French Quarter Bananas Foster Cupcakes

Today was a just for fun cupcake baking day. I wanted to try a  different recipe for a wedding shower I am doing in June, but after that I felt the need to keep baking. I wanted something original, that I hadn't done before, but I didn't want to go back to the store. After looking around the kitchen, I saw the bananas I had recently bought and decided it was a time to try out a banana cupcake. While I was looking at recipes on Pinterest, I came across one for Bananas Foster Cupcakes. Yum! They didn't have frosting, which I liked because I felt frosting-ed out after my wedding shower practice cupcakes. And they were something I had never made before. I modified the original recipe I found here. I didn't have coconut milk, so I used buttermilk instead. I also only made 12 cupcakes and cut the recipe measurements in half.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (room temp)                          1/4 tsp vanilla

2 eggs (room temp)                                      1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup AP flour                                                1/3 cup coconut

1 tsp baking powder                                      1/8 cup rum

3/4 cup sugar                                                  1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter. Add sugar, beating until combined.
3. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternate flour mixture and buttermilk.
4. Fold in coconut and rum.

5. Spoon batter into lined cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Allow to cool completely.

Bananas Foster Topping Ingredients:
*I used the original amount for the topping and I only had a little bit left over.

1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 bananas, sliced
1/4 cup rum

1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the bananas and toss so they are completely coated. Cook for a few minutes.
2. While bananas are cooking, heat rum in a small saucepan until it simmers.
3. Take rum off of heat and add to banana mixture.

4. Let sit for a few minutes so the brown sugar thickens a bit.
5. Spoon bananas foster topping onto cupcakes.

Yum!! These cupcakes are delicious!! It is nice to eat one without all that icing. They are different and not as heavy as a typical cupcakes. I will be making these again :)

Samoa Girl Scout Cupcakes

Girl Scout cookie season may have ended, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the delicious taste of a Girl Scout cookie at any time of year. Samoas are my favorite Girl Scout cookie. Chocolate, coconut and caramel - what is there not to love? I decided to make a Samoa cupcake that includes all 3 ingredients to really taste like the cookie. I looked up a few recipes and used a variation of a recipe found on the blog Sweet Little Details. I made up the filling to go with them because I wanted a little more coconut. I also increased all of the ingredients and ended up with 3 dozen delicious Samoa cupcakes! 


Chocolate Coconut Cupcake Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/4 cup cocoa
2 1/4 sticks butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coconut
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk

Ingredients 

1. In a bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and flour.
2. In another bowl, cream butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, vanilla, and coconut until fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each.
4. Mix the dry ingredients and milk, alternating between the two.
5. Fill cupcake pan and bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes.
6. Let cool completely.


Next up is the filling. I love filled cupcakes! It is so much better biting into a cupcake and having a surprise in the middle. For the filling, I made a coconut butter cream.


Coconut Filling Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp coconut extract
Shredded coconut


1. Beat butter, powdered sugar, milk, and coconut. 
2. Fold in coconut.
3. Cut tops of cupcakes and fill with coconut filling.

Chocolate Coconut cupcakes with Coconut filling

Finally, it is time for the Caramel Butter Cream Frosting and the other delicious toppings


Ingredients: 
3 sticks of butter
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup milk
3 tsp vanilla
6 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups coconut, toasted 
1/2 cup chocolate chips (for drizzle) 
*To toast coconut, spread onto a baking pan/sheet. Toast at 350 for 10 minutes.


1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the salt and brown sugar. Heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved. 
2. Stir in milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly.

3. Remove the pan fro the heat and stir in vanilla. Cool to lukewarm (approx. 30-40 minutes), stirring occasionally. *(If you are in a hurry, I recommend putting it in the refrigerator to cool quickly)
4. One the caramel is lukewarm, transfer caramel to a large bowl. Set aside a small amount of the caramel for a drizzle on top.
5. Add the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
6. Frost cooled cupcakes.


Garnish:


7. Sprinkle toasted coconut over caramel frosting.
8. Heat chocolate chips in bowl until melted. Drizzle over the top of the coconut.
9. Use the extra caramel and drizzle over the top. 

Coconut filling

Now you can enjoy the delicious Girl Scout cookie taste all year round! Enjoy with a glass of milk, just like the cookie. This filling was AMAZING! I will definitely use it again for a filling or even a frosting. Using the ingredients I listed makes about 3 dozen cupcakes, so if you don't want that many make sure you cut the amounts in half! 

Happy Easter! - Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I can't stop baking! Even while on spring break in Florida, I had to bake for my wonderful hosts. I have been wanting to try carrot cake cupcakes, and being so close to Easter, it was a perfect choice. I looked at Southern Living for a few recipes, and ended up coming up with my own. I wanted to make something moist, on the semi-healthy side, and not too sweet. And I think I succeeded! The cupcakes turned out moist and not too sweet at all! Even the icing was not too sweet, even though I ended up with enough to frost nearly 3x the cupcakes I made. I used ideas from 2 recipes from Southern Living, which can be found here.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

*makes approx 16 cupcakes (or 12 cupcakes and some carrot cake bars-so good!)*


Ingredients:
2 cups AP flour

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

2 eggs and 2 egg whites

¼ cup applesauce

1/2 cup butter milk (made with 1% milk and lemon juice)

1 tsp vanilla

1 8oz can crushed pineapple, drained

2 1/2 cups grated carrot

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Combine flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside

2. Mix together eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. 

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture.

4. Fold in pineapples, carrots and coconut.

4. Pour batter into cupcake pan, and bake on 350 for 15-18 minutes.

5. Let cool completely.

While cupcakes are cooling, you can make the cream cheese frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

8 oz. fat free cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 TBSP of butter, softened

Coconut for sprinkling

1. Beat butter, cream cheese, and vanilla at medium speed until creamy. 

2. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency. 

3. Spread on cupcakes and sprinkle coconut over top.

A delicious spring treat that is not too sweet, and not too terrible on the waistline (unless you eat 3 cupcakes like I did!) The cake and frosting balance each other perfectly. The only thing I would change is to spray my cupcake liners with cooking spray because they stuck a lot to the liners. Otherwise, absolutely delicious!