Rum and Coke Cupcakes

Taken from here and made for a friend who loves Rum and Coke!
Ingredients:

• Coke Cupcakes
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 3 TBSP cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows (or large ones that have been cut up)
• Rum Glaze
• 5 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter (recipe called for 2 but I tasted and was good with one)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dark rum

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2) Line pan with cupcake liners.
3) Combine flour and sugar.






4) Combine margarine, cola and cocoa and boil.










5) Add marshmallows and stir until melted. It will begin to rise to be sure to keep an eye on it.
6) Remove from heat.

7) Add to the flour and sugar mixture.










8) Mix in buttermilk, eggs, baking soda and vanilla. It will be very liquid-y!






9) Fill cupcake liners 1/2 or 2/3 full and bake for 17-20 minutes.

10) Combine egg whites and sugar over heat.
11) Remove from heat
12) Mix with a blender until peaks are formed. I'm not sure where my blender went, so I was never able to reach this point, and the frosting was left as more of a glaze--which is fine too because it still tastes good, but does not look as pretty.
13) Add butter in a bit at a time, mixing well.
14) Add salt and rum and mix.
15) Add to cooled cupcakes. I poked a hole in them to add some to the middle too!

Buttermilk Pancakes (Part 2) With Blueberry Sauce

Pancake Tuesday is coming up...and even though we don't celebrate it in the US, we do in Ireland, so I figured I would do something. Pancakes were also the next item in Veggie Feasts for breakfast, so it worked out.

I had been told by Irish people that US pancakes are better because the ones that people in Ireland make are darker and that's how mine turned out....I'm a bigger fan of the other pancakes I made, but these are good as well--especially for the blueberry sauce!

Ingredients:

• Pancakes
• 15g (1/2 oz) butter, melted
• 150g (5 oz) self-raising flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 40 g (1 1/2 oz) caster sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 350 ml (12 fl oz) buttermilk
• icing sugar, for dusting
• Greek-style yogurt or creme fraiche, to serve (which I left out because I don't like it)
• Blueberry Sauce
• 250 g (8 oz) fresh blueberries
• 2 TBSP clear honey
• dash of lemon juice (I used half a lemon)

Directions:

1) Heat the blueberries with the honey and lemon juice in a small saucepan over a low heat for about 3 minutes (until they release their juices).







 2) Keep warm while you make the pancakes (they will keep releasing juices and become more liquid, don't worry if you don't think its enough at first!)







3) Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
4) Stir in the caster sugar.







5) Beat the egg and buttermilk together in a separate bowl.










6) Whisk into the dry ingredients with the melted butter to make a smooth batter






7) Heat a nonstick frying pan until hot.









8) Drop in large spoonfuls of the batter (I used a normal spoon and did two drops) and cook over a high heat for 3 minutes until bubbles appear on the surface.







9) Flip the pancakes over and cook for a further minute.
10) Serve the pancakes topped with the blueberry sauce and Greek-style yoghurt or creme fraiche (if you want), and dusted with icing sugar.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Leftover buttermilk from cinnamon rolls. What else am I supposed to do but make pancakes?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 TBSP butter melted
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 egg whites, beaten until they form peaks
• Optional
• Fruit
• Chocolate chips

Directions:
1) Combine everything except for the egg whites and optional parts and mix.
2) Fold in the egg whites.
3) Add in the optional ingredients.






4) Bake on a hot griddle until there are bubbles forming on the top and then flip until done.