Kiwi Strawberry Cupcakes

We only go to Costco once in awhile, usually about once a month, and mainly to buy paper goods, water, and meat--the price is worth it! When we do go though we will sometimes buy fruit and veggies depending on what they have at the time. This time we got kiwi, and in Costco fashion- they only sale them in bulk! So, what to do with so much kiwi before it goes bad?!?! Bake with it of course! 

I've never baked with kiwi before so I wasn't sure how they would come out, but, they are delicious! I love kiwis and strawberries together so I decided to mix in some strawberries too. 

I pureed the kiwi but only chopped up the strawberries- next time I might try switching it up and see how that changes the flavor. I use a food processor attachment for my Cuisinart stand mixer to make my purees and it's awesome! I am seriously in love with my Cuisinart mixer! It is by far the best gift I have ever received!! (Thanks Mom!!)

I didn't strain the seeds and beat in the puree and then folded in the strawberries. The batter wasn't as green as I thought it would be- but maybe that's a good thing!! 

 The cupcakes baked up great and I love how you can see the strawberries and the kiwi seeds in the finished product! They also smelled delicious! Yumm! 

The cupcakes had a very mild kiwi flavor and a stronger strawberry flavor so I decided to make a kiwi only frosting. I made my frosting as I normally would have and then folded in chopped kiwi. I love that the frosting kept its white color but that I could see the kiwi chunks in it. 

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Kiwi Strawberry Cupcakes

Yield: about 18

Ingredients 

Cupcakes:

1½ cups flour- sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ cup milk

2 tsp. vanilla

½ cup unsalted butter

1¼ cups sugar

1 egg

2 egg whites

2/3 cup Kiwi Puree

1 cup chopped strawberries

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

½ cup butter

3 tbsp. heavy cream

3-6 cups of powdered sugar- sifted

7 oz marshmallow fluff

5-6 tbsp. chopped kiwi

Directions:

Cupcakes:

1.    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners


2.    In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

3.    In a separate bowl stir milk, vanilla, and kiwi puree.

4.    In the bowl of your stand mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

5.    Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition.

6.    Add ½ flour mixture and mix well.

7.    Add liquid mixture, mix well.

8.    Add remaining flour mixture, mix until incorporated.

9.    Fold in strawberry chunks.

10. Divide batter between cups, about ⅔ full.

11. Place pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way if your oven (like mine) doesn’t cook evenly.

Frosting:

1.    In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth.

2.    Beat in heavy cream.

3.    On low, add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

4.    Stir in marshmallow fluff until well incorporated.

5.    Fold in chopped kiwi.

6.    Garnish with kiwi slices. 

 Thanks for coming, stay awhile, and return often! xoxo

  

S'mores Cupcakes

I love summer time! I love spending all day at the beach or pool, laying out, swimming, BBQing with friends and family; nothing is better! Summer nights are equally amazing! Warm summer nights spent around the camp fire, fire pit, or bonfire on the beach-- roasting hot dogs and marshmallows! S'mores are a staple of summer time cuisine, and how could they not be?! They're delicious! We're lucky enough to have a fire pit in our backyard so we can go straight from the pool to sitting around the fire! Summer doesn't get any better! 

If you google "S'mores Cupcakes" you will find a lot out there! Although there are a lot of great recipes I could not get passed the fact that most that I found had an egg and cream of tartar based frosting-- I'm sure it's good but I wanted an actual marshmallow frosting so I decided to create my own and used Marshmallow Fluff in my frosting to get that true marshmallow flavor! 

With these cupcakes the fire is optional! You can take these to the beach, to a BBQ, or any fun event without needing a fire to get that great S'mores flavor! I chose to use my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe that I got from a friend-- it's delicious! The cupcake recipe calls for a cup of boiling water which makes the batter a very runny consistency; in order to avoid the mess that could be created by trying to fill the cups without spilling I use a "pancake pen" a friend of mine gave me as a housewarming gift a year or so ago. It is seriously a life saver! 

I made an easy graham cracker bottom out of some mashed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. I can't decide if the graham cracker bottom or the marshmallow frosting is my favorite! I usually break the S'more's rules and leave chocolate off mine; but with this chocolate cupcake sandwiched in between the marshmallow frosting and graham cracker bottom, I'm tempted to never leave the chocolate out again! 

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S'mores Cupcakes

Yield: about 3 dozen

Ingredients 

Graham Cracker Bottom:

20 graham crackers, finely crushed

½ cup butter- melted

⅓ cup sugar 

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar 

1¾ cups all-purpose flour- sifted

¾ cup Hershey's cocoa

1½ tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water

Frosting:

1 cup butter- softened

1-2 cups powder sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla

2 7oz. containers of Marshmallow Fluff

Directions:

Graham Cracker Bottom:

1.   Crush up graham crackers in a Ziploc bag.

2.   In a bowl stir melted butter, sugar, and crushed graham cracker.

3.   Evenly divide between pans and use the bottom of a glass to press graham cracker down

4.   Bake at 350º for about 8 minutes, until golden brown

Cupcakes:

1.    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners


2.    In the bowl of your stand mixer stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

3.    Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium for 2 minutes (until well mixed).

4.    Stir in boiling water until batter is mixed (it will be a runny consistency!!).

5.    Pour batter on top of graham cracker bottom, filling them about 2/3 full.

6.    Place pans in oven and immediately turn oven down to 325º. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way if your oven (like mine) doesn’t cook evenly.

Frosting:

1.   In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar until smooth.

2.   Beat in vanilla extract.

3.   Beat in marshmallow fluff until well incorporated.

4.   Garnish with graham cracker and chocolate.

Enjoy!

Thanks for coming, stay awhile, and return often! xoxo