Baking w/ Alcohol?

Last night our group of seasoned (and even a few not-so-seasoned) drinkers got together for one of our ubiquitous booze seshes. It involved copios amounts of vodka, melted cheese and the divulging of one too many secrets. But I won't go into that…

What I do want to discuss, however, is the bizarre treat that my teetotal friend, Beth, brought to the party.

Beth is a fascinating and cultured young woman, and although she doesn't drink, her adoration for Victorian-era cooking outweighs her plethora of reasons to stay sober. Because do you know what Beth lovingly baked us?

Absinthe muffins.

Now imma let you finish, because I too found myself brimming with questions at the mere mention of this. "Absinthe muffins?" I hear you say, "What the..?"

I know, I know. Crazy, right?

In addition to many other amazing culinary exploits, absinthe muffins are one of Beth's more adventurous ones. Although she's yet to introduce a recipe that my tastebuds haven't loved, her gingerly-ventured disclaimer that "you might want to eat them slowly, because each muffin has two standard drinks" did little to reassure me. I mean, come on! Absinthe muffins? TWO standard drinks? I could knock back two vodka cruisers and get drunk slower than I would if I simply chowed down on one of the tiny green-tinted muffins.

Soft as air and laced with a anise-infused sugar glaze, they were absolutely delicious, but the idea of baking liquour-flavoured goods is still rather foreign to me. However, I did manage to find a number of recipes containing various spirits.

After extensive research, it looks as if copious amounts of alcohol are a rather common theme in baking (maybe that's why Julia Childs always seeemed drunk?), so it looks like I might have to road test some recipes soon.

White Russian blackberry cheesecake, anyone?