Ode to Irish Authors: St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

For 'tis green, green, green, where the ruined towers are gray,
And it's green, green, green, all the happy night and day;
Green of leaf and green of sod, green of ivy on the wall,
And the blessed Irish shamrock with the fairest green of all.
 

~Mary Elizabeth Blake

I'm not usually drawn to green things.  Anything the color of amphibians or nauseated individuals is usually way down on my list of favorite hues.  But I also have to remember that "green" is the color of an Irish hillside, dewy clover, and Leprechaun tights.  I guess green has its virtues after all.

Green also happens to be the dominant color of these oh-so-blimey-limey-luscious cupcakes.  I got this recipe several years ago from Bon Appetit and it never fails to please.  

(Just ask my husband who got his "goo-goo eyes" on as soon I was done frosting them. )

  

Key Lime Cupcakes

Ingredients

    •    1 cup all purpose flour
    •    3/4 cup self-rising flour
    •    1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
    •    1 1/4 cup sugar
    •    2 large eggs
    •    2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    •    1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
    •    1/4 teaspoon neon-green food coloring
    •    3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting

    •    1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
    •    1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
    •    1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
    •    1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
    •    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat to blend. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then next 3 ingredients (batter may look curdled). Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool. For the frosting, beat all ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes.

 

After frosting your cupcakes, simply roll the edges in some green sprinkles and 

garnish with a lime wedge for a touch of Irish charm. 

I hope these little num nums bring you the taste of springtime, the luck of Ireland, 

and the thoughts of everything good that is green . . .

Happy Wednesday!


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Shamrock Headbands

"May I see you grey and combing your children's hair."

 -Irish Toast

 Well, I am not even going to tell you what my husband said about this craft, but suffice it to say, he is not a fan. But I will have you know that the little girls spent the whole day wearing these last week when I made them, and their charms have yet to wear off. So take that, hubby!

I took about a 2 inch wide strip of felt and cut out little elongated half circle shapes. Later, I decided that the scalloped top was cuter and more shamrock-ey. Yes, I just invented the word shamrockey. So you will see that I changed that in the later pics.

Anyways, run a needle and thread on through the bottoms of four pieces of felt...

Pull your thread tight until the felt all cinches up, and secure everything in place with a couple of stitches...

 (See how the edges are more scalloped now)

Stitch on a little piece of felt for a stem...

Now use a little circle of felt, place it on the underside of  your headband. Add some hot glue, and attach the shamrock to the top.

Ta Da!

I figured out the cost for these: Approximately 37 cents a piece. The headbands were 5/1.50 at Forever 21, and the felt was 20 cents a sheet at WalMart. So, no joke, you could make these for everyone you are possibly going to see on St. Paddy's and keep it under 5 bucks. That's my kind of craft. Enjoy!

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SugarBee -Today's Creative Blog - Vintage Wanna Bee -Tales of a Trophy Wife -At The Picket Fence -

Ode to Irish Authors: A St. Patrick's Day Vignette

O Ireland isn't it grand you look--
Like a bride in her rich adornin?
And with all the pent-up love of my heart
I bid you the top o' the mornin! 

~John Locke "The Exile's Return"

I feel the same way about lamps as my kids do about rocks:  you can never collect enough of them.  I put them everywhere, including on the kitchen counter.  While I would have loved to have purchased a new lamp in honor of St. Patty's Day to add to my collection, I simply couldn't justify it after looking at the checkbook.  So back to the drawing board I went.  I decided I needed to put a "spin" on what I already had by making an old lamp look "Irish."  But how?  Red wig?  Celtic knots?  Mug of mead?  I went with the more "temperate" option of paper and ribbon.  

With a smattering of glue and a sprinkle of glitter, I turned some paper and green grosgrain into a Celtic looking medallion.  Three minutes to let the glue gun warm up and I was done.  Easy peasy.

I then flanked my Irish lamp with greenery and some vintage prints in gold frames.  

All that is missing now is a leprechaun and some much-needed gold.

May you have all the lamps your heart desires---including the "Irish" ones!


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Irish Authors: A St. Patrick's Day Table

"After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives."
 ~ Oscar Wilde

For me, a good dinner starts with a good tablescape.  I like to think of setting the table as wrapping a present:  presentation is everything.  Besides, a well-wrapped gift (or well-set table) can compensate for a multitude of sins---like the alien salt and pepper shakers I got one year for Christmas.  They were wrapped in glorious, satiny papers and ribbons that glowed in the firelight.  I never saw them coming.

Now I'm not saying that we all need to set amazing tables for St. Patty's Day to make up for the ensuing Irish cuisine, but it wouldn't hurt.  Two words:  "bubble" and "squeak."  Our sister Hillary ordered this traditional dish once at an Irish pub.  When the waitress brought Hillary a plate laden with some kind of pureed substance the color of despair, Hillary turned to me and said, "It looks like baby food."  As it turns out, "bubble and squeak" tastes a lot like baby food, too.  What Hillary could have really used that night was a lovely table to divert her attention from the Loch Ness reenactment swimming on her plate.  That, and a cheeseburger.

In the next few days I will be foraying into some Irish cooking, so today I tried my hand at a "diverting" tablescape in case things go horribly awry in the kitchen. 

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I started with a nod to Ireland's flag by using green, white, and orange accents.  

I then centered the table around a pot full of "gold" in hopes of luring a leprechaun to our gathering.  I'm hoping he does dishes.

Finally, I made a nod to Irish agriculture by making name cards out of potatoes.  

I simply tied a ribbon on one end of the potato and wrote the names on the other end in fabric paint.

And suddenly, with my table decked in fresh hues and produce, I'm actually anxious to start savoring the "bubbliest and the squeakiest" of Irish dishes.  Well . . . almost.

May you find many lovely tablescapes this St. Patrick's Day!

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Refresh Restyle

Ode to Irish Authors: Lime Blossom Cookies

But ye are still left when all else hath been taken,
Like streams in the desert, sweet songs of our land.  

-Francis Brown

So I guess this has about as little to do with Ireland as any one thing can, but limes are green. And when you taste one of these babies, you will give me a break, I promise!

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I love the lime sugar cookie recipe from America's Test Kitchen. Here's my slight variation on it:

Lime Blossom Cookies
Slightly adapted from America's Test Kitchen


1 3/4 sticks butter
1 1/2 C Sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lime zest
(Cream the butter and sugar, then add in the rest gradually, scraping down the sides of your bowl.)


1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 1/2 Cups Flour
(Sift together, then add to creamed mixture above)


Now pulse 1/2 C sugar and 2 tsp. lime zest in a food processor.


Make tablespoon sized balls of dough and roll in the lime sugar. Place on cookie sheet and pat down a bit with the bottom of a glass. They should look like babybel cheeses at this point. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Now you have this:

delightful little bits of sugar and lime zest. Perfectly summery and fun.

But what if you wanted some frosting? Cookies are always better with frosting!

Lime Buttercream Frosting

by bebookbound

1 Stick softened butter
1 lime (zest and juice)
3 cups or so of Powdered Sugar


Zest the lime and mix zest into the butter. Add the powdered sugar and the juice of the lime. Beat up until fluffy. Add more powdered sugar if necessary. I find that it can really change with the weather and humidity, so just adjust it to your favorite consistency.

Now frost!

But what if you wanted more green? It is St. Patrick's Day after all...

And there you have it, 3 variations on One awesome cookie.

Irish Authors: Creating an Irish Farewell

Farewell! but whenever you welcome the hour
That awakens the night-song of mirth in your bower,
Then think of the friend who once welcomed it too,
And forgot his own griefs to be happy with you.

~Thomas Moore

Yesterday I created a little "Irish welcome" for my front door, and while I was at it, I decided to make an "Irish farewell" for the inside of the door.  

I took this hanging cone-shaped basket and filled it with Spanish moss and silk hydrangeas---the same silk hydrangeas that my baby had been chewing on in the store that I felt obligated to buy.  After all, who would want a half-plucked, slightly moist hydrangea anyway?  I guess I would.  Make that three, please.  

I then printed off this adorable little vintage St. Patrick's Day greeting, trimmed it with some gold glitter, and tied it to the front of the basket with green ribbon.  And all of a sudden, soggy hydrangeas in a wicker basket become an easy Irish adieu.  

And just as a side-note, the little girl on the card looks so much like Miriam as a little girl that it makes my heart ache.  I say "ache," not because I am wistful, but because I am jealous.  Whereas Miriam looked like a Victorian doll with her heart-shaped face, wavy locks, and button mouth as a child, I looked a lot like Prairie Dawn from Sesame Street . . . except without the big eyes and the good hair.

While I might have said "farewell" long ago to the dream of being an attractive child, I can at least offer my guests an attractive farewell from my door . . . 

Many happy Irish adieus to you and yours!

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Irish Authors: Creating an Irish Welcome

"From Dewy Dreams" by James Joyce

From dewy dreams, my soul, arise,
From love's deep slumber and from death,
For lo! the trees are full of sighs
Whose leaves the morn admonisheth . . . 

Confession:  I'm not Irish, I don't look good in green, and leprechauns scare me.  But other than that, I adore Ireland.  With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I decided I would try to provide an Irish welcome to those who visit my door.  Taking a cue from author James Joyce, I tried to use as many "leaves"--admonished or not--in this endeavor.

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I've had the generic green wreath above for several seasons, but today I decided to add a bit of Irish flair to it.

 I printed off this adorable vintage St. Patrick's Day greeting and placed it in a gold frame.

I then hung the frame in the center of the wreath.  Who said frames were only for the indoors of houses?  I like the unexpected sight of a gilded frame outside. 

Who knows?  Maybe the touch of green Ireland on the door will fill our abode with extra luck! 

Happy everything Irish to you and yours!

Linking up:
tipjunkie - Sugarbee - Today's Creative Blog - Not Just a Housewife - - LilLuna  - DIY By Design  - Savvy Southern Style  - Chattychics  - Primp  - Blue Cricket Design - Trendy Treehouse