Saturday, January 24, 2009

Absinthe Cupcakes!

Last night, my friend Greg celebrated his 29th birthday. He hates sweets (yes, he is crazy), but I discovered last year that he will eat cake if there's booze in it. Last year, I made Bacardi 151 cupcakes. They were a huge hit, but I didn't wanna repeat myself this year. So I scoured the internets for ideas and found a recipe for Vegan Absinthe Cupcakes:

Lucky for me, the people who used to live in my house left behind a bottle of Absente brand absinthe. I'm no fan of the stuff since I hate the licorice-y flavor of anise. But Greg prides himself on a prized bottle of absinthe that he snuck onto the plane back from Scotland a couple years ago. So I knew he'd appreciate these.

The verdict? Greg ate two, so he must have liked them. And the anise flavor wasn't overpowering like I thought it'd be. Not my favorite cupcakes, but not bad. Other people raved. You either love licorice flavors or you hate them.

On another sweet note, I woke up early today to make Lemon Bars from The Joy of Vegan Baking:

Food Awareness, our local veggie group, held a meeting and potluck today to discuss our plan to get vegetarian options on the menu for Memphis City Schools lunches. My contribution were these bars, and man, were they good! I adore lemon-flavored everything, and the buttery shortbread crust was to die for. I'll be making these again.
Two awesome surprises came in the mail this week - copies of Kittee's Papa Tofu and Amey's (of Vegan Eats and Treats) Gastronomus Maximus cookzines!

I had to re-order Papa Tofu since I gave my old copy away, and Amey was super sweet and offered to gift me a copy of her adorable little zine. I can't wait to make her borcsht and Kittee's stuffed tofu pockets and injera.

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blogger isn't letting me comment - grrrr! You're a great friend to make boozy treats for your birthday buddies! I didn't know you couldn't get Absinthe in the South.
I really need to order me a copy of Papa Tofu before they're all gone!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Such fun treats!!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

LOL I love it! (The bacardi ones sound fun too!)

Anonymous said...

How fun! Glad he liked them.

Ohh and the Lemon Bars sound great! My mom loves shortbread anything haha

MeloMeals said...

Wow.. what a cupcake!

Anonymous said...

I think my husband would kill for one of your cupcakes. well, hopefully not literally.

Lisa said...

I'm with you on the "not a fan of licorice" thing, but so thoughtful of you to make the cupcakes for your friend who does like the flavor! Well, these do have booze in them, maybe I could eat them afterall. :)

miss v said...

i think i must be related to greg. i don't really like sweets, but i'm obsessed with alcohol-cupcakes. :) i can't believe you found a recipe for absinthe cakeies!

T said...

Absinthe isn't my fave either, but those look precious. I wonder if anyone had any trippy effects after eating them? Alcohol may cook off, but wormwood...?

Alicia said...

Did you just give me an idea about how to use all the absinthe my boyfriend has been collecting (but not drinking...) for years? I truly looooove you!

Jenn said...

Absinthe cupcakes sound interesting. For some reason the licorice flavors are growing on me; anise, fennel and the like. Maybe I'll try some absinthe. I think it's legal again in New York.

Unknown said...

oh yum..i bet i'd love those cupcakes..i LOVE licorice-y flavored drinks, so that sounds like something i'd love. :)

jessy said...

huzzah on the boozy absinthe cuppers! they're too awesome & so bad ass! nice job, Bianca!

oooooh man! i'm not a fan of lemony things, but i think i'm gonna have to try out those lemon bars. you had me at "buttery shortbread crust". mmmmmmmm!

hooray for cooking zines of awesomeness! kittee's ethiopian yummies = the best! her injera rocks so hard!

Jess said...

Hahaha. That's hilarious. I am afraid to drink absinthe because I am a total lightweight when it comes to booze, but those cupcakes are awesome!

Anonymous said...

Those cupcakes look wonderful! I would love to try something original and new like that. I wish I had more time.

Jen said...

what a pal you are to be so UNabsinthe-minded when it comes to making really unique treats.

i just got my copy of pappa tofu last week as well. i'm super excited about making some ethiopian fud! yay! the best part is kittee addressed it to "Jewbacca Molica". sweet.

Leslie Richman said...

I love the Papa Tofu zine! I like recipes from pakupaku.info too. The creamed spinach and stuffed shells are two of our favorite things.

Hungry Hungry Dancer said...

yumyummmm... sheesh absinthe... thats no joke...sounds like something my boy would love

Anonymous said...

Absinthe cupcakes? Bianca, you're crazy (in a very good way)!

aTxVegn said...

I'm not a fan of licorice either, but I know those cupcakes were great. The lemon bars look good too.

Vegan_Noodle said...

DId the birthday boy see any green fairies? What a fun idea for cupcakes.

philgoodmusic said...

absinthe and cupcakes. What a great combo

Unknown said...

I know your supposed to have a sugar cube dissolve into the absinthe but cupcakes? That's brilliant.

Jenn said...

I love that lemon bar recipe and make it a lot - it's so incredibly easy and satisfying.

Theresa said...

Andy and I got a bottle of absinthe more than two years ago that we brought to his parents house for christmas. No one was game enough to drink any more than a sip--slackers! And like you, I don't like the licoricey-ness of it. But cupcakes is a genius idea. Next time I'm there, I'm totally baking these.

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Oh the yummies! Lucky, Lucky Greg!! I got Amey's zine too and already made a few of the recipes. The borscht was awesome, I also made the grilled herbed tofu, diner loaf and you got peanut butter in my chocolate cookies. They were all fantastic! Next on the list will be the cucumber dip... whenever I get around to it!

Anonymous said...

I don't like that licoricy flavor either! Those cupcakes look fantastic though.

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

I dislike licorice & love lemon as well! I love those cook zines!

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