Sugar and Spice Cupcakes

In the current edition of Cooking Club magazine there's a section for baking with love. This is the second recipe from that section I'm going to try, the first one being the Apple-Cranberry-Syrup Crisp. I'm not too sure that I'll do the other three recipes. We'll see. For now though, let's roll with some cupcakes. The only thing I changed was to skip the cardamom I didn't have.

Sugar and Spice Cupcakes
adapted from Cooking Club, Fall 2013
click to print

2/3 c raisins
1/3 c hot coffee
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 c packed dark brown sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
2/3 c sour cream, room temperature
1/3 c walnut halves, toasted, coarsely chopped

Frosting
1 (8-oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 - 3 c powdered sugar, sifted
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Combine raisins and coffee in small bowl; let stand 15 minutes. Drain raisins, reserving 2 tablespoons coffee.

Since the raisins weren't fully submerged, I made a point to stir them every few minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Whisk flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.


Beat brown sugar and 1/2 c butter in large bowl at medium speed 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.


Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.


At low speed, beat in sour cream and reserved 2 tablespoons coffee.


Beat in flour mixture just until combined; stir in raisins and walnuts.



Spoon into muffin cups. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.


Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely.

Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl at medium speed 1 minute or until smooth and fluffy.


At low speed, beat in 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, adding additional powdered sugar to desired frosting consistency (frosting will be soft). Beat in cinnamon and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until chilled.


I skipped the chilling part.

Spread frosting over cupcakes.


Store in refrigerator; serve at room temperature.


I still have half the frosting left; it's not because I ate three of the cupcakes last night before frosting them tonight. There's just a lot of frosting. My having eaten three cupcakes without frosting should be indicative of the fact that they are delicious! They're almost like muffins since they have raisins and nuts plus the spices are nice. The cinnamon frosting though is good too. With enough frosting for another batch, I'll do these again with the cardamom I picked up today.

Cost:

• raisins: $1.09
• all-purpose flour: $0.12
• dark brown sugar: $0.52
• unsalted butter: $0.40
• eggs: $0.63
• sour cream: $0.50
• walnuts: $0.48

Total: $3.74 or about $0.31 for each of 12 cupcakes with frosting leftover.