Cranberry White Chocolate Cupcakes
Carrie of Carrie’s Sweet Life had a great idea earlier this month. I “know” Carrie from an online community I participate in that’s all about cooking and baking. She wanted to form a group of people who bake together. We named ourselves “What’s Baking?” as a play on the online community we’re a part of.
For the first month, Carrie chose the theme: fall cupcakes. I struggled with this theme quite a bit. I didn’t want to go with pumpkin. I thought it would be too predictable and I wanted to try something more creative. After bringing home some fresh cranberries from the cranberry festival, I knew I wanted to use crans. I started thinking about what flavors go well with cranberries and since I’ve already made a maple walnut cranberry cupcake, I decided to go with white chocolate.
I decided to sub half of the vanilla with some Fiori Di Sicilia that I grabbed at King Arthur Flour. I haven’t had a chance to use it and according to KAF: You know that wonderful marriage of flavors you taste when you combine vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet in the same bowl? That’s what Fiori di Sicilia tastes like. We find that using it in just about anything mild and sweet–anything where competing flavors, like chocolate, don’t interfere–adds a wonderfully mysterious taste. Your friends will be guessing just what you’ve done to your sugar cookies or yellow cake or sweet bread to make them taste SO good! It really does smell like a creamsicle and I thought it would complement the white chocolate and cranberries well (especially since the cranberry mousse has orange zest in it!).
I filled the cupcakes with some homemade cranberry sauce to add another punch of flavor and color. These cupcakes are amazing and would be a great dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas! I’m going to be mean and post the recipes for the cranberry sauce and the cranberry mousse in the next couple of days. Sorry to do that to you, but they’ll be up soon!
One Year Ago: Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins
Yield: 18
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4-oz white chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 1 tbsp milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a small, microwave-safe bowl, melt the chopped white chocolate by heating it in 30 second intervals in the microwave. Stir well with a fork between each interval and cook only until the chocolate is smooth when stirred.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by melted white chocolate and vanilla. Alternate adding in some of the milk and some of the flour mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups.
Bake for 20-23 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a fingertip. Cool on a wire rack.
To Assemble the Cupcakes:
Once cupcakes are cooled completely, use the cone method to remove part of the cupcake. Fill with cranberry sauce. Pipe cranberry mousse on top of cupcakes.
Store cupcakes in the refrigerator.
Recipe from Baking Bites
Don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge – make something PINK by the end of the month to raise Breast Cancer Awareness!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Those are adorable! I love the idea of lemon meringue cupcakes.
They are adorable!! Great job and I am glad you had success with the recipe.
Congrats on a successful challenge!
OMG, are they cute! Like little porcupines. So glad it turned out for you. Fab job!
I really liked your idea of making the cupcakes. No cutting up and great single sized servings. They look just great.
Makes me wonder– why didn’t I think of that?
Hey~ I made lemon maringue cuppies too! I am so sold on making pies this way in the future- very fun. Love the spikies- great job.
Your LMP looks great! I love the cuppies
LMP cuppys rule! ::high five:: love all the pictures of your process… great job!
I really like the little pies everyone is making..now I want to redo mine.blessings,
marye
http://bakingdelights.com
Oh so cute! I had considered trying my second attempt in a cupcake tin… until I waited until the last minute, that is! 🙂
Congrats! These look fabulously divine!
Ah ha, another fellow Boston baker! Your tarts are beautiful! Love the peaks on the meringue!
Those are so perfect!
PS: I have those red measuring bowls. I love them! 😀
so SMART to have all of your ingredients out FIRST. I really should know this by now.
Ooooh, I love your cupcake-pies. How’d you make the meringue spikey?
And what did the husband think of the final product?
your little ones are adorable. Great job on your challenge!!
your lemon meringue cupcakes are so cute! job well done! 🙂
They’re so cute!! Great job!! :O)
i had that crust shrinkage problem too. it’s a bummer.
———-
kate
http://www.thecleanplateclub.net
Dolores – I just spread the meringue around and then using a spatula, pressed it into the meringue and pulled it out and voila! Spikes!
Your little cupcakes are adorable! That was a great idea!
Your little tarts lok just lovely. well done!
a challenge executed incrediblely well!
They look just perfect!!
Nice job!
Too cute! Love the cupcakes. I want one!
My crust did the same thing! Your cupcakes look great though!
~Carrie from bakersbakery.wordpress.com
Your “pie-cups” look perfect. Great job!
Jane of VeganBits.com
Very cute! Did you turn away and silently mock your husband “my mom makes a great…”, no of course you wouldn’t have, I must be projecting 🙂
You did a wonderful job on your lemon meringue tarts!
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
~ We’re lactose intolerant at our house too.
Nice cupcakes! And if it makes you feel any better, I’ve been a DB’er for a year and friends and family, all non-bloggers, always know what I’m making. They kinda have to since I always tape the recipe up on the kitchen cupboards!
Yayy! I love reading success posts like this! They look great and that’s a good idea to bake them in muffin tins. Well done!
I love your little lemon meringues!
Awesome! I love how differently everyone’s turned out, but these little cuties are so adorable 🙂 Great job!!
So cute! I’m sure everyone enjoyed you addition to the spread!
I love cupcake idea. One big pie seems so messy, these seem neat and tidy. Congrats on another successful challenge!
The shrinking crust always affects my mini cupcake pies too. The trick is to make them overhang the cups enough so that they shrink down to just the right size. Your little pies are darling!
It’s awesome for me to have a website, which is helpful in
favor of my know-how. thanks admin