Monday, April 11, 2011

Samoa Cupcakes


Happy Monday guys!  Today was my first day back to work after vacation, and I'll have to say it wasn't too bad.  But I could use another week of vacation - just sayin'.

How was everyone's weekend?  I volunteered for the MS Walk downtown on Saturday and then came home to take a nap - which led to practically sleeping Saturday away (we didn't wake up until 6!).  Then Sunday we went to a Bats game - the minor league baseball team in town - which was pretty fun too.  I mean, you can't beat hot dogs and baseball, right? 

Samoa Cupcakes won the poll on Friday, so I figured I'd get started (and not make you guys wait a week or two) and post that recipe since I had time this weekend!

I'd have to say that these are pretty awesome.  I used my new favorite chocolate cake recipe (seriously, I'm never making chocolate cake any other way) and made a couple adjustments to a caramel frosting recipe - and the end result is something truly amazing.

Ingredients:

Cupcake:
Adapted from Foodess's recipe


2 cups sugar
1 & 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon clear vanilla
1 cup hot coffee

Coconut-Caramel Frosting:
Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen's Recipe


2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons clear vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350F.  Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners. 

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add in eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla.  Beat with a hand mixer for about 2-3 minutes, or until combined.  On low speed, slowly beat in hot coffee until just combined. (The mixture will be VERY aqueous, but don't fret).  Divide batter among paper liners, filling them halfway full (I ended up with roughly 34-36 cupcakes).

Bake cupcakes on the middle rack of oven for about 20-22 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Transfer cupcakes to wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in salt and brown sugar.  Allow mixture to boil, stirring constantly.  Cook over low heat for about 2-3 minutes until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.  Stir in milk and return mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. 

Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla.  Cool mixture to lukewarm, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once mixture is cooled, stir in about 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut.  Add in powdered sugar and beat on medium speed until at desired consistency.  My frosting never got to a very thick state (maybe it was the 2% milk I used, instead of whole milk??), but I actually liked it this way - it was more of a glaze.

Spread glaze on cooled cupcakes.

Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second intervals.  Place chocolate in a piping bag with a fine tip (or you can put it in a plastic sandwich bag with the corner cut off - I like this method because there's no clean up!) and drizzle chocolate atop glaze.  Then garnish cupcakes with remaining toasted coconut.


And then try to resist eating all 36 cupcakes.  I had to take several to work this morning, but I think I've still got about 10-15 cupcakes around here.  I've got to hide them from myself - in the fridge.  Which, considering I open my fridge every hour or two, it doesn't seem to be the best of hiding spots.

Hehe, but seriously.  These. Are. Delicious.  Have a great Monday guys!

27 comments:

  1. Coconut Caramel icing...now that sounds good.

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  2. I can't wait to make these! They look amazing :)

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  3. Samoas are my favorite Girls Scout cookie! What a great cupcake recipe :)

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  4. HMMM! These look so yummy Peggy! I like you added the shredded coconut on top too! I hope you have a great week back to work. :-)

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  5. These look absolutely FABULOUS - I'd have to make a smaller batch :)

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  6. Oh, great. Samoa cookies have now been transformed into cupcakes. Sorry, hips, but these look awesome. ;) I need to try these!

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  7. Oh, wow. These look awesome!!! What a great recipe!

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  8. Yummy and delish looking cupcakes... Could you pls pass on some... I am drooling here.

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  9. Wow, my boyfriend would love these, he devours boxes of the cookies! I'm afraid I might like them too! Great pictures too!

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  10. Oh my gosh- amaaaaazing! I would definitely eat all 36 :)

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  11. Yum! Those are my favorite Girl Scout cookies!

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  12. 36 of these delicious caramel cupcakes! I wouldn't have a problem eating and distributing them!

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  13. How can you make these and not have any to share? =)

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  14. WOW..I love these cupcakes..they are gorgeous..cocoa, coffee and caramel..they are a match made in heaven.I really like the frosting..amazing..I can probably eat all of them.

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  15. If they taste as good as they look...wow

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  16. If only it were a little warmer here, a baseball game would be perfect! Sounds fun!

    I've been LOVING the samoa flavor combo lately and these are going to HAVE to be made!

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  17. Your cupcakes look very inviting! I can do with a couple of them now with my tea.

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  18. Now this is a nice treat for everyone after taking your vacation. Thanks for sharing this lovely cupcake recipe.

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  19. they look so delicious !!! would love to try this recipe :)
    http://kitchensojourn.blogspot.com

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  20. ... I think you should break it off with your fiance and marry me. I promise I will take good care of you :)

    I FREAKING LOVE SAMOAS. I actually had to refrain from buying anymore boxes cuz I always eat the whole thing in one sitting. Yes my cookie addiction is that bad. Hope you enjoyed your vacation and kudos for volunteering your time. Glad to see you are doing great and hope wedding planning is going smoothly (are you stressed yet? cuz I sure am hahaha)

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  21. Coconut-Caramel Frosting!! this is definitely a must try asap
    love coconut, love caramel, the combo must be heavenly.
    thanks for sharing

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  22. Coconut caramel frosting, i am in love with them as it contain coconut. cupcake is also delicious.

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  23. yummy cupcakes....and beautiful clicks too...loved it//

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  24. Yummmm! These look scrumptious! I don't know if you got my e-mail or not, but you won the giveaway over on my blog ;) E-mail me at: olivias@cookingwithlibby.com so I can get more info. from ya ;)

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  25. Totally scrumptious and decadent!

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  26. I've seen so many girl scout cookie related recipes lately, and I'm really sad that we don't have them over here :( But these cupcakes look delicious without being too complicated. Awesome!

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