Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes

Life is flying by. I know, totally cliche, but I don't care. Life is just zooming off at the speed of light and I have completely lost track of everything time related. Being home for a week was so much fun and totally relaxing. I made lots of cupcakes, like these blueberry pancake cupcakes, and did as many "Colorado-y" things as I could while I was home. Fast forward three weeks and here I am in in Oregon, sitting in my newly painted dining room (It is white with tiffany blue trim, basically guaranteeing no boys will ever live in this house without having to paint the entire interior. It is adorable.) with cupcakes in the oven while I write this post from three weeks ago. There is just so much going on! With school and my latest home improvement obsession (which should make Bill very proud since he has been trying to teach me the ways of a professional engineer for 12 years now), I am super behind on the blog. But no matter, I will catch up eventually. And with that, I present you with a very belated Blueberry Pancake Cupcake recipe!

Patrick and Ben being a little candid at Film on the Rocks

And Elise with her Birthday cupcakes. Happy birthday, Cookie!

BLUEBERRY PANCAKE CUPCAKES

1 Stick butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

A few shakes of cinnamon (to taste)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 cups blueberries

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend until combined. Mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the flour to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, and beat until combined. Blend in the maple syrup. Carefully fold the blueberries into the batter with a rubber spatula so they don't break. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

MAPLE BUTTERCREAM:

1 1/2 sticks butter (Room Temperature)

3 Cups Powdered Sugar

1/3 Cup Maple Syrup

Splash of Vanilla

Beat the butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until almost incorporated. Add the vanilla and the maple syrup and beat until combined. Spoon or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes. I garnished mine with a couple blueberries.

So I was a pretty big fan of these. They tasted like breakfast and dessert smashed into a petite little treat. My only qualm about them was how sweet they were. The cupcakes alone weren't too sweet but paired with the maple buttercream, it got a little intense. Next time I'll just cut back on the maple syrup a little and that should do the trick. Who ever thought I would find something that was too sweet for me? This might be the apocalypse. 

The philosophical Ferris Bueller said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on the blog soon and stop to smell the roses with this crazy school schedule. 

Until next time!

xoxo,

KG

French Toast Cupcakes

I'm having major baking nostalgia. The first really extravagant cupcakes I ever made were french toast cupcakes. I had always loved baking but these cupcakes just threw my love for baking over the top. Of course I knew baking from scratch was a real thing but the cake mix Betty Crocker so selflessly provided in the grocery store seemed so much easier. I didn't realize how creative baking from scratch could be and how limiting baking with the box of cake mix could be. So when I happened upon a french toast cupcakes recipe, I decided to take a little risk and try it out. Who doesn't love breakfast and cupcakes, right? And I am SO glad I did. Without this recipe, my baking extravaganzas would be pretty non extravagant. I owe a lot of thanks to this recipe and Bakingdom for sparking my interest in cupcakes. So to show my gratitude, I made these cupcakes for a rotoract meeting. The recipe seemed so much easier the second time around after about a million other recipes of practice. So, with great honor, I present to you the magical French Toast Cupcake recipe!

Just some lovely rotoracters enjoying their cupcakes

CINNAMON STRUESEL

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 T sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

5 T cold butter, cut into pieces

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Mix in the butter but squeezing the pieces into the sugar mixture. I found using my hands was much more effective than using a fork. Pop the bowl in the freezer while you make the batter. 

FRENCH TOAST CUPCAKES:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 t baking powder

22 t cinnamon

1/4 t pumpkin pie spice

1/4 t salt

1 stick butter at room temp

1 container of plain yogurt

2 eggs

Plash of vanilla

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy add the eggs, one at a time, and blend until combined. Mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the yogurt. Blend until just until combined. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins. Top with the struesel and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

MAPLE SYRUP BUTTERCREAM:

1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

Splash of vanilla

Beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar slowly and blend until combined. Add the vanilla and maple syrup an mix until think and creamy. (Note: add the maple syrup slowly. It can get a little sticky and mess up the consistency of the frosting and/or become to maple-y flavor. The 1/4 cup is mostly just a guideline). Spoon or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes! I dusted mine with a little cinnamon and powdered sugar because that is what I like on my french toast.

It was so nice to make these cupcakes again. It was even nicer when they turned out about hundred times better than they did the first time I made them. All of my practice has definitely paid off. Though you can't experience the taste difference, you can clearly see the technique differences. 

The first time I made them. My frosting collapsed and they weren't the prettiest cupcakes to ever walk this earth

Much better execution. I'm a sucker for a pretty cupcake.

I'm getting better everyday! This recipe was such a nice little confidence boost. 

Try something new today! You never know, you might be blogging about it later :)

xoxo,

KG