Red Hot ~Holiday~ Cupcakes

Red-Hot-Polka-Dots and Full of Holiday Cheer!!!

  I fell in love this year...with a cupcake.  It was the Red Hot Cinnamon cupcake for February at Icing on the Cupcake.  I'm a huge fan of Hot Tamales, too.  HUGE fan.  And, if I could find a hot cinnamon flavor Australian liquorice, I'd be in heaven almost every-single-day.  So, I've had this recipe from Erica at Sweet Tooth in the BIWB vault for quite some time.  And, since RED is my favorite color, my posts this month all seem to involve RED baked goods, and RED is one of the primary colors of Christmas, I decided to make these for you. 



I heavily modified Erica's original recipe to incorporate booze, of course.  I had to purchase Goldschlager, a cinnamon schnapps, yesterday at 10am - who goes to the liquor store that early???...Thought about buying a few of those "mini" bottles of booze, but opted for the 750 ml.  I love cinnamon, so I feel okay with having this HUGE bottle "on hand."  And, please don't be surprised if you see a cocktail recipe (or 2) using Goldschlager on BIWB soon...It IS the holiday season, right?  ;-)

Step-by-Step

Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  That's a SOLID 3 minutes.  Then, add your first egg.

Beat well, and see?

Add the other egg, beat well, then add that last egg white.  Super light. 

Mix your buttermilk and Goldschlager.  I used my new 1 cup measure.  Nice.  :-)

Goldschlager is made in Italy, so good!!!!!

Mix in your flour and milk/Goldschlager mixtures on SLOW, alternating, starting and ending with your flour.

I incorporate that last little bit by hand.  Works great.  Control.  My mantra.

Your batter will be thick...And, YUMMY! 
I had no idea how ~delicious~ Goldschlager can be.  ;-)

Fill those cupcake liners and drop 10 Red Hots on top of each. 

Using a skewer, push those little guys down into the batter.  You want to do this as they have a natural inclination to move their way UP while baking.  I gather that Erica's instructions include this step, as opposed to just mixing the Red Hots into the batter before filling the cups, so that you achieve a more "even" distribution of Red Hots.  Hum...probably, I guess...

After pushing the Red Hots down below,
I sorta smoothed the tops.  See?

Bake 'em and take 'em out-o-the-oven.  Let them cool a bit before taking 'em out-o-the-pan.  Not too long.

And, as you can see, I overfilled these. 
Probably should have used the #12 scoop (3oz)...
I get a little carried away these says...

My audience...Tired, little, girl...

Pulverize, I mean DESTROY, the Red Hots in a mini-chopper.  I only made 1/2 a batch of frosting, so even this small amount took some mighty motor speed.  If this Black and Decker mini-chopper EVER dies, I'm done. 

Before

After

Make the frosting...

Beat the butter a bit, then add all the liquid (except for the corn syrup).

Emulsification Step, sorta.

Add in the crushed Red Hots.

Viola!

Frost those puppies...This is what they look like on the inside.  I'd prefer MORE Red Hots, myself.  Maybe crushed up next time.  :-)

Red Hot Polka Dots

Red Hot ~Holiday~ Cupcakes

Adapted from Sweet Tooth's Red Hots Cupcakes  (her recipe made 24, you decide what works for you)

For the buttermilk cupcakes:
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar (secret weapon)
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
12 tbsp butter, at room temperature
2 whole eggs + 1 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup Goldschlager (or other cinnamon schnapps)
1/2 cup buttermilk
10 red hots per cupcake

For the Red Hots Buttercream Frosting (enough for 24 cupcakes):
1 cup butter
1 or 2 tbsp milk or cream

2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp Goldschlager

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Corn syrup

1/4 cup crushed red hots (I used my mini-chopper)

To make the cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt.  In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk and Goldschlager.
3.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and egg whites one at a time, beating on medium between each addition. Add vanilla.
5. Add flour on low in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk and Goldschlager, starting and ending with flour.
6. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full* and place 10 red hots in each cupcake, using skewer to push them down into the batter. *Fill according to what works best for your pans, only you will know.
7. Bake 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Red Hots Buttercream Frosting:
1. Cream the butter, milk, vanilla and Goldschlager in electric mixer (flat or wire beater) on low for 1-2 minutes until creamy and almost emulsified. 

2.  Slowly add sugar and beat until smooth, scrap along the way, increasing speed to medium. 

3.  Add 1 tbsp corn syrup in increments until you get the spreading/piping consistency that you like.  (I didn’t use more than 2 tbsp.) 

4.  Add the crushed Red Hots. 

5.  Increase to medium high and beat for about 1 minute until fluffy. 

6.  Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Merry Christmas!!!!!