Apricot cupcakes

I am a big fan of apricots! When I was little my mom used to make me all kinds of cakes( she preferred making them and not buying) and my favorites were the ones with fresh fruits.

The best were the ones with grapes and apricots. Nothing compares with those! Now that I am a mother, I can't wait to bake for my baby. I would love him to remember such things when he'll grow up.

Now let's talk about the cupackes.
Sadly, by the time I did this recipe I could not find fresh apricots and I used the dried ones , but I will definitely try this recipe with fresh fruits. They aren't bad, but the taste will be different for sure. The fresh fruits give something sour, and I love the combination of sweet and sour in my dessert :D
Also you can use canned apricots. They work really good too!

The recipe also contains pecans, but I replaced them with pine nuts. You can use what ever you like most.

These cupcakes are really easy to make. What I suggest is to cut on sugar if you're going for dried fruits. They are high in sugar and you don't want your cupcakes to be extremely sweet.

To decorate my cupcakes I used this buttercream frosting and I added almond extract. It goes perfectly with this cupcake recipe.

And now the recipe that I tried.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR CUPCAKES:

• 1 and 3/4 (16 tbs) all purpose flour 
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons  baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/2 cup (16 tbs) pecans, chopped 
• 2 eggs 
• 1/4 cup (16 tbs) vegetable oil 
• 1/2 cup  brown sugar  
• 1 cup apricots, cut in small pieces 

FOR FROSTING:

Go here http://lovecupcakesrecipes.blogspot.ch/2013/03/buttercream-frosting-recipe.html

Add almond  extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line muffin tin(s) with paper liners or lightly coat with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pecans. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat eggs lightly. Add oil, brown sugar and chopped  apricots .

Add to flour mixture, stirring just until blended.
Batter will be lumpy.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups to the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

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Gently remove cupcakes from tin and let cool on a wire rack.

Photos by Emi Trasnitu

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.