I love cupcakes. I have several cookbooks dedicated to cupcakes, and I decided to start with this cookbook (Cupcakes Galore), and why not just start at the very beginning? For this recipe, I ran out of almonds, so I used about 1/2 cup of ground walnuts. I also used light cream cheese. These are soooo good! They are good without the frosting, but that frosting….wow! I am glad I had a little leftover to lick right out of the bowl! These won’t last long here (which is sad but true- Toby doesn’t love zucchini OR sweets- something is wrong with him- so it will be up to me to eat them).
rating: 9
Zucchini Pine Nut Cupcakes
(“Cupcakes Galore” by Gail Wagman)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup ground almonds
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 cup powdered sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg white, slightly beaten
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup pine nuts for decoration
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together zucchini, flour, baking powder, salt and ground almonds.
3. In another bowl, mix the egg, sugar, cream, oil and pine nuts. Pour this batter into the first one and blend well with a whisk or a wooden spoon.
4. Fill cupcake papers about 3/4 full and cook for 2-25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool.
5. Beat all the frosting ingredients together until light and of good spreading consistency. Frost the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle a few pine nuts over each cupcake before serving. Alternatively, dust the cooled cupcakes with powdered sugar.
