Ah St. Patrick's Day.

where you can drink your face off and not feel you should apologize for your behaviour the next day.  What is it about our notions of the Irish and drinking??

As I work early early sunday morning I will not be drinking my face off this Saturday night.  However, I still made some cupcakes for the occasion because it just didn't seem right not to.  I used the same recipe as I did last year from Smitten Kitchen because it's a reliable recipe for the cupcake batter  - when something works, I don't mess with it!  I didn't use a ganache filling, instead making butterscotch pudding to fill some of them.  The rest I didn't fill at all.
I also - don't shoot me here - didn't use Guinness.  I bought a wonderful stout brewed here in Ontario.

On the back label it said it was brewed with chocolate wheat.  How could I resist?  It really was a lovely beer.  ( there was a bit leftover, a fitting reward for slaving over the stove!)  I am sure you can find it at any LCBO - Black Creek Brewery.  Go local!

I had already made the toppers

 when I was planning to attend a party and bring these, so even though I'm not sure what to do with them, I dressed them up anyway!

I encourage everyone to check out Smitten Kitchen for all the wonderful recipes and fantastic photography.  It's well worth visiting!