Quinoa Chocolate Cupcakes

Here is a special treat for all of you gluten-free goddesses out there....chocolate cupcakes! These treats are something that I really missed after going gluten-free and I am so excited to have found this delicious recipe from an awesome blog you should all check out, Muffin Tin Mania. 

I was surprised at the texture of these cupcakes and how moist and chocolatey they were. I honestly think they taste just as good as normal chocolate cupcakes. I plan on using this base recipe to make other flavors of cupcakes. I made a mean pineapple coconut a couple of weeks ago and I think the quinoa base would be perfect for those. Another plus of these GF cupcakes is that the base is quinoa, which is one of few complete proteins. So....even though there is sugar, butter and oil on the ingredient list, these are basically a health food, right? Ha! Well, maybe not quite, but I also did go ahead and add some ground golden flax to up your Omega 3, protein and fiber intake! Next time I make these, I am planning on subbing the oil for applesauce and I think that should keep them just as moist as before, but cut some of the cals!


And because I couldn't resist, I added my standard frosting that I get requests by the bag full from friends...Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting. Oh yeah, get it.


Ingredients: (as adapted from Muffin Tin Mania)

2/3 cup beige quinoa (uncooked)

1/3 cup low-fat milk (I used rice milk)

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon coffee extract (I brewed 1/2 cup of dark roast espresso)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted and cooled

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup palm or other raw style sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground golden flax

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa and 1 1/3 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 12 minutes, or until water has absorbed. Fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter and coffee extract in a blender and process until mixed. Add cooked quinoa, oil and butter and blend until smooth.

3. Whisk together sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and flax in a large bowl. Add wet ingredients to bowl and mix until everything is moist. Divide batter in a 12 piece muffin tin that you have coated with cooking spray.

4. Bake for 22 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool before taking out of the tin.


Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting
1. 8 oz cream cheese
2. 4 cups powdered sugar
3. 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5. 1/3 cup Bailey's or another Irish Cream Liquer


Mix it up until smooth!

Enjoy!!

Happy National Cupcake Day!

In honor of this most prestigious of holidays, I will be making a few different kinds of cupcakes this weekend. The other night, I was watching Cupcake Wars, it was the Valentine's Day episode that I had DVR'd because Jones Bros. Cupcakes of Omaha was on. They came in a strong second, but a huge congrats to them, their shop is awesome! Anyway, while I was watching, I came up with 17 original cupcake ideas and wrote them on my favorite green "recipe-thinking" paper. I know I can't try all 17 this weekend, although I sooooooooooo wish I could. I will also be doing a test run of cupcakes that I am baking next weekend for a wedding shower!! Champagne cupcakes with raspberry champagne buttercream? Any takers??? How about dark chocolate cupcake dipped in chocolate ganache? It's a good thing my parents, brother and sister-in-law and nephew are coming to visit me on Sunday, otherwise my pants may not fit by Monday! I was talking to my brother the other night and I could hear Kelly, my sister-in-law, asking what tasty treats from A Scrumptious aFare we were having on Sunday, I think she will be quite pleased with these little delights. Even if we are planning a stop at Ivanna Cone after lunch. If you haven't heard of Ivanna Cone, and happen to be making a stop through Lincoln, NE you NEED to check this place out. And I'm using the word need in a mandatory, necessary, can't-live-without-it kind of way.

And now on to the fun cupcake recap!

Irish Car Bomb Surprise Cupcakes!! 

A favorite of my co workers, these will be making their way back into my kitchen two weeks from today in celebration of St. Patty's Day!!

Sweet Potato Pecan with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting!

Probably my favorite cupcake so far, this one is a crowd pleaser and incorporates so many different flavors and ingredients, one to try for sure!

Kahlua Cupcakes!

Do I tend to cook a lot with alcohol? Whoopsies, whatever, I think it makes the cupcakes taste better.

Raspberry Valentine's Cupcakes!

Ok, you'll have to hold on tight for this recipe, I'll be back later.....

Kahlua Kupkakes

 Well friends, it certainly has been awhile. Please accept my dearest apology for being mad crazy absent from my food blogging life. The fall is most definitely a busy time in Nebraska when you work for a University where football reigns king. Although my mighty Huskers did not have the storybook ending to the Big 12 we were all hoping for, we will now gallantly ride off into the distance and arrive in the good company of the Big Ten!

I was planning on "kickstarting" the blog up again with a New Year's post, well you can guess how that went, since it is now the 14th of January. Whoopsies. But in another attempt to have a great homecoming back to my little online home away from home, I am getting back to the blog after being named an Aries! The first sign, the color of red, the sign of fire, the representative of....birth? Excuse me? My symbol is now a ram and a uterus? I'm not sure my old Taurus stubborn ways are ok with this change, but since apparently Taurus was lazy and I am now an active Aries, I better get back on blogging regularly! I have a new personality, new traits, I hope I'm still in the correct career field. Good thing I'm not married yet, because I could have married the completely wrong person if I would have matched him up with my sign, phew.

So in an attempt to start living my life as an Aries, with no further adieu, I give you Kahlua Kupkakes in celebration of Jeff's birthday, new signs, and our belated-but-sure-to-be-a-great-time staff holiday party!!

(As adapted and changed from Annie's Eats)
Yield: approx. 20-24 cupcakes
Ingredients:

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp. instant espresso powder
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
1½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
2 large eggs
¾ cup warm water
¾ cup buttermilk
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. Kahlua

For the Kahlua: Of course, you could just go out and buy some Kahlua, but why not make it yourself? Here is an easy recipe for homemade Kahlua!
12 cups Toffee flavored coffee (brew your favorite kind or flavor for a fun twist!)
2 pounds sugar (white, brown, you pick)
1 bottle Everclear

Boil coffee and add sugar, stir until dissolved. Let cool. Add Everclear and mix it up! Bottle and share with your friends, or have a party and tell everyone to bring a different coffee flavor so you can trade :)


For the frosting:
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups powder sugar
7-8 tbsp. Kahlua
2 tbsp. heavy cream (I used 1% milk, because that's what I had in the fridge)


Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F
2. Line standard cupcake pans with paper liners.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the cocoa powder, espresso powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt; whisk well to blend.
4. Mix the eggs, warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil,  vanilla extract and Kahlua in a separate bowl.
5. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high speed until smooth, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full.  Bake until the tops look set, about 18-20 minutes. When cupcakes look finished, stick a toothpick in the middle of a cake and if it comes out clean, they are ready to come out!
7. Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.  Poke a few holes in the top of each cupcake with a fork and brush with Kahlua while still warm. Allow to cool completely.

 

To make the frosting:
1. Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Mix in the powder sugar slowly until incorporated.
3. Add in the Kahlua and beat on medium speed until well blended.
4. Pour in the heavy cream and beat on medium-high speed for about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Thank you for joining me on my first addition back to blogging as an Aries, I appreciate all of you and hope you enjoy these delightful treats!!

Hilary's Red Velvet Cupcakes

Sweet Potato Pecan Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm back, I'm back! I have been in a baking rut this past month and the only thing I can equate it to is the oven-temperatures outside. Because every time I step out into the lovely summer Nebraska weather I feel like I'm sitting on the lower rack of my oven, I find it slightly difficult to get home to my AC'd house and turn on my delicious-treat-making oven!

Well, after my best friend Courtney of Ice Cream & Wine sent me an article of 10 delicious cupcake recipes from myrecipes.com, I was inspired once again! As I played the slideshow of my luscious choices over and over one cake in particular stood out again and again. Although I plan on making every flavor, the winner for the weekend is Sweet Potato-Pecan with Cream Cheese Frosting. For any of you who know me or have read through my other sweet treat recipes, you are well-aware that I do not like frosting. Yes, many think I am slightly nutty but I just can't stand a sugary gritty sweet texture in my mouth. And that is not what she said...

These cupcakes are absolutely superb and I hope you enjoy them as much as my friends and family did! I also thought of a way to cut some calories but haven't experimented with it yet. Use 1/2 cup butter instead of a full cup, use 1 1/4 cup sugar instead of 2 cups, add an extra egg and add 1/3 cup applesauce. Just a thought, I'll let you know how that turns out when I whip it up!

Recipe courtesy of myrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 large eggs
1 (16 oz) can mashed sweet potatos (I could only find cut canned sp's but with a little hand mixer action, mashed was no problemo!)
2/3 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting mixed with ground cinnamon for an extra kick!

Instructions:
1. Place pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan
2. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted, stirring once after 4 minutes
3. Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition
4. Whisk together mashed sweet potatoes, orange juice and vanilla. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with sweet potato mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Fold in toasted pecans. Place baking cups in muffin pans, spoon batter into cups, filling 2/3 (I did about 3/4 because I like big cupcakes!) full
5. Bake at 350° for 25 to 28 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove immediately from pans, and cool 50 minutes to 1 hour or until completely cool. Decorate cupcakes with frosting and garnish if you so desire!

Oh, and be ready to see these more often when C and I open our cupcake shop. Girls can dream.

Mmmmm...the aftermath of my mom and I taste testing the finished product.

Irish Car Bomb Surprise Cupcakes

Ok, I'm just going to say it. Two of my absolute most favorite things to indulge in, daily, if necessary are: chocolate and alcohol. Yep, there it is. I'm just throwing it out there, judge me. But you may think twice after you take a bite of these Heavenly delights. As I was thinking about a special dessert I could make for a coworker's birthday I was thinking about some delectable combinations that would mix and marry with outrageously wicked results. I was still in a bit 'o an Irish mood, let's be honest, when am I not in an Irish mood, and saw a recipe that I could really work with. If you haven't looked at Annie's Eats Blog, you MUST! She makes absolutely fabulous food and has great pictures and inventive recipes. I altered her recipe for Guiness and Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes and made mine the "semi homemade way".

Decorating and plating these cupcakes in my own special way was the most fun part of this process and the result was ah-ma-zing. As those who know me can attest, I am NOT a frosting person. I will scrape frosting off, I will give it away and I will eat around it. I always want a center piece of a cake so that I don't have to deal with all of that sweet cream. Well, let me tell you, do not be surprised if someone finds me at midnight sneaking around piping this frosting into my mouth! I love love love this frosting and insist that it be used. I frosted them before I went to work to ensure freshness and visual appeal. My coworkers went "ga ga" to say the least. They were extremely impressed and gave me extremely generous compliments for the fun and easy task I performed. I was even told that I should now extend my specialities to not only event planning for weddings, but also offering the service of providing (at an extra cost, of course) the groom's cake!

I wanted to make sure I had enough for everyone who had found out that I made these delights and it really was worth it to see the look of pleasure and soon-to-come chocolate coma flash across their faces. Because of the popularity of these cupcakes, I will be making them the next 2 weekends, one for my Grandpa's 87th birthday and then next when one of my best friends, Courtney, (and fellow food blogger @ Ice Cream & Wine ) comes to town for a visit!

I hope you enjoy my combination of my sweet indulgences and decide it's about time to combine the things that you love!

Ingredients:

Cake
1. Devil's food cake mix
2. 1 cup Guinness
3. 6 tbsp unsalted butter
4. 2 large eggs
5. 2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache
1. 6 oz bittersweet chocolate finely chopped (reserve 1/2 ounce for chocolate shavings)
2. 2/3 cup heavy cream
3. 2 tbsp unsweetened butter
3. 1 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Frosting
1. 1 tub cream cheese frosting (any brand will do)
2. 6 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream
Yep, that's it.

Directions:

Cupcakes
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line your cupcake pan with liners.
2. Simmer Guinness and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When combo begins to simmer, add 1/2 of the cake mix and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine eggs and sour cream and whisk until smooth.
4. Combine the remaining dry ingredients, Guinness batter and sour cream and eggs and mix until all are incorporated.
5. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full.
6. Bake for about 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center. Allow to cool on a wire rack completely.

Ganache
1. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering. Pour over the chocolate in a small glass or stainless bowl. Let sit for about a minute and then whisk until smooth.
2. Be sure the chocolate is completely melted and then add the butter and Bailey's and stir until combined. Cool mixture, in refrigerator if necessary, until thickened. (If you place it in the fridge, be sure to mix every 10 minutes or so to ensure smooth consistency)

Frosting
1. Mix frosting and Bailey's until smooth! (Sounds way too easy doesn't it?)

Please frost and decorate the cupcakes any way you choose and let me in on your creative secrets! But, to frost them as I have listen up: This is extremely easy and looks uber professional. Simply use a paring knife to cut a hole in the center of the cupcake. Pipe the ganache in the hole. (An easy method I use for piping is to simply place your ganache and frosting, respectively, in a Zip Loc bag, remove the air and snip a corner at the bottom.) Then, pipe the frosting around the ganache hole or all over, if you want a lot of delicious frosting, place the cut out on top of the frosting and sprinkle on the chocolate shavings. Super easy and extremely attractive!