Kentucky Bourbon Cupcakes

As you all know, my dad loved bourbon; specifically Maker's Mark.  Four years ago, for his birthday present he and my mom came to visit in Kentucky and I treated them to Woodford Reserve and Four Roses tours.  It was such a great weekend.  This year, his 57th birthday would've fallen on Labor Day weekend so we had an extra day.  An extra day usually makes for a lovely, lazy weekend.  With my extra lazy time, I decided it was fitting to bake bourbon cupcakes.  With Maker's Mark of course.  The cupcake is a fabulous recipe that tastes like a spice cake and the buttercream tastes delightfully like the inside of a bourbon ball.  So go ahead, bake these babies up!

Maker's Mark Cupcakes with Bourbon Buttercream
(cupcakes adapted from Maker's Mark; icing from this recipe)

Cupcakes:
8 Tbs unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup Splenda brown sugar blend
3 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup skim milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 
1/2 cup Maker's Mark bourbon

Icing:

1 cup unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs Maker's Mark bourbon
2 slight pinches of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking pans with cupcake liners.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar.  Add in the eggs and molasses.  Next, begin adding in all the dry ingredients.  Mix in the skim milk until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Add the bourbon and fold in manually with a spoon.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 27 minutes.  Let cool in pans for at least 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling racks.

For icing, cream the room temperature butter.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar in increments.  Follow that up by adding the vanilla, bourbon, and salt.  Mix until the icing has that 'whipped' look.  Frost once the cupcakes are cool.  Cheers!   

{Maker's Mark} Sugar Babe Cookies

This post is a bit late...  Father's Day was a bit trying this year to say the least.  It's been over a year since we lost my dad, but this was the first time I was here in the house without him on Father's Day.  And let me tell you - I never realized how many Father's Day email/advertisements were sent out until I got a million a day like a nagging little reminder.  SO, on Father's Day I did what naturally makes me feel better.  I baked.  And I baked with Maker's Mark bourbon to remind me of Dad.

Sugar Babe Cookies
adapted from the Maker's Mark That Special Touch cookbook

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 orange rind, grated
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbs Maker's Mark
3 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg white
Granulated sugar (for topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream butter and add sugar.  Add egg yolks, orange rind, cinnamon, vanilla, and Maker's Mark; mix well.  Gradually add in the flour and mix until well incorporated.

Roll dough into tablespoon sized balls and place on baking sheet.  Press down with a fork, brush with egg white, and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake 13-15 minutes or until the bottoms barely begin to brown.  Watch carefully!  Let sit a few minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy with some bourbon; Cheers!

Kentucky Bourbon

Tomorrow would have been my dad's 56th birthday.  I'm sure it will be a difficult day, so I've been thinking about what I want to do for it.  Since I'm not in Indiana yet, I can't go visit his site, which I presume would be the most normal thing to do.  So I've decided to take a route less traveled.... 

For those of you that knew my dad, he was a bourbon connoisseur of sorts.  My dad took interest in bourbon many, many years ago.  Maker's Mark was his favorite beyond favorites.  We visited that distillery before I even knew what being twenty-one meant.  (He actually owns a barrel there that's been aged to perfection & is ready for pick-up this December, but I'll save that for another post.)  Three years ago my parents came to visit me in Kentucky over Labor Day weekend & we toured the Woodford Reserve and the Four Roses Distillery as a 'birthday present.'