Kitchen Experiment: alcoholic cuppies (1)

Today was quite an amazing day, I was able to hit the gym and read research related literature. I actually felt like going out for a mojito but I was too lazy to go out since I still have tons of readings. So I decided to whip up my own mojito. I have mint lying around in the fridge but no rum in store, so I substituted it with white wine, and guess what, it actually is a good substitute. Now, I wanted to bake something, and I really wanted to use the mint and white wine combination so I whipped up Chardonnay Cupcakes with Mint-Infused Chardonnay Buttercream Frosting. Remember how I don't like things being too sweet, so instead of using Reisling (sweet white wine) I opted Chardonnay.

This baby is made by creaming 2/3 cup of butter and 1 1/4 cup of sugar together. **Remember to preheat your oven to 350F. ** In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients 2 and 3/4 cup flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt. Alternately mix this in the butter mixture with 3/4 cup of white wine. Don't worry if the end result is crumby. Its only normal.

In another bowl, whisk 6 egg whites until they have stiff peaks. Fold this in the crumby mixture. You might find that the crumby mixture is still crumby. What I did with mine was whisked them together for a few seconds before transferring them into the baking pan.

Line your cupcake pans and fill them until they are 2/3 full. You have baking powder there so they will definitely rise. Bake them for 20 minutes.

While waiting for our baked goods, it is a good time to make your frosting. Basically, mix 1 cup butter with 3 cups of powdered sugar, and 2 tablespoons of Chardonnay (infused with mint leaves).

Frost your cupcakes after they have cooled down, garnish with a couple of mint leaves and voila!

These cupcakes are light and fluffy, almost like you are on a cloud. When I feel sad and I want to lift my spirits, I normally seek solace in eating tons of marshmallows. I think these may also be a good substitute in the absence of marshmallows. :D

And after this, my hand surprisingly smells like butter. Weird but I love it.

Watch out for other kitchen experiments in the future.