Macaroon Cupcakes

Last week while shopping at Holiday Market, we tried a sample from the bakery. You know that's how they get you right? I knew I would love it before I even tried them - how could you NOT like a Macaroon cupcake? Of course I supposed you must love coconut to really enjoy them. I know there are a few people out there that don't particularly care for coconut.

I resisted the impulse to purchase these and of course I regretted it. I always do. So my daughter and I decided to try to do this at home and did some research and found this recipe called "Macaroons a la Filipina" on the Tangled Noodle blog and based my recipe here from this foundation. I did not want to go with lemon undertones and replaced it with almond and vanilla for the flavorings with just a touch of fresh lemon juice. I also drizzled them with a quick ganache I made with semi sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream.

I can tell you that they are not exactly like the ones we had at Holiday Market. I think the ones at Holiday probably had egg whites rather than whole eggs in them as they were lighter, almost like a coconut filled angel food cake. Mine are definitely denser and heartier, a true cupcake.

Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 Tablespoon Water
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extracts
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
1 Package of Shredded Sweetened Coconut (about 5 1/3 cups)

Directions:
In a large bowl, put the flour, salt and baking powder in, and then quickly mix up with a wire whisk (I'm not sifting. I'm sorry). Set aside.

Brown Sugar with a Bit of Water

In a small saucepan add the water and sugar, and slowly melt. The mixture will not become a liquid but more of a paste. Set aside.

Cream the butter. Add the sugar mixture to the mixer and incorporate well.

Add eggs, extracts, lemon juice and condensed milk and beat until well mixed. I am a big fan of cracking all my eggs at once and putting in a Pyrex cup and then adding at once. This allows me to insure no shells get into the mixture as well as "check" the eggs for abnormalities. While that doesn't happen often a bad egg, well it's a bad egg, and it can ruin a dish.

After the liquid ingredients are mixed in well, start adding the dry ingredients slowly and on a low speed. We don't want to overdo it. The batter should be barely combined, not super emulsified. That sounds like a superhero power doesn't it?

Add the coconut by hand with a spoon. The mixture will be stiff and hard to work with. Place the mixture into paper lined cupcake pans. I originally filled them about 3/4 of the way like the original recipe but mine did not rise as much as I would have liked to make a crown. Fill them to the top without heaping.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until golden.

While in the oven, I used a double boiler and heated some whipping cream and melted some chocolate chips into it and stir with a wooden spoon. No recipe here - it's just some added goodness.