Mini Eggnog Cupcakes!

I have been away from blogging for far too long. The month of November passed with several Thanksgiving projects that I will have to go back and upload including a Bourbon Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip, Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, and Sweet Potato Pie. But unfortunately coming down with Bronchitis for four weeks knocked me out of commission and away from my keyboard during that time as well. Thankfully, winter colds are all gone now and I can talk about my most recent baking success: Mini Eggnog Cupcakes! I had planned well before the fall to experiment with eggnog baked goods in the winter, and my December office holiday party--complete with a staff potluck dessert arrangement--was the perfect opportunity to get cooking!

I personally love the flavor of eggnog, though the dairy in it keeps me from having it that often (that's why I was so happy to discover Silk Nog soy eggnog!). Since I'd mostly been making cookies for my coworkers lately, I wanted to try some sort of bread or cake with the eggnog flavor instead, and thus searched online for eggnog cupcake recipes until I came across one by Minneapolis couple Matt and Kat on their blog, A Good Appetite. It had all the important things I felt an eggnog cupcake might need: eggnog. And rum. But the amount of butter (thus fat) and use of egg whites (my dad is allergic to them) led me to alter the recipe just enough to make it my own. Even with cutting the butter content in half, however, these cupcakes still tuned out so moist (perhaps because I added extra rum), with the eggnog flavor coming through especially well when paired with homemade eggnog frosting (this I also altered from the original recipe to add actual eggnog in with the powdered sugar). Best of all, the recipe turned out to be so easy to put together the day before the office party, making little mini cupcake bites that no one had to feel guilty about indulging in!

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon rum
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup eggnog or soy eggnog
3 whole eggs


Directions


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a mini cupcake tin with paper liners. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the rum, vanilla, and eggs one at a time. Beat after each addition.

2.) In a separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt, and flour together and mix well. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating between adding the flour mixture and the eggnog until both are well incorporated into the batter.

3.) Fill the cupcake liners to just below the surface of the tin, smoothing the batter flat with a small spoon to spread it evenly. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the cupcakes start to brown just slightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4.) Remove the cupcakes from the oven and carefully turn them sideways in the tin to prevent the bottoms from getting mushy. Finish cooling on a wire rack until the cupcakes reach room temperature, then feel free to frost and enjoy! (Frosting recipe below).

Eggnog Frosting


Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1 Tablespoon rum
2 Tablespoons eggnog

Directions


1.) Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add the salt and spices and continue to beat. Finally, add in the rum and eggnog and beat until the frosting is smooth. For a thinner icing, add more liquid. Adjust to your personal taste!

I refrigerated the cupcakes overnight, then let them sit out until they reached room temperature before serving them the next day. The hardest part about making these treats was keeping myself from eating too many of the little things as I "taste-tested" the batter, the warm cupcakes fresh from the oven, the cooled cupcakes at room temperature, the cupcakes with frosting, and the cupcakes after being refrigerated. Thank goodness they were small, and that I still had enough left for my coworkers. Have fun with this holiday recipe--both the making and the eating!