Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cupcakes

I must first start off this post by saying that everyone that knows me is probably thinking, "What in the world?! That girl wouldn't eat those cupcakes! Why is she baking them?"  As I said in my very first blog post, I am following this book, The Big Book of Cupcakes (Betty Crocker, Wiley Publishing, Inc, 2011). Although there may be cupcakes that come up that do not wow my taste-buds, I am committed to baking each and every one of them and taste-testing them. 

As usual, I used the box cake mix (white) for my base and added pistachios and dried cherries. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of chopped pistachio nuts. Not sure about everyone else, but I do not like big chunky nuts in my cupcakes or cakes or brownies for that matter. I realize that nuts are an integral part to some recipes and yes, the flavor is yummy, BUT I'm a huge texture person and huge chunks...not my favorite. So, instead of just roughly chopping the pistachios, I actually ground them up pretty fine. I used my Magic Bullet. And I have to say, if you don't have a mini-chopper, the Magic Bullet is where it's at! It comes with lots of pieces that were useful during the making of this cupcake. I didn't appreciate it when I first got it, but now I'm grateful that I have it! So, I finely ground up a cup of pistachios. Apparently I read the recipe wrong and when I went back and looked over it (after I already added it into the mix) I realized that I added a half a cup too many ground pistachios! Oh well! 

Next up, the dried cherries. I had never eaten (or seen) a dried cherry before, so I wasn't sure what I was in for. Here's the deal with dried cherries, they are quite large. If you are used to eating raisins or craisins, dried cherries are WAY different. Well, maybe not WAY different in the concept, but definitely in the size. So, when I plopped the cup (yes, 1 cup..kudos for reading that step correctly!) in the mix, I soon realized that maybe using whole dried cherries was not the best idea.  I probably should have chopped those up a little smaller. I wasn't sure if grinding them in the Magic Bullet was the best idea because it might produce a lot of juice and turn the cupcakes red (which actually might be kind of pretty..hmmm). But, definitely somehow getting the dried cherries into a smaller size would have been a better route. (Unless you really like dried cherries, then leaving them full size is fine.) In all fairness, the whole dried cherry in the cupcake didn't bother me. I'm not a huge fan of cherries, but it wasn't so bad. Let me rephrase...the taste was delicious....but again, being a texture person the whole glob of a cherry in my mouth was not my favorite feeling. 

The frosting was vanilla buttercream frosting. I made this frosting myself this time and I have to tell you, they really think you are going to heap that frosting onto the cupcake. I had SO much left over frosting. The recipe calls for 6 cups of powered sugar, then butter, milk, and vanilla. Next time, I think I'm going to eyeball those ingredients so I don't end up with a gallon of it. 

On top of the frosting I sprinkled some more ground up pistachios. The book says to decorate with pistachios and dried cherries, but unfortunately I used the whole bag of cherries IN the cupcakes. Again, I ground the pistachios (score # 2 for the Magic Bullet!) due to the fact that I'd rather have them ground up and sprinkled onto my cupcake than chunked onto my cupcake. Personal preference. :-) 

I then delivered the cupcakes to my neighbors  The first neighbor to eat one said she liked them, and she commented about the size of my cupcakes, so I feel the need to share my little tidbit here about how I get the size cupcake that I do. Most cupcake books will tell you that the ice cream scoop is the best scoop for the perfect size cupcake. I don't use an ice cream scoop, but I do have a cookie scoop that I use and it is perfect. I actually use about a scoop and a half and the cupcake really does come out the perfect size. Especially for kiddos with small hands and mouths. 

My opinion: The cupcakes are good. Like I said at the very beginning, if I wasn't do this project I definitely wouldn't have made this cupcake by choice. However, I'm committed to trying and in the end, it's not so bad. The taste was pretty good, the consistency was pretty good, and overall not a bad cupcake. If you are into pistachios and dried cherries, this would be right up your alley. 

There was a neat little tip on this recipe's page that said freeze the cupcakes before frosting them. Then, take them out a few hours before you want to serve them and frost. Since I have given away as many as I could in my neighborhood, (and they aren't exactly my favorite cupcake) I decided to freeze the rest of them and hopefully I'll be able to use them for some kind of something soon. :-) I'm not sure exactly how long they will last in the freezer, and if they will even taste good when they have been thawed out, but I guess we shall see. 

My parents are coming this weekend, so I will test the freeze and thaw method on them and get back to you on how that worked out. 

Here is a picture of my Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cupcake:

Here is the link to the recipe online. (Just a note, the frosting I used was Vanilla Buttercream, and it was homemade. The frosting listed in this recipe is store bought.)
Dried Cherry and Pistachio Cupcakes

Happy Baking!!