Sweet and Savory Cupcake Stuffing

Yesterday, I shared a recipe for cupcake stuffing made directly in the Thanksgiving turkey.  Some of you (including Huff Post!) loved the idea, while others were a bit put off by the thought.  Today, I'm sharing a completely different take on cupcake stuffing - one with less shock value and greater crowd appeal.  This sweet and savory cupcake stuffing (technically called dressing since it's prepared out of the bird) is made with ultimate vanilla cupcakes, chopped apples, pecans, dried cranberries, and butternut squash soup. 

A Cupcake Lover's Thanksgiving Turkey Should Be Stuffed with Cupcakes

Forget white bread, croutons, and corn bread - a cupcake lover's Thanksgiving turkey should be stuffed with cupcakes.

How to Make Acorn Flour - A Pre-Thanksgiving Family Project

 

Acorns aren't just for squirrels. Native Americans ground acorns into flour and used the flour to make hearty stews and breads.  

I, of course, used my acorn flour to make cupcakes. Acorns (once properly prepared for eating - more on that later) are walnut-like, but have a unique flavor all their own: sweet, subtle, and earthy.  You can eat them as nuts, but I recommend going the Native American route and turning them into acorn flour.  Preparing the flour is a time-consuming process (three days, excluding foraging for the acorns), but it's a great pre-Thanksgiving project to teach your little pilgrims about Native American foods (hint: they didn't eat green bean casserole).

How to Make Acorn Flour

5 Thanksgiving Cupcake Ideas

I'm taking this week off to spend time with family and friends, but I wanted to take just a minute to share five outstanding Thanksgiving cupcake recipes with you.  If you are responsible for dessert at your Thanksgiving meal, check out my list of five scrumptious Thanksgiving cupcake recipes and consider making cupcakes a new Thanksgiving tradition for your family!

This photo is off the first of many filters that was made
and distributed because of money that we
have raised through Cupcake Project 4.0.

I also wanted to make another plea for help for FilterPure.  Though I take it for granted most days, I am so thankful to have clean water to drink.  For just one dollar (or more), you can help people in Haiti to have potable drinking water and get a sensational chocolate peanut butter cupcake recipe.  I committed to raising $4000 by the end of November, and while we have made amazing progress, we aren't quite there yet.  Instead of putting a dollar in a soda machine this week, consider drinking some free tap water and putting the dollar in the ChipIn box below.

Thanks again to everyone who has already donated!  I have been sending out the recipes every couple of days so if more than a few days have gone by since your donation, please check your spam and email me if the recipe isn't there.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes - Turkey, Cranberry, and Maple

 

Everyone expects to see cranberry sauce and turkey at the Thanksgiving meal, but won’t they be surprised to find it back on the table for dessert?  Before you balk at the idea of turkey in a dessert, consider other savory and sweet combinations that work: honey-glazed ham, duck with cherry sauce, and bacon with just about anything.

These cupcakes are baked directly in slices of turkey – no cupcake liners are needed!  When baked, the turkey slices get hard and chewy and become a perfect shell for the small cakes.  The cupcakes themselves are loaded with cranberries and they are topped with a decadent maple buttercream frosting.  For extra maple flavor and an elegant look, the cupcakes may be dusted with maple sugar.

Sweet Potato Casserole Cupcakes With Crumb Topping

Sweet Potato Casserole With Crumb Topping Recipe

Note that these cupcakes have uncooked crumb topping baked into them. The crumbs won't be noticeable if you don't know they are there. However, they will make the cupcakes extra sweet, moist, and buttery and give the cake an ever so slight grainy texture - which led Bride and Groom 3.0 to incorrectly think that the cupcakes contained oatmeal.

Because you'll need to use unbaked crumb topping in the cupcakes themselves and baked crumb topping to garnish the cupcakes, I suggest that you prepare all of the unbaked topping you'll need at once and I have written the instructions below accordingly.

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 3 C flour
• 2 t cinnamon
• 2 t baking soda
• 3 C sugar
• 1 1/2 C pureed sweet potatoes (I used the kind from the can. Try to get the kind without corn syrup if you can. They have a really good one at Trader Joe's.)
  
• 4 large eggs
• 1 C vegetable oil
• 1 C apple cider
• Unbaked crumb topping (1/2 C butter, 1 C flour, and 1 C brown sugar mixed by hand until crumbly)
  

1. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, and baking soda.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, sweet potatoes, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
3. Mix in the oil and apple cider.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Fill cupcake liners halfway.
   
6. Add a thin layer of the unbaked crumb topping on top of the batter. Bake the remainder of the crumb topping according to the directions in the crumb topping post.
   
7. Top off each cupcake with batter until 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.

Frosting and Topping

Top each cupcake with brown sugar frosting and sprinkle with baked crumb topping.

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Thanksgiving cupcakes are scattered throughout Cupcake Project. But, I decided a Thanksgiving cupcake roundup was in order after Jonathan was asked by Lucky You whether I had any Thanksgiving cupcakes on my blog.

Here are the cupcakes that I think would be perfect for Thanksgiving:

Pumpkin pie cupcakes

Pumpkin pie cupcakes: The Thanksgiving table always needs some pumpkin pie. Why not make yours in cupcake format?

Pumpkin cupcakes with apple butter frosting

Pumpkin cupcakes with apple butter frosting: Really anything with apple butter frosting would be perfect for Thanksgiving. It is just about my favorite frosting ever!

Sweet potato casserole cupcakes

Sweet potato casserole cupcakes: These are the Thanksgiving cupcakes that I made last year. There is also a sweet potato casserole recipe at the bottom of the post that is amazing if you want your sweet potatoes in non-cupcake form.

Thanksgiving Cupcake Ideas from Other Blogs

• For cupcakes that look super cute, check out the turkey cupcakes from Jaki's Bento. They are totally adorable!
  
• Simply Recipes has a gluten-free pumpkin cupcake that is well worth checking out.
  
• For ideas and inspiration (but no recipes) check out Iron Cupcake Milwaukee. There are some tasty looking creative creations there!
  

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Rum and Maple

Pumpkin cupcakes are good on their own, but this pumpkin cupcake with rum and maple kicks it up a notch. The cupcakes smell distinctly of rum, but when you bite into them, you can taste the pumpkin and just a tiny hint of the maple. They are moist and lighter than you might expect from a pumpkin dessert and they're filled with Fall spices.


The best part is that I didn't have to throw the pumpkin cupcakes in the trash. I actually made two batches of pumpkin cupcakes before this one that were so bad that I threw them out. They weren't even good enough to bring into to an office full of people who eat anything. I would have completely given up on pumpkin were it not for the fact that my cupcake class (that I am teaching this weekend) includes pumpkin cupcakes. I needed to get a recipe that I loved. Found it!


Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ginger
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t allspice
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 3/4 C pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1/4 C dark rum
• 1/4 C maple syrup

1. Whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
3. Mix in the oil, rum, and maple syrup.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
   
6. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Cupcake Frosting

I frosted my pumpkin cupcakes with apple butter frosting. These cupcakes would also be good with my cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Fall Into Winter Roundup

I am entering these cupcakes into Ivy's Fall Into Winter Roundup.

I was so excited about the roundup . Not only did I have to ask if it was OK to get my entry in late, but then I completely forgot to enter. I had to go back and add to this to the post. Sorry, Ivy! You're the best!

Cupcake Love Connection Update

I have been talking to Minko and her cupcake for Groom 2.5 will be done soon! I can't wait for the recipe! She said she should have it next week. Read the original Cupcake Love Connection post if you don't know what I am talking about.

Sweet Potato Casserole Cupcakes: The New Thanksgiving Classic

 The greatest food debate in Jewish cuisine and possibly the greatest Jewish debate of all time (though that's debatable) is whether the passover matzoh balls should be sinkers or floaters. My family traditionally always served both kinds, each grandma at the table making up a batch that her mishpacha would most enjoy.

My mother-in-law who had served rock hard, you-need-a-fork-and-knife-to-eat-them, sinkers before me has now also switched to a combination of sinkers and floaters. Goodbye, conflict.

There is a less documented though equally pervasive debate surrounding the Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole. Some like their casserole topped with marshmallows, while others (myself included in this second camp) prefer a sugary nut topping. Who needs white mush when you have sweet orange mush? What you need is crunch!

My all time favorite sweet potato casserole is the one my mother-in-law makes. I like it hot or cold and with a fork, a spoon, or hands. The recipe is at the bottom of this post.

The truth is, I like sweet potatoes in all formats. I like them so much that my brother even mentioned them in his wedding toast to me.

I've been plotting to make a sweet potato cupcake for months. This month was the time. Garrett of Vanilla Garlic and Chockylit of Cupcake Bakeshop are hosting a cupcake roundup with the theme of a classic dish redefined. I decided to model my cupcake after the sweet potato casserole.

I wanted to impart some of my favorite casserole flavors into the cupcake (brown sugar and maple syrup). I opted for the sweet potato flavor in the cake, a maple mascarpone filling, and a brown sugar frosting.

The results? This cupcake was light and fluffy (I had to point this out for those who didn't like my last two super dense ones) and tasted like Fall in a cupcake wrapper. I would not hesitate to serve this to my family at Thanksgiving dinner or any other day for that matter.

The Recipes


The Cake

I got the cake recipe from a Cupcake Bakeshop recipe for pumpkin cupcakes (reposted below). She got the recipe from Martha Stewart. I simply replaced the pumpkin with mashed sweet potato. I went the lazy route and got my sweet potato from a can. However, I'm sure you could make your own.

• 2 cups flour, all-purpose
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 15 ounces sweet potato puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in sweet potato purée.
4. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool.
5. Note: These cupcakes really do rise well. I filled some more than 1/2 way and they ended up bubbling over in the oven. I'd follow the instructions and just fill 1/2 way.

The Filling

For the filling, I simply whipped together 8 oz of mascarpone cheese with 2 T of pure maple syrup. When the cupcakes were done baking, I stuck the pastry bag right into the center of the cupcake and squirted some filling in. This, BTW, is much easier than the cone method (cutting out a cone, putting the filling in, and replacing the top) and it's more sexy, too. However, it does not work well with dense cupcakes.

The Frosting

I used another one of Chockylit's top-notch recipes for the frosting (reposted below). She used a caramel frosting on her "Peanut Butter-Banana Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Glaze and a Caramelized Banana Disk." I've had these cupcakes before at a friend's house minus the peanut butter, since I'm not a fan, and they were awesome! My favorite part though was the caramel frosting. This was the perfect cupcake for me to try it out on.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons half and half
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.
2. Add milk and brown sugar, stir to combine.
3. Boil vigorously for 1 minute.
4. Remove from heat and beat in 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
5. Cool slightly then and beat in the vanilla and remaining powdered sugar, add more half in half if necessary.
6. Quickly spoon over cupcakes before glaze sets.

I did not add the additional half and half on step 5. I think I would if I did it again. It definitely did not spoon well without it. I ended up spreading it. Regardless, it was delish and I will use it again!

What's On Top?

To please both the marshmallow and the nut camps and because I can't use nuts at the wedding, I made some cupcakes with toasted mini marshmallows (any excuse to use my culinary torch!) and some with candied walnuts.

Nancy's Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe

• 2 lb. sweet potatoes
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• ½ cup flour
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup margarine
• ¼ tsp salt
• cinnamon

1. Peel, cut, boil sweet potatoes until soft.
2. Mix everything together and put into 9 X 12 greased pan.

Top with a mixture of:

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• ¼ cup margarine
• ¼ cup flour

Double topping for Stefani*
Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 min.
*That is actually in the recipe she sent. Isn't she sweet?

Footnotes

For those astute readers among you, you may note that Nancy's casserole does not contain any maple syrup, my cupcake filling flavor. Many sweet potato casseroles do, including this recipe from a fellow St. Louis blogger.

I'm done justifying my use of maple now. Does maple ever really need justification anyway?

Some final words on sweet potato casseroles: My Texas friend, and fellow sweet potato casserole fanatic, makes an outstanding one which uses Bourbon. A sweet potato and bourbon cupcake would also be sensational. I'm adding it to the lengthy to-bake list in my mind.