Cranberry White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a great Veteran's day! I had planned on cooking/baking more over the weekend, but life being what it is, kept me pretty busy all weekend. Saturday, at the last minute, I decided to go to a comedy show fundraiser for the First Skin Foundation. Some people who I grew up with added a new member to their family a couple of years ago and he was born with a very rare skin disease. He is in full recovery, but they wanted to do something to support the First Skin Foundation, so there was a comedy show with a semi-local comedian, Bucky Lewis. It was an absolute riot, I was glad I decided to go.

So there was my Saturday night, which I usually spend at home with the pups cooking up something.

Then, Sunday, I went to visit Dan for lunch and went to look for some holiday decorations at Michael's. When did Michael's become so expensive? I feel like a lot of their home decor seemed very pricey. I ended up leaving with a new frosting gun (woo woo!) and a bunch of cupcake liners that were on sale. Not bad I suppose. Then, Dan ended up home early instead of going to hockey. So we got some quality time in on a Sunday, which almost never happens.

That leaves us to yesterday, Veteran's Day, which I had off. I had planned on baking these cupcakes and bringing the leftovers to work. Well I forgot that Dan and I had a memorial to go to for someone he knew who recently passed away. So, I got my errands in during the day and then we went to the memorial. I should also mention I had a headache from Friday until Sunday morning, which then returned yesterday. So by the time we got home, after decided to go buy a clicker control collar for Lana, I was all but in the mood to bake. I figured I could bake them tonight, which I finally did.

As great as it was to be busy over the weekend, I always hate when I have extra time to cook and never use it. Oh well, some of it got done today.

These cupcakes are incredibly flavorful. The cupcakes are soft, but dense, and you can really taste the cream cheese in the batter. It gives it a cheesecake type flavor, which is dotted by some white chocolate chips, and then you have the tart cranberries bursting through everywhere. The frosting was very, very smooth. If left out or if you are serving these somewhere warm or in warm weather, I'm not sure this frosting would be so great. You would have to add more powdered sugar to thicken it up. I stored these in the fridge after frosting them so they would keep better due to the cream cheese. When I go to serve them, I will let them sit out for about a half hour to come to room temp. The original recipe had a white chocolate mousse filling. For some reason, I thought I still had my bar of baker's white chocolate, but I forgot that I had used it recently. So, to improvise since I didn't have the good quality chocolate for the mousse, I threw in some white chocolate chips I had in the pantry to the batter.

Cranberry White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Krissy's Creations

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 block (8 oz) cream cheese, room temp
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 and 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 and 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
2 cups of cranberries, tossed in 1 tbsp flour
1 cup white chocolate chips

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
2 blocks (16 oz) cream cheese, room temp
2 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 tbsp. pure maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 muffin pans with liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese, until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the sugar and beat to combine.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing each until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and mix everything in.
5. Add in almond and vanilla extract.
6. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, salt and baking powder.
7. Add the flour mix to the batter, alternating with the milk. (Flour mix, milk, flour mix, milk, flour mix)
8. Fold in cranberries and white chocolate chips.
9. Use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter evenly into the liners. Bake for 25-35 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and cool completely.
11. To make the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
12. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing until fully combined. Add the vanilla and maple syrup and mix well.
13. Frost cupcakes. Garnish with cranberries if desired. Eat!