Girl’s Night at Emily’s!

Girl’s nights are the best and for a lot more reasons than just seeing your girlfriends and drinking your legal capacity of cheap wine and watching this year’s train wreck finale of “The Bachelor”.

This week’s #1 reason to be a girl was the Ganache Infused Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting, drizzled with caramel and topped with a Caramel Salted Cashew and Black Lava Salt.

Anyone Care for a Piece of Heaven?

Yeah, that was all on and up in dat….and holy h*ll it was something out of this world.

This was Emily’s “copycat” version of a “Salted Caramel Dream” from Sweet Retreat in Edina that Emily had been given to her as  gift from a client.  SIDENOTE: I WILL be going there in the near future if this is what their cupcakes tasted like.

Ms. Emily, Just Baking Up a Storm

These cupcakes were so amazing that I actually took two of them to my female coworkers that I knew would appreciate this labor of love….oh and did they, just like the rest of the crew.  The girls at work have been waiting for these recipes so here are the ones that Emily re purposed to bring this work of art together:

Caramel
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fleur-de-sel-caramels-recipe/index.html
(for swirling into the cupcake batter and for drizzling over the top)

Cupcakes
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/heavenly-white-cake/Detail.aspx

Frosting

• 3 cup heavy cream
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 7 1/2 TBS white sugar
• 7 1/2 TBS sweet ground white chocolate

Instructions: Blend on medium to high speed with immersion blender or mixer until correct consistency for frosting.  Add sea salt or fresh ground lava salt and your favorite nut (caramel salted cashews were used here but you could use any of your favorites!).

Since you’re probably not familiar with ground white chocolate powder, here is the secret weapon that you can find for purchase online for just under $20:

Could have eaten this by the tablespoon, I actually might have.

 But let us not forget the other costars of the night:

Cheese Ravioli Tossed with Shrimp, Asparagus, and Pesto...in the largest Wok in North America

Fiesta Artichoke Dip by Shae....It might not look like much in the this picture but this is now my "go to" party appetizers after tasting it. Served with Pita Chips and Nann.

Fiesta Artichoke Dip Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4  package (1 oz.) Lawry’s Taco Seasoning Packet
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 2 cans (14 oz. ea.) artichoke hearts, drained
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 4 oz.)
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions (optional)

Directions

 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine all ingredients except 1/4 cup green onions. In 2-quart baking dish, spoon artichoke mixture.

2. Bake 25 minutes or until heated through. Garnish with remaining green onions and serve, if desired, with tortilla chips and/or assorted fresh vegetables.

The Whole Buffet Style Spread

Thoughts on the Bachelor Finale (Better Late Than Never?)

Emily has a kid.  Brad owns three bars with his brothers….the same brothers that kept questioning if he was ready for a kid right away and making statements to him that he couldn’t just “go home and watch football” whenever he wanted with a family.  I knew that it was a joke from the start and to be honest…..I’m not even sure why he picked her since we all knew he wanted someone that would move back to Austin.  NEWS FLASH BRAD: Emily’s husband’s parents live down the street and “Little Ricky” is all they have left of their son.

Also as an “after the show” reflection, turns out that Emily figured out what a shallow idiot Brad is while watching the Bachelor on Monday nights just like we did!  The tabloids all said that he spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday apologizing about how sorry he was for kissing and sharing feelings with other women.  But here’s the deal…

Dear Emily,

This is what you signed up for you dumb blond.  

xoxox,

Bachelor fans across the globe

PS: You got to go to like 3 countries and vacation while on the show so suck it up sweetheart….

Who goes on the Bachelor and doesn’t know that these things are happening?  Did she think that just because she’s innocent and  hot that she was invincible to the crappy parts of being on the Bachelor?  Probably not but it was a romantic notion.  My bets are that she’s going to be better with someone who waits on her hand and foot and will live with her in South Carolina.

Who will Brad be best with?  Probably the college girls in Austin that go to his bars are my bet since that sounds like JUST the right level of commitment for a guy that has a shrink on call.

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