Butterscotch Cupcakes with Cashew Praline

A few of us friends meet up once every week for a potluck lunch. It's an afternoon I really look forward to... great homemade food, gossip, silly jokes and endless laughter. I am happiest when I have to bring dessert and I so look forward to trying out something new.

I really wanted to make cupcakes this time and ofcourse all I could think of was a chocolate one with a  rich ganache frosting. But I forced myself to go a different route and I'm so glad I did. The recipe is from The Butch Bakery Cookbook and calls for maple syrup, but I decided to use butterscotch sauce instead and it was fabulous. It was my first time tasting the sauce, its heavenly!! The frosting is a simple whipped cream frosting flavored with the same sauce and I topped each cupcake with a piece of cashew praline.

Butterscotch Cupcakes

yields 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

10 tbs (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, broken into a small bowl

2 tsps vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup butterscotch sauce (recipe below)

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup butterscotch sauce, 

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C. Line muffin pans with liners and keep aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside.

Beat the butter and brown sugar on medium high speed until well combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and add half the flour mixture and the milk, beating to combine.

Add the rest of the flour and the butterscotch sauce, and continue to mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Fill the muffin cups, about 3/4th full.

Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, for about 20 minutes or until done. 

Leave the cupcakes in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes and then remove from the pans and cool on the racks completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

Make sure the cream, bowl and beaters are chilled.

Take the cream and butterscotch sauce in a chilled bowl and beat on low to combine and dissolve the sauce in the cream. Raise the speed to medium high and whip until stiff peaks form. 

Frost the cupcakes as desired and top each with a piece of praline. You can also crust the praline into little bits and sprinkle on top of the cupcakes.

Butterscotch Sauce

from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

4 tbs (55 gms) salted butter

1 cup (180 gms) packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup (60 ml), plus 6 tbs (90 ml) heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

In a wide saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar and 1/4 cup cream, stirring until smooth.

Without stirring, let the mixture cook at a bubbling simmer for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in he remaining cream. Let cool a bit and stir in the vanilla extract.

The sauce should be served warm. It can be stored in the refrigerator for upto 2 weeks. Reheat the sauce over low heat.

Cashew Praline

from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp light corn syrup

1 tbs water

pinch of salt

1/3 cup cashews, toasted and crushed into small pieces

Method:

Grease a baking sheet and keep aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water, corn syrup and salt over medium high heat and stir constantly until the sugar dissolves.

Continue to cook, without stirring until deep amber. 

Remove from heat and stir in the nuts. Spread evenly on the greased baking sheet.

Let cool completely over a rack. Break into small pieces.