{The Girl Kyle Bakes} Campfire Cupcakes
You know when you've lived somewhere your whole life and so you often find that no matter where you go, there's someone you know? That happens to me fairly often, but what I see more of as I grow older is the constant overlap. What do I mean? There less than 6 degrees of separation here in Sacramento. The more I get to know "new" friends I keep discovering that we've been crossing paths for years! A recent example came in the form of John whom I met through my friend Teresa. {Not to be confused with my bf John whom I also met through Teresa.} The more time we've spent together I've realized 1) we went to rival catholic high schools 2) we both went to Sac State 3) one of his best buddies dated my BFF in college 4) he did a sorority/fraternity dance event with my {current} roommate in college and the I could seriously keep going...
Since meeting John "officially" he's been sending me all sorts of recipes on Facebook, this one included. I guess I'm bringing out his inner fat kid and I love it! I can't tell you enough times that I'll bake just about any suggestion. Here I had to make a slight variation to the LA Times' recipe because unfortunately I don't have a blowtorch and John wasn't willing to buy one for the occasion. {Christmas list?} Nothing was lost though, the frosting is made with marshmallow fluff. Teresa was there the evening I made these and she hates marshmallows, but was sneaking tastes of frosting from the mixer! I'd call that success!
{Original Recipe via La Times}
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup graham flour {I used Bob's Red Mill}
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 6 eggs
- 3 cups chocolate chips or pieces
Preparation
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin trays — two trays unless you have a very large one — with paper muffin liners. Sift the graham and all-purpose flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice into a large bowl and set aside
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the softened butter, sugar and honey on high speed until creamy and light, about 3 minutes. Turn the speed down and add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl.
With the mixer turned to low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing only until combined. Add the chocolate and mix just until combined.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin pan cups, about one-third cup each. Bake until the tops are dark golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack while you make the frosting.
Frosting
- 1 cup room temperature butter
- 1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat butter and marshmallow creme together for 2 minutes . Add vanilla to your mix and mix to incorporate. Finally, add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, add additional sugar to reach your desired consistency.
Notes: A few things I wanted to mention if I were to make these again would be to eliminate the allspice from the recipe completely. It was very overpowering. When I think about making s'mores over a fire, spice does not come to mind so I wouldn't say these cupcakes we're true to their original inspiration. The potential is there with a few alterations. If you want to include chocolate chips in your batter as the recipe calls for I strongly recommend getting the mini chocolate chips. Next time I'd like to see a chocolate drizzle over the marshmallow frosting. Other than that - happy baking!