'cuz it's root, root, root for the A's...
for the past month, i've taken a mental DL visit (no, not like britney or mischa. just a non-blogging, non-baking, mostly non-baseball mental vacay). after making chocolate yogurt snack cakes/muffins for family, i spent three and a half weeks away from a whisk, baking soda, and a kitchenaid mixer. during this time, i admit that i only watched two baseball games and not in their entirety. but my flour-free refresher reenergized me, and last thursday baseball and i converged again at everyone's favorite sugar-filled game: root beer float day (RBFD)!
i'll be honest: i don't do root beer floats. don't get me wrong; i love root beer. but i'm fairly lactose intolerant, so the float aspect gets lost on me. if only they'd do cashew ice cream floats... hint, hint. but seeing all of the families who line up to get a glimpse of the players, while the players probably envision an ever-growing swarm of fans, young and old, looming about with dripping ice cream mustaches, well, it's all part of the game, right?
wednesday evening, i went to work, mixing, creaming, scooping, and baking mini cupcakes, just the right size to pop in your mouth before going out to stretch. the base features henry weinhard's root beer and root beer extract from san francisco brewcraft. without eggs, i was afraid the cupcakes would be hard, but these turned out light and fluffy (hint: to keep them airy instead of hardening overnight, place your cupcakes on a plate and cover it with plastic wrap). to transform the regular cupcake recipe into a more compact version, i filled each mini mold 3/4 of the way (i wish i had filled them larger, as the cupcakes don't rise too much) and baked them for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F.
i tried to make the cream soda frosting, but my cream soda had too much extract flavor and not enough creamyness, so i went with a vanilla bourbon extract instead. i substituted brummel and brown's yogurt spread for regular butter, and used 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, way less than the 4 cups recommended in the recipe.
thankfully, even with a frosting redo, the next morning, i had a full team of mini root beer float cupcakes, which were ready to go out and conquer the world. er, the coliseum.
one caveat: after making these, your kitchen, and perhaps entire apartment, will smell like root beer for awhile, but it's a very pleasant smell. don't fear the root beer.
but now, back to RBFD. i guarded the cupcake box as we traversed the east side club, and made the delivery to andrew bailey after warmups on the field. he continued to sign autographs for the throngs of kids and adults who lined up, waving mugs, tickets, and hats (including one fan who somehow convinced AB to sign his boston red sox cap... i refuse to comment on that, other than to say that bailey took it in stride), all while taking care not to squish or flip my box between the bullpen and the dugout.
other fun things from thursday's game:
i'll be honest: i don't do root beer floats. don't get me wrong; i love root beer. but i'm fairly lactose intolerant, so the float aspect gets lost on me. if only they'd do cashew ice cream floats... hint, hint. but seeing all of the families who line up to get a glimpse of the players, while the players probably envision an ever-growing swarm of fans, young and old, looming about with dripping ice cream mustaches, well, it's all part of the game, right?
wednesday evening, i went to work, mixing, creaming, scooping, and baking mini cupcakes, just the right size to pop in your mouth before going out to stretch. the base features henry weinhard's root beer and root beer extract from san francisco brewcraft. without eggs, i was afraid the cupcakes would be hard, but these turned out light and fluffy (hint: to keep them airy instead of hardening overnight, place your cupcakes on a plate and cover it with plastic wrap). to transform the regular cupcake recipe into a more compact version, i filled each mini mold 3/4 of the way (i wish i had filled them larger, as the cupcakes don't rise too much) and baked them for 12 minutes at 350 degrees F.
i tried to make the cream soda frosting, but my cream soda had too much extract flavor and not enough creamyness, so i went with a vanilla bourbon extract instead. i substituted brummel and brown's yogurt spread for regular butter, and used 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, way less than the 4 cups recommended in the recipe.thankfully, even with a frosting redo, the next morning, i had a full team of mini root beer float cupcakes, which were ready to go out and conquer the world. er, the coliseum. one caveat: after making these, your kitchen, and perhaps entire apartment, will smell like root beer for awhile, but it's a very pleasant smell. don't fear the root beer. but now, back to RBFD. i guarded the cupcake box as we traversed the east side club, and made the delivery to andrew bailey after warmups on the field. he continued to sign autographs for the throngs of kids and adults who lined up, waving mugs, tickets, and hats (including one fan who somehow convinced AB to sign his boston red sox cap... i refuse to comment on that, other than to say that bailey took it in stride), all while taking care not to squish or flip my box between the bullpen and the dugout. other fun things from thursday's game:
- having a four-year-old scoop ice cream just as well as the firefighters
- realizing that the wives/SOs used to be hotter (and more natural looking)
- almost stepping on a really cool pin (ok, that's not fun) AND returning it to the 70-year-old who lost it (she was the only one with a pin collection on her hat in the section)
- watching three people who snuck alcohol in past security get carted away by the oakland police (no tasers required)
- telling my coworkers i was taking a vacation day to go to a baseball game
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