Cranberry & Honey Cupcakes

This is a very nice recipe to try. You can make it with fresh cranberries or dried ones. 

Because this time of the year I could not find the fresh ones, I used the dried cranberries. And the cupcakes turn out very good.

Besides cranberries, what I love at this recipe is the fact that you use honey instead of sugar; which is great!

Another ingredient present in the recipe is white chocolate. My favorite! You use white chocolate chips inside and white chocolate in the frosting.

The red thing that you see on the frosting is a cranberry syrup. The idea  is quite nice, but my result wasn't as I expected to be. I couldn't find the cranberry  jelly and I used regular white jelly. The result was too thick and the flavor was't too strong. But is looking nice on the cupcakes :)

Ingredients:

For cupcakes:

6 ounces of white chocolate chips

3/4 cup of softened butter

1 cup of honey

4 eggs

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of orange zest

2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 1/4 cup of fresh/ dried cranberries

2 tablespoons cocoa - optional

For frosting:

8 ounces of white chocolate

1 cup of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 tablespoons of milk

3-4 cups of powdered sugar (or until desired consistency)

For syrup:

1/2 can of whole cranberry jelly

1/4 cup of cranberry juice

2 tablespoons of honey

Directions:

Cupcakes

Cream  butter and honey until light and fluffy, at least five minutes. If you want, don't use all the honey. With the chocolate chips and dried cranberries your cupcakes will be too sweet. Or use less chocolate chips.

Add eggs one at a time.

Mix in orange zest, juice and baking powder.

Slowly add flour, scraping the sides after each addition. 

Lastly add cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-21 minutes. 

Cool before frosting.

Frosting

Melt white chocolate on a double broiler and set aside, cool completely before using.

In a mixing bowl cream butter until light and fluffy, at least five minutes.

Beat in white chocolate until smooth and blended.

Add vanilla and milk and mix thoroughly.

Lastly add powdered sugar, one cup at a time scraping the sides of your bowl.

Add powdered sugar until you reach the consistency you like.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before frosting.

My advice here is not to use all the quantity of sugar or chocolate. The cupcakes are already very sweet.

Syrup

In a clean pan add cranberry juice, honey and whole cranberry jelly and heat.

Whisk and stir until smooth and blended.

Set aside and let it cool completely before using as a drizzle.

Frost cool cupcakes and drizzle with cranberry syrup. 

To decorate them I used some shredded chocolate.