Churro Cupcakes

Happy Cinco de Mayo, a few days late.  I made these on Cinco de Mayo for some friends and they were a huge hit!  The cupcakes was very light and fluffy, and full of flavor!  I have never made a cupcake where you beat the egg whites separately, and fold them in at the end.  The cupcake bottom is just a cinnamon cake base, but they were so good I ate a few plain with no whipped cream.  These cupcakes have 3-4 steps, depending on how much time you have.  First I made the caramel, I used the oven method because it was the fastest and safest.  After about an hour in the oven the Dulce de Leche was ready.  Then I went on the make the cupcakes, which turned out perfect.  I decided I would try to make the Churros for the top of the cupcake, but that was a major failure.  The batter looked like mushed bananas, so that went straight into the trash and I wasn't willing to try again.  I made the whipped cream and started an assembling them.  I used an apple corer to take out the center, then put some caramel in the middle, put the top back on, and squeezed some whipped cream on top.  Last but no least, I drizzled all the cupcakes with the extra caramel and sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar! For as much of a mess as these are, they are amazing!!

Churro Cupcakes - Adapted from The Tribune News

Yield: about 30 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 Cup Butter, unsalted and room temperature

2 Cups Sugar

4 Large Eggs, separated

2 3/4 Cup Flour

1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1 Pinch of Salt

1 Cup Milk

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350˚F and line a muffin tin with baking cups.
2. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed. Once the butter is smooth and creamy, turn the mixer to low speed and add the sugar. Keep beating the butter and sugar mixture until light and fluffy.  
3. Add the egg yolks one at a time, making sure to mix well after each addition.  
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
5. In a small bowl, stir the vanilla into the milk.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter-and-sugar mixture. You’ll want to start and end with the flour, and mix just until incorporated after each addition.
6. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. It’ll be white and foamy. Fold the egg whites into the batter.
7. Fill your lined muffin cups about ¾ full of batter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester stuck in the middle comes out clean. 
8. Let cupcakes cool completely.

Dulce de Leche Recipe

Ingredients: 

1 Can (14 ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Pinch Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.  
2. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish; a glass or ceramic pie plate works great.
3. Stir in just the tiniest bit of sea salt — a few grains will do it.
4. Place the pie plate in the middle of a larger pan and carefully pour in hot water into the larger pan until the water level hits about halfway up the pie plate. 
5. Wrap the top of the pie plate with aluminum foil and put it in the oven. 
6. Let it bake for 1 to 1¼ hours, checking the water level occasionally and add more water if you need to. 
7. When the milk is caramelized, carefully take the pan out of the oven and let cool to room temperature, then whisk until smooth.

Whipped Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

4 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Pour the cream, sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of your Kitchen Aid mixer.  Whip on high speeds until stiff peaks form.  (cream tends to fly everywhere so I would recommend wrapping a dish towel or paper towel around the mixer to help contain the mess!)

Mini Churros - If you want to attempt this!

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup Water

1/3 Cup Butter

1 pinch salt

2/3 Cup Flour

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Vegetable Oil, for frying

Directions

1. Heat about an inch of oil in a wide, deep pan to 360F.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter and salt to rolling boil. Reduce the heat to low and add the flour, stirring until the mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Beat the eggs in a small bowl until blended and then pour in the saucepan as you stir.
4. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip and pipe the mini churros right into the oil. Use a butter knife to cut off the squeezed-out dough when it’s about an inch long.
5. Fry the mini churros until they are golden brown. It should take about 2 minutes on each side.
6. Scoop the churros out of the oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to absorb any extra oil.
7. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon, then dump onto the churros.

Enjoy!!