For the whiskey lover...

Alright ladies, as you know, I surprised my beau yesterday by driving an hour away to pick him up from the airport with his friend. The surprise was somewhat successful: he knows me too well apparently and kind of thought I would do something like that. The cupcakes, though, were 100% successful. I knew that there was a possibility that we would be stopping by his friend's house for dinner and to say hi to his family and girlfriend, so I made sure to take enough for everyone (as every good guest should do! *hint hint*). We didn't stay for dinner, but everyone still took one and loved them!

A few people asked me if I have the recipe and the answer is YES! I found it on Pinterest (not surprising) and changed a few things to my own preference and I was also short on time. Here is the link for the original recipe: Chocolate Jack Daniel's Cupcakes. My recipe is below. If you make them, please comment and let me know how you liked them!!

Chocolate Jack Daniel's Cupcakes

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (I used Hersey's Special Dark)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Jack Daniel's Whiskey
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (all the dry ingredients).
3. In a separate bowl (I swear by my 4 cup measuring bowl!) combine the eggs, coffee, whiskey, buttermilk, and oil.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
5. Spoon the mixture into prepared cupcake cups. I filled them up just over 3/4 of the way. (The batter rose up just enough to put frosting on without getting any on the cups.)
6. Bake in preheated oven about 18-20 minutes until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
7. Cool completely.

*Note: you can experiment with the amounts of Jack Daniel's and buttermilk. Just make sure the two come out to equal 2 cups. The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of Jack and 1/2 cup of very strong coffee....obviously I omitted the coffee and just used Jack.

Unfortunately, I was very short on time so had to buy frosting (clearly not as good) but next time I make them I'll definitely be making the buttercream and ganache listed on the original recipe - which both contain more Jack Daniel's. Despite store-bought frosting, the cupcakes were very delicious and rich!

Enjoy!!

xo @SrattyPearls