Sunday, June 15, 2008

Coconut Cupcakes




Fathers Day is here! A lot of people go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner when these kind of days come (like Mothers Day or Valentines Day, etc, etc). However, we who enjoyed home cooking, choose not to. We'd rather just cook at home and just chill. What's better than that? Enjoying good home cooking and not having to care about much at all; That's awesome!

My dad wanted to have some of his favorite foods for Fathers Day. We slow cooked our favorite BBQ Pull Pork, we made Baked Beans, Potato Salad and Texas Toast. It was a lot of food to begin with, and I didn't really think I was going to bake anything. However, when my Nana and Grandpa came over for fathers day, and saw that I didn't bake anything, they were a bit upset. So, I decided that I'd come up with something good to bake.

I didn't really want to bake a cake; I didn't want to have something that not everyone would eat.. So I decided to bake cupcakes! My dad likes coconut, so I thought that it'd be a nice treat for him; And something that won't ruin is day of to much calories (He's a calorie counter like me). I remember seeing this recipe while watching Barefoot Contessa one day and they sounded so good!! I kind of altered mine to be without butter, and it turned out really good. Really, really good! The coconut went well with the cream cheese icing. It was really light and delicious.

This was entered into AFAM for June '08.





Recipe

For the Cupcake

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup shredded coconut

For the Cream Cheese Icing

8 ounces cream cheese, cold
4 ounces butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners sugar
Milk to thin


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers.

2. In a large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar and eggs until thick and smooth. Beat in vanilla. In a medium bowl, shift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to the liquid mixture and beat until smooth. Beat in yogurt. Fold in coconut.

3. Scoop batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 22 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.

4. For the icing, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the vanilla extract; then confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, if icing is too thick.

Makes 12-15 Cupcakes








12 comments:

Katie said...

Yum! I love coconut.

Emily said...

Happy Father's Day to your dad. All of the BBQ sounds really good.
I think the cupcakes look good. I'm not sure the butter is necessary, anyway, since you have the fat from the oil. I guess the Contessa just loves her butter!

Leslie said...

Wow your only 17??? you go girl..I smell a food network star in the making!!!you food looks wonderful as well as your photography!!!
Thanks so much for visiting my site! I know you will love my banana bread! Come back to visit anytime!

Elle said...

Those are gorgeous cupcakes! I adore coconut and to cut the butter...even better!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Yep, we do home-cooking for Father's Day as well - so much better that way, isn't it?? Love it.

Those cupcakes... oh my goodness... perfection!!

Carla said...

I'm a huge fan of your blog and your recipes. Especially since I'm also 17 and an amateur cook/baker but with much drive.

I just saw that you mentioned that you're a calorie counter!! I was was wondering how you find the balance with such decedent food and desserts and health. Thank you!

Sara said...

Mmmm, these look super tasty! Yum yum. I also wanted to let you know that I tagged you on my blog. :)

Shelby said...

Wow Elle, I'm totally in awe of your age! Great for you that you have such ambition! You do such a great job blogging that I never would have known your only 17!

My Sweet & Saucy said...

These look DELICIOUS! Great job!

RecipeGirl said...

I don't even like coconut, but these look amazingly delicious!

Jen said...

It's interesting that you cut out the butter... a friend of mine made this recipe (it is Ina's, isn't it?) a few years ago and we all thought that they were way too rich and buttery.

Happee Monkee said...

Oh hey, I've been looking for a coconut cupcake recipe!
JOY!
I'm going to put this on my (long) to-do list. Thanks for visiting twentysomething!

 
 
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