Oatmeal Craisin Cupcakes

I'm in Colorado! Whoop Whoop! Happy Spring Break! I'm so happy to be back in the Colorado sunshine. Elise and I went hiking today up at Red Rocks and it was delightful! I've missed Colorado so much. After our hike, we decided to make some cupcakes. Ever since my Pie Cupcakes, I've wanted to try out some sort of oatmeal cupcakes. Elise's dad makes the BEST oatmeal craisin cookies and they gave me the inspiration for this recipe. Shout out to Dave Miller for making the best cookies ever. These were the best snack after our hike. The oatmeal made them feel almost healthy, even! We topped them with a vanilla, cinnamon, maple buttercream, which made them not-so healthy, but oh-so delicious. We had a little help from Gingerbread Bagels.

Such a wonderful morning!

OATMEAL CUPCAKES:

1 cup oats

1 1/1 cup boiling water

1 1/2 cups flour

1 t baking today

1/4 t salt

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup sugar

Splash of vanilla

2 eggs

A couple handfuls of craisins

Put the oats and boiling water in a small bowl and let the oats cook until cooled. In a separate bowl, sift he flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In yet another bowl beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and blend. Add the vanilla and mix until combined. Add the cooled oats to the butter mixture and blend on low speed. Slowly add the dry ingredients. Fold the craisins into the batter. Divide among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

VANILLA, CINNAMON, MAPLE BUTTERCREAM:

1 1/2 sticks butter

3 cups powdered sugar

Splash of vanilla

a couple shakes of cinnamon

Maple syrup 

The vanilla, cinnamon, and maple syrup are all to taste. If you want a more mapley buttercream, add more maple syrup. You might need to play with the powdered sugar amounts to get the right consistency with more maple syrup, etc. 

Beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and syrup and blend until thick and fluffy. Spoon or pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

These cupcakes, though rather healthy tasting, were still so delicious. The maple and vanilla in the butter cream went really well with the cinnamon, brown sugary, oatmealy cake. These were perfect breakfast cupcakes. They weren't too sweet but were still really hearty. I will definitely make these again! Elise had the idea of not cooking the oats before baking the cupcakes so they would have a little crunch to them.

I have some Colorado sunshine to frolic in. Adios!

xoxo,
KG