Margarita cupcakes

I usually make really dense cupcakes , but I've been wanting to make a lighter cupcakes, or at least make a more summery cupcake.
Cinco de mayo is coming up soon, so maybe I will bring these to book club on Sunday, if they make it past the day during my shift at bn.

Margarita CUPCAKES

yield: 12 cupcakesprep time: 25 minutescook time: 25 minutes total time: 50 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
For the Cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
Zest and juice of 1½ limes
2 tablespoons tequila
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk

To Brush the Cupcakes:
1 to 2 tablespoons tequila

For the Tequila-Lime Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2¾ cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 tablespoons tequila
Pinch of coarse salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

3. In an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugar together until pale, light, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

4. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the eggs one at at time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

5. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the lime zest, lime juice, vanilla extract and tequila. Mix until combined. (The mixture may start to look curdled at this point, but don't worry, it will all come back together, power on!)

6. Reduce the mixer speed low. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches. Mix only until just incorporated, using a rubber spatula to give it one last mix by hand.

7. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until just slightly golden and a skewer shows only moist crumbs attached, rotating the pan at the halfway point.

8. Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack. Brush the tops of the cupcakes with the 1 to 2 tablespoons of tequila. Set the cupcakes aside to cool completely before frosting them.

9. To make the frosting, whip the butter on medium-high speed of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment for 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low, and gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing and scraping the sides of the bowl until all is incorporated. Give it a mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add the lime juice, tequila and salt mix on medium-high speed until incorporated and fluffy. If the frosting appears a bit too soft, add some additional sugar, one spoonful at a time until desired consistency is reached. Frost cupcakes and garnish, if desired, with lime zest, an additional sprinkling of salt and a lime wedge.

*Note #1: If you would prefer to not use liquor in these cupcakes, you can absolutely omit it from both the cupcakes and the frosting with no problem. If you do omit it, I would add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract to the frosting.



(Recipe adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride and brown eyed baker)

Brown sugar pound cupcakes

I wanted to make one last thing for the night.... And I barely had enough butter for this recipe found from a Martha Stewart recipe.
I didn't have enough butter to make the glaze so I rejuvenated my left over frosting from the other day when I made my chocolate almond buttercream frosting by putting it into the bowl with some cocoa powder, powdered sugar and a little bit of water and mixing for about a minute.


3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream the butter with the sugar until combined.

In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients.

Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture while beating with mixer. Alternate additions of dry mixture with buttermilk until combined.

Fill each cup 3/4 full, and bake for 25 minutes.

Set rack with cupcakes over a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spoon glaze over tops, and let stand until set. Serve glazed cupcakes immediately.



Brown-Butter Glaze


Ingredients

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 to 4 tablespoons whole milk
Directions

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Carefully pour butter into a bowl, leaving sediment behind.
Add sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons milk to butter, and stir until smooth. If glaze is too thick, add more milk. Use immediately.

Gluten free vanilla cinnamon muffins

I decided to adapt my last recipe into a gluten free recipe and found a recipe to help guide me in the right direction. Carol from the website of Ditch the Wheat had this nice recipe with some whipped to a peak egg whites. I love making egg whites ....so I decided to try it out, only I didn't have coconut flour or coconut oil, so I just substituted gluten free all purpose flour and vegetable oil instead.


Gluten Free Vanilla Cinnamon Muffins


Ingredients
2 eggs, separated
1tbsp honey
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
2 tbsp sifted gluten free flour
¼ tsp baking powder


Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a bowl combine egg whites and honey ... Whip the egg whites until you form stiff peaks. (Egg white whipped are the key to the puffy top).
In a separate bowl combine egg yolks, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and salt until mixed.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder to the egg yolk mixture.
Mix until smooth.
Slowly add the egg yolk mixture to the whipped egg whites. Mix until well combined.
Fill cupcake liners to the top.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until the tops are firm to the touch and a tooth pick can be inserted and come out dry.

Make 12 to 18 mini muffins or 3 regular sized muffins.




So this came out a little bland, so I made another batch, but this time added a tablespoon of pure sugar cane sugar to the egg whites as I whipped them.
I also changed my vegetable oil to extra virgin olive oil.

Cinnamon honey oat muffins

The riot girls are having a bake sale tommorro and I'm not sure what I will bring, but I had a desire for some honey cinnamon muffins and found this recipe on Will Cook For Smiles, which is a very appropriate blog name as I believe the blog author and I have something in common, we both seem to love baking for appreciative people. :-)

Honey cinnamon oat muffins

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups oats
1 cup unbleached flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
2 -3 tbs honey


1. Preheat the oven to 375. Grease the muffin pan and line with paper liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until well combined. Add buttermilk, oil, vanilla extract and honey. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.
3. Whisk in the oats.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon together. Add the dry flour mixture to the batter. Whisk until just combined, don’t over-mix.
5. Divide the batter between the muffin pan cups, 3/4 full. Bake for 13 minutes. Do a toothpick test to make sure they are done in the center.
6. Let cool for 10 minutes in the muffin pan before taking the muffins out of the pan.


Makes around 12 muffins.

Cinnamon French toast cupcakes

Woke up early and decided to make some breakfast cupcakes.

I love this recipe! I found it on the blog, the Cupcakery. Very tasty.

Word to the unprepared people... Always set out your cupcake tins before beginning to bake. Do not, I repeat, do not run the dishwasher before starting. Make sure you have your cupcake tin where you can see it. Don't feel pressured to prepare the tin with cupcake holders or whatever.... You don't even have to spray it with anything yet. Just make sure it's not stuck in the dishwasher.

Cinnamon French Toast Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. maple extract
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat your oven to 350° degrees. Line muffin tin with baking liners.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, and eggs until combined. Then add maple extract.

4. Alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk into your liquid mixture. Make three additions of flour and two of milk. Beat until smooth.

5. Divide batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.

6. Cool cupcakes for 10 minutes, remove from pan and allow to cool completely before frosting.




Optional:
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of salt
1 tsp maple syrup
4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
cinnamon sugar, for dusting

1. Beat together cream cheese, butter and salt until creamy. Add maple syrup.

2. With mixer on low, add sugar 1/2 cup at a time until light and fluffy.

3. Increase mixer speed between additions.

4. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on cupcakes after piping frosting onto completely cooled cupcakes!

Chocolate merlot cupcakes with buttercream frosting

After dinner, I felt like I needed a little chocolate, so I researched a bit and found this recipe for chocolate merlot cupcakes from "life tastes like food" blog that I modified a bit.

3/4 Cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 Cups sugar
4 Eggs
1 Cup Merlot
2 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 Ounces dark chocolate, melted
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with cupcake baking cups*. Cream the butter and sugar together, then mix in the eggs one at a time until everything is incorporated. Then add the Merlot. In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the dry ingredients together and then slowly add to the butter mixture. Mix in the melted chocolate. Pour batter into the cups, filling them about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes around 20 cupcakes.


My bottle of red ran dry before I reached the one cup mark, so it will taste a little less boozy. I know! Sad right? Whatcha gonna do? Run out and buy another bottle of the same brand? Thought about it....I happened to have two new bottles waiting for me in my trunk that I almost forgot about ( or rather was too lazy to go back outside and get them).
You can also use whatever butter you have in the house, salted or un-salted. Both ways the recipe will taste good.
If you use less amount chocolate in your batter, for example 4 oz of 60%cocoa bittersweet ghiradelli your cupcakes will come out lighter in color but still very tasty.




Almond buttercream frosting


Ingredients :

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup softened butter ( make sure it's softened and not melted. Should be room temperature and feel like its gonna squish if you touch the package too hard)
1/2 tablespoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water

Cream butter in mixer with paddle attachment for two minutes. Add confectioners sugar one cup at a time until incorporated. Add almond extract. Add vanilla extract. Add water.

Half way through spreading my frosting, I decided to make it chocolate based and added a tablespoon of cocoa powder and a tablespoon of water until it have the consistency of a mousse.

Makes 19 ( if you over fill the cups like I do). Ideally if you fill your cups 3/4 of the way full it should make 24, but who wants tiny cupcakes?

Enjoy!

Cookie dough frosting

Chocolate cupcakes with cookie dough frosting

The other day I really wanted something sweet to eat so I looked around the kitchen for something good and found a box of vanilla cake mix.
So I decided to make some chocolate cupcakes by adding two tablespoons of cocoa powder.
While I waited for those to bake, I found an awesome recipe for cookie dough batter icing. I originally wanted to bake a half baked cookie into the cupcake, but I was feeling lazy and just made frosting.
This recipe will frost 12 cupcakes, with a little left over to like the bowl and have a spoonful.


Cookie Dough Frosting
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar (or dark brown)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons milk (I used vanilla almond milk, but soy or regular would be fine)
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips
With an electric or stand mixer using a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar at medium speed. Add the vanilla and beat well. Stir in the flour and salt until doughy. Beat in the milk until fluffy. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Frost cooled cookie cups.

Cinammon Muffins

Woke up too early today, so after playing all my available games on Scramble, I decided to make some breakfast.

Cinnamon Muffins

4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
cinnamon sugar – for sprinkling on top
1/4 butter for dipping
 
Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare muffin tins.
Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Mix only until moistened. Fill muffin cups and top with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean.
Cut in half or dunk whole into butter while warm and serve.
Makes 12 muffins.