November in general has just been a month of fail. I'm resigned to that fact. So no more dwelling. December is almost here, and I spent small business Saturday in one of my most favoritest places in the entire universe: Candyland Crafts. What is Candyland you ask? It's a candy making and cake decorating specialty store. They have a room full of nothing but chocolate molds. The mold room. It's awesome. And they have tons of specialty sprinkles and royal icing decorations that they make themselves and candy melts in every color of the rainbow that taste better and melt smoother than the Wilton ones. I'm convinced Candyland is magic. I bought some really cute stuff to make Christmas presents with, so yay for Candyland!
These cupcakes were for Thanksgiving, not Christmas, though. And were a lot better than I had thought they would be. I found a recipe for maple cornmeal cupcakes in the Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes, and tweaked it a bit to suit my needs (no maple syrup but 2 teaspoons maple flavoring? Homie don't play that) (I'm sorry. I will never say that again.) (Maybe). My family yells at me when I do that. "You should follow the recipe at least once. It could be really good the way it is," my mother told me.
"Uh-huh," I said. "Try one."
"Oh my god," she said, mouth full. "These are really good."
"Now what was that you were saying about following the recipe?"
"Forget everything I said."
While you're on that, can anybody recommend a good laptop? Asking for a friend....
Maple Cornmeal Cupcakes {Printable Version}
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
1½ cups flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
½ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. maple flavoring extract
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. maple syrup
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, cinnamon (if using), and salt. Set aside. In a mixer, beat the butter on medium speed, gradually add in the sugar, and
continue to beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the eggs, oil, and extracts one at a time, beating well
after each addition.
In a liquid measuring cup, or a small bowl, mix together the milk and maple syrup. On low speed, add
the flour mixture to the butter, alternating with the milk mixture. Continue to beat until well combined,
scraping down the sides as necessary. Be careful not to overmix.
Line a standard muffin tin with 12 liners, and fill about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way with batter. Bake 20-25
minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes
Maple Browned Butter Frosting {Printable Version}
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
¾ tsp. maple flavoring
Directions
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Continue to heat, whisking constantly, until the
butter turns a light, golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Add the sugar and maple flavoring to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix together on the lowest speed.
Slowly stream in the browned butter and continue to mix until the mixture looks like small peas. Add in
the whipping cream, gradually increase the mixer speed to high, and whip until fluffy.
Recipe by Kim