Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Cupcakes

These cupcakes are perfect for the holiday season.  You can add various ingredients to make them more festive (such as egg nog, cinnamon, nut meg, peppermint).  Here is the basic recipe...adjust to your heart's desire.

Makes 18 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For dulce de leche:
1 (8 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk into a small pan. Cover tightly with tin foil and place the small pan into a larger pan. Pour water into the large pan so that it surrounds the small pan, but does not seep into the top of it. Place in oven and leave for about 90 minutes. The condensed milk should be a golden brown color when finished. If it’s not, put it back in the oven until ready. Remove from oven and allow to cool.



2. Reset oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tins with 18 wrappers.

3. In a medium bowl, combine graham crackers crumbs (you can put about 4 full size graham crackers in a food processor or manually grind in a ziplock bag), sugar, and melted butter. Press one tablespoon of the mixture into each wrapper.

4. In a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until creamy. Stir in sugar and flour; mix well.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla extract together. Pour egg mixture into the bowl with the cream cheese. Stir on low just until combined and there are no visible lumps.

6. Fill cupcake wrappers with the cheesecake batter (the cheesecake will not rise much, so you can fill the wrappers almost to the top). Bake for 15 minutes or until centers are firm but not completely baked. Turn off the oven, open the oven the door a little, and leave the cheesecakes in there for another 30 minutes. Allow to cool and top with dulce de leche.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

NY Cupcakery
Bellmore, Long Island

I “dragged” my friend to the newest cupcakery on Long Island-NY Cupcakery. As much as she loves me, I am sure she regrets going-more on that later. We finally spotted the small/hidden storefront amongst the thousands of shops on Merrick Rd. We walked in and noticed the décor was almost identical to Cupcake Corner’s in Garden City. Either both owners have the same taste, or I smell a copycat. There was a rather large selection of cupcakes BUT they weren’t labeled! You had to ask the woman behind the counter what flavor every single cupcake was. Of course some were obvious, but some you just couldn’t assume its flavor or well, you know what that makes out of you and me. It’s not like they had a big board up to where you could pick a name and they would get you the cupcake. Nope. Nothing. After pointing to 3 yummy looking mini cupcakes, I ended up with brownie bite, banana fudge, and vanilla/vanilla. They were $1.25 a pop…more than the mini cupcakes at Baked by Melissa! Very overpriced but I was willing to overlook it based on taste. The cupcakes were packaged in a regular plastic container-not conducive for cupcake carrying.  The brownie bite cupcake was quite delicious, but it all went downhill from there. The other 2 were not good at all. Even though it’s the closest cupcakery to my house, I will not be going back.

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

C is for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

From Annie's Eats
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract

For decoration:
Mini chocolate chips
Mini chocolate chip cookies

Directions:

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Enjoy!

peace, love, and cupcakes
michy

(NOT SO AWKWARD) TURTLE BROWNIE CUPCAKES

Adapted from The Novice Chef
Makes 12 cupcakes


Cupcakes

Ingredients:


4 large eggs

1 cup sugar, sifted

1 cup brown sugar, sifted

8 ounces melted butter

1 1/4 cups cocoa, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow.

Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine. Pour the batter into foil cupcake tins until 3/4 full in a cupcake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. Place on cooling rack and allow to cool completely. 

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:


1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup heavy cream


Directions:

Put sugars and water in a heavy bottom saucepan over high heat. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine, once it starts boiling stop stirring and let it thicken. Watch it very carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn. Test a few times with your spoon to see if it has thickened by pulling the spoon up from the bottom of the pan. If it is stringy, it is thickening. Once this happens, immediately turn off the heat and stir in the butter. Then slowly add the cream continuing to stir. Transfer to a ceramic or glass container and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Caramel sauce will thicken as it cools. Pour into empy plastic squeeze bottle. 

Drizzle caramel sauce over each cupcake. Top with walnuts. Ta Da.

peace, love, and cupcakes

michy