maple walnut pancake cupcakes............yes i said pancake

Fall is here!

It’s my favorite season and I love love love all of the baked goods that are fall inspired. Pumpkins, apples, caramel, and maple walnut!

I decided to try a new recipe from Martha Stewart: Maple Walnut Cupcakes with maple frosting and candied walnuts

I finally bought an oven thermometer so I would know the actual temperature of my oven. : )

Here is the recipe I followed:

Maple Walnut Cupcakes

(reprinted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups (5 1/2 ounces) walnuts, chopped medium-fine
• Maple buttercream (recipe follows)
• Candied walnuts (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Into a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined. With the mixer still on medium speed, add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in walnuts with a wooden spoon.
3. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until cupcakes are golden and a cake tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool slightly. Invert cupcakes onto the rack; then reinvert and let them cool completely, top sides up. Frost tops with Maple Buttercream and garnish with candied walnuts, if using. Cupcakes can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This time when I baked they all came out perfect!!

For the frosting I also used Martha’s recipe:

Maple Buttercream

(reprinted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 cup pure maple syrup, best quality
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg yolks on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes; set aside.
2. In a small saucepan set over medium-high heat, bring the maple syrup to a boil, and cook until it registers 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat.

pay no attention to my gross stovetop please

       3. With the mixer running, slowly pour syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow, steady stream, until completely incorporated, about 1 minute.

purple kitchenaid mixer!! i love u!!!

       4.Continue beating until bowl is just slightly warm to the touch, 4 to 5 minutes. Add butter, one piece at a time, until thoroughly incorporated and the frosting is fluffy, about 4 minutes more.

Now, for the maple syrup, I used whatever I had onhand–which was $1.49 generic maple syrup. This is NOT high quality maple that Martha uses. She would probably cringe if she knew that I used a cheap substitute!

Because of this, and the large butter quantity in the frosting, the overall taste of the cupcake was  like a pancake! (my taste testers: Adam=husband, Jennie=sister–they agreed)  Therefore I am calling these Maple Walnut Pancake cupcakes.  So if you really like pancakes and you don’t want to pay oodles of cash for fancy maple syrup–this recipe will work for you!!

I also tried to make candied nuts for the first time. My experience with cooking sugar is limited. I tried to make decorative sugar shards for a cake once and that took me like 4 tries….. This time it only took 2!!

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com  (amazing site–soooo many recipes) It really wasn’t that hard– if  I can do it–so can you. Now I will show you!

Candied Walnuts

(recipe by Dawn Timmerman on allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 pound walnut halves ( I halved this recipe)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread nuts in a single layer over a baking sheet. Roast for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until the nuts start to turn brown and the smell of roasting nuts fills the kitchen.
• Stir together sugar, cinnamon, salt, and milk in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat for 8 minutes, or until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage of 236 degrees F (113 degrees C). Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla immediately.

• Add walnuts to sugar syrup, and stir to coat well.

•  Spoon nuts onto waxed paper, and immediately separate nuts with a fork. Cool, and store in airtight containers.

They were scrumptious!!! And hard to stop eating………..

And there you have it. Cupcakes that taste like pancakes : )

UP NEXT: Eclair cupcakes!!!!

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