On the subject of Boozy baking, although I do NOT condone the use of alcohol to solve the triviality of life but rather use it as a recreational—and rather mediocre— a catalyst of sorts, I figured I’d recount some recent success in the field of alcoholic baking!
A modest café in Tucson, Arizona called the Tucson Cupcake Bar was born of a passion strong enough to combat the debilitation of depression for Sonia Carrington. As covered by Tucson Foodie in this article, her husband Christian Carrington encouraged baking as a substitute for the hobbies lost to depression’s cathartic claw as Sonia had found herself increasingly unable to work. Now they find themselves humbled by the success of alcoholic cupcakes infused with liquors to complement their flavors, such as Bailey’s Irish Cream. And judging by the fact that they operate and close early in the day, drinking as early as 8:00 a.m. is justified in its glorious pastry form, however, be wary if it’s a work day for you.
Also having taken up baking to battle my own mental illnesses, I can say it’s liberating to have a hobby that depression can’t make you hate; the happiness it brings you to give others joy in something you made, or possibly their delight in you having found a likewise joy, is a lovely, rejuvenating cycle of recovery I will always perpetuate when I can.