Coconut-Pecan Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Thank you Martha Stewart for this delicious recipe!!! I have never really been a fan of coconut desserts, I love savory coconut dishes, coconut water and of course pina coladas but I just don’t usually go for coconut desserts.  Although every once in a while I get in the mood for an almond joy and these little cupcakes taste just like them with the addition of fluffy moist cake!!!!! The cupcakes are made with creamy coconut milk, sweet shredded coconut, pecans and then topped with warm gooey chocolate ganache and crispy toasted coconut shavings. If every coconut dessert tasted this good I would definitely be more inclined to choose that option!

{a couple of the key ingredients: shredded coconut and roasted pecans}

{crispy toasted coconut}

{cupcakes ready to be dipped in chocolate ganache}

{the topping station}

Ingredients (makes 36)

1 cup firmly packed sweetened shredded coconut

3/4 cup toasted and cooled pecans

2 cups sugar

2 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup  unsalted butter (room temp)

1/4 cup creamed coconut (or 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp if you can’t find creamed coconut)

1 tablespoon pure coconut extract

4 large eggs (room temp)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut milk (9 ounces)

2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes (toasted in the oven)

chocolate ganache glaze (recipe follows)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a food processor, finely grind shredded coconut; transfer to a bowl. Clean out food processor. Process pecans with 2 tablespoons sugar until finely ground. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; stir in ground coconut and pecans.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, creamed coconut (or more butter) and remaining sugar until pale and fluffy. Add extract and then eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of coconut milk, and beating until just combined after each.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden 20-22 minutes (cupcakes will not be domed). Turn out cupcakes on wire racks and let cool completely.

4. To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in chocolate glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish with toasted coconut. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Directions

1. Place chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl. Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; pour mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.

2. Use a flexible spatula, gently stir chocolate and cream until totally combined (if any chocolate pieces remain, strain mixture through a fine sieve and discard solids.

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Originally I was going to make a lemon tart but what started off as an epic fail turned into fabulous lemon curd cupcakes. Where do I begin…… so the first mistake I made was to use plastic wrap to blind bake my tart. I was taught to do it this way in school but I wouldn’t recommend it because the plastic started to melt (which makes sense in a 350 degree oven). I don’t know if they had special plastic wrap at school but it worked fine there, who knows. Anyway as I attempted to remove my tart from the oven I dropped it, and what a mess it made. I was furious, my husband can vouch for that 🙂 so here I was at 12:00am with a broken tart shell and a bowl of beautiful lemon curd I had already made. I definitely didn’t want the lemon curd to go to waste and I wasn’t about to make more Pate Sucree dough for the tart (if you’ve ever made it you know what a pain it is). So what did I do?  I turned to my good old friend the cupcake. Cupcakes never let me down, they’re fast and easy, and who doesn’t love a cupcake!!! And there you have it, Lemon Curd Cupcakes.

{ FAIL }

Lemon Curd

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

7 oz. sugar

2 lemons zested

5-1/2 oz. lemon juice (about 6 lemons)

2 oz butter

Bring about 2 inches of water to a boil in a pot then mix all ingredients except the butter in a mixing bowl. Put the mixing bowl onto of the pot, stir constantly until the lemon curd thickens about 10 min. Strain through a fine mesh strainer with the butter (the butter will melt with the hot lemon curd). Let cool then frost your cupcakes. I made a basic yellow cupcake. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

As if Oreo cookies and cupcakes weren’t good enough on their own!!! Combining them is like pure heaven!!!! These things are seriously dangerous. Prepare to eat at least five.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

• 24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 tbsp. heavy cream
• Oreo cookie crumbs
• 24 Oreo cookie halves

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place a Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low-speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.
• Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.