S'Mores Cupcakes with Nutella

 I have found the cupcake Mecca!

And no, I will never go back to plain ol' cupcakes ever again.

After the Lemon-Marionberry-Lavender creations my mind has been awhirl with thoughts on new ideas for more cupcakes.

I knew after "S'Mores" came to mind that it had to have already been done. Which it has, but most of the recipes I found online called for chocolate ganache. Now I must say I have nothing against ganache. But it seemed so simple, plain almost.

And that is when I remembered that my favorite way to make S'Mores isn't with a chocolate candy bar but with Nutella!

 Frosting made from Nutella! Genius! And I was also wasn't the first to come up with this either. So I married a recipe for Nutella Frosting, and a recipe for graham cracker cupcakes and piped them with marshmallow creme... They are devine!

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Cupcakes:

• 11/2 cups graham cracker crumbs.
• 1/2 cup cake flour.
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.
• Pich of salt.
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened.
• 3/4 cup sugar.
• 2 large eggs.
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• 3/4 cup milk.

Filling:

• Marshmallow Creme (1 can should be enough)

Frosting/Topping Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk/Cream
• Teddy Grahams

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees & line cupcake/muffin pans with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl mix together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder & pinch of salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat butter & sugar until light & fluffy.
4. Add eggs into butter mixture one at a time, blending well after each.
5. Beat in Vanilla.
6. Alternatingly add part graham mixture & milk until all is blended together into large bowl.
7. Pour into lined pans and bake. 22 minutes for standard size cupcakes, 14 minutes for mini cupcakes (or a toothpick comes out clean).
8. Cool completely.
9. Cut out hole in center for piping marshmallow creme into.
10. Put  marshmallow creme into a quart ziploc bag, seal and cut off one corner the size of the whole in your cupcake. Pipe creme into cupcakes.
11. With mixer on high, beat butter & Nutella until evenly combined. Add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well after each. Add milk/cream as/when needed to reach desired consistency (I used Heavy Whipping cream).
12. Put Frosting into decorating bag with desired tip and pipe onto cupcakes.
13. Garnish with a Teddy Graham.
14. Enjoy!

Lemon-Marionberry-Lavender Mini-Cupcakes

Lemon Cupcake with Marionberry-Lavender Preserves 

and Lavender flavored frosting:

I LOVE Lavender. I know that most people don't really like it other than for its sweet aroma. But I personally could eat lavender flavored food/sweets/candy all day long. So I was thinking one day, "How can I incorporate lavender into a cupcake?" And I just kept thinking about it until I thought, "A lemon flavored cupcake with lavender flavored frosting would be devine!"

So of course I had to Google it and see if anyone had a recipe I could use to make it all happen. All the recipes I found either had way to many steps or were to complex for my patience/expertise. I also found a farm in Hood River that had culinary lavender and Marionberry-Lavender preserves in their online store, so I ordered those, but figured they wouldn't arrive as quickly as I would like.

And then I found these on Sur La Tables website 

(and then went to the store and bought them):

Lemon Extract (which I am pretty sure you can 

get at any grocery store as well) and Lavender Extract!

So I figured if I took a basic vanilla flavored cake recipe but substituted the lemon extract for the vanilla extract it would suffice. And if I took a basic vanilla frosting recipe and replaced the vanilla with the lavender extract I would be good to go.

I was surprised that my culinary lavender and Marionberry-lavender preserves got to me within two days of me ordering them. Well now I could put some of the preserves into my cupcakes as well. 

So here is how to make my lovely little creations:

Lemon Flavored Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
• 1/2 cup oil (I used vegetable oil)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 

(which I was out of so I used whatever milk was in the fridge)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, prepare muffin/cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. 1st bowl: Mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. 2nd bowl: With electric mixer, beat eggs 10 - 20 seconds. Add sugar and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add lemon extract and oil. Beat together.
4. Reduce speed to low, alternately mix in flour mix and milk into first bowl, beat until just combined. Scrap down bowl. Batter will be thin. Fill paper liners 2/3 full with batter and bake 12 - 14 minutes. Cool in pans 1 - 2 minutes. Remove and finish cooling on wire racks.

Lavender Flavored Frosting:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick/8 tablespoons) butter, softened.
• 8 oz. of cream cheese, softened.
• 1 teaspoon Lavender Extract (more or less to taste).
• 4 cups powdered sugar.
• 1 - 4 tablespoons heavy whip cream.
• Food Coloring (use directions on box to achieve a purple color)

1. Place butter in bowl, blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
2. Add lavender extract and powdered sugar and blend on low until combined. Increase to medium and beat until fluffy.
3. Slowly add whip cream until desired consistency is met, beat until fluffy.
4. Mix in food coloring with mixer to achieve a purple/lavender color.

Putting the Cupcakes together:

• Cut out holes in the cupcakes and pipe marionberry-lavender into holes. Or pipe preserves directly into the cupcake with approriate decorating tip stuck straight down into the cupcake.
•  Frost cupcake with Lavender frosting in a decorating bag with your favorite decorating tip or in a ziploc bag with a bottom corner cut off
• You can use yellow dusting sugar/sprinkles for decoration, edible flowers, really anything. I had wanted to use some of these candies to put on the top but couldn't find them anywhere I went.

 

Mini Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my family reunion/bbq...

There was a slight problem with my thinking when I made these.

The recipe I found online was for regular size cupcakes, and when you make mini cupcakes instead of the regular size ones, you can expect the recipe to make almost three times as many cupcakes...

Nevertheless I still proceeded to almost triple my recipe...

I had around 200 mini cupcakes when I meant to only make 80!

But dang were they good!

If you like Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches you will love these cupcakes.

Heres how to make them:

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened.
• 1 cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter (I chose smooth).
• 1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar.
• 3 large eggs.
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.
• 3 cups cake flour 

(I must digress at this point to let you know that the original recipe called for all-purpose flour, but I had read online that using cake flour is better for cakes and the like. So I substituted it in to see if there was a difference. The cupcakes seemed a bit more dense and moist. So from now on I will use cake flour in my cake recipes).

• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk

(Another digression: the recipe called for milk. But as before I had read online that buttermilk helps the cupcake with density and moistness. If you can splurge on buttermilk go for it, but if not use whatever milk you have in the fridge).

• strawberry or grape jelly (well any jelly really, just don't get anything with chunks in it as you will be piping it and chunks will clog the tip).

Cupcake Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your muffin/cupcake pan(s) with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well. Mix in the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture, alternating with the milk. Mix well.
5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake. Once the cupcakes are cool you can either put the jelly into a piping bag with a decorating tip thats small enough to directly insert into the cupcake and pipe it that way. Or you can cut out a hole where the jelly will go (which is what I did). For mini cupcakes the back side of a decorating tip works well at getting the right size hole. For standard size cupcakes an apple corer works well. Decorate with frosting recipe (below).

Peanut Butter Frosting Ingredients & Garnish:

• 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter.
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened.
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.
• 3 cups confectioners(powdered) sugar, sift if you are able to.
• 3 tablespoons milk (butter milk is optional)
• Mini Nutter Butter cookies for garnish
• Unused jelly, for piping a dollop on top of the frosting. 

Combine the peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, about 1 - 2 minutes. Add the confectioners sugar along with the milk, and beat until well combined. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes using your preferred decorating tip or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off. Top with a dollop of jelly and a mini Nutter Butter cookie.