Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

The next couple of posts are going to be recipes from my previous post of pictures from the last year. Yea! First up are the vanilla bean cupcakes I made last August. These were test cupcakes for my sister's wedding celebration for when her and my brother-in-law get back from Afghanistan in December. And since she wasn't here to taste them I got to frost them with cream cheese frosting! My favorite! Because let's be honest, everything is better with cream cheese frosting. My sister, Rose, is one of those weirdos who does not like cream cheese frosting. She is also one of those weirdos that used to sit under our kitchen table as a toddler and eat butter. Ewwww!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

(Adapted from The Comfort of Cooking)

1 1/3 cups of flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup of butter (I used non-fat plain yogurt)

1 cup of sugar (I used 1/2 cup)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla (I used 1 tsp + 2 vanilla bean pods)

1 cup buttermilk (I used skim milk w/ 1 Tbsp. vinegar)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line your cupcake pans with liners or grease and flour them.

2. Sift together your dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

3. With a mixer or by hand, combine the yogurt and sugar. Add in your egg, the vanilla, and the vanilla beans until nice and smooth :)

4. Alternate adding your dry ingredients and milk to your wet mixture.

5. Fill your cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full, depending on how big of a top you like your cupcakes to have. I prefer mine to come exactly even with the top of the liner, so I only fill mine 1/2 full.

6. Bake for about 12-15 mins. Check with a toothpick at 12 mins. They should have a slight golden color to them. Yum :)

7. Let them cool for about an hour or so before frosting.

*Recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes, but if you fill your liners only half ways you can get about 18.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe by Me :)

12 ounces of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened (or you can be bad and use regular. I won't tell :)

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

4-5 cups of powdered sugar

2-3 vanilla beans (I love vanilla so I used 3)

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

*2 Tbsp. milk or half/half if the frosting seems a little dry

1. With a paddle attachment or regular hand mixer, whip your cream cheese and butter together. Add you vanilla extract and the seeds from your vanilla beans.

2. Mix in your powdered sugar about a cup at a time to avoid the powdered sugar cloud :)

3. Once all your powdered sugar has been added, if the frosting seems a little too stiff to pipe go ahead and add the milk or half/half. I've made my frosting with and without it and both ways are delicious!

4. Now frost away!

Since my BSM (Big Sexy Man) doesn't have a huge sweet tooth like me, he ate maybe 2 and I ate like 2 a day! 

What can I say, I LOVE cupcakes!

Stay tuned for my next baking adventure :)

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