Super Bowl Special: Pepperoni Pizza Puffs and Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

Being a New Englander, it still hurts to talk about the Super Bowl. But, although I may wish to forget the game, I do have fond memories of the food I ate that day. As my family usually has dinner together on Sunday nights, Super Bowl Sunday is no exception. We all love to eat, so even family members who have no interest in watching the game can get excited about the array of tasty things from which to choose. This year, I decided to contribute one savory and one sweet baked good, pepperoni pizza puffs and chocolate Guinness cupcakes.

The pizza puffs were courtesy of Rachael Ray, with a few minor modifications. I added 1/2 tsp each of dried basil and oregano and a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. Because I hate wasting food, I did not want to buy an entire quart of whole milk just for the 3/4 cup this recipe calls for, so I used a combination of things I had on hand: 1/2 cup skim milk and 1/4 cup heavy cream. I also did not use the fresh basil and red bell pepper....I despise raw bell peppers. The puffs were were quick and easy to make and I would have to say they were a hit. They disappeared pretty quickly from the spread of Super Bowl goodies. Although Rachael recommends dipping them in tomato sauce, we discovered they are also quite tasty dipped in ranch dressing. These might just make a reappearance at next year's party. Hopefully the Patriots will as well.

What better dessert to serve for the Super Bowl than one that contains beer? Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake has become a family favorite in recent years. A couple of years ago I also tried Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. These are chocolate Guinness cupcakes filled with Irish whiskey ganache and topped with Baileys buttercream. While tasty, the car bomb cupcakes were a lot of work and really heavy on the booze. Two of my family members are not big on alcohol, so boozy cupcakes would not have been the best choice. So, I decided on a hybrid. I used the Smitten Kitchen cupcake recipe and Nigella's cream cheese frosting recipe. I doubled the frosting recipe, with the exception of the cream. I know from past experience that this frosting is pretty loose, and as I planned to pipe mine onto cupcakes, I needed it to be a little firmer. As expected, the cupcakes were delicious. They were a hit with my family, and my co-workers also enjoyed the leftovers on Monday. What better to ease the pain of the Patriots loss than a cupcake?