S'mores Cupcakes: Just in time for the 4th of July!

When I think of summer I think of these things: hot dogs, watermelon, fireworks, and s'mores. How great is it that there is at least one day of the summer where all of these things come together! Friday is July 4th, and I dunno about all of you, but I know I'll eat my share of hot dogs (mostly because I'll be working at a festival and we'll sell at least 200 of them!). When I'm not chowing down on mysterious cow organs and non-organs, I'll probably have watermelon juice dripping from my elbows. After I have accidentally consumed enough melon seeds to start a small garden, I'll be searching for a nice spot downtown to watch the fireworks. And after all that commotion, I'll hopefully be heading home for one of these freakin awesome S'mores Cupcakes!

Being the cupcake enthusiast that I am, I have seen my fair share of S'mores Cupcakes on Flickr, Bakespace, and many a food blog. There have been many different methods of attacking this beast, but all the cupcakes showcase 3 main flavors: graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate. Now if you ask me, it doesn't matter how these flavors are thrown around, they'll always taste like a delicious s'more (click it if you're totally weird and don't have the foggiest idea of what I'm talking about). However, some cupcake recipes focus mainly on the chocolate flavor and barely hint around the other two. I chose a recipe that has a good ratio of graham to marshmallow to chocolate! It's really moist and the graham cracker crumbs in the cake give it a neat texture. The marshmallow frosting is CRAZY good! It's basically SMBC minus the butter... making it just a Swiss meringue. You know how sometimes 7-minute frosting and other meringue-type frostings tend to dissipate and turn into tons of flavorless air bubbles after a day or so? Well, 24 hours later this Swiss meringue is still just as marshmallowy as when it first came out of the mixer. I am very confident in saying that these are perfect S'mores Cupcakes!

Ingredients... including sour milk...This batch of batter went in the trash because I'm dumb and
didn't read the expiration date on the milk!A trip to the grocery store and 30 minutes later... GOOD batter!Ready for the ovenYou know I can't resist leftover cupcake batter!They smelled soooo yummy while they were cooling.You can garnish them with shaved milk chocolate and a graham cracker...OR graham cracker crumbs and a piece of chocolate. Oh yeah... I had some leftover frosting left and I was curious. I piped some on parchment paper and put them under the broiler until they turned brown. They baked like the meringue on top of pies. I think they'd be super cute on top of mini lemon curd cupcakes!

The perfect place for the perfect cupcake is on a fancy glass pedestal!

Cupcake recipe from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman. Frosting recipe by me.

MY NOTES: I reduced the salt by half and they were perfect. Mine were done at 16 minutes.

S’mores Cupcakes
Makes 16-18 regular cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
Graham Cracker & Milk Chocolate Cupcakes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups finely crushed graham crackers (about 20 grahams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (I reduced this to 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
1 cup milk chocolate (I pulsed mine in the food processor to make them a lot smaller)

Swiss Meringue Marshmallow Frosting (NOT BUTTERCREAM)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (I used 3/4 cup regular sugar and 1/2 cup vanilla sugar)
4 egg whites
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix flour, crushed graham crackers, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk and beat until batter is almost smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean (Mine were done at 16 minutes). Remove from oven and cool.
5. To make the frosting: Combine egg whites and sugar in the top of a double boiler (or a glass bowl over but not touching a pan of simmering water). Whisk constantly over medium-high heat until mixtures reaches 160°F, about 5 minutes. Pour egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high for 6 minutes or until room temperature. Add optional vanilla extract 1 teaspoon at a time until desired flavor.
6. Frost cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with grated milk chocolate or graham cracker crumbs.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5

Cheesecake Cupcakes

My original plan for baking cupcakes with my cousin was to make 3 different flavors while she was here. However, with a continuous stream of cupcake cookbooks arriving in the mail, we couldn't help but throw another batch in the mix. My parents invite friends over every Tuesday night for hot wings. My cousin and I decided to make the dessert.

ingredients for cheesecake cupcakes filling the cups with the very watery batter chocolate chip and plain cheesecakes cooling chocolate chip, cherry, and plain cheesecake cupcakes the Oreo crust of chocolate chip cheesecakes cherry cheesecake and a chocolate chip cheesecake hiding in the back

I had a cherry cupcake and a chocolate chip cupcake for breakfast this morning, and they were both delicious! The recipe says it yields 1 dozen, but I beg to differ. After doubling the recipe I ended up with 43 cupcakes (there would've been more if the dog hadn't sniffed out the bowl of leftover batter).

Here is the recipe from 500 Cupcakes.

MY NOTES: One batch yields about 24 cupcakes NOT 12. I left out the blueberries. I used half of an Oreo for crust and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips on some, and I used canned cherry topping for others. I only had 3 3/4 cups of ricotta so I added 1/4 cup sour cream.

Baked Cheesecakes
These mouthwatering little cupcakes make stunning individual desserts. Make them ahead of time and all you'll have to do is pop them on a plate when your guests are ready.

1 cup (4 1/2 oz.) graham cracker crumbs
5 tbsp. sweet butter, melted
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups cream cheese, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 325'F (160'C). Place 12 paper baking cups in a muffin pan.
Put the cracker crumbs into a medium bowl and stir in the butter. Spoon tablespoons of the crumb mixture into the cups, pressing firmly into the bottom. Chill until set.
In a large bowl, beat the ricotta until smooth. Add the cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar, blending until smooth. Slowly add the eggs, blending well. Spoon the mixture into the cups.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove pan from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. Chill until time to serve. Serve topped with blueberries.

Store covered for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 dozen