Raspberry Cupcakes

My Father-in-law loves raspberries, and since our family came over for supper last week I decided to make a raspberry dessert. I started searching for a cupcake recipe...remember I am on a cupcake kick. Through my diligent searching I came across these little goodies. Amazingly I had everything I needed to make these babies except the raspberries and some raspberry jam. NOTE: I would suggest making these cupcakes when raspberries are in season, or buying some frozen raspberries. I paid $5 bucks for an ittty bitty container.

Here are the ingredients you will need for the cupcakes.

First you want to preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Next, mix your cream cheese, butter and sugar using an electric mixer. I put my cream cheese, still in the wrapper, on my oven racks and let it warm up while the oven is preheating. Keep an eye on it for a couple of minutes, and use ovenmits to remove it from the racks...better safe, than burnt fingers.

Add the eggs, milk, and almond extract.

Mix thoroughly.

Add the rest of the cupcake ingredients, the batter will be a little stiff.

Line your muffin tins with paper liners (or grease and flour, but why deal with all that mess, I just use liners).

Fill the cups 1/2 full of batter. Make an indention in the center of each cupcake using the tip of a spoon.

Here are the ingredients you will need for the raspberry filling:

Combine all the filling ingredients in a small/medium bowl.

Beat with a mixer. It will be a little lumpy.

Add about 1-2 tsp. of filling to the center of each cupcake.

Bake 25-30 minutes (my oven took the full 30 minutes). Let cool 10 minutes in the pan. Then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Here are the raspberry frosting ingredients.

Combine all ingredients except the milk in a medium bowl.

Beat with an electric mixer.

Gradually add the mile until the frosting is creamy...if you haven't made butter cream icing before...a little milk can go along way...so be careful and don't add too much.

Put the icing on the completely cool cupcakes. If they are still a little warm, then the center will get stuck to your icing utensil and make a mess...which means you will have to eat that one...oops.

The instructions say to refrigerate the cupcakes until ready to serve. They are good cold, but it also drys the cupcakes out. So, do whatever you feel is best. The next time I make these, I probably won't refrigerate.

Here is the final yummy product.

Cupcake Ingredients:

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp almond extract

2 cups flour

1tsp baking powder

1//2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Raspberry Filling:

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 egg

3 tbsp fresh or frozen, thawed raspberries

1/3 cup sugar

Raspberry Frosting:

3 cups powder sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp raspberry jam (seedless)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk

Have a wonderful day!!

Amy