Christmas Cupcakes - Mulled Wine Cupcakes with Chestnut Butter Frosting

Other Christmas Cupcakes and Chanukah Cupcakes:

• Eggnog Cupcakes
  
• Gingerbread Cupcakes
• Blue Chanukah Cupcakes
  

Christmas cupcakes made with mulled wine will have Santa begging for more (he likes his wine, you know - why do you think he has such a ruddy complexion?). These Christmas cupcakes have a complex adult taste, but they are sweet, moist, and festive enough to serve to the entire family.

The only problem I had with my Christmas cupcakes was that the recipe only made twelve. I would highly recommend doubling it - they are that good! One warning though, the wine flavor is not overpowering. Don't go in expecting a heavy hit of wine flavor.

A Note About Christmas Cupcakes and Me

Photo credit: TVparty.com

I don't celebrate Christmas. As a child, I did not ever put out cupcakes for Santa (or cookies for that matter). The staging of this photo was the first time I ever wrote a "For Santa" sign. However, as a Jewish child, I did believe in Santa.

For some reason, I had a stuffed Rudolph doll. I lived in New York, but we always went to Florida to stay with my grandparents over Christmas (I know - how stereotypically Jewish can you get!). On Christmas Eve, I would always take my reindeer doll and set it by the door to the condo to make sure that Rudolph could go out and help Santa deliver toys to the Christian kids.

Before Making Mulled Wine Cupcakes

Before making mulled wine cupcakes, make sure you've made some mulled wine. Duh! Check out my post on mulled wine for instructions.

Mulled Wine Cupcake Recipe

I based the cupcake recipe on the recipe for Minko's Do the Hokey Pokey cupcakes. They were so yummy that I thought they would be a good starting point. Here is the adapted recipe:

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 2 C flour
  
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t allspice
• 1/4 clove
  
• 3/4 C unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 C sugar
• finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 C sour cream
• 2/3 C mulled wine, room temperature
  

1. A few hours before you are ready to bake, combine the orange zest and the sugar in a bowl. This will let the orange flavor infuse into the sugar.
2. With a fork, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a bowl.
3. Beat butter, grated orange zest and sugar in a large bowl for 1 minute, until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs and sour cream until blended.
5. Alternately fold in flour mixture and mulled wine in three additions, beginning and ending with flour.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
   
7. Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Chestnut Butter Frosting

Check out my chestnut butter frosting recipe post for the details on how to make the frosting for this cupcake.

Mulled Wine Syrup

I drizzled some mulled wine syrup over each frosted cupcake. This is by no means necessary, but it's a nice splash of red and it tasted quite good. To make the syrup, combine 1 cup of mulled wine and 1 cup of sugar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes.