Welcome, Fall

Maple Walnut Cupcakes
The Artful Cupcake Copyright 2004

7 ½ oz. flour
5 oz. brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
¼ cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup milk
I also added 1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring
1 cup chopped walnuts I omitted these

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and prepare a muffin pan with paper baking cups.
2. Place the first four ingredients into the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle blade.
3. Cut in the butter, and beat until combined.
4. Add the eggs, maple syrup and milk.
5. Once mixed, add the walnuts.
From here, the recipe in the cookbook became Maple Walnut Streusel Cupcakes so I summarized how I finished them.
6. Fill the muffin cups and bake 15 to 20 minutes.

Maple Frosting
Favorite Brand Name Old-Fashioned Holiday Recipes Copyright 2004

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
¼ cup maple or pancake syrup
I also added approx. 1/2 teaspoon of maple flavoring
3 cups powdered sugar

In small bowl, beat butter and syrup until blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth.

Makes about 3 cups.
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I bought these little leaf-shaped sprinkles last week and I had it in my head that I wanted to make maple cupcakes. I bought some maple flavoring so I knew I could turn just about any cupcake recipe into maple but I really wanted a recipe that also used maple syrup. Surprisingly I couldn't find anything in my cookbook collection (although I didn't search in every single book of course, just the obvious suspects). I did find this recipe at the library but it was for a streusel topped cupcake. I definitely wanted frosting so I just used the base and left out the walnuts, since we can't have nuts here.

I found several maple frosting recipes in my cookbooks. Several were for cooked versions and I admit I chickened out on trying one of those. I've never made a recipe like that, where everything is basically cooked and then cooled to spreading consistency, and recently I've read a few semi-horror stories of this frosting being difficult to work with (hardening too quickly).

For some reason, they only gave ounces for the flour and sugar yet in just about every other recipe, they're measured in cups. Sorry, I should have measured it out into cups after I weighed it but I didn't think of it. There are probably sites out there that will convert it for you if you don't have a food scale. I find a food scale to be valuble tool, though.

The leaves aren't very tasty, as pretty as they are, but I liked everything else, especially the frosting. These are very maple-y, since I used maple flavoring and maple syrup. The frosting is so flavorful, that it would have worked well over a plain yellow cake too. The frosting recipe actually went with a spice cake. That seems to be a popular match - maple frosting and spice cake. Personally, that doesn't appeal to me.

A Blast From The Past: Maple-Glazed Salmon from March 2006. A very different maple syrup recipe yet also very delicious.

Question of the Day: Do you own a food scale?