Hiatus and a Strawberry Cupcake (or two).

Hello there.

I have been on a very long hiatus. I am sorry, dear blog, for ignoring you. :( There were a lot of things that happened during the last 12 months…

One of them is… Letting go of my domain. I figured I didn’t need the domain anymore as I haven’t been writing as much anyway. So, I am back to my old blog address: barbiekins.blogspot.com.

I won’t get into the other details of my life for now. It’s kind of messy… Just like my current workstation and state of mind. ;)

Anyway, I just dropped by to update the “look” of my blog and share a recipe I tried today. I haven’t been writing a lot, but I sure have baked and cooked a lot. Some things just never change.

I had frozen strawberries sitting in my freezer for a long time. I always said I’d make something out of them, but never got around to it. I totally love anything strawberry-flavored but you can never make me eat the real thing. In my (almost) 29 years, I have only eaten a fresh strawberry three or four times. And I always claim that my favorite flavor of all is strawberry. I am one big walking contradiction.

So back to the kitchen. I haven’t been cooking and baking as much as I would want to in the past two weeks. I just started signing up for online part-time jobs and I’ve got my hands full. I haven’t even gone to the gym this week. I feel so stressed out already that I felt the need to whip up something quick while working at home and watching season 8 of Grey’s Anatomy. Multi-tasking at its best, baby.

So today, as a welcome back tribute to my blog… I made strawberry cupcakes. This is a small batch, just for two people. Perfect for those who live alone and are greedy. Like me!

 

Low quality photo c/o my phone. ;) 

These cupcakes are moist and the strawberry flavor is not overpowering at all. Maybe I’ll try this on a vanilla cupcake base next time. I’m happy with how it came out. They were just the perfect antidote to a gloomy day. :D

Strawberry Cupcakes
Yield: 4 cupcakes

For the strawberry puree:
1/2 cup frozen strawberries, thawed
2 tbsp sugar

For the cupcakes:
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp canola/veg oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
strawberry puree

For the strawberry buttercream:
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1-2 tbsp milk
strawberry puree

Directions:

For the strawberry puree:

Mix sugar and thawed strawberries in a heavy bottomed pan. Cook on medium heat until sugar is dissolved and juices from the strawberries are extracted. Let cook for 5-10 minutes. Watch the mixture closely and stir often to prevent sugar from caramelizing. Transfer mixture to a shallow bowl and mash strawberries with a fork. Set aside while making cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with 4 cupcake liners. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together oil and sugar until combined. Beat in egg and mix until just incorporated. Add all but 2-3 tbsp of strawberry puree. Add in half of the flour mixture followed by milk and the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined.

Scoop batter into muffin tin up to 3/4 full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Let cool in muffin tin for 5-10 mins before transferring to wire rack.

For the strawberry buttercream:

Beat butter and powdered sugar with a handheld mixer. Mix in leftover strawberry puree and milk. Beat until desired consistency is achieved. You may add more or less milk and sugar as needed.

Pipe on cooled cupcakes. Garnish with fresh strawberries if you have any.

Enjoy!

** I am not sure how these will turn out if you’re using fresh strawberries… I guess there won’t be too much of a difference.

** Adapted from Dessert for Two’s Ginger Peach Cupcakes.