Magically Delicious! AVOCADO SPICE MINI CUPCAKES WITH AVOCADO CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Sometimes we just need to write to keep our minds off of things…so I write to you this morning. *smiles*

If you have been following my posts on the Facebook page (which you all should be *smiles*…So just click that link there *wink*), you know that I recently made some cupcakes that raised a few eyebrows. They were made with Avocado. Oh sure. Be like the majority of people I mentioned these to and turn your nose up in disgust. But, if you’re like me, and you truly believe that the avocado’s soul purpose on this Earth is not just for Guacamole, then this recipe is for you! It is delicious, and the icing could be eaten on a variety of items…from dipping a butter cookie into it, a fruit dip, to putting on other cakes and cupcakes.

This is one you need to trust me on. And, I’ll be honest, since I didn’t have the highest hopes for this little surprise gem of a recipe, I didn’t get photographs throughout the process. However, I did take one before I carried them to work. If you haven’t figured it out yet by reading the above…everyone loved them!

Please try…you won’t be disappointed!

It seems like a lot of work (I’ll admit that fact), but it’s the prep that is intimidating. In the end it’s worth it, and the green tint to the icing makes for a perfect holiday treat. The recipe was found on this site…If you love Avocados, you might find many more recipes to try and tips to store your Avocados.

When I made them, the recipe yielded 24 mini cupcakes, and 12 regular cupcakes. So there is the potential for 48 minis. I followed the instructions almost exact, and as usual, if there is anything I adjusted, it will be written beside it. As a side note: Each mini cupcake is 4 Weight Watchers Points Plus. Just in case any of you needed that. *wink*

AVOCADO SPICE MINI CUPCAKES WITH AVOCADO CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter
2 eggs – I used egg whites, and added 1 tsp. of oil per egg required as a substitute.
1 cup (2 for me) Fresh California Avocado, peeled, seeded, mashed (Of course I don’t have California Avocado, so I just used the regular Avocado from my grocery store.)
½ cup buttermilk – I never keep fresh buttermilk, but I do keep powdered buttermilk for these kinds of odd recipes or when I want to make biscuits. *smiles*
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg – for the spices…sadly, I didn’t have all of them, so I used the equivalent amount for the three, 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice.
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
1 tsp. baking soda
½ cup raisins – Ummm…yeah, I just used mini-snack boxes of raisins. It looked about like 1/2 cup. *smiles*
½ cup walnuts, chopped – I used Pecans, but Walnuts would be much more perfect!
1 tsp. additional flour

Avocado Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
3 Tbsp. Fresh California Avocado, peeled, pitted, pureed – I just mashed the crap out of it.
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
2 tsp. sour cream
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Cream together sugar and butter. Add the avocado and eggs and beat to incorporate. Mix in the buttermilk.
Mix together the flour, spices and baking soda. Add them to the batter and mix well.
Toss the raisins, walnuts and small amount of flour together. Add to the batter and mix in.
Pour into mini cupcake pans lined with holders and bake at 350 until done and golden, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool to room temperature before frosting.

Avocado Cream Cheese Frosting Preparation

(The frosting isn’t really a “piping” frosting. At least mine wasn’t. It’s more soft, as you can see in the photograph.)

Beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in the pureed avocado.
Beat in the powdered sugar, sour cream and vanilla. Refrigerate. – I refrigerated mine overnight, and since it was a softer icing, just spooned a dollop over each cupcake and let it do it’s own thing.
Shelf life of the frosting is 3 days.