It has been way too long since my last blog!  This is a great recipe to start things back up! I have to dedicate these cupcakes to my dad, who shared with me his love of football, Fall, and most importantly apple butter! Apple butter is one of those things that I only buy when I am in a country store or local farm. That said, if I see it- I buy it.

​This summer I had an amazing vacation at Lake Winnipesaukee. While we were there, we stopped at an old country store (literally called the Old Country Store) and I grabbed a jar of apple butter. So glad I did!

A friend called me shortly after our trip and asked if I could make cupcakes for a fall themed baby shower. The first thing that came to mind was the apple butter.  I think this recipe makes great use of it. The cupcakes stay moist and delicious with a ton of flavor. All I had to do was add some cute cartoony owls to make the cupcakes baby shower ready!

When making these for our family, I toast 1 cup of walnuts for approximately 1 minute and mix in. Great flavor combination. Try these out and let me know what you think!

Originally posted 5/26/2016.

​This was quite an exciting weekend for me – as far as my baking is concerned. Thanks to an awesome friend (shoutout to you, Kate!!), I had my first baking “gig.” Kate was sweet enough to ask me to bake cupcakes for a bridal shower for one of her best friends.
Huge honor. No pressure.

Well, to bake cupcakes under one condition- that I make these specific cupcakes. Because they are amazing.

Last Friday, I spent the evening baking 40 cupcakes and drinking wine. Honestly, its a pretty fantastic way to spend an evening. (*Disclaimer* I do not condone drinking and baking. I have the scars to prove the danger, but thats a blog for another day.) When I make these cupcakes for parties (so far at least 1 birthday, a BBQ, 2 bridal showers, and a rehearsal dinner) they have been a huge hit.  Each time I baked without significant incident. But of course I can’t say that for this Friday. Thank god for Bob.

Friday night the Greater Boston area was rainy and humid. I made the mistake of leaving my kitchen windows open. The frosting  for this cupcake is an awesome cream cheese based frosting, which does not appreciate humidity. So, at 9:55 p.m. and after a failed first attempt, Bob rushed me to the grocery store to buy ingredients for my second  and hopefully final attempt. New lesson learned- have back up ingredients when working on a deadline. While we were at the grocery store, we closed the windows and turned the fans on. Next house we buy, central AC is required.

For the second attempt, I made sure to keep the cream cheese in the fridge longer. I also added more heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to thicken it up a bit. After mixing the frosting up, I put it in the fridge for an hour. Luckily this all helped and from what Kate has told me the cupcakes were a success.
This amazing recipe was adapted from Annie’s Eats! Please check it out.
​
INGREDIENTS
For the Cupcakes

• ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour, divided
• ¾ cup cake flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
• ½ cup plus 2 tbsp. milk, at room temperature
• 1 cup blueberries

For the Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 5 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 1/2  tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Zest of 1 large lemon

DIRECTIONS
 Cupcakes 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line cupcake pans with paper liners (makes about 14 to 16 cupcakes).
3. Combine ¾ cup all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and lemon zest, until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs one at a time.
6. Beat in the vanilla and lemon juice.
7. With the mixer on low, mix in a third of the dry ingredients- just until combined.
8. Blend in half of the milk, then a third of the dry ingredients-just until combined.
9. Blend in the remaining milk and then the final third of the dry ingredients- just until combined. DO NOT OVER MIX!
10. In a separate bowl, toss the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of all-purpose flour. Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.
11. Fill the cupcakes liners about 2/3 of the way.
12. Bake approximately 20 minutes.

Frosting

1. Mix cream cheese and butter. Beat on medium-high until smooth.
2. Mix in lemon zest and lemon juice.
3. Mix in powdered sugar – one cup at a time, until totally incorporated.
4. Garnish with fresh blueberries.

AND ENJOY!!!

Originally posted 2/29/2016

​It’s Oscar night! So, while I sit here watching the Oscars and getting a bit jealous of how fantastic everyone looks… I am eating these delicious cupcakes. Wonder why I can’t fit into those gorgeous dresses?! Whatever… totally worth it. These are amazing. This is probably one of my favorite cupcake recipes that I have tried out in a while. Thank you, Cooking Classy. I did not have to vary much from the recipe on her site. She also provided some great advice. Please check it out!

If you like the look of the ice cream scoop inspired frosting (my attempt is at the top of the page) – double the frosting recipe. I had a difficult time getting this look to work and really only got three cupcakes that it worked well on. If I could go back, I would probably leave the icing in the fridge for an hour before attempting. I used an ice cream scope to get the effect, but had to clean it out completely before each scoop. The other issue with this style of frosting, is that it is a TON of frosting! Now, I love frosting (esp.  this frosting) and judge those who don’t, but the ice cream scope of frosting is lil too much. I think these cupcakes would be just as cute with a normal decorative frosting.

OK, cutting this blog a bit short. Time to veg out on my couch… and sneak one more cupcake when Bob isn’t looking! Great Sunday night with this guy at my feet…

RECIPECook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 1/2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp flour

Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting

• 3/4 cup butter, partially softened (preferably half salted and half unsalted butter)
• 1 tsp mint extract (not peppermint)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp heavy cream
• Green food coloring (I used 6 drops of green and 3 yellow to create mint)
• 1/2 bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In heat proof mixing bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and baking soda.
3. Carefully pour boiling water into cocoa/baking soda mix and whisk until bubbling subsides and mixture is well blended, allow to cool.
4. While the cocoa mix cools, in a separate large mixing bowl blend together melted butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt until well combined.
5. Stir in egg and egg yolk, mixing just until combined after each addition.
6. Stir in cooled cocoa mixture then add heavy cream.
7. Slowly mix in flour and blend until combined, while scraping down sides and bottom of bowl.
8. Divide batter among 12 paper lined muffin cups and bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean about 17 to 20 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool in muffin tin several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.

For the Mint Chocolate Chip Buttercream Frosting:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle attachment whip butter on medium high speed until very fluffy, about 7 – 8 minutes, frequently scrapping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
2. Blend in mint extract and vanilla extract.
3. Add in powdered sugar- one cup at a time.
4. Add in heavy cream and mix on low speed until combined.
5. Blend in food coloring then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 – 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
6. Fold in chopped chocolate just before spreading frosting over cupcakes.

Recipe Source: Cooking Classy
LET ME KNOW IF YOU TRY IT AND LIKE IT!!
Have a great week!

Originally posted 2/22/2016

​About a year ago or so, I decided to write a cookbook for kids. I was able to scrape together an outline, but found myself so overwhelmed with ideas that the book was a bit scattered. I decided to take a break for a while, put the book aside and come back with fresh eyes. During my intermission from writing, I want to bake and bake and bake some more to get ideas for the book. (This led to starting a blog). Get the creative juices flowing!
One idea that I just had- is to bake a few ice cream inspired cupcakes. As I researched around, I realized that I am not the first person to think of this. I know…shocking.

The flavors I first contemplated were mint chocolate chip, rocky road, neapolitan, chocolate and peanut butter…. a standard theme of chocolate. I tried to think of a recipe that was not chocolate… sherbet, vanilla, strawberry, (all too boring) and then settled on orange creamsicle. I found a great recipe on A Simple Pantry and got ta bakin’!

Bob’s birthday was February 9th, but his stepsister and dad were not able to celebrate his birthday until this weekend. We were invited to his stepsister’s house tonight and I thought this would be a great time to test out this recipe … annnnnd use his family as willing (hopefully) guinea pigs!
These cupcakes were a huge success! Everyone loved them! I am still playing with the flavor a bit, but overall I would definitely recommend these cupcakes.  I have made a few adjustments based on my taste and flavor preferences, but thank you, A Simple Pantry!

RECIPEIngredients
For the cupcakes

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp  orange juice, freshly squeezed
• 3 tbsp orange zest, freshly grated
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the buttercream

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 c heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp orange juice, freshly squeezed
• orange food coloring (gel)

Instructions
For the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Add the yogurt, vanilla, orange juice, and orange zest.  Mix until combined.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix, until combined.
6. Line a muffin tin with paper cups, then fill each cup 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For the Buttercream

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, light corn syrup, vanilla, and salt until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time.
3. Add the heavy cream to receive desired consistency.
4. Add orange food coloring.

After the cupcakes are cooled and frosted… throw a slice of orange on top for fun!
Let me know your thoughts about this recipe and let me know any ice cream flavors that you think would make great cupcakes!!