Hello my festive friends!
In a few more days it will be Saint Patrick's Day. You may not know the history of this Irish holiday, and whether or not you are Irish yourself, you should never pass up a reason to bake some festive treats!
Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland. It originated as a Catholic holiday and became an official feast dayin the early 17th century. It has gradually become more of a secular celebration of Irish culture. It is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Labradorand in Montserrat. It is also widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora, especially in places such as Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and Montserrat, among others.
If you're of age, I'm sure you'll be going out and having a green beer (or you have done so at some point). If you're not going out to celebrate this year, why not make some green treats at home to celebrate!
Check out your local Michaels or Bulk Barn store for some great products to help you make some delicious cupcakes, cake pops, brownie pops or cookies this St. Patty's Day.
To make some great cupcakes you can go with chocolate mint batter, or classic irish creme, YUM! Try frosting your cupcakes in white icing, pouring some sprinkles into a shallow dish and rolling your cupcakes. This makes a really pretty, finished edge that will jazz up any cupcake. You can use basic green shimmering sugars to edge your cupcakes, or shamrock sprinkles. To make irish creme cupcakes more festive, put a few drops of green food colouring into your batter and sprinkle the tops with this shamrock and jimmy sprinkle mix.
Here is a close up of the sprinkle mix from Wilton:
You can use this to edge your cupcakes, as well. Look how cute it looks on top of some green irish creme cupcake, though...So simple, and so cute!
If you're making some mint chocolate cupcakes, you can use these great mint creme sprinkles (also from wilton). They taste great, go perfectly with the occasion, and they add a great crunchy texture to your cupcakes.
You could also try using some chocolate or candy wafers and a mold and making some chocolate shamrock candies of your own, to top off any cupcake in style. Just melt your wafers in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time in the microwave, stirring between each interval, until they are liquidy (like pancake batter). Once the wafers are completely melted pour them into a mold like this one. Fill each mold to the top and set in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes, until hard. To give your wafers a shiny finish, let them set in the freezer. Turn your mold upside down and pop each of the shamrock chocolates out. Place one in the middle of each cupcake on top. This would be a great finishing touch to a cupcake with a green sugared edge. 
I, myself, am 1/4 Irish, so of course I'll be making some cake pops to celebrate this year. I'll be making some delicious irish creme cake pops and dipping them in white candy melts and sprinkling on a few shamrock quins as well as dipping some pops in green candy melts and drizzling on some white chocolate. I've found some shamrock treat bags to top off the whole look. (I'll post a picture once they're all done, so you can see how they turned out!)
If you'd like to make some brownies this year, you could also go with the mint chocolate theme, BUT you could also try out this awesome sanding sugar Wilton makes. It's like icing sugar that is coloured green, pink or blue. It works perfectly with food stencils on a flat surface like cookies and brownies. Try this super recipe from Betty Crocker, to make the best chocolate mint three layer brownies.
Brownie Base:
1 box brownie mix
water, butter, and egg called for on brownie mix box
Mint Filling:
2 1/2 cups confectioners/icing sugar
3 tbsp. butter, softened
3 tbsp. whipping cream
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
2-3 drops of green food colour
Chocolate Topping:
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 1/3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup butter
1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 9-inch square pan with shortening or cooking spray. (For easier cutting, line pan with foil, then grease foil on bottom only of pan.) Make and bake brownie mix as directed on box. Cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.
2. In large bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until set.
3. Meanwhile, in 2-quart nonstick saucepan, heat topping ingredients over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth. Cool about 10 minutes or until lukewarm.
4. Pour topping over filling; spread to cover. Refrigerate uncovered about 2 hours or until set. Before cutting into bars, let stand 10 minutes at room temperature. For bars, cut into 5 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
If you're feeling like making cookies, pick up a shamrock cutter, use your favorite sugar cookie or short bread recipe and decorate with green cookie icing or shimmering sugars.
So you see, there are lots of ways to enjoy St. Patty's Day (with or without the green beer). I hope you enjoy this holiday, and watch for a few muffin recipes inspired by the Irish...coming next week!
Until next time,
Happy baking, caking and tasting!
Love and sprinkles, xoxo
