Caramel Apple Cupcakes

September always reminds me of the yummy fall flavors that take over the baking world, especially apples. Living in Oregon I have discovered that there are more varieties of apples than I could have ever imagined. Baking with apples, making apple cider and all the wonderful spices that goes with and on of my personal favorites, ooey gooey caramel apples.
I love the combo of a tart, crisp green apple mixed with the salty, sweet taste of creamy caramel and a little bit of crunch from toasted pecans.

I started with a green apple cupcake. Jumbo of course. I used apple cider mixed with some extra frozen concentrated thawed for a nice apple flavor, used apple sauce instead of oil for moistness as well as more apple flavor and a dash of apple pie spice

I found these adorable ribbons in the $1 aisle at Target. One had red and green apples on it, another said , "Fall Fun" and another with stripes and another with sayings on it including , "Apple picking". They were perfect. I used Wilton cookie sticks I got at Michaels.

Still working on my cupcake photography.

The frosting is from Martha's Cupcake book. I am still on the fence about making swiss meringue buttercream. My heart belongs to Italian meringue but it didn't work with trying to make it caramel. At least not the way I was trying to make it. So I went with Martha's recipe. It flopped but instead of throwing it out I stuck it in my fridge to chill and I am glad I did. Chilling it made the flavor mellow out and taste more caramel like than toffee like. I wasn't terribly to thrilled with the swiss meringue - I have made it before and it flopped and no amount of mixing saved it - but this time it worked. I just have to perfect my caramel making skills so it has that deep caramel flavor.
I drizzled caramel sauce over the pecans to add to that gooey goodness.
Next time I will use green liners so you can really see that green cupcake.
All in all I say these are a keeper on my list of cupcakes to make

Green Apple Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup apple cider or juice mixed with 2 tbsp of frozen apple juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 cups Granny Smith apples peeled and shredded
• a few drops green food coloring ( optional)

Makes:  10-12 jumbo cupcakes, 18-24 standard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place paper liners in either two 12 cup regular muffin pans or two 6 cup jumbo muffin pans.
In large bowl, beat eggs with cider mixture, apple sauce and vanilla. In separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to egg mixture; stir just until moistened. Do not overmix. Stir in apples. Pour into prepared pan 1/2 - 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 (25 for jumbos) minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack

Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients
Makes 5 cups

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 6 large egg whites
• Pinch of salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened and cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make caramel: Pour 1/4 cup water into a medium heavy-bottom saucepan. Add 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and syrup is clear. Continue to cook, without stirring, until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush two or three times to prevent crystals from forming. Let syrup boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until syrup is dark amber.
2. Immediately remove from heat; carefully pour in cream (caramel will bubble vigorously). Stir caramel until smooth. Transfer to a bowl; let cool.
3. Whisk together remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, the egg whites, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water; whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture registers 140 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.
4. Return bowl to mixer; fit mixer with whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff. Reduce speed to medium low; add butter, a few tablespoons at a time. Continue whisking until smooth.
5. Switch to paddle attachment. Add caramel and vanilla; beat on lowest speed until combined, 3 to 5 minutes. The buttercream can be made 2 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Before using, bring frosting to room temperature; return to mixer and beat with the paddle attachment until smooth.

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes

My mom got me a set of jumbo cupcakes pans and I have been dying to use them and since I don't ever really need an excuse to bake but a friend's birthday is always a good reason. My friend Julie is a huge fan of Sex and The City and LOVES Cosmos just like Carrie so I decided to try my version of the Cosmo cupcake and make them JUMBO

I made an actual Cosmo for the liquid in my batter and added in a touch of pink coloring to enhance the pink color of the cupcake. I LOVE how pink they came out. I also added in lime zest so when you took a bite there were little flecks of green here and there throughout the pink cake

I baked 6 jumbos and made the rest of the batter regular sized. They looked so tiny compared to the jumbo. And made me think why have I been making regular sized all this time when we could be eating Jumbo. If I had made mini's that would have been eating like popcorn - by the handful. Ha ha.

I then made another cosmo - how I didn't get a buzz during this process I do not know - and reduced it into a glaze which I brushed over the still warm cupcakes with a pastry brush. I really wanted that cosmo flavor infused into the cake.
I used a few teaspoons of the cosmo reduction in the buttercream and added pink sprinkles. I made little lime curls to garnish. I had attempted making candied limes but I didn't do them right so that is another item on my list of things to try to do. Another time

What girl doesn't love the girliest of girly drinks made into a cupcake!!
These tasted amazing!!

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes with Cosmopolitan Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter room temp
2 cups sugar
2 eggs room temp
1/2 tsp salt
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup Cosmopolitan ( recipe to follow)
zest of 1 lime
Red paste or gel food coloring.(optional, if you would like a stronger reddish tint in the cake)

Directions:

Allow all ingredients to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.

With a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs 1 at a time and beat until well combined. Add the lime zest

Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside

Make the cosmopolitan and measure out 1 ½ cups in a separate bowl.
Add in 1 cup each of the dry and wet mixtures alternately, beating on low until the whole mixture is well combined.

Fill cups with batter two-thirds full. Bake at 350 F for 18-22 minutes or until cupcakes
spring back in the middle when touched lightly. Cool for 10 minutes in pan.

For glaze:
1/2 cup cosmopolitan

Heat the cosmopolitan over med heat until thickened and slightly reduced.

Brush with cranberry/vodka glaze when cupcakes are still slightly warm.
When cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with Cosmo Buttercream

Cosmopolitan Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients:
3 sticks or 1 1/2c butter room temp
4 c confectioner’s sugar

1 tbsp meringue powder ( optional)

pinch salt

1 tsp lime zest
3-4 tbsp of the Cosmopolitan (or more until you reach desired consistency)

red food coloring

Directions:

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time beating well with each addition. Add the meringue powder and the salt. Mix in the zest. Add the Cosmopolitan one tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.

Garnish with: (optional)
Dusting of Lime zest
Dried cranberries

Cosmopolitan Cocktail Recipe

Ingredients:

1 (1.5 fluid ounce) jigger vodka (cranberry or any citrus vodka works best)

1/2 fluid ounce cointreau

1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1 1/2 fluid ounces cranberry juice

1 twist lime zest, garnish

Directions

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker with lots of ice. Shake vigorously for several seconds and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist.

 

This is for one drink  or roughly 3 ounces of a cocktail. I needed about 15 ounces (I think) so I converted it to 5 servings. I may have had enough I can’t remember since I made this recipe a while ago but here it is .

 

Ingredient amount for roughly 15 ounces.

5 (1.5 fluid ounce) jiggers vodka (cranberry or any citrus vodka works great)

1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon cointreau

1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons fresh limejuice

3/4 cup and 3 tablespoons cranberry juice

5 twists lime zest, garnish

 

You can always err on the side of needing more and make more. And if there are leftovers you get a martini glass out and fill with the remaining cosmo and drink up!!

Side note : this recipe makes a lot of cupcakes. Because I made jumbos and the rest regular size I really don't know how many it makes if you do all jumbo or all regular. Bake the jumbos about 25-28 min and the regulars 18-22 min.

Sunflower Cupcakes

This year we decided to plant sunflowers in our garden. I thought, "oh how pretty I love sunflowers" Little did I know that we were going for world record sized sunflowers. They grew and grew and grew. One is over 10 feet in height. Amazing
So when they finally started to bloom and open I was excited to see how big and pretty they got and was instantly inspired to try making some sunflower cupcakes

The cake is the dark chocolate cupcake ( the same ones I made for the dark chocolate peanut butter ones) and I had leftover IMBC from the pineapple cakes that was already dyed green and yellow. I used my Wilton leaf tips 68 and 71 for the leaves and the petals

For the centers I sprinkled in some chocolate jimmies.
I think they came out pretty good.

This is the flower on our 10 foot plant. Look at all the pollen on the leaves. These put a huge smile on my face. Sunflowers are just so happy. And we have some seriously happy honeybees in our yard right now because of these!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Most of the time I make cupcakes from scratch. I rather enjoy making a GIANT mess in my kitchen. Especially since my mom bought me a new KitchenAid stand mixer for my birthday this year. The big boy 6QT professional model. She has gotten her money's worth already that's for sure. But sometimes I make a batch of cupcakes from a box mix. I am not always fond of the commercial taste of some box mixes but my friend Steph told me that there was a new one out that was now her fave, DARK chocolate. Being that the only type of chocolate I like is dark I had to try. So I made a batch of 24 and made two different frostings. One was a prior fave of many, the creamy peanut butter frosted ones. The others I will blog about here soon. My twist on these was that I added in cold coffee that I had brewed earlier in the day instead of water in the mix for a richer flavor. I tend to substitute other liquids instead of water for a less box like flavor. I will also add in extracts, spices etc.

I am using my GIANT pastry tip that I now love. Its like the Wilton 1M on steroids. ha ha

The cupcakes are so dark you can hardly see them. I added in a few dark choc chips on top. These were a hit at my husband's work. He told me people asked for my recipe! Now that's a box mix worth using over and over.

Oatmeal cookies

I am actually glad my old hair salon is no longer in business. It was getting too fattening to get my hair cut. I would go on Saturday mornings to get my hair done and hang out with my friend Jenny that does my hair. And the minute I walked in I would smell these amazing fresh baked cookies. There on the table in the waiting area was a GIANT plate of cookies. I of course couldn't resist. They were too good to pass up. They were always the same base recipe but the "mix-ins" changed on a weekly basis. Sometimes chocolate chips, another time white chocolate chips and dried cranberries, another time toffee chips and dark chocolate chunks. The possibilities are endless. Once they were made with duck eggs instead of chicken and well lets just say I won't ever be making those. EW. One day I asked the guy that made them for the recipe and I have been making my own variations ever since.

So anyways I have a friend that had an upcoming bodybuilding show and I wanted to send some yummy after show treats. Dieting for months and months would make any sweet treat taste extra yummy. So I got out my old stand by recipe and added in M&M's as my "mix-in"

I finally used my silicone bake pad for what its meant for. No more parchment paper or scraping cookies off my old cookie sheets. Silicone is the way to go. Easy cookie removal and cleanup

Don't they look yummy?

They smelled amazing and tasted great. The colors from the M&M's bled a little into the cookie and they always come out a little different each time. Some thicker, some flatter. But always good. My favorite mix in is dark chocolate chips, walnuts and dried cherries. OH MY!!

Recipe - MY OWN

Best Ever Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour (you can sub in 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for one of the cups of AP flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 cup aka 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp

1 cup granulated sugar ( can use white or organic)

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

4 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups oats ( quick cooking or whole oats)

*** ADD INS – see my notes after directions

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 Deg F.

Whisk together dry ingredients ( flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt) and set aside. Do this in a bowl of some sort not just on the counter

In mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter for 30 seconds on medium speed then add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Just a few mintues you don’t want to over beat

Add in the eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition then add in the vanilla and milk. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until well blended and then mix in the oats on low speed as well. Fold in your ADD IN ingredients

Place rounded tablespoons of dough on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool for a min on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

This recipe makes like 70 cookies if smaller cookies are made, Probably around 50-60 if you make bigger and 40 if you eat half the dough while making them. Ha ha

ADD INS

Spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, apple pie spice etc…  ( add a tsp or so in with the dry ingredients

Chocolate chips ( milk, white, dark, semi sweet)

Cinnamon chips, butterscotch, peanut butter

Nuts – walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, peanuts, macadamia nuts etc

Candies – caramel bits, M&Ms, toffee bits etc

Dried fruit – raisins, cranberries, cherries, pineapple, coconut, apple

Some of my favorite combos of ADD INS are

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup raisins and cinnamon

2 cups DARK chocolate chips, 1 cup chopped dried cherries

2 cups white chocolate chips, 1 cup dried pineapple pieces, ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut, ½ cup chopped macadamia nuts

1 cup chopped caramel pieces (or toffee bits), 1 cup dried apple diced up, 1 cup chopped pecans and 1 tsp apple pie spice added in to dry ingredients ( this is for the caramel apple oatmeal cookie)

I bag of peanut butter M&Ms

The possibilities are endless. You can also go for “Kitchen Sink” cookies and throw in any combo of whatever add in ingredients you have on hand. Go crazy put anything in. These cookies are super yummy!!

You can make the cookie dough ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate. Just thaw before baking so you can actually get the dough out of the bowl. Ha ha

Pineapple Cakes

I have been seriously MIA from my blog. These past few weeks have been CRAZY to say the least. I have been baking and I forgot to take pics of some of the things I have baked. I made some awesome zucchini banana muffins with fresh zucchini from our garden but since this is a cupcake blog ( for the most part) I decided that those were WAAYYYY to healthy to post. And I also baked some killer oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a friend but I lost those pics. Boo.


On to why I was so busy. It was my daughters first birthday! Her nickname was "Pineapple" when I was pregnant so I had to have a pineapple themed party. And I had to do a pineapple cake. I was just going to make her a mini cake and make a larger one for the rest of the party goers but I got an idea in my head to make an upright cake and make it look like the cool Maui Gold spiky pineapples. I made a bigger cake from the Wilton pineapple shaped pan and I have this really cuet cast iron pan that makes 6 mini pineapple shaped cakes - meant for pineapple upside down. So my original idea was for 6 minis. So what I did instead was frost the minis together with IMBC ( Italian meringue buttercream) and then cover with green and pipe light and medium yellow blobs all over to make it look pineappley. I made the leaves/topper out of gum paste I dyed green to match. I think it came out great. I decorated the rest of the cakes the same way. The actual cake was a pineapple cake recipe I found online and the BIG cake had a layer of buttercream and pineapple curd I made from scratch. The cake itself was tasty and not too sweet. I LOVE italian meringue buttercream. It is more buttery than sugary. I don't like the too sugary frostings.

She had her own mini cake to dive into

The table set with the cakes. And oh yeah I forgot I also made pineapple sugar cookies AND candies to go with as party favors

My kiddo after smashing her cake!

Minnie Mouse themed cake and cupcakes

Minnie Mouse Cake and Cupcakes

A friend of mine asked me to make a Minnie Mouse themed cake with matching cupcakes for her 4 year old's birthday. She had seen some cakes online and loved this idea.
This was my first time making a stacked cake

I made the cakes at my house and assembled at her house. I didn't want to transport the cake stacked and risk it falling.
The bottom tier was a chocolate fudge cake with a strawberry buttercream filling. Homemade marshmallow fondant covering it. The second tier was a vanilla cake with lemon buttercream filling and marshmallow fondant dyed pink to match Minnie mouse's dress on the napkins for the party.
The top was a Wilton sports ball pan - just half -made with chocolate fudge, buttercream and black Satin Ice fondant. I wasn't about to attempt dyeing fondant black. I had to make black royal icing to "glue" the ears to the top and my hands were purple from just that little amount. The bow is fondant mixed with some gum tex so it would harden up and stay on the head and not get droopy. I also "glued" that on with royal icing. The ears are the Satin Ice fondant mixed with gum tex.
The cupcakes are chocolate with chocolate frosting. Oreos for the ears and pink fondant bows. I had also made fondant bows for the minnie cutouts on the bottom tier.The wrappers are pink with white polka dots but because of the cupcakes being dark the wrappers kind of got lost. They were super cute

Here it is all set up. The "dots" are buttercream. The look on the birthday girl's face was worth all the work I put into this.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts. I love pretty much anything with coffee in it especially desserts. So when I saw this recipe for Tiramisu cupcakes I though oooh yummy and oooh easier than the real thing. Um not really. This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.
First off the recipe is different in the book than it is on her video online. If I had followed her video I would have done fewer steps. It is a little labor intensive with the three steps of mixing the eggs and sugar, then heating, then beating again. I think I might tweak this recipe a little the next time I make it so its not as many steps.

Here they are ready for the oven. I am a dummy and made 24 when the recipe said in TINY print makes 18. Sooo mine were all a little smaller than I had wanted. I guess then its ok to eat two.

One of the steps was to scrape a vanilla bean into the milk mixture. So worth doing this step. You can see the little flecks of vanilla seed and the aroma is amazing. Tastes way better than adding liquid extract.

They were all nice and poofy in oven and flattened out and even sank in a little. I was worried considering I just got a NEW oven..

They get soaked with a coffee/marsala/sugar syrup. Marsala is an Italian dessert wine. I had a sip to taste it just to see what it was exactly. It's like port. But sweeter. I don't think I will be having a glass anytime soon. Maybe just making lots of Tiramisu with it


This perhaps was the best part of the cupcake. The mascarpone frosting. It was to DIE FOR yummy. Mascarpone, powdered sugar, whip cream and a little vanilla. It was so good we licked the bowl clean after I frosted the cupcakes. My husband even stopped to see if there was leftovers in the bowl. It was that good.

Dusted with a little cocoa powder just before serving and this is what it looks like in the inside after I took a bite!!

You can see that yummy coffee/marsala syrup soaked in.
These are on the top of my list to make again. But with a different recipe for the cake. Less steps so I can eat them faster!!

Tiramisu Cupcake Recipe

Copied exactly from Martha Stewart's Book, Cupcakes

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Ingredients

Makes 18

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
• 3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk and vanilla-bean pod and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until melted, and let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, and discard vanilla-bean pod.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted.
3. Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
5. To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee-marsala syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.

Coffee Marsala Syrup

Ingredients

Makes enough for 18 cupcakes

• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly brewed very strong coffee (or espresso)
• 1 ounce marsala
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

1. Stir together coffee, marsala, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

Mascarpone Frosting

Ingredients

Makes about 2 cups

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions

1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Filled Cupcakes

I am not sure if I don't know anyone who doesn't love the combo of chocolate and peanut butter. I mean is there anyone, with the exception of those with allergies, that would pass up a Reeses peanut butter cup? Hard to find I bet
So I found a recipe for a peanut butter cream filled cupcake and added my own twist to it.
First I started off with a yummy devils food cupcake

which flattened out nicely when they cooled
I then made the peanut butter cream and filled each cupcake. I piped just a blob into the cupcake. The peanut butter cream was the same recipe as the frosting minus the powdered sugar so it was easier to squeeze into the cupcakes without tearing them too much
I sort of had to squish the peanut butter cream back down with the back of the spoon since it was erupting out. I wanted LOTS of peanut butter inside

I then dipped the cupcakes in chocolate ganache. Just a basic chocolate and whip cream ganache but I used a little less cream so it was thicker and wouldn't run over the cupcakes too much. I just wanted a nice layer on top

Don't they look good already? And now for the grand finale...
The peanut butter frosting. I only added a little bit. They were already decadent enough
is your mouth watering yet? As I am writing this I wish I had some left!
SOOOOOO good!

Strawberry Limeade cupcakes

I was bummed when I moved to Portland and found out there wasn't a Sonic here. I have a deep love for their strawberry limeade drink. I could drink one everyday and be happy. I have tried making my own version and even added in vodka sometimes, but its just not the same. Also I am a fan of making a drink into a cupcake. Like my margarita cupcakes. So I decided on the strawberry limeade cupcake. I had some leftover lime cupcakes from the margarita ones. The frosting is my new go-to Martha Stewart's fluffy vanilla with a few tablespoons of freshly pureed strawberries added in. These really taste like the drink and probably would be even better with a Sonic strawberry limeade. I found out there finally is a Sonic here - well an hour away. I love Sonic but not really worth the drive. I will just have a cupcake instead!

Chocolate sour cream cupcakes

I had some sour cream that I had bought that was intended for a recipe that I ended up not using it in so instead of going to waste I decided to make cupcakes with it. I have heard that sour cream makes for a nice moist cupcake with a little bit richer flavor. Boy isn't that the truth. I am not normally a chocolate fan, well with the exception of a warm fresh out of the oven melty chocolate chip cookie, I am thinking I might be a chocolate fan now. These cupcakes are chocolaty, rich, dense with a little tang. And the fluffy vanilla frosting with chocolate sprinkles made these a fave on my list. I will make these again for sure.

S'mores Cupcakes

You want s'more? How can I have some more when I haven't had any yet. OOOHH You mean...

S'MORES!!!!!

If margarita cupcakes didn't scream SUMMER loud enough for ya then how about everyone's favorite by the campfire treat S'mores? That ooey gooey toasty maybe even slightly charred marshmallow over melting chocolate with that crunchy slightly sweet graham cracker that sandwiches it all together. I had been tossing around the idea of trying the s'mores cupcake after having seen several online and in cook books and after seeing the beautiful ones my friend Stephanie had made. This is my version. I took the graham cracker cupcake recipe from Cupcakes Galore and added my own twist. I had a nice chunk of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate baked inside for that melty chocolate and my version of the marshmallow frosting. Sprinkled with a little graham cracker cumbs and another chunk of that yummy bittersweet chocolate. These weren't too sweet like the actual S'more can be but just right. I had first attempted the swiss meringue frosting that I had seen on one of my favorite blogs, How to Eat A Cupcake, but I failed miserably. It was my second time trying it. First was for the swiss meringue buttercream for a vanilla and chocolate malted cupcake I made. It flopped. And then for these. I couldn't ever get my meringue to hold those nice stiff peaks. So I basically made what was close to my homemade marshmallow recipe ( yes I make those every year at Christmas time! And they are a million times better than store bought). I got nice stiff peaks and they piped out beautifully. I had these in the fridge and a few days later I decided to try microwaving a few seconds to get the chocolate melty ( yes I took off the foil wrapper - not interested in a microwave lightning show and killing my microwave. I need it for reheating my coffee over and over). It was a great idea. 20 seconds later I was in ooey gooey marshmalloey chocolate heaven. For all of 4 bites. Just like an actual S'more.

Smore's Cupcakes Recipe

from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman

makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup finely crushed graham crackers ( about 20 grahams)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup whole milk

1 cup milk chocolate chips or chocolate pieces

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg. Line muffin pan with 18 cupcake papers.

Mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt together and set aside

In and electric mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Ad the vanilla. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk and beat until just combined, don't over mix. 

Spoon batter into cupcake pan filling each cup 1/3 full, add in a few of the chocolate chips or chunks ( as much as you want) into the middle and then spoon more batter on top until each cup is about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean, or the cupcake springs back on top when lightly touched. Cool for 5 min in pan, take out of pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Marshmallow Frosting

aka 7 Minute Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups caster ( extra fine) sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

Homemade "goldfish" crackers

Being that I am an avid baker and love trying all kinds of fun recipes sweet and savory I decided to try to make my daughter a homemade goldfish style cracker. She loves her organic "cheerios" and is a cheese fiend already so why not try to make a nice cheesy cracker. I found a recipe online that seemed simple enough, not many ingredients, organic white whole wheat flour, organic extra sharp cheddar cheese, butter, water, salt, pepper. After processing the dough I chilled overnight. It was ROCK hard. So I let it sit out til it softened a little. Rolled it out with my silicon mat and new nonstick rolling pin ( which I LOVE) and cut out little shapes with my mini fondant flower and circle cutters


I then baked til nice and crispy - about 15 min or so at 350 deg














They are really tasty. Almost like the real thing. Has a nice cheesy aroma just like you get when you open a bag of cheddar goldfish. Wish I had a small fish cookie cutter! I think I will tweak the recipe a touch. Some were softer and some crunchier. But the most important part is that my baby girl shoves them in by the handful. I guess they are a winner!!

Margarita Cupcakes

On a HOT summer day what is better than a margarita? How about a margarita cupcake. The thought of combining two of my most favorite things in the world into one delightful treat is mouth watering. Cake - I LOVE. Margaritas - I LOVE. Margarita Cupcake. Enough said.

There are many different margarita cupcake recipes on the internet. I took three different ones and came up with my own. I have made this recipe twice now with two different batters and two different frostings. Both are excellent and one is less time consuming than the other considering your base is a box mix instead of all from scratch. I am not usually a fan of box mixes. They just taste so.. well.. boxed. But with adding in other ingredients besides the suggested, water, oil/eggs, milk etc. you can make it taste from scratch. This was a white box mix with Bacardi margarita mix ( just thawed the can - didn't dilute) whole eggs, vanilla, lime zest and my favorite part TEQUILA. They came out light and spongy. The frosting is a tequila lime buttercream with lime zest and a little bit of green and yellow food coloring to give it that margarita look. Rimmed with green and yellow coarse sugar crystals to mimic the salt rimmed glass and a fresh lime slice. These were a hit with friends and a now hold a permanent place in my recipe file. Or should I say pile! I have updated this blog with both recipes.

 Margarita Cupcake Recipe 1

Margarita Cupcakes

1/4 cup lime juice ( or frozen margarita mix concentrate)
1 1/2 tsp lime zest (1 lime)
1 cup milk
3 egg whites
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp tequila
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with liners.
In a large bowl, mix together lime juice, lime zest, milk, egg whites oil , tequila, vanilla and sugar.
In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to lime mixture and stir until just combined. Divide evenly into muffin tins.
Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Tequila and Lime Frosting
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp milk
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp tequila
2+ cups confectioners’ sugar
coarse sugar for “rims”

Cream together butter,milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable.
Spread on cupcakes and roll the edges in a small amount of coarse, colored sugar (poured into a small bowl, so it’s easy to direct it.

 Margarita Cupcake Recipe 2

Recipe from Recipe Girl

This is the recipe I used for the cupcakes pictured in this blog. I have made these cupcakes several times now and have used different recipes. All come out pretty dang good!

MARGARITA CUPCAKES

www.RecipeGirl.com

CAKE:
9 ounces liquid Margarita mix (a little over a cup)
3 ounces tequila (a little less than 1/3 cup)
¾ ounce Grand Marnier
1 box white cake mix
3 large egg whites
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 Tbs lime zest
LIME BUTTERCREAM ICING:
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), at room temperature
5 to 6 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lime zest
green food coloring, if desired
small lime slices for garnish, if desired
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two dozen cupcake tins with paper liners.
2. Prepare cupcakes: Whisk together margarita mix, tequila and Grand Marnier in a small bowl. Measure out 1¼ cups for the recipe; pour the rest on some ice and drink it while making the cupcakes.
3. In a large bowl, blend cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, lime zest and 1¼ cups of the margarita mix from step 1. Blend on low for about 30 seconds and then increase speed to medium and blend for two additional minutes. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
4. Spoon the batter into cupcake liners (about ¾ full). Bake for 20-25 min, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pans, then remove them to a rack to cool completely.
5. Prepare icing: Once cucpakes are completely cooled, prepare the icing. Place butter in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until butter is fluffy. Add 5 cups of powdered sugar, salt, lime juce, and lime zest. Mix until thick and creamy. Add more powdered sugar until the frosting is of a good spreading (or piping) consistency. Mix in a tiny amount of green food coloring or gel paste if you’d like the frosting to have a green tint. Ice cupcakes in whatever manner you prefer… spreading or piping the frosting. Use small lime slices as garnish.
Yield: About 24
Cooking Tips
*Don’t worry too much about exact measuring for the margarita mix/tequila/Grand Marnier. Just eyeball it and measure out the 1 1/4 cups that you’ll need for the recipe.
**If you just spread frosting on the cupcakes (rather than piping), you’ll probably have a bit of frosting leftover.
***If you prepare these a day before, it’s best to place them into a covered container and refrigerate them. Remove them to room temperature a couple of hours before serving. Of course, they’re best if eaten the day they’re made.