Almond Amaretto Cupcakes with Amaretto Whipped Cream

Take a gooey butter cake, cross it with a biscotti, top it with boozy whipped cream, and you've got these almond Amaretto cupcakes.  Don't expect these almond Amaretto cupcakes to be innocent cupcakes of yesteryear, airy with light crumbs.  These cupcakes are sticky and down and dirty.  You'll be licking your fingers and begging for more.

Almond Amaretto Cupcake Recipe

 

I got the almond amaretto cupcake recipe by converting a flourless almond cake recipe from Mish Delish to cupcakes.  I slightly adjusted the quantities and converted the recipe from metric to U.S. measurements.

I should also point out that this cupcake is gluten-free!   

Yield: 12 cupcakes

• 1 C unsalted butter 
• 2 C almond meal
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/3 C caster sugar (I used C&H Baker's Sugar, which can be found more easily in U.S. grocery stores.  It's a very fine granulated sugar.)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp Amaretto liqueur

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan (or the microwave) and set aside to cool.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the almond meal, salt, and sugar until well combined. 
3. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, and Amaretto until combined.
4. Add the cooled melted butter to the wet ingredients.
5. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
6. Divide mixture evenly between 12 cupcake liners.
7. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until the tops are slightly browned and bounce back when lightly touched.

Amaretto Whipped Cream Recipe

• 1 C heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp powered sugar
• 5 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
• sliced almonds (optional)

1. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
2. Mix in powdered sugar and Amaretto until just combined.
3. Pipe or spread on cooled cupcakes.
4. Optionally, top cupcakes with almond slices.

Inspiration Credit

I don't want to make anyone sad, so I had to help Kelly out after she posted the above message on my Facebook wall expressing her disapointment at not finding an Amaretto cupcake recipe on Cupcake Project.  Hope you like them, Kelly!

Baked French Toast with Bananas, Walnuts, and Cacao Nibs

Baked French toast is the lasagna of breakfast - prepare it in advance so you can lounge in your PJs with the rest of the family instead of being a stove slave stuck frying toast while listening to the muffled laughter of your family in the other room.

This baked French toast has three layers of goodness.  Its base is a warm, gooey mixture of maple and bananas (when serving, make sure to scoop all the way to the bottom of the pan so you don't miss this part!).  The bananas are covered in a moist, eggy challah with a touch of ginger. The whole thing is then topped with crunchy walnuts and cacao nibs (or chocolate chips) and more maple.  Hungry yet?

Because this recipe is for French toast and not French cake, you can eat as much as you like guilt-free, right? 

Crab and Asparagus Quiche Cupcakes for Paula Deen

As many of you know, I regularly develop recipes for Paula Deen's website.  This month, my recipe for crab and asparagus quiche cupcakes is featured on Paula Deen's homepage. I love how Paula Deen's staff's addition of text to Jonathan's photo makes the cupcakes even more elegant and appealing.  Don't you adore the loopy "C"?  I wish my handwriting looked like that.

If the crab and asparagus quiche photo and the loopy "C" haven't sold you, here's a convincing quote from my post on Paula Deen: "Each quiche 'cupcake' features a from-scratch buttery crust seasoned with cracked pepper and filled with gruyere, fluffy eggs, and a generous helping of crab meat.  The quiches are topped with asparagus roasted with just a touch of olive oil and salt."  Go get the quiche recipe now.

Easter Cupcakes Baked in Real Egg Shells

I watched my Grandmother's face when she realized that I hadn't handed her a hard boiled egg but rather a cake baked inside a real egg shell.  Her eyes were filled with wonder and I could envision what she must have looked like as a tyke the very first time she saw a red balloon float across the sky or the the trunk of a giant elephant spewing a stream of water. 

"Crack it on the table," I told her.

 

Eggs were cracked, cupcakes were eaten, and I was perceived as a cupcake Houdini. 

How to Make Cupcakes in Egg Shells

Bunny Tails - Donut Holes for Easter

The egg hunt is done and the Sunday dresses have been traded for play clothes. You're frantically looking for the next activity that will entertain your kids and all of their cousins before they decide to play another game of "Let's empty the entire closet onto the floor."  You suddenly remember this post and heave a sigh of relief.  You click on this download link to print out a bunny coloring sheet for each child (the same as the bunny above, minus the color). 

While the kids are coloring, you entice other adults to hang out with you while you prepare the bunny tails.  As each child finishes coloring his/her bunny, you present them with a tail, take a photo for posterity (if that's your thing), eat the tails, and optionally start over.  Warning: You might want to have a special prize for the best coloring job.  Otherwise, you'll find that the bunnies will be hop-hazardly colored as every-bunny hurries to be the first to enjoy their treat.  To stretch out the fun - head over to my Facebook page and upload your pictures.  I'd love to see them!

How to Make Bunny Tails

Gefilte Fish Cupcakes with Horseradish Whipped Cream

You won't have to warn people that these gefilte fish cupcakes with horseradish whipped cream are not typical sweet cupcakes.  The smell of fish and onions will do all of the talking for you.  An adorable cupcake shape, however, might be just the hook that gefilte "fish" needs to be the catch of your Seder.

Homemade Pan-Fried Gefilte Fish for a Haute Passover Seder

Pan fried gefilte fish are the gefilte fish for gefilte haters.  Think of them as Kosher crab cakes (is it sacrilegious to even imagine Kosher crab cakes?) or Seder salmon croquettes. There is no jar jelly to contend with (anyone who's been tasked with plating gefilte fish for their family's Seder knows about this gross gefilte byproduct); and you can make homemade gefilte fish using high quality, socially responsible fish (check Seafood Watch before shopping for the best choices).  Bubbie might miss the traditional cold gefilte (a Jewish staple that, like the jello mold, should have gone out of style in the 70's) but everyone else, Elijah included, will appreciate the change.

Okra Cupcakes with Fennel Frosting

After posting my recipe for oatmeal okra cookies seasoned with fennel, I've learned that some of you really hate okra.  Here's a quote from one reader, CC Smith:

I find [okra] THE most repulsive veggie on earth, if you boil it then you have chicken snot, if you fry it, you have something that has cornmeal with whiskers underneath.  Maybe this is the recipe that will make me change my mind about okra.  That and a VERY large white Russian.

CC also compared fried okra to eating fried leg hair.  Gross!

While I expected okra to be polarizing, I was surprised at how many of you also don't like fennel.  No one was quite as descriptive in their disgust as CC, but I was asked by several people if an alternative spice could be used in the cookies (the answer is yes - use whatever spice you love).

Luckily, not all of you hate okra!  Some, like Stephanie (who originally requested the okra cupcakes), love okra so much that they are all set to make the cookies right away. Others, like long time reader Rachel Dickson of Cupcakes and Journalism, were intrigued just enough to want to give it a try.  And, the okra cookies even got a twitter shout out from super star food blogger Steamy Kitchen.

If you are in the pro-okra and pro-fennel camp, you are going to love these cupcakes - keep reading.  If not, check out the recipe index for a flavor that you might like better. Either way, please share your stance on the two flavors in the comments.  Do you love them or hate them?

Oatmeal Okra Cookies (Oo!)

To my delight, the okra in these oatmeal okra cookies served its job well: it provided an excuse to eat more cookies (having a green veggie in them must make them healthy) without screaming, "Look at me, I'm okra!"  The cookies are cakey (soft and airy), hearty from the bits of okra and oatmeal, sweet in a breakfasty way (like zucchini bread), and vibrantly flavored from the addition of licorice-like fennel and a touch of ginger.  Less a dessert than a snack, they are the kind of cookie that would be great to pack in your bag for a day trip or to nosh on when you take a water break on your hike (assuming you take hikes like me - mild ones that don't require power bars).