Strawberry Banana Cupcakes

*Once again, I apologize for my crappy camera... a better one is in my near future.  Perhaps after my tax refund?

I wanted to try something different when it came to cupcakes… well different for me.

                      I decided to do Strawberry Banana Cupcakes.

I wasn’t really that happy with the result.  The batter was heavy so I knew it was going to be a dense “cupcake” (it basically turned into a muffin) 

I think it had too much flour to it and it wasn’t that sweet, so the second batch I added a little extra buttermilk and sugar to the mix.  The second batch was slightly better.

I’ll give you the recipe that I used anyway.  This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

½ cup butter softened

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 ¼ cups of flour (Like I said, I would reduce it by at least ½ cup)

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ cp buttermilk

½ cup strawberry preserves

1 cup milk chocolate chips_

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees

*Place paper baking cups in 24 muffin cups.  Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar in bowl until light & fluffy.  Beat in bananas, eggs, and vanilla.

*In separate bowl, sift flour, baking power, baking soda, and pinch of salt. 

*Alternately add one third flour mix and half of buttermilk to butter mixture and end with flour mixture. 

*Stir in strawberry preserves and chocolate chips.

*Divide batter into cups and bake for approx 23 minutes.

Sprinkles Strawberry Frosting (I had to double it to fit 24 cupcakes, but I made a little more than used, so I froze it)

1 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed

2 cups unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold

Pinch of coarse salt

6 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.

* In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy.

* Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar; beat until well combined.

*Add vanilla and 6 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended.

Since I didn’t like the way my cupcakes turned out.  I poked a hole in the middle and added strawberry preserves to the middle.  I put some strawberry preserves into a ziplock bag, cut a small hole on the edge and put it into the middle.

I didn’t do any fancy design with these cupcakes, mainly because I was so frustrated with the end result.  I just used a cake spatula to spread the frosting over the cupcake (muffins).

I give this recipe a 2 ½ sprinkles  out of 5 sprinkles.  Maybe I’m being a bit too harsh, but I’m usually critical about my work.