Blondie Cupcakes

I know it seems as though I have been slacking on my cupcake project as of late. First, there were quals, immediately followed by a family vacation, and then more quals. It seemed ludicrous to me to try to bake cupcakes in between everything. However, I did, anyway.

When I first moved to Lubbock, I found myself surrounded by a wonderful group of graduate students and young professionals in my branch. People looked out for me, and made sure I was included in whatever activities were going on. Because of school, I often had to decline their invitations, but I was always grateful to have friends who were looking out for me. One of those friends was Jenny Jo. Jenny Jo and I see eye to eye on many things, and have enjoyed many inside jokes together over the two years we have been in the branch together. She recently finished her master's in soil science, and moved back to Orem, Utah to look for a job.

Here is Jenny Jo with Chief at his barn during a Halloween dance.

The day before I left for California, we had a party for Jenny Jo, and I felt like the best way I could show my appreciation to her was to bake some cupcakes. Also, it's getting to the point where if I showed up with brownies or something, people would just look at me funny.

I picked blondies because I was almost out of eggs, and this is one of the few recipes that only calls for two. These turned out really well.

They had exciting things like cashews,

butterscotch chips,

and toffee bits,

They were a little more dense than most of the cupcakes I've made, but they were really good. I think, next time, I'll serve them with ice cream and some kind of maple cream sauce, like the ones you get at Applebee's. Also, they were pretty easy, which is not always the case when you are making a recipe from Martha Stewart.

Blondie Cupcakes

1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. (1 stick) plus 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature (for the record, I don't pay a lot of heed to whether or not my eggs are room temperature)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (still using imitation)

1/3 c. butterscotch chips

1/2 c. unsalted cashews, coarsely chopped (3 oz.)

1/4 c. toffee bits

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners (if I didn't write this, would people just do it?). Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and beat until incorporated. Fold in butterscotch chips, cashews, and toffee bits by hand.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tin halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers come out with only a few moist crumbs attached (but is not wet), about 30 minutes. Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Makes 12 (this is why it only uses 2 eggs).

Here is a shot of the finished cupcakes. By the time I got to the party, things were beginning to wind down, but the cupcakes were a hit nonetheless. Either that, or people have just gotten really good at giving me external validation.