Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Coconut Cupcakes

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 1/3 c. sugar

2 large whole eggs plus

2 egg whites

1 1/2 tsp. pure coconut extract

3/4 c. unsweetened coconut milk (canned)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Pulse shredded coconut in a food processor until finely ground, and whisk into flour mixture.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in whole eggs, whites, and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of coconut milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cam tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. remove from oven; turn out cupcakes onto wire racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread a generous amount of frosting onto each cupcake, and if desired, garnish with toasted coconut. Store at room temperature.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 tsp. coconut extract

With an electric mixer, on medium speed beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed on low. Add sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add vanilla. Mix until combined, scraping the bowl as necessary. If thinner frosting is desired, add a little milk.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

I love my sugar cookies soft. If you don't, this recipe isn't for you. But these turn out right every time. And just in time for Valentine's. Adorn these cookies just the way you want. I'll include my frosting recipe as well.

Sugar Cookies

3 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, then add sour cream and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture 1/3 at a time.

Wrap dough in wax paper and chill.

Roll out 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies in desired shapes and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.



My Cookie Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese
1 stick of softened butter
2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

With an electric mixer, mix all together and add a little milk if necessary. Mix in desired food coloring.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

This is probably one of the first cookies I learned to make when I was young. When I was a senior in high school, my parents moved to Texas and allowed me to finish my cherished years in high school in an apartment in Arkansas with my brother who was in college. In an attempt to cure some homesickness, I traveled to visit my family to Amarillo via a sketchy Greyhound bus. While I was gone, my brother got a craving for these cookies I had made him once before. Upon arriving back to our apartment, I opened up our fridge to find a bowl full of dark brown, gooey liquid. I then heard my brother admit, "Oh yeah. I tried making those cookies." Apparently he didn't add quite enough flour. I'm sure he wasn't planning on even getting to the baking step because I witnessed this same brother, a few years later as we both ventured to college to Utah,  lick a bowl clean full of a Jiffy blueberry muffin mix prior to the oven preheating to make his muffins. He does love batter. Those with raw egg aversions, turn away.

Anyway, here's a great, moist, and slightly messy to eat cookie recipe:

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. Roll each ball in a bowl full of confectioner's sugar. Then place on cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.