Roasted Blueberry Cupcakes

Happy National Blueberry Month!!! (Now you all know that July is National blueberry month..in case you did't already.) I picked blueberries at Washington Farms over the July 4th weekend. Not quite sure why my mom and I enjoy this so much but we do. This year we decided to go early in the morning so we would have a chance to pick blackberries too. It was my first time picking blackberries and man was it fun. I'm undecided about baking anything with blackberries. Right now I'm loving them with yogurt, granola, and some honey.

                                     

 

Back to the blueberries and recipe at hand. These recipes on the Bean Town Baker blog popped up before I went blueberry picking and I made a mental note that I had to see these beautifully purple cupcakes for myself. Wow! The color is amazing!

I was a little apprehensive about roasting blueberries in fear that my oven would be a mess. I placed the cute little guys on some aluminum foil and it was an easy clean up. Easy as in crinkle up the foil and throw it away! No harm done to the cookie sheet or oven. It was lots of fun watching the creamy batter turn purple. Now I will say that the bottom of my cupcake wells are slightly purple. I baked the cupcakes in purple liners but I have used these Wilton liners before in red with no problem. Still scratching my head on this one. My attempt at this recipe yielded 15 cupcakes. I'm sure I could have produced one more..oh well.

 

                               

 

 

The only change I made to the recipe was that I substituted almond extract for vanilla. Totally forgot to pick up vanilla extract at the grocery store. Whoops!

This cream cheese frosting recipe is to die for! Very sweet!!! (And it was enough to frost all 15 cupcakes with a little extra left for sampling.) My friend asked if there was extra frosting because she wanted to eat the frosting by itself. Silly girl...no leftovers...I took care of that. The girls in my small group noted that the cupcake is heavy and cake like. I agree with them that the consistency is like no other cupcake I have baked before. Must be that roasted blueberry goodness. Only had a few takers during small group so I brought the rest in to work. A coworker e-mailed me to say the cupcake is delicious. This made me think of Julia Child, "It's delicious!" On that note, do not feel like you have to go all out and pick fresh blueberries. Store bought berries will be just fine and then you too can watch the magical transformation into PURPLE batter and cupcakes.

Roasted Blueberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Roasted blueberries have a strong sweet flavor that comes through perfectly in these cupcakes

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp milk
1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread blueberries on a baking sheet (with sides) and roast for 10-15 minutes, or until berries start to burst. Remove from oven and let cool.

Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined, another 2-3 minutes.

Add flour, baking powder and salt with the mixer on low speed, then gradually increase speed.

Scrape in blueberries and beat on medium speed until the berries break down – about 2-3 minutes. At this point, the berries most likely have enough liquid that you only need to add a small amount of milk to the batter.

Begin adding 1 tablespoon of milk at a time and beat with the mixer until the batter is smooth. You definitely want it to be cake batter and not dough. (My batter took 2 Tbsp of milk)

Pour into cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way full, and bake for 18-22 minutes or until cake is set. Let cool completely, then frost.

 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Yield: 1 cup (enough to frost 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese at room temp
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter at room temp
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on medium-high until completely smooth, 3-4 minutes. Add the butter and continue to cream until fluffy.
Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar (1/4 cup at a time) until desired consistency is reached.