Have a cupcake and drink it too!

Today is National Blueberry Popover Day!

In today's issue...

• Blueberry Popovers
• Vodka!

 Blueberry Popovers

In honor of today being national blueberry popover day!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter, cut into 6 equal-sized pieces
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or you could use blueberry vodka!
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, or to taste
• 1 lemon, halved

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.    Put a piece of butter into each of 6 large muffin cups.
3.      Put muffin tin in preheated oven until butter melts, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
4.      Beat milk, eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Whisk flour into the milk mixture until you have a batter. Divide batter between muffin cups. Drop even amounts of blueberries into each batter portion. Stir 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl; sprinkle evenly over the batter portions.
5.   Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking until popovers are no longer moist in the center, about 25 minutes. Dust tops of popovers with confectioners' sugar. Squeeze lemon juice over popovers. Serve warm.

 Yield: 6

I remember ages (and I do mean ages) ago when I turned 21 there was one type of vodka or one type I knew about...the plain old kind.   Then around 1999 Absolut came out with Mandrin and it just exploded from there. I wasn't much interested in flavored vodkas until I was introduced the the adult cherry Coke made with cherry flavored vodka or the delicious cotton candy vodka by Pinnacle.  

Cupcake Martini

Ingredients

• 1 1/2oz Cake Vodka
• 1 1/2oz Whipped Cream Vodka
• 1 1/2oz White Creme de Cacao
• 1/2oz Amaretto 
• 1/2oz White Chocolate Liqueur
• 1oz Heavy Whipping Cream
• Ice
• White Icing
• Sprinkles

Directions

1. Place ice in martini glasses to chill the glass.
   
2. Place sprinkles on a shallow plate that is a little larger than the mouth of your martini glass.
3. In another shallow plate, cover bottom with white icing.
4. Dump ice out of glass.
5. Dip the rim of the martini glass in icing.
6. Dip glass into sprinkles to rim the edges.
7. Combine remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake for about 30 seconds.
8. Strain into martini glasses and drink!

Make ahead: For a big party, mix up a big batch of these and store in a large pitcher in the fridge. Shake a glass at a time over ice whenever ready to serve!

Adult Cherry Coke 

  Ingredients

• 1 1/2oz  Cherry Vodka
• 3 floz Cola
• 1/2oz Grenadine 
• Maraschino Cherries

Directions

1.   Fill glass with ice. 
2. Add Cherry Vodka, cola, and grenadine. 
3. Stir well. 
4. Garnish with cherry.

Wegmans

Last Wednesday I went on an adventure with the fabulous Melissa. We go on a few adventures but this one was special…she introduced me to Wegmans. Holy Cow! What a store! It is a foodie’s paradise…the cheese section alone was like the size of my house…that’s just specialty cheeses not even including the everyday cheeses you buy at your normal grocery market. I got some beautiful cheeses for a very reasonable price…Jarlsburg and very sharp cheddar. Also on a side note I got my cat litter at Wegmans for $3 cheaper than I pay for it at Wal-Mart. I also found Cheerwine there and I didn’t have to go all the way to North Carolina.  They also had an awesome international section and a crazy hot food bar...again like bigger than my house.  The store is HUGE!

 

I made some brownies with Cheerwine today. I used a box brownie mix and replaced the water with Cheerwine. So very yummy! You can do this with almost any soda you like. I also like to use Dr. Pepper for this. I found this on the Cheerwine website. I plan on trying it soon.

 

 

 

Cheerdevil Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box Devil’s Food cake mix
• 1 cup Cheerwine soft drink
• 1 tsp almond extract

Directions:

 

Mix the cake mix as directed on the box, but use the Cheerwine in place of water for the liquid. Also, add the almond extract which is not called for on the box mix.

 

Bake the cake as directed on the cake mix box.

 

Then, make the Cheerwine Cake Frosting.

Cheerwine Cake Frosting

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter or margarine (let soften)
• 1/3 cup Cheerwine soft drink
• ¼ cup cocoa (baking powdered chocolate - usually near the flour in the grocery)
• 1 lb box powdered sugar (or 2 ½ cups if bought in bulk bag)
• ¼ tsp almond extract

Directions:

 

Mix together butter and Cheerwine with a mixer. Add cocoa, powdered sugar, and almond extract and mix until smooth.

 

Spread frosting on cool Cheerwine Cake.

 
That’s how to make an easy Cheerwine Cake using a cake mix. It’s a unique tasting cake and also a very pretty cake. In fact, Cheerwine Cake has become so popular that a local baking company has teamed up with Cheerwine for a ready-made Cheerwine Cake.

 

If you can’t get Cheerwine in your area, then check out the Cheerwine web site. They do ship this great Southern soda. So, you can try this terrific soft drink and cake even if you don't live in the South.