Lavender Honey Cupcakes

I know it’s time for me to blog when I look at the pictures I’ve taken lately and realize that I haven’t posted about those pictures anywhere on this blog.

I have been cooking and baking a lot! Well, when I say a lot I don’t mean like all the other food blogs I’m following right now. I just mean, I’ve had time to cook and bake more than normal.

For the 4th of July we went to a friends house for our annual 4th of July celebration. There were so many friends and so much food! It was a great time! I made Lavender Honey Cupcakes and Strawberry Rhubarb Bars for dessert.

First, I have to tell you that I had NEVER had anything with lavender baked into it! I’m not even sure how the idea ended up in my head, LOL! All I know is that I ordered culinary lavender online one night and then I waited patiently for it to arrive.

I used the recipe from Better Homes & Gardens and they turned out phenomenal! I only made one small change and that was substituting Splenda Sugar Blend* for the regular granulated sugar it asks for. The kitchen smelled heavenly and when those cupcakes came out of the oven, I could not even wait til they cooled to gobble one up. Oh my goodness!!

After I tasted the cupcake I realized that I could not put just ANY frosting on these babies. So, I searched for the perfect, creamy, fluffy, not too sweet recipe for an amazing frosting. I found The Best Whipped Frosting at a very inspiring blog called Can You Stay For Dinner? She actually adapted it from MissyDew on TastyKitchen. The only tweak I made was, again, using Splenda Sugar Blend* instead of full on sugar. Oh and I made my frosting lavender so it they would be pretty:D

Lavender Honey Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp dried lavender
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Splenda sugar Blend
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup milk

Directions

1. Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line eighteen 2-1/2-inch muffin cups cupcake liners. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, the 2 teaspoons lavender, and the salt. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, honey, and vanilla; beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until mixture is combined.

3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. Use the back of a spoon to smooth out batter in cups.

4. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in muffin cups on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from muffin cups. Cool completely on wire racks.

The Best Whipped Frosting

(I promise, I’m never going back: You won’t go back either)

1 cup milk
5 Tbsp flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Splenda Sugar Blend

In a medium saucepan, whisk one cup of milk with 5 tablespoons of flour. Heat over medium until the mixture begins to sputter, whisking constantly. Continue to stir as the mixture thickens. You will know it’s done when it reaches the consistency of thick cake batter, after about 7 minutes of heating and whisking. Stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and set aside to cool COMPLETELY.
Now, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or using a hand held mixer, beat 2 sticks of softened butter (1 cup) with 1 cup of granulated sugar until light, fluffy, and white in color, about 3 solid minutes of beating on medium-high speed. You want the sugar to be totally incorporated into the butter.
Be sure that the milk/flour mixture has completely cooled, and add it to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat all ingredients for about 1 minute on high speed, scraping down the bowl halfway, until they are smooth and well blended. The frosting should be as light and fluffy as whipped cream.

I promise that these are the best cupcakes you will ever have. Don’t be afraid to try them just because they have lavender in them.

BE ADVENTUROUS!

Hope you get to try them soon!!

~Mrs Galvan~