Recipe: Eggnog Cupcakes

I realize it is not Christmas time, so why am I baking with eggnog? Because I have a huge bottle of it leftover from the holidays and I'm not gonna let it go to waste! (Don't worry, it's shelf stable, contains alcohol, and has been in my fridge the whole time.) 

I needed to make a dessert for a work potluck, so I thought I'd make cupcakes, because who doesn't like cupcakes? And while they do contain alcohol, I'm pretty sure most if not all of it burned off in the baking process. 

I found this recipe on the Life, Love and Sugar blog. It looked easy enough, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

INGREDIENTS

·        1 1/4 cups (163g) all-purpose flour

·        1 1/2 tsp baking powder

·        3/4 tsp nutmeg

·        1/4 tsp salt

·        6 tbsp (84g) unsalted butter, room temperature

·        3/4 cups (155g) sugar

·        1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

·        1 tsp vanilla extract

·        2 large eggs

·        1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (150ml) eggnog

INSTRUCTIONS

1.      Prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).

2.      Combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.

3.      Add the butter, sugar and oil to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.

4.      Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Add the vanilla extract with the second egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.

5.      Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.

6.      Slowly add the eggnog and mix until well combined.

7.      Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.

8.      Fill the cupcake liners just over 1/2 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

9.      Remove cupcakes from the oven and place cupcakes on a cooling rack to cool.

The recipe does include ingredients and the directions to make eggnog buttercream, but I think you all know I did not bother making my own icing. I bought Betty Crocker's whipped butter cream frosting from Safeway and was set! I did contemplate adding some nutmeg and/or eggnog to it, but I'm lazy and figured the cupcakes would still taste very yummy even if I didn't bother to doctor the pre-made icing. But if you are more ambitious than I am, know that the full recipe does include that. 

For making the cupcakes, I was impressed by how specific this recipe is. Usually it's kind of like, "Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, then mix them together." But Lindsay (the writer of the LLS blog) emphasizes certain steps, tells you to add the eggs separately, to divide putting the dry ingredients into two so you can add the eggnog in between... that's pretty exact! I appreciate that, because as an avid baker, I am more likely to find recipes that skip steps rather than add really helpful ones. 

As usual, I forgot to read the notes section first before making this recipe. As I was filling to cupcake tray, even filling each one only half-way, I was thinking that I wasn't getting as many cupcakes as I expected. But sure enough, if you read the notes, you will see that the recipe only makes 12-14 cupcakes, about half what you might expect from a boxed cake mix. So I guess for this potluck only a few special people will get to try the cupcakes!

But of course I had to try one myself before I subjected others to these treats! The eggnog flavor definitely comes through, and my storebought icing did the trick. But the cake was a little dense, and they barely rose at all, so they were all short. I had thought filling the tins only half-way was to allow for rising without having muffin tops, but they remained short and stout. I didn't include a photo of my cupcakes with the icing because I was basically pouring icing on top to try to fill the void between the top of the cake and the top of the paper (must buy a piping bag...). I almost wonder if it would be better to make a boxed cake mix, but instead of adding water or milk, you added the eggnog instead. Then you might get better rising with the same nutmeggy flavor. 

Curious about the other eggnog recipes I've made? Check them out:

• Eggnog pie (no bake!)
• Frosted eggnog bread
• Eggnog snickerdoodles

What should my next eggnog recipe be? Any recommendations? Leave me a comment below!

Play Review: One Jewish Boy [SPOILERS]

Image found here

One Jewish Boy is the last show of the season at Theater J. at the Edlavitch DCJCC. I knew it was a love story, so I was looking forward to seeing what was in store for the night. The general gist is that the audience follows the ups and downs of a relationship between two Brits, a Jewish boy and mixed-race girl. He has lasting trauma from an antisemitic attack he experienced, and she carries the weight of her intersectionality as a light-skinned black woman. They love each other, but sometimes the heaviness of their backgrounds induces conflict between them.

The program for the play included stats about antisemitism both in the US and the UK. It was disturbing to read some of them: in 2022, an average of 10 antisemitic incidents a day occurred in the US, the largest number since 1979. And comparing the viewpoints between Americans and Brits, Brits are more likely to hold opinions such as, "Jews still talk too much about the Holocaust" or "Jews have too much control over the global media." For most of my life I have not worried about being Jewish, but during Trump's presidency and afterward, so much hate has come to the surface that now I think twice about wearing a cute Chanukkah shirt or my baseball cap that reads "Nationals" in Hebrew. It was sad to see these statistics come to life in this play in showing how such a visceral experience of this character impacted not only him but his relationship with his wife (and potentially with his son, too). 

The setting for the story is multiple locations around the world. As usual for Theater J, the set was minimal but very effective. "Furniture" consisted of four movable cubes that were used as chairs, tables, benches, etc. There was also an open staircase that was mostly used to show the early times of the couple's relationship, meeting on a yacht in Ibiza or smoking weed out in the fresh air. The mostly open set allowed for good stage movement of the actors and flexibility in creating different rooms, places, and spaces. 

My favorite part about the show is that it's not linear. The story is told out of order, not chronologically, which is an interesting way to learn about the characters and their relationship. The show begins with the couple fighting, nearing divorce, but then we're bounced around through the years, including when they met, when they got married, when their son was born, all jumbled up. The juxtaposition of the happy scenes portraying young love and the disfunction of a couple who has been together for years was jarring but emotionally moving at the same time. I thought the actors, Danny Gavigan and Alanna Saunders, did an excellent job showing all the emotions along that spectrum. At times it was difficult to watch the couple fighting, as they were talking over one another and pointing fingers, but clearly the acting was good, because the fights felt uncomfortably real! 

I have to admit that I frequently fall asleep when watching plays, not because I'm bored or because they shows aren't good, but just because I'm so tired! But I was fully engaged with this story and did not doze off once! I highly recommend this show, and you've got a few more weeks to see it!

Tickets are still available, so get yours today!