28 Coconut Ranger Cupcakes

I apologize for once again dropping off the face of the Earth... it's obvious to me now that summertime is not the best time for my baking habits.  It's too hot. I'm enjoying the sun. I'm going on all sorts of adventures. That kind of thing. But, once again, I'm sorry. And I'm back and hoping to get back on the swing of things. With that being said... I bring you "Coconut Ranger Cupcakes".

"What is a coconut ranger?", you may be asking. And to be honest with you, until a few weeks ago, I would be asking the same question. People are always coming and going at my job, and someone else was headed out the door. I could say that just another Manager in Training was leaving after just another few week stint, but he was a pretty swell dude. Always offering stories of one of the many crazy and very random jobs he held at one time. I'll miss him. Back to the cupcakes! I told him how I bake cupcakes when people leave and I inquired what kind he would like. I offered the normal questions to give him ideas like "what kind of booze do you like" (who am I kidding, that's the only question I ever ask). He really wasn't going for that. He told me that when he was in Texas, he had eaten this cookie called a coconut ranger and, thanks to smart phones, moments later I knew exactly what was in one. My sister, who happened to be standing there too, and I immediately started brain storming what these cupcakes could be. A week or two went by and it was crunch time. Tomorrow was his last day! We still didn't actually know what a coconut ranger tasted like. We quickly whipped up a batch of cookies in no time. This was the recipe we used:

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/ranger-cookies-19445?scaleto=2&mode=null&st=true

 

 

They're essentially oatmeal cookies with coconut and whatever else you want to add. I saw peanuts, chocolate chips, raisins, you get the idea. Eventually we settled on an oatmeal cupcake with brown sugar icing dipped in toasted coconut.

 

The cupcakes were going to be simple. I looked for a recipe for oatmeal cupcakes that wouldn't require too much effort, since we were baking these before going into work. I looked for essential ingredients for the cookies during my search: brown sugar and oatmeal. Once I found one, I omitted the ingredients that weren't in the cookies. For the recipe I found, I just didn't add cinnamon. It ended up being just a boxed yellow cake mix made how the box tells you to with brown sugar and oats added to it. We tasted the cake batter when it was finished and we were afraid that it tasted "too yellow". There wasn't quite enough of the oatmeal flavor. We put them in the oven just the way they were and hoped they would come out how we wanted. Just bake them how the box tells you to and everything will be fine.

 

 

While our sweet cupcakes were in the oven, we searched for icing. Initially, we were thinking of a coconut icing. We ate another cookie. Coconut isn't really the main flavor at all. That was out the window and the hunt for brown sugar icing was underway. We looked at a couple recipes and they were all too much work. I don't want to make icing that requires using a stove and a double boiler. Too much mess and too many dishes. Ultimately, I came across just the right recipe. It was a simple buttercream with brown sugar substituted for some of the powdered sugar. When it was ready, we sampled it. It didn't taste enough like brown sugar so we added some molasses. Perfection!

 

As we made the icing, we put some coconut on a cookie sheet (enough to cover the bottom) and popped it in the oven on broil. Just keep an eye on it. It took about as long as it took us to make the icing for it to be slightly browned. Don't worry about every piece getting a little toasty. You don't want to leave it in for too long that some of it gets burnt.

 

 

My sister squeezed a plop of icing on top of each of the cupcakes and I turned them upside down and dipped them into the toasted coconut. This masterpiece was completed!

 

 

We really nailed this one. Together my sister and I are a cupcake force to be reckoned with. The came out tasting exactly like the coconut ranger cookies. The cake was perfect. The time they spent in the oven brought out the oatmeal flavor throughout the whole cupcake. The brown sugar icing was just what it needed to be. Bringing the sweetness to the entire treat, taking it from just plain, boring oatmeal, to a tasty cookie-like flavor. Lastly, the coconut did its' job. Not really bringing too much flavor, but more texture. I'm still in awe that we took the idea of the strange cookie that, as far as I was concerned, didn't even exist, and made into a perfect flavor twin in cupcake form.

 

Oatmeal Cupcakes Ingredients

1 box vanilla cake mix, plus ingredients to make cake according to the package

3Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 c Old Fashioned Quaker Oats

 

How to

Mix according to the package directions. Add in the sugar and oats and stir until blended. Bake and then let cool before frosting.

 

 

adapted from createdby-diane.com

 

 

Brown Sugar Icing Ingredients

2 sticks butter, softened

1/2 c light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 c milk (not skim milk)

3 c powdered sugar

2 tsp molasses

 

How to

1. Using an electric mixer, cream together the softened butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add vanilla, milk, and molasses. Starting off slowly so it doesn't go all over the place, combine the liquids with the creamed mixture (it will look as though it's not coming together -- just combine until you no longer see the milk)

3. Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until smooth and creamy.

 

 

adapted from zimonawhim.com

14 Apple Streusel Cupcakes

After months and months of hard work and dedication, and also some solicitation, I thought it necessary to reward my handbell choir with cupcakes. This is always a good opportunity to use a recipe that only makes a few cupcakes instead of the one that make a ton for all the hungry cupcake monsters at work.

I had to pick up 2 things for this recipe. It calls for a 10 ounce jar of tart applesauce. I couldn't find the exact 10 ounce jar so I just got a bigger one. I like applesauce, I'll eat it later. Splurge a little on a brand name of applesauce. It has more flavor. Also, don't get the cinnamon kind, just get regular old applesauce. Then, the recipe calls for raw brown sugar. It's not like brown sugar, like sticky, pack it in the measuring cup, kind of brown sugar. It's like sugar in the raw brown sugar. Any raw unprocessed sugar is good. Lastly, the recipe calls for self-rising flour. This isn't the same as regular flour. If you don't want to buy it, there are substitutes floating around on the Internet you can find.

I guess it's kind of brownish

The first thing you make is the streusel topping. Time to break out some kitchen equipment. I used the food processor. It's like power tools are for dudes, you can't wait to get your hands on something with a small motor that's loud and has the potential to hurt you. If you don't have one, you can just get a little messy and use your hands. I forgot to read ahead in the recipe and see that part that says to cut up the butter into little pieces, but I didn't have a problem since I used the food processor. If you do use your fingers to mix it, make sure you remember that step, it'll be easier on you. The food processor makes the streusel a lot more fine that you'll get with your hands, so depending on what kind of visual appeal you're going for you might want one method over the other.

The next step was my favorite part of making these cupcakes. "Add the baking soda to the jar of applesauce and stir until dissolved." There should be a disclaimer here. If you managed to find a 10 ounce jar of applesauce, pour it into a bigger container. Since I had a larger jar of applesauce, I just look at the ounce measurements on the measuring cup and filled it to 10. I added the baking soda and went to work with the rest of the recipe. I happen to glance over and there was something going on with the applesauce. Upon closer investigation, I realized that science was happening. The inner nerd in me loved this. It's kind of like baking soda and vinegar, just not as science-fair-volcano-y. There is acid in applesauce and that makes the baking soda bubble. The volume of applesauce doubled! How cool is that?!

SCIENCE!

Anyway... back to the cupcakes. You beat the butter and sugar together like any other cupcake recipe. Then beat in the egg. The wording in the recipe lead me to mess up this next part (the fact that I don't sift anything together is probably the real reason though). If you do sift your dry ingredients, you'll be fine. Since, I'm lazy, this step always gets neglected. So, if you're like me, mix together your dry ingredients first, then add them alternating with the applesauce. No alternating happened when I made these cupcakes, but they were just fine.

After that, I used my trusty ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake papers. Before popping them into the oven, sprinkle the streusel on top. Pat it down a little so it sticks to the cupcakes and doesn't roll off when they're done in the oven. They came out perfect after the 20 minutes.

When all was said and done, these cupcakes were beautiful. Like, prettier than the picture in the book. They were tasty too. The applesauce made them moist, but surprisingly they weren't dense (probably from all that science that happened). I felt like they could taste a little more apple-y. I think probably because I bought cheap applesauce, hence the earlier warning. Definitely a good cupcake for the fall. If you feel that it lacks that fancy cupcake look, try adding caramel or even an apple chip on top for something extra.


Cupcake Ingredients
1/2 tsp baking soda


Raw Brown Sugar

10-oz jar tart applesauce
4 Tbsp butter, softened
generous 3/8 c raw brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
scant 1 1/4 c self-rising white flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Topping Ingredients
generous 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c raw brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 1/2 Tbsp butter

How to
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Put 14 paper cases in 2 muffin pans or put 14 double-layer paper cases on a baking sheet.
2. First make the topping. Put the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl or in the bowl of a food processor. Cut the butter into small pieces, then either rub it in by hand or blend in the processor until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Set aside while you he the cakes.
3. To make the cupcakes, add the baking soda to the jar of applesauce and stir until dissolved. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg and, using a large metal spoon, fold into the mixture, alternating with the applesauce.
4. Spoon the batter into the paper cases. sprinkle the topping over each cupcake to cover the tops and press down gently.
5.Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Leave the cakes for 2-3 minutes before serving warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

30 Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes

It was just an average Friday morning. I lazily rolled out of bed around noon and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast for my sweet bunnies. I came across this note and it was for me! It was from my mom, asking me to bake cupcakes, conveniently located near the mixer. I was like, "what the heck, I wasn't actually going to do anything today anyway (no matter how much I told myself I was), I might as well help my mom out."

This recipe should be in every cupcake baker's repertoire. These cupcakes are at every bake sale and kindergarten birthday. Tasty chocolate cupcakes filled with a moist cheesecake-y center and chocolate chips. You know the ones I'm talking about.

I decided to use a hand mixer to make these cupcakes. The recipe is simple enough that you don't need the extra hands that a stand mixer allows you to have. First, you make the chocolate part. I used a normal size ice cream scoop to fill the cupcake cups. Then, you mix up the cream cheese filling. I used mini chocolate chips, mostly because that's what my mom left out for me, but they're perfect since you just put a little plop of the filling in the cupcake. The cream cheese won't be taken over by the chocolate chips. I used a mini ice cream scoop to put the filling into the middle of the chocolate part.

When the timer goes off, check your cupcakes. I stuck the toothpick into the all chocolate part. Only the one tray wasn't quite finished, but there's a good chance 25 minutes will be perfect for your cupcakes.

The kindergartner in me loves these cupcakes. I'm pretty sure every part of me loves these actually. The chocolate was tasty and moist. It makes you crave a glass of milk. And the cream cheese filling is yummy yummy. I remember being a kid and looking at the display of these cupcakes, no matter what event they were for, and trying to pick the one with most cream cheese-y goodness. There is no need for icing for cupcakes like these. They are stand alone amazing and should not be tampered with. Love them for what they are.

Chocolate Surprise Cupcake Ingredients
3 c flour
2 c sugar
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 c water
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 c semisweet chocolate chips

Cupcake How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Stir in oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla until blended. Pour mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
3. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop a heaping teaspoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each cupcake. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool.

22 Pineapple Nut Cupcakes with Spiced Rum Icing

Another Manager In Training has completed his rounds at work and I got wind that his last day was coming up. We all wished he was staying with us instead of being shipped off to another location, but life sucks like that sometimes. So as a goodbye gift, naturally I offered him cupcakes. After he told me he didn't care what kind of cupcakes I made, I asked what his "favorite alcoholic beverage" is. He responded, "anything with Captain Morgan". Done! We all know that the cupcakes with the booze in them go over better than anything. That night when I got home I set off into internet-land and this is what I came up with.

With a lovely baking assistant by my side and all the necessary ingredients purchased, I was going to whip up these cupcakes (despite not feeling the greatest) before work so they could be nice and fresh. This recipe has a boxed cake mix so it's perfect if you're in a hurry and need to bake something quick. The first thing I did was strain the crushed pineapple. I just ripped the pull tab lid off, put it back on top of the pineapple in the can, and pushed it down. Don't forget to save the juice to use in the recipe. When you're buying the pineapple, make sure you get the kind in the juice, not the heavy syrup. The amount of juice that I got out of the pineapple wasn't quite the 1/2 cup that the recipe calls for and I knew that I wanted to put some in the icing as well, so I just added a little water (about 1/4 cup). Just enough to make the pineapple juice go a little further, but not really water it down. I mixed all the ingredients together and spooned the batter into the cupcake pan. It was a little on the thicker side so I expected these to be dense cupcakes and to take a little longer in the oven. The baking time in the recipe is for a tube pan so, based on my extensive cupcake knowledge, I put the cupcakes in the oven for 20 minutes. When I checked them when the timer went off, I wasn't expecting them to be done, but ridiculously enough they were perfect! Sometimes even I still amaze myself.

After the cupcakes cooled for a little, I started the icing. Looking at what the recipe said, I knew something wasn't quite right. So once again, I referenced all the cupcake information in the vast archives of my mind and altered it some. I added a cup of butter and then added all the other ingredients. It still needed something. I threw the rest of the pineapple juice in and a little more sugar. One more taste and we thought it needed more rum. So more booze and even more sugar. By then we had gotten it right. It ended up being about 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 cup butter, 1/4 cup pineapple juice, and 1/4 cup spiced rum. Go easy when adding the liquids though, just to be safe. My helper assisted me in icing the cupcakes, and we were done just in time to get ready for work.

Chunky Walnutty Batter

Seeing that I wasn't feeling too hot, I packed up a cupcake for me to eat later. Based on the reactions I got from work though, I didn't do half bad with these cupcakes. I got a kiss on the forehead. A proposal. And plenty of oh-my-god-those were-sooo-good's. The manager that I made the cupcakes for told me that he ate 4 of them before leaving that night. In my book, that's a success. The next morning, I felt a ton better and I shared my cupcake with my mom for breakfast. They really were that good. You can't even tell they were made with a cake mix. There wasn't a ton of walnuts, so if you're not a big fan of them, you shouldn't turn away from making these just for that reason. The little bits of pineapple were my favorite part. Like a juicy little surprise. And there wasn't a lot of pineapple that it made the cake sticky. I was surprised the most at how fluffy the cake was. I said that I expected it to be dense based on how thick the batter was. It was a cupcake miracle. The icing was a little sweet, but the flavor matched the cupcakes. It didn't take away at all from the overall taste.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 package pudding-included yellow cake mix
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 c Captain Morgan
1/2 c water (reserved pineapple juice may be used)
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 (8.25 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 c walnuts, chopped as finely as possible

Cupcake How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in 2 pans.
2. Combine first six ingredients; beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in pineapple and walnuts. 3. Divide batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes.

Icing Ingredients
2 c powdered sugar
1 c butter
1/4 c pineapple juice
1/4 c Captain Morgan

Icing How to
Beat butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Add liquid ingredients in equal parts until desired consistency is reached. (You might not use all of the juice or rum). Spread or pipe on cupcakes.

adapted from grouprecipes.com

21 Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

So, I'll admit it, I forgot to bake these for a birthday on Friday, but I know she'll forgive me with these cupcakes, even if they are 3 days late. I was saving this recipe for another occasion, but since this is what she asked for, this is what she'll get.

These cupcakes are easy-peasy. It's one of those recipes that if you're nervous about straying away from the standard boxed cake mix and pre-made icing, this would be prefect. All you need to do is mix the cake as the instructions on the box tell you to, put them in the oven, and don't forget to smile when they come out perfect.

Next, you fill the cupcakes with the jelly. Really, you could use whatever flavor of jelly you want. My friend and the recipe both said strawberry so that's what I went for. I used a long piping tip made for filling cupcakes, but a regular one would work just fine. If you don't have tips at all, you could core the cupcakes and spoon the jelly in. All you do is put the tip into the cupcake and squeeze, slowly pull out the tip, and that's that. Be careful though: the jelly is thinner than icing, so it will drip out. I didn't use 2 cups of jelly. I just put all the extra back in the jelly container.

 

Finally, the icing. An easy icing from scratch. A little bit of butter, some peanut butter, a dash of vanilla, powdered sugar, and a touch of milk. I didn't used all the milk the recipe called for. If you add it slowly, like the recipe suggest, just stop when you get to the consistency that you like.


Crumbly Icing before You Add
the Milk

This cupcake was yummy. You're pretty much guaranteed that everything will be perfect. I probably could have squeezed some more jelly into the cupcakes. The peanut butter icing masks the flavor of the strawberry. But otherwise these are simple to make and delicious to eat. Perfect for packing into your kid's lunch or bringing with on a picnic... or even for a belated birthday.

Lily Loves Licking the Peanut
Butter out of the Empty Container

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes Ingredients
1 package (about 18 oz) yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix
2 c strawberry jelly
3/4 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c (I stick) butter, softened
2 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c milk

Every Doggie Gets to
Lick the Spoon!

How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 22 standard (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper baking cups. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full.
2. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
3.  Fill pastry bag fitted with small round tip with jelly. Insert tip into top of cupcake; squeeze bag gently to fill center of cupcake with jelly. (Stop squeezing when you feel resistance or jelly comes out of top of cupcake.) Repeat with remaining cupcakes and jelly.
4. Beat peanut butter and butter in medium bowl with electric mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat at low speed 1 minute or until crumbly. Slowly add milk, beating until creamy. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.

from The Cupcake Bible

30 Chocolate Covered Pretzel Cupcakes

So it isn't any one's birthday, and I wasn't baking for no reason, so I was baking for the only other reason, someone is leaving work. I'm sad to see her go, but she's off to greener pastures. When I found out, I offered cupcakes, as always. I asked if she wanted alcohol and I got a no. The only request I got was for ganache. I can handle that.

The idea for these cupcakes has been sitting in my head for a while now (just without the ganache). These are kind of a Frankenstein cupcakes you could say. I knew exactly every element of these cupcakes that I wanted. I wanted a pretzel crust on the bottom, a chocolate cupcake, and chocolate icing to roll in pretzel crumbs... All to be topped off with an actual chocolate covered pretzel. The Internet is a beautiful resource. I looked up recipes for all the stuff plus the chocolate ganache and mathed the amounts in the recipes to where they needed to be.

For the various steps of baking these cupcakes I enlisted the help of some very lovely, very beautiful, and if you ask my mother, very loud assistants. It made for quick work, especially for the end steps. It's so much more fun baking with company, it might be my new thing.

The first thing you need to do is make the ganache. It needs time to cool. The few recipes that I read suggested letting it cool overnight. I made mine first thing in the morning. I made the recipe as I found in on the website. I obviously didn't know how much I would need until the end. To save you some ingredients, you can make half of what the recipe calls for. For how intimidating making something fancy sounding can be, this was simple. One of my magnificent assistants and I chopped up all the chocolate. I used semisweet baking chocolate. The kind that comes in individually wrapped squares. We poured the heated heavy cream over the chocolate and it melted instantly. We whisked it, and whisked it, and whisked it. At first it just looked like milk with brown specks in it and melty chocolate settled in the bottom of the bowl, and then, all of a sudden, like magic, it turned into gorgeously smooth liquid chocolate. The ganache got poured into a 9x13 cake pan so it would cool faster, since I failed to do it overnight.

The next element of my chocolate covered pretzel cupcakes was the pretzel crust. The recipe I found for this was enough to make a dozen cupcakes. I was expecting to make 2 dozen cupcakes so I initially doubled the measurements. Initially the mixture was a little buttery so I added extra pretzel crumbs until there wasn't a lot of excess butter.

Then, I made the cupcakes. I also doubled this recipe. It was a lot of ingredients to fit into the stand mixer. To avoid a huge mess, put a hand towel over the head of the mixer and the mixing bowl to prevent the dry ingredients from flying everywhere. A little will still find its' way out of the sides, but at least the mess is more concentrated and not all over you. I had enough batter to fill the anticipated 24 already pretzel-crust-filled liners and then some. I could have easily whipped up some more crust, but I just decided to do a few without it. No harm, no foul. The cupcakes with the crust were in the oven for about 10 more minutes than the ones without it. Those were okay to come out around 20 minutes. I think all that butter in the crust and the cupcakes made everything super moist, that's my cupcake hypothesis at least.

This is where I thoroughly take advantage of having assistants. Assistant Task #1: Core the cupcakes. I got her to use the apple corer and make a divot in the top of the cupcakes, instead of using the cupcake corer and taking the whole middle out. The ganache was really rich so I didn't want it to be too much. Then each little cupcake got handed off to the next step. Assistant Task #2: Fill the cupcakes. With a melon baller to scoop the ganache and a second spoon to help get it into the cupcake, my lovely helper filled every cupcake. In the meantime... Assistant Task #3: Help make the icing. While the first 2 steps were being taken care of, my third aide and I whipped up the icing. It was fairly easy, yet a little different than what I'm used to. I normally just use all butter instead of butter and solid shortening, and I usually use water instead of milk, because if you use milk, they need to stay in the fridge. Since I knew that these cupcakes were only going to be around for a few more hours, I strayed away from what I know and tried something different.

After 2 out of my 3 assistants left to get ready for work later that night, my remaining loyal helper was still there to help me finish up these cupcakes. She crushed up some more pretzels and I piped on the chocolate icing. It doesn't have to look pretty since you're not going to see it. As I finished icing the cupcakes, she took them and plopped the tops into a bowl of the pretzel crumbs. When that was accomplished, we topped each yummy Frankenstein-ed treat off with a chocolate covered pretzel.

These mash-up cupcakes appeal to chocolate lovers for sure. It's like the three Musketeers of chocolate. The cake: moist and sweet. The ganache: smooth and rich. And the icing: creamy and delicious. A chocolate trifecta. The pretzel crust was a little crumbly. It might have been the butter, or it might have been too pretzel. I'll have to mess with that and figure that one out. The bits of pretzels on top were helpful in trying to offset the chocolate with some saltiness, but I don't think it got the job done. Possibly without a chocolate element the pretzels could have balanced out alright. Still, these cupcakes were awesome. This is definitely a better, sweeter way to think about Frankenstein.

I made my ganache according to this recipe and had a ton left over, half of this would be enough for 2 dozen cupcakes.
from easy-cake-ideas.com
Chocolate Ganache Ingredients
2 c heavy cream
16 oz chocolate, finely chopped

Chocolate Ganache How to
1. Put cream in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 2-3 minutes, until just about to boil.
2. Put chocolate in a medium sized glass bowl and put hot cream over.
3. Let sit for a minute or two then stir with wooden spoon until completely smooth.
4. Chill the ganache to a thick spreading consistency. This takes several hour (Chill overnight and stir right before using)


Double the ingredients listed
from howsweeteats.com
Pretzel Crust Ingredients
1 1/4 c crushed, salted pretzels
1/4 c unsalted butter, melted

Pretzel Crust How to
1. Combine pretzels and butter in a bowl and stir until entire mixture is moistened.
2. Line a muffin tin with liners and using a tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop pretzels into the bottom of each liner. Use the back of the spoon to flatten and press the pretzels together.

Double the recipe for 2 dozen cupcakes
from marthastewart.com
Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients
3/4 c cocoa powder
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sour cream

Chocolate Cupcake How to
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with sour cream and beginning and ending with flour.
3. Pour batter into cup, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. 20-25 minutes.
4. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Leave recipe as is! It's the perfect amount of icing.
from wilton.com
Dark Chocolate Icing Ingredients
1/2 c solid vegetable shortening
1/2 c butter
1 c cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
4 c powdered sugar
4-5  Tbsp milk
3-4 Tbsp light corn syrup (optional)

Icing How to
1. Cream shortening and butter with mixer. Add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium. Scrape sides and bottom often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium until light and fluffy.
2. Add 3-4 tablespoons of corn syrup per recipe to thin icing if desired.

21 Godiva Liqueur Cupcakes with Kahlua Icing

So another lovely girl had a birthday, so I got a request for cupcakes. I've baked these cupcakes before with rave reviews, so I used this as my chance to resurrect this recipe. I made a date and invited this angel over to be my beautiful baking assistant.

Chances are that you don't have the necessary alcohol for these cupcakes. Big bottles of Godiva liqueur is a little on the expensive side, but I decided to commit to it and buy one. We had 2 of the tiny bottles left over from the last time I made these cupcakes and it turned out that 2 was perfectly a half of a cup that the recipe calls for. You can also buy smaller bottles of Kahlua. I love Kahlua so I got the normal sized bottle and my assistant and I enjoyed a delicious drink while we baked.

This is another super quick recipe that's worth feeling the guilt of using a boxed cake mix. It makes the recipe ideal for making in the afternoon before I took them to work, and easy enough that it was no big deal that we had a cocktail while we made them. And they're good for making with some company since they're not too too involved that you're too busy mixing up ingredients to chit chat. All you do is substitute part of the required water with the Godiva liqueur and add a few mini chocolate chips and that's all it takes to bring a boring chocolate cake mix to something heavenly.

Mix Up All The
Ingredients

Once upon a time, I had made white Russian cupcakes. The cupcakes themselves were a bust. Vodka cupcakes?... not so good. Kahlua icing?... home run!! And it's just the icing I need for these chocolate cupcakes.

 

No Icing Left!

These cupcakes are overall winners. The cake is practically guaranteed to come out perfect since it's essentially boxed cake mix, but the alcohol and the mini chocolate chips make the cupcakes seem homemade. And the icing? Out of this world! I could eat just a cupcake cup full of this icing, without the cake. It's just mind blowing, despite the fact that it taste incredible with chocolate. Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Just make them. Don't think about it. Don't think about the alcohol. Don't think that they're chocolate cupcakes and bad for you. Just bake some cupcakes.

Time for Another Drink

Godiva Liqueur Cupcake Ingredients
1 box devil's food cake mix
1/2 c Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
1/3 c mini semisweet chocolate chips

Cupcake How to
1. Make cupcakes according to the package (same amount of eggs and oil). Substitute part of the water for the chocolate liqueur (example: if the box calls for 1 1/3 cop of water, add 1 c water and 1/3 cup liqueur).
2. Blend with electric mixer. Stir in mini chips.
3. Bake ate 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Kahlua Icing Ingredients
1 stick butter, softened
1 pinch of salt
3 c powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp Kahlua

Icing How to
Beat butter until creamy. Add salt. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until combined. Add Kahlua 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.