Picks, Pirates, Potables, and Pastry

Today we'll take you on a journey of Craft Night, where girls get together with needlenose pliers and guitar picks.  Mix CD's will be made, pub cheese will be devoured, and the gossip will fly amid Key Lime Cupcakes and Brown Sugar Daiquiris, on this installment of Lifestyles of the Broke and Crafty.  

The lovely and talented Kelly invited us into her home for a Pirate Party.  We listened to iTunes all night, and Kelly made mix CD's for each of us from her vast collection of music.  Dramatic Irony was the craft goddess for the evening.  She brought us guitar picks, beads, findings, and tools to make rock star earrings.  In addition to heavy metal, there was fire involved.  I burned my finger perforating a pick with a hot needle, and feel like that just adds weight to the whole rock star vibe of the evening.  Everyone's earrings turned out beautifully.  I'd say it was one of our most successful Craft Nights.

Aside from sequins and hot glue, the most important ingredient for a good Craft Night is food.  Yes, we like a little drinky, but if there's no pub cheese, we just sit there like lumps at the work table.  Actually, we've never had CN without it, and I shudder to think what would really happen in that instance.  We're all watching our spending habits, and when Kristin showed up with generic crackers, we immediately forgave her.  But each of us had the silent, nagging fear that she made the same choice with the pub cheese.  Not our gal!  Rondelé, all the way!  Crisis averted.  

I had the whole day off, and decided to make cupcakes from scratch.  Harvest Time was having a sale on Key limes, so the choice was obvious.  I found this Southern Living recipe on freshcrackedpepper.com, and made a couple small adjustments:

Bree Lime Cupcakes

1 3/4 c cake flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 c sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 Tbsp Key lime juice

3/4 c milk, with 1 Tbsp lemon juice (substitute for buttermilk--who has buttermilk in the fridge?!)

1 Tbsp finely grated lime peel

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line two muffin pans with liners.  Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl.  Beat butter in a large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, beat to blend.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then lime juice, and buttermilk.  Mixture will be curdled, fear not.  Beat in a third of the flour mixture, then a third of the "buttermilk" until smooth, repeat until ingredients are incorporated, then fold in the lime peel.  Fill liners about 3/4 full, and bake 20-25 minutes.  

Bree Lime Buttercream Icing

1/2 c butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 (16 oz.) package powdered sugar

3 Tbsp Key lime juice

1 to 2 Tbsp milk

1 1/2 tsp lime zest

Key lime slices for garnish

Beat butter, vanilla, salt, and cream of tartar at medium speed until creamy.  Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with lime juice and milk, a little at a time.  Beat at a low speed until blended and smooth after each addition.  Beat in up to 1 tablespoon additional milk, for desired consistency.  Fold in lime zest.  Frost away!

Finally, the brown sugar daiquiris.  So, what do you do with 20 ounces of Key lime juice after you use the 4 tablespoons of juice you need for the above recipe?  You drink it, silly!  Real daiquiris are very delicious and very easy.  It's a 1:1:1 ratio of lime juice, rum, and simple syrup.  Simple syrup is a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water, gently boiled until the sugar dissolves.  You can make a lovely clear daiquiri with silver rum and white sugar, but I chose brown sugar, and although it wasn't picture-worthy (kinda dishwater brown, if you ask me), it was a delightful libation that was gone in an instant.