The Empty House Cupcake

What do you do on a Saturday night, when the baby is asleep and the husband is out at his brother's bachelor party? Make cupcakes, of course!

I was faced with this scenario this evening. The house was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop...well, except for the hum of the monitor, but I don't even hear that anymore (yet the tiniest sound of movement through it clicks back into my consciousness). Even the dog is jumping and barking at phantom noises. I closed a cabinet, and she was barking at the front door.

The recipe I chose was for Doughnut Cupcakes. They promised the taste of a doughnut without the deep-frying. I'm all for that! The recipe comes from the King Arthur Baking Sheet CD I bought last weekend--this one from the Jan/Feb edition back in 1993. They came from a column entitled "Take It Easy," and they certainly delivered on that promise. From the moment I decided to make the cupcakes to the time they were cooling on the wire rack was only 50 minutes. That time probably could have been even faster, if I hadn't had to wait for the oven to preheat.

I did make two adjustments to the original recipe. First, it called for shortening. Yuck! I will not allow Crisco in my house. So, I subbed in butter, as I always do. I expect better of King Arthur, but maybe times were just different in 1993, and they didn't realize how bad shortening is (though it was always a vile substance, so I'm skeptical). Second, the original called for regular milk. I didn't have any in the house, so I used buttermilk.

The results were quite yummy, if not quite doughnut-like. Of course, that could be because of my substitutions. To me the biggest similarity to doughnts was the nutmeg and cinnamon sugar flavors. Nevertheless, they make a very satisfactory cinnamon-sugary cupcake.

Doughnut Cupcakes

adapted from King Arthur Flour Baking Sheet Jan/Feb 1993

1/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Topping:

2 Tbs butter, melted

cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the milk and egg. Add the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt, and beat at medium speed of an electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups, filling each about halfway. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Brush tops of cupcakes with melted butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Wait 10 minutes, then remove from pans to cool completely.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cost: $0.14 Yup, that's 14 CENTS per cupcake. You can't beat that!