Week 6. Fresh and Healthy Banana Lime Cupcakes with Chai Icing

This week I wanted to make some cupcakes that were less sweety-sweet and more refreshingly fruity! And when I found this recipe, I knew I'd found it!



Fresh and Healthy Banana Lime Cupcakes

Source: Cupcake Fun

Ingredients:
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 ripe bananas mashed
• 1 teaspoon lime zest grated
• 3/4 cup sour cream

instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, lime juice, vanilla, banana and lime zest; mix well. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream; blend thoroughly but do not overmix. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

Chai Icing
1 8-ounce package of non-fat or reduced-fat cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground clove
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

**Hannah's Hints**

* This original recipe didn't call for a specific type of icing, so I looked through what I had in my files...I love this chai icing, and it was a nice complement to the fruity freshness!

* Fresh limes are fantastic...but you'll probably only need one for this recipe. I bought 4...so now I have 3 limes waiting to be used in something else! They smell heavenly, and are really fun to juice...so find that little juicer and have some fun. Also, it's helpful to roll limes around on the table to get it warm and the juice flowing!

* As has been the case with most of my other recipes, if this batter happens to spill on your hand, you will probably want to spill some more...it's pretty darn delicious!

* In case you were wondering, my new mixer is heavenly!! It has so much power and looks very space-age...I'm in love!


* This batter smells absolutely delicious when you're mixing it...I was reminded of our family Christmas in Cabo a few years back!






* I had high hopes of spending Friday evening baking and crafting...that mostly happened! There are the shirts I made and the brilliant Valentine's made by Carly:



Hopefully more crafts and delicious cupcakes to come, next week the cupcakes will be part of my payment to Tim DePriest for transposing my music...he's my hero!

Week 4. "Stay healthy, we're back at school!" Grapefruit Buttermilk Cupcakes with Chai Icing

I am sad to say that the main reason I chose to make these cupcakes is because I was feeling poor, and I only had to buy two ingredients to make these since I already had most of them. However, these cupcakes had a fabulous zip of an after-taste! AND got the Zach Wachter seal of approval! They were also an amazing, refreshing break from sweet-y, chocolate-y cupcakes. (Also, I magically had all of the ingredients for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies in my cupboard...so I made them to give those chocolate-lovers a fix! Also called Heaven Cookies, they are a crowd-pleaser...I'll post that recipe soon!)



"Stay healthy, we're back at school!" Grapefruit Buttermilk Cupcakes with Chai Icing
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup reduced fat margarine, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg white
1/2 cup 1% buttermilk or plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup 100% pink grapefruit juice
1 tablespoon pink grapefruit zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Ingredients for Icing
1 8-ounce package of non-fat or reduced-fat cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground clove
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat margarine and sugar with an electric mixer.

Beat in egg. Combine lemon extract, juice, zest, and buttermilk in a small bowl. Add half the buttermilk mixture and beat on low speed. Add half the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Repeat with remaining buttermilk and flour mixture. Divide batter evenly into the prepared cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back when the tops are pressed or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin pan an cool completely on a wire rack.

In a medium bowl, beat ingredients for icing until smooth. Once the cupcakes are cool, use a small spatula or butter knife to ice them. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
original recipe by skinnychef.com

**Hannah's Hints**

* Carly and I didn't have a zester, so instead she used a peeler and then chopped up the peelings...and they were delightful! They give a nice zing when you hit them in the cupcake. So fear not, if you are sans zester!

* For the first time, you can probably skip tasting the batter...the whole she-bang with icing and all is perfect.

* Grapefruit and buttermilk are both high in nutrition, and create a tender and refreshing texture. Hooray for healthy AND delicious!