Nutella Cupcakes

recipe and photos found on http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2011/04/nutella-cupcakes.html

Ingredients:

Devil’s Food Cake Mix

3 eggs

½ cup oil

¼ cup milk

½ cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

24 teaspoons Nutella 
      (1 per cupcake)

Nutella Buttercream:

¾  cup Nutella

¼ cup butter, softened

1 ½ -2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 muffins tins.

2.    In a large bowl, whisk eggs, oil, milk, water and vanilla. 

3.    Sift in cake mix and stir in sour cream. 

4.    Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and then place a teaspoon of Nutella on top of each one.  Using a toothpick, swirl the Nutella into the batter.

5.    Bake for 14-18 minutes or until the sides spring back.  (The tops will stay gooey because of the Nutella.)

6.   Remove the cupcakes from the oven and place directly into airtight containers so seal in moisture. 

7.    Buttercream: Beat the Nutella and butter for 5 minutes.  Add vanilla, then alternate between adding powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream.  Taste the buttercream until you reach your desired sweetness.  You may need to refrigerate the buttercream before piping it onto cooled cupcakes. 

 

My Notes:  She does a great job with her delicious recipes and her very clear directions.  My only comments are YUM, and Even the Hubby loved them, and he doesn't like Nutella! Oh yeah, I substituted applesauce for the oil to make this more healthy, and it was so yummy, I totally forgot I even did it!

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Centers

made for Cooking Club by Jen Brady, found at http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2010/10/pumpkin-muffins-with-cream-cheese.html

Muffins:

3 cups flour

3-4 teaspoons pumpkin (or apple) pie spice, whatever you have will do

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Streusel Topping:

½ cup sugar 

¼ cup flour

4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1.    Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2.   Prepare filling: Whip cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.

3.   Using a piping bag, pipe out a “log” of cream cheese mixture onto plastic wrap.  The diameter should easily fit into the bottom of a muffin tin.

4.   Wrap log in plastic and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

5.   Prepare Batter: Combine flour, spices, salt and baking soda.

6.   In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin.

7.   Mix in dry ingredients only until combined, do not over mix.

8.   Fill muffins tins (with papers) 1/3 full.

9.   Cut cream cheese “log” into pieces and place a piece in each muffin tin.  Make sure to not press them down all the way to the bottom.

10.Cover cream cheese centers with more batter, so the tin is about 2/3-3/4 full.

11.  Prepare topping: Combine all ingredients until crumbly (using a form works well).

12. Bake 15-20 minutes of until tops spring back.

 

My Notes: I don't have the luxury of a cake decorating set, therefore no piping bag.  I just spooned the cream cheese mixture in a line onto a piece of plastic wrap, and then rolled it up and rolled/squeezed it like a play-dough snake to make the "log." It worked fine.  I see the wisdom in freezing it if you do the log, but I don't see why, to save time, if you have a piping bag, that you couldn't just pipe the cream cheese straight into the cup without having to wait for freezing.  I also added a splash of vanilla to the cream cheese mixture.

I am trying to gradually made a change to eating more healthy, so I substituted half of the flour with whole wheat flour, and half of the oil with olive oil.  I would think applesauce would work really well with this recipe in place of the oil for lower fat. 

Pumpkin pie spice was expensive! So I made my own. I had a 1:1:1 ratio of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger already mixed, and then added a bit of allspice. It seemed to work well. They were yummy!