Eggnog Cupcakes

In the continued spirit of the Christmas season, I decided to try a new festive recipe, Eggnog Cupcakes! Eggnog, while very delicious, is so thick, so it's hard to drink too much of it. So the best way to get the flavor of it is to put it in to recipes! I've made Eggnog ice cream before, so when I saw a recipe for Eggnog Cupcakes, I just knew I would be making them this holiday season. 

This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes. If you only want to make a dozen cupcakes, just do 2/3 of each ingredient (yes, sometimes baking means doing math...it's not just a science!)

First, you combine 2 1/4 cups flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 3/4 tsp baking powder, 3/8 tsp salt, and 3/4 tsp nutmeg (my apartment ended up smelling like nutmeg the rest of the day...not a bad thing). I used my whisk to make sure the ingredients were mixed well together.

Then you beat 3/4 cup unsalted butter that's been softened to room temperature and 1 1/2 cup sugar until it's light and fluffy, which takes about 3 minutes on medium/high speed.

Then you add in 3 eggs, one at a time, and make sure each is incorporated well before adding in the next one.

Once the eggs are all added in, you'll alternate the dry ingredients with the Eggnog!

You'll use a total of 1 1/2 cups of Eggnog, so you'll do 1/3 the dry ingredients, 1/2 cup eggnog, and then do that two more times. Once everything is combined and the batter is smooth, you spoon the batter into the baking pans with the liners. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to use an ice cream scoop! It's the perfect size and I don't make much of a mess.

You'll bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I ended up having to bake them a little bit longer, and rotating the pans because the ones in the back of the oven were cooking faster than the ones in the front. So I probably baked them all in all about 25 minutes. Either way, you'll want to check them after 20 minutes, and keep them baking until a toothpick you stick in them comes out clean. 

And now it's time for the frosting!!!

You'll want to beat 3/4 cup unsalted room temperature butter until it's smooth.

Then you'll add in 3 3/4 cup powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time.

I recommend beating the frosting on medium/high for a couple minutes after each addition to make sure it's smooth and creamy. Then you'll add in 3/16 tsp nutmeg.

And then add in about 6-9 teaspoons of eggnog until it's the consistency you prefer. 

Once the frosting was done, I put it on the cupcakes!

Let me tell you. These things are eggnogy, delicious, sweet, and awesome. You definitely cannot have more than one (unless you reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally love eggnog), but they are a perfect holiday treat!