Vanilla honey cupcakes

I  am conflicted. I am really proud of myself for basically combining a bunch of recipes and substitutions to create these cupcakes. Honestly, Google helped a lot. Still, this was one of my first Frankenstein recipe attempts.

However, these disappointed slightly for what I wanted. Don’t get me wrong, they are yummy. Sweet and moist and cakey. But the honey flavor is not as strong as I would like. It is a little warm, but is missing that sweet, soothing honey effect. The use of honey is really just a sugar substitute. So I would supplement this with a honey frosting, but what base? Buttercream? Cream cheese? A glaze? I don’t really like frosting, so that decision is always the hardest part for me. And I never really like the end result. Just the plain cupcake.

Well, if you are trying to avoid processed sugar and want a delicious and not terrible for you cupcake recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients
1/3 cup milk*
1 teaspoon white vinegar*
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 teaspoon table salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons salted butter
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon Vanilla Paste
2 large egg whites

* or use 1/3 cup buttermilk. I didn’t have that on hand so I improvised.

Makes 8 at 134 calories per cupcake (sans frosting)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°.

Put 1 teaspoon white vinegar into a 1/3 measuring cup. Fill the rest with milk. Or use 1/3 cup buttermilk. Let sit for 5 minutes.
Combine and sift dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda) in a small bowl.
Combine butter, honey and vanilla in a medium bowl with a hand mixer. Add egg whites.
Slowly mix in dry ingredients, scraping down the sides to fully incorporate. Once combined, add in milk mixture until completely mixed in.
Line a cupcake pan with cupcake papers. Fill approximately 2/3 of the way.
Bake between 15-20 minutes, checking periodically.

I happened to have the night off and I made this batch as a test for for best twinnie’s birthdays next week. So I will probably make a honey cream cheese frosting for that. And I’ll let you know how it goes (hopefully delicious)! And maybe I’ll take photos.

Oh well! I will try and update this next week with more photos and a frosting recipe! If I don’t and you decide to make these, enjoy! 🙂

EDIT
I never bothered to photograph the final result with frosting. It made 17 mini cupcakes, which were delicious. I made a frosting of:
8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2 tablespoons butter
Splash whole milk
1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar

Blend together until smooth, refrigerate until use.

It made more than I needed for the 17 mini cupcakes and I found it a little thinner than I wanted but it had been un-refrigerated for longer than I would have liked due to my schedule. But Loren (one of the birthday girls) absolutely loved it. So I consider it a success! 🙂

Hurricane dinner!

Due to a serious hurricane approaching, I have been in my house all day. With possibility of a power outage, I resisted the urge to cook. I mean, the last thing I want to do is put a batch of …

Oh, hello!

Hi! I am resisting the urge to put !!!! everywhere. I am very excitable! I am finally discovering myself and it would be a personal tragedy if my “self” ceased to exist. I need to feel silly and excited running down stairs in such a way it feels like skipping. I need to find a million pick-me-ups in any given day because that’ll guarantee I smile at least a million times that day.

I am full of emotion. I try and channel it in a positive way, and I believe my enormous capacity for emotion allows me to be incredibly happy but the low feels like bottom.  I think most people know that low, the nearly debilitating urge to hide under the covers for days. I fight that when it comes, I much prefer positivity.

Something happened in my twenties. I am not really sure where I fit in before then, in college and kind of slacking off, doing just enough to get by. Since graduating, I have found a form of personal happiness. That happiness seems to stem from totally embracing new experiences (such as blogging!). And that is not to say everything I have tried has stuck. Oh, not at all. (See: WoW) But I have definitely enjoyed everything I try in its own way and discovered my personal key to happiness, which involves finding a passion in new things. My happiness is pursuing new happiness.

Another crazy thing that happened after college? I now feel guilty sleeping past 10am. Now, even if it is just being up to share breakfast with my parents or catch up on Cosmo (the only magazine subscription I have, courtesy of my grandma), it is about feeling fulfilled. 

Certain things I feel as though have gone full circle. I remember being embarrassed of my parents, not wanting them around and just generally being a teenager. Now, I fully admit I still live with them. I appreciate that we have such a relationship that I can. Other perks include my mom making my lunch Monday through Thursday. I could not support myself at this point and I am so grateful that I am still welcome at home.

So I guess my point here is this. This will be a place for me to share my passions. I could not decide on a singular topic I would want to post about. That is why this blog is about balance. I have not reached a point of internal peace but I am working to cultivate my desires into hobbies and thus, happiness. I have studied fitness, but I can’t imagine blogging solely about that. I love cooking but I am not yet creative or consistent enough for that. I try being crafty every so often with drawing or creations I find on Pinterest but that isn’t worth blogging about.

So it is all of it then. All my attempts at recipes, exercises, plans, crafts, everything. This is trial and error for me; I am putting myself out here for the world to read and judge, but hopefully enjoy.

I am not perfect, I will never be perfect. Hell, I don’t want to be perfect. I just want to continue finding balance and happiness.