Maple Walnut Cupcakes
So excited to be baking with maple syrup, an ingredient that's difficult to get in the region I used to stay in.
I think these cupcakes taste really good. They consist of vanilla cupcakes with crunchy chopped walnuts and buttercream frosting with maple syrup streamed in.
I also took these photos with dad's camera, but I think they might be a little dark...I wanted to make it look cozy and not light and bright as if I were taking photos of strawberry cupcakes.
When I first started baking, I baked walnut cupcakes a lot. Just plain ones in little individual silicon cups, without adding any frosting. The reason was that I failed at frostings, since they resulted in overly sweet globs that time. I'm glad now that I've learned how to make cupcakes more airy and how to make frostings without a mixer. There's also one thing I've noticed about all frosting recipes on the internet - they use so much powdered sugar! I don't know why, but for me I always end up only needing about half the amount of powdered sugar stated in frosting recipes. And I don't think there's anything wrong about the texture or taste of my frostings afterwards.
I like making cupcakes at home because they are not as sweet as the ones in the store or ridiculously expensive.
Just mentioning, these cupcakes are probably the last thing I'm baking before my homeschooling ends this year!
Maple Walnut Cupcakes (Makes 12) Ingredients CUPCAKES -1/2 cup unsalted butter room-temp. -1/2 cup white sugar -1/2 cup light brown sugar -2 large eggs room-temp. -2 tsp. vanilla extract -1 1/2 cups all purpose flour -1 1/4 tsp. baking powder -1/4 tsp. salt -2/3 cup milk -3/4 of 1/2 cup chopped walnuts FROSTING -1 cup unsalted butter room-temp. -1 1/2 cups powdered sugar -1/3 cup maple syrup Instructions CUPCAKES 1. Line 12-hole muffin pan with white muffin liners. 2. With a wooden spoon in a large bowl, stir butter until creamy. Add sugars a little at a time and rapidly stir with wooden spoon and a whisk until light and fluffy. Constantly scrape down the bowl. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Add eggs one at a time and whisk by hand rapidly until softly creamy after each addition. Add vanilla extract and whisk. 3. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. 4. Alternate between the flour and milk while adding them into the mixture. Add the flour in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour. Fold with a spatula until barely combined. 5. Add walnuts to batter and fold with spatula just until incorporated. 6. With an ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly between muffin holes. Bake for 18 minutes until toothpick inserted to center comes out clean. 7. Cool in pan before taking muffins out. FROSTING 1. In a large bowl, stir butter with a wooden spoon until creamy. 2. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, whisking well after each addition. Give the mixture a rapid, long whisk to fluff it up. 3. Pour in the maple syrup a little at a time and whisk quickly. 4. Keeping on whisking hard until the frosting is light and fluffy to your liking. 5. With a piping bag fitted with a star tip pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes and top with walnut halves. ENJOY! Recipes adapted from Sprig and Flours: http://www.sprigandflours.com/maple-walnut-cupcakes/#comment-167