Today, I'll be telling you about Christmas Cupcakes. I have in the past, mentioned the lovely Nigella Lawson, and in particular, her book "How to be a Domestic Goddess." One recipe I love to use over the holidays are her Christmas cupcakes. They have spice to them that reminds one of gingerbread, or mulled wine, and they have bitterness and sweetness of chocolate. I tend to make these for parties, rather than part of a gift, but they can be enjoyed as gifts as well.
I had to double to recipe since these were intended for a party, so I started off with 2 sticks of butter.
Next I beat them with 1 cup of brown sugar plus 6 Tbsp.
In a separate bowl I combined 2 cups of flour, plus 2 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, a pinch of salt, and I used 2 tsps of pumpkin pie spice.
Back to the wet mixture. Beat in 4 eggs individually.
After this, it's time to combine dry and wet, but there's one more ingredient. Sour Cream, 6 Tbsp of it. Now I didn't have enough sour cream, so I substituted a fat free thick plain yogurt. Worked in a pinch.
Add a third of the flour mix and combine. Then combine 2 Tbsp of yogurt, repeat until all of the flour is mixed in, and 6 Tbsp of yogurt have been added.
Next comes the chocolate element. Boil 1 cup of water with 2 tsp of espresso and 6 ounces of chocolate.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the batter, and mix. It will be watery.
Pour into cupcake flutes and bake in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Once cooled, decorate in a festive manner. The book recommended using fondant, but I didn't have any, so I used sprinkles with my icing.
Hope this recipe is a good start to the Christmas season! I'll be back later in the week with cookie recipes and more ways to spread holiday cheer!
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