.strawberry cream cupcakes.

We were at Costco yesterday and I noticed they had strawberries in stock. I swear I could live on strawberries alone. I love them so much. If you've ever bought them at Costco you know they come in this huge package. My husband asked me what I was going to do make with all of those strawberries. Well DUH. I don't have to make ANYTHING! I can eat them all by their pretty little selves!

Well, that wasn't a good enough answer so I told him I would make some strawberry cream cupcakes for him to take into work. I think they're starting to love me there because Jim has so far taken in Cinnamon rolls, sugar cookies, muffins, and now cupcakes. Maybe they're hating me for expanding waistlines? *gasp*

This recipe comes courtesy of Martha Stewart. She had a big cupcake thing on her show last year and this was a recipe given or shared by Sprinkles -- that famous little cupcake shop out west in California. I thought I'd give them a shot. :) (For the record, I did have to eat one of the cupcakes. Poison control, right?)


First we have to wash the berries. Make sure you only wash what you need. Don't put wet washed berries back in with the dirty ones because it promotes mold and we don't want our strawberries going bad before we eat -- I mean use them all.








Remove the stems on about 10 strawberries. We need enough to measure 2/3 cup mashed.

Use a fork to smash their itty bitty heads in. (such violence!) I would smash some and then put into a measuring cup. When I reached 2/3, I let Paige eat the rest (I helped).













See? 2/3 cup. I think there might actually be closer to 1 cup in there. You'll be safe if you inch up to 1 cup. I wouldn't go over though because strawberries produce a lot of juice when they come in contact with sugar, which can be instant death to fluffy little cupcakes.







Measure out 1/4 cup milk and pour in the measuring cup with the strawberries. Add 1 tsp vanilla as well.










In a bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking powder.











In a mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter (softened) and 1 cup sugar.











Add 3 eggs and whip on high until everything's creamed together and a little fluffy.










Alternate adding the flour mix and strawberry/milk mix until everything has been put into the mixing bowl. Don't overbeat this. When everything has come together, remove the bowl from the stand and do a courtesy mix with a rubber spatula just to make sure there's nothing left on the sides and bottom of the bowl.





Spray down a muffin tin. This made almost exactly 12 cupcakes. I didn't have paper liners so I spooned it all right into the pan. If you have or want to use liners, go ahead and use them. I have never met a fussy cupcake. :)

Put in a preheated 350* oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick to make sure they're baked through.




Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Then dump the cupcakes out and let cool on a wire rack.

While they cool, let's make the cream cheese frosting.







Cream together 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, and 1/2 cup butter.











Add 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition. You don't want to add it all at the same time because when you go to turn on your machine.. POOF! You'll be coughing on a big powdered sugar cloud.

So add a little at a time, and scrape your bowl often.






You won't even have to add any milk to this recipe. The moisture from the butter and cream cheese is enough. Add a little vanilla and some pink food coloring. Mix well.









Fill a piping bag with a star tip and swirl the frosting on the tops of the cupcakes. I washed extra strawberries and patted them dry to put on top. Paige remembered I bought Valentine sprinkles at Target a couple weeks ago so we sprinkled some of those on top after the strawberries were put in place.

Keep these stored in an air-tight container and put in the fridge. That's if they last that long. ;)

A sweet little treat for your special Valentine's to enjoy this week.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_135gmkjk3c8