Absinthe makes the Heart Grow Fonder Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup absinthe*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature


green fairy frosting
sugar cube for garnish


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour 6 wells in a cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture. Add the milk and absinthe to the rest of the batter and beat until well combined. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just one or two dry crumbs. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing with green fairy frosting. Ice, then top with a sugar cube.


*I used K�bler Absinthe Superieure, which is the best of the absinthe brands I've tried.

My thoughts:

Absinthe is recently legal here in the US and we've been making good use of it. The flavor is anise but even I, who dislikes most licorice, like it. Once I had the drink (mineral water, sugar cube and all) all I could do is think about other ways to harness the flavor. Cupcakes were a obvious choice, the flavor could be used in both the cake (where the flavor is pervasive) and the icing. The perfect adult cupcake.