Olive Oil Cupcakes with Lemon and Thyme
I wish my whiteboard had a reminder beep like my Outlook decides to do to me every time I am about to miss a meeting. This way when it is getting close to a deadline I am not once again frantically running around like a madman trying to throw something together.
This is my Taste and Create entry for the month of July. Once again for those who do not know Taste and Create is this awesome idea in which you are given a blog and choose a dish from that blog and then you write about that dish. If you are interested more information can be found at http://tasteandcreate.rezimo.com/
So this month I was truly scared I drew http://www.cupcakeproject.com. If anyone is familiar with my blog you understand I have as much in common with baking as a nerdy high school boy who plays Dungeons and Dragons on the weekend dating the head cheerleader who is Ms. Popularity. However, looking through her blog I felt instantly as ease everything is very well written, detailed, and well it felt like I had my own baking prodigy in my kitchen. Wee…maybe just maybe if I can follow directions correctly this will turn out to be a success and hopefully this entry will not live up to my blog’s name.
It took a little bit of looking to finally decide on one I wanted to try. The first one that stood out was grilled orange cupcakes (http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/06/orange-cupcakes-cupcakes-grilled-in.html). This is perfect for me it involves my number one love which is spending time in front of a grill with my number one frustration. If I average this I will be happy in the middle. However, a little bit more digging found a post that truly sparked my interest and this is (as you probably already guessed unless you somehow missed the big black text at the top of the screen) the Olive Oil Cupcakes with Lemon and Thyme (http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/05/olive-oil-cupcakes-with-lemon-thyme-and.html) It has ingredients I would never have ever considered throwing in a cupcake batter such as olive oil and thyme so it felt perfect for me.
Oh yeah I have to admit I have never ever up to this date made a cupcake. I love to eat them and I always vision making them to be this flour flying disaster that will take hours to clean up and mean to have to go to my Happy Gilmore happy place (yes there are midgets in mine also) or worse end me up in the insane asylum swearing the evil cupcake is going to devour me. So given that in mind I have to say in the words of Comic Book Guy: Easiest Cupcake Ever. It was light, lemony, and the thyme did not overpower at all. I have actually eaten three of the little buggers since I have started writing this.
Without anymore rambling (aka I want to finish this so I can sleep) I present you with the recipe for bestest cupcakes ever:
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 t baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 C granulated sugar
- 2/3 C of awesome extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T lemon zest
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 C lemon juice
- 2 T finely chopped fresh thyme
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. This is how little I have baked I umm…did not own a sifter.
Ina large bowl combine the sugar and lemon zest and using a mixer beat around to combine. This will help release the lemon oil into the sugar. Add in the olive oil and once again mix to combine.
Add the eggs into the mixture one at a time and do not add the next egg till the previous egg has been fully incorporated into the mixture. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix till combined. Add in 1/2 of the lemon juice and then another 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add in the last 1/2 of the lemon juice and finally the last 1/3 of the flour wait……1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1 ok good all the flour is added. Stir in the thyme.
Now the strange part for some reason I actually have muffin pans and liners. Yeah I have no clue either best I can think of is the cooking gods were smiling favorably upon me and gave them to me.
Anyways, back on track. Fill the liners about 3/4 of the way full. Place in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes.
I can tell you they were moist and very tasty and definitely maybe the start of the high school Dungeons and Dragon nerd getting the most popular girl at school.
p.s. are they naturally suppose to have that many breaks in them? I have never seen them unfrosted and I was not about to tempt fate and go for frosting making.
Jeff baking?! Has the whole world gone topsy-turvy? :run:
lol, seriously though, it looks great and the flavor sounds like it would be really interesting. Frosting is next in your future, for sure.
The breaks don’t look too bad, but it usually suggests a slightly-too-high temperature (or uncalibrated oven) to me. *shrugs*
As for sifting, I just use my fine mesh strainer. I have other more expensive kitchen toys higher on my wish list I need to save up for.
Congrats on baking your very first cupcakes! I was excited to see that you picked the olive oil ones. They are actually some of my favorite cupcakes! Your tops came out just perfect, btw. That’s how mine looked too. The balsamic frosting was also crazy easy. Hopefully you’ll give frosting a try sometime too!
BTW - I’ve certainly never made pulled pork before. I bake, I don’t cook. However, your site made it easy. That’s why I always love Taste & Create!
Ohh…good point I bet you my oven is probably way way off.
These sound super good I have always loved olive oil cake so this sounds awesome!
you’re a natural! next thing ya know, stef’s blog will be all meat, all the time and yours will be cupcake central. or maybe not.
This is mean, I know, but I’m going to do it anyway…
Since I live in France I have missed this whole cupcake craze….
But why is this a cupcake rather than a muffin (which I would heve expected with the olive oil, lemon and thyme)?
Oh well, who cares… It looks and sounds delicious, and I might even be able to handle it…
Well done!
Congrats on your 1st cupcake! I suppose you did sneak by on making probably the most ‘manly’ cupcake on the site
Mike: The world is a cruel hard place that is constantly full of evil suprises.
Stef: Tell you what send me bake goods and I will send you meals?
Katie: Not mean at all. Hell you could put a cupcake next to a muffin and probably throw a bagel there and I would look at you blankly if you asked me to pick out the cupcake.
Sharon: Nahh the ones of the grill would have been the manly ones to do. Still trying to figure out how to do a bacon cupcake though.
Noble Pig: Apparently I am so baking stupid that everyone I have told about using olive oil in baking looks at me like I am more of an idiot than normal.
grace: Next baking I do will be if I draw another baker in T&C. Don’t tell anyone but I have bought the Bread Maker’s Apprentice in an attempt to actually figure it out.
Hi Jeff,
Considering that this is the first time that you made cupcakes, you are very adventurous to choose such an interesting combination of flavours. Well done! And as for the tops, who care how it looks as long as it tastes good.
By the way, if you decide to bake some more, lots of baked good can be frozen if you don’t feel like experimenting and don’t want to eat all of it. It’s such a nice surprise to open my freezer and find frozen home-made brownies, cakes, cinnamon rolls…
Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by my blog,
Nora
Ooh, I have an olive oil and hazelnut cake recipe that I’ve been meaning to try for ages. Must do! Taste and Create sounds fascinating, but a lttle scary.
really nice.. im glad you made cupcakes:-)
Sounds so good. So much better than using butter for sure. I wouldn’t mind those breaks. Means it will have a nice crust to it.