Picture taken by J. Dell'Era and cupcakes decorated by Miss Dell'Era and J. Vinogradsky
According to Nic, Donna Hay is the Australian Martha Stewart. This was my first encounter with her, but regardless, she knows how to make some damn-good cupckaes. Barbara, from winosandfoodies, has started a meme for Donna Hay's self-frosting cupcakes. The original recipe calls for peanut butter frosting , but various people have been playing around and Nutella seems to be the frosting of choice.
I decided, since Miss Julie, one of my lovely ladies, is on a nut binge lately, to play with a more exotic nut butter than peanut butter, but still stay in the chocolateless family. Of course, dark chocolate pastilles were added to beautify the cupcakes, but the taste still stayed quite nutty. What was my "exotic nut," you may ask? Why, cashews!
To make Cashew Butter, simply blend 2 cups of Roasted Cashews with 1-2 tablespoons of Oil. This is easy and delicious! I now have a little tub of Cashew Butter to spread on Toast in the mornings or for a midnight snack.
And, perhaps more importantly, the cupcakes? They were delicious, especially with a tall glass of Milk!
Cashew Butter Cupcakes
10 tablespoons Butter
3/4 cups Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Pinch Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
Cashew Butter
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a 12-muffin tin with paper cups.
Cream Butter and Sugar. Add Eggs, one at a time, and mix until well-incorporated. Add Vanilla. Stir in Flour, Salt, Cinnamon and Baking Powder. Mix until fully combined and no specks of Flour remain. Fill each Muffin cup about 3/4 full of batter. Mix in a spoonful of Cashew Butter, swirling it into the Batter.
Bake 20 minutes. Let cool completely before eating.
Optional: Smear a little more Cashew Butter on top of Cupcakes and stick a Cashew and/or a Chocolate Pastille into the Cashew Butter topping.
Update: Check out Barbara's round-up! And congratulations to Glutton Rabbit for the prettiest picture.
Food and Baking and Recipe and Dessert and Donna Hay and Dairy
