s'more cupcakes, please...

like most girls i often catch myself dreaming about my future home, picket fences, black shutters, a beautiful garden, a kitchen that will allow more than two people comfortably and last but not least, a huge fireplace. my moms old house had a beautiful fireplace, it was the center piece of our living room, my sister and i often found ourselves sitting in front of it for heat or just because we knew it was the only place other than the table that we could have food and mom wouldn't say "are you crazy, take that in the kitchen", in her defense, i do spill all the time.

so last week i found myself daydreaming yet again, except this time i was inspired to make a cupcake that matched my mood at that moment. since i was thinking of all things snuggly, a fireplace instantly came to mind, and what is the all time most amazing thing that can be made with a fireplace...s'mores...i give you the s'more cupcake with homemade marshmallow fluff frosting

pre-heat oven to 350 degress

chocolate cupcake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 unsweetened cocoa (i use trader joe's brand)
1 1/2 tspns baking powder
1 1/2 tspns baking soda
1 tspn salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk (i used skim)
1/2 vegetable oil
2 tspns vanilla (i like the bourbon vanilla from trader joe's)
3/4 cup hot water

1. stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt
2. add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla - beat on medium speed (i like to use medium high but whatever you prefer)
3. once combined, stir in the hot water (batter will be very runny at this point)

fill your favorite cupcake papers (i used red) 3/4 way high and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
(let cool completely before icing, i let them sit for 3 hours)

the fluff part seems tricky but is actually pretty simple

marshmallow fluff:
2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
6 tbspns water
1 tbspn light corn syrup
1/2 tspn cream of tartar
1/4 tspn salt
1 1/ cup mini marshmallows
1 tspn vanilla (i use bourbon vanilla from trader joe's)

boil a cup of water in a small sauce pan - this is for step 2 below

1. in the metal bowl from your mixer combine egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, cream of tartar and salt
2. place the metal bowl on the small sauce pan (make sure bowl is not submerged in the water) stirring
constantly until sugar has dissolved (i set the timer for 5 minutes and that seemed a perfect amount of time)
3. pull bowl from sauce pan, using your electric mixer blend on medium high for 2 to 3 minutes (i blended
until it was fluffy and peaking)
4. place mini marshmallows in small bowl and heat in the microwave for 45 seconds (just make sure you
don't burn the marshmallows)
5. place the heated marshmallows in the fluffy mixture and continue to mix on high for 3 to 5 minutes

the mixture will appear liquidy but is actually a very firm fluff

place in your piping bag with your favorite tip (i didn't use a tip) and pipe on cooled cupcakes

i added a hershey square and a cinnamon sugar pita chip for decoration

happy baking and until next time xoxo...