeg or pumpkin-pie spice right into the frosting. These are quite delicious and are the perfect fall treat.


Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
2 cups white sugar
¾ c apple sauce
½ c Veg. Oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups canned pumpkin
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp all-spice
½ tsp ground ginger
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, I didn't use them)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl combine sugar, applesauce and oil. Blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in nuts. Fill muffin liners 3/4 full. Bake 25 to 27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.


Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 stick butter, room temp.
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla
For a spicy frosting add:
Cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to taste



Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Slowly beat in powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Stir in spices if using.
Cupcakes adapted from allrecipes.com