Pistachio Cupcakes

Although I'm on holiday, I found some free time to post one recipe that I tried for my husband's day name.

So far our holiday was great. I really envoy spending time with my family and my beloved friends. It's been almost 6 months since our last visit and everybody is so excited to see baby Thomas.
He grew  and he changed a lot,  so now he loves playing with everybody. All my girlfriends are crazy about him.

But let's return to our nice recipe.
I loved making these great green pistachio cupcakes. Very easy recipe.

 I made an almond butter cream frosting that really completed the cupcakes.
You can also put some melted chocolate on top and some shelled pistachio, crushed a little.

For these cupcakes , I used my new piping bag. LOVE it!
It's so big and you can make these beautiful swirls on cupcakes. I have to practice more, but I hope you like how my cupcakes looked.

I enjoyed my cupcakes with some fresh lime-orange-lemonade made with honey and a touch of mint.

Here is the recipe. It results 16 to 18 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes:
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp. shelled pistachios, divided
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. salt

2 tpsp. green dye

For the frosting :

I used this recipe and I added almond extract

http://lovecupcakesrecipes.blogspot.ro/2013/03/buttercream-frosting-recipe.html

Directions

 To make the cupcakes

 Preheat the oven to 325˚ F/ 180˚C .

 Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

 Place ½ cup of the pistachios in the bowl of a food processor. Process until finely ground.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, cream cheese and ground pistachios.

Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Gradually mix in the sugar on medium-low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

Blend in the vanilla and the green dye.
With the mixer on low, add the flour and salt, and mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.  

Coarsely chop the remaining pistachios and evenly fold into the batter with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared liners, filling each about three quarters full.  

Bake, rotating halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Let cool in the pan a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pipe frosting on top of the cupcakes and decorate with chopped pistachio.