CUPCAKESALOT

This April, we will be celebrating one year of sweet treats.

Because you have all been so awesome in eating and supporting our passion, we will be giving back, and spreading the love —and most importantly the cupcakes.

During the month of April, for every Celebration Dozen (4 Vanilla Birthday, 2 Salted Caramel, 2 Cookies and Creme, 2 Raspberry Coconut, 2 Chocolate Chip @ $15.00) ordered, we will be donating $10.00 to a Kickstarter.com independent project.

You can keep making dreams happen… and get some cupcakes out of it.

If you are unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it is a community of fellow Dream-followers looking to pursue their passions, big and small. You can tell us which project you would like to donate to, or we will be making donations to various projects that we feel are really going to change the world and affect people.

Thank you so much for a sweet year! Happy Cupcake-ing.

Honestly,

Justin.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

16 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter

1 room temperature egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger & cinnamon

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 cup chopped pecans, dried cranberries, dried cherries

1/4 cup chopped dried figs, dried pineapple, dried apricot.

In a bowl, mix the chopped dried fruits, nuts and orange juice/zest with 1 additional teaspoon of granulated sugar. Allow to macerate overnight, or at least 2 hours.

Allow ingredients to come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

Add the egg to the butter mixture on low speed and beat until well combined. Beat in vanilla. I used Nielsen & Massey Mexican Vanilla because it has a slightly spicy/woody flavor that works well with spices like cloves and ginger. Be sure not to over mix and to scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle.

On low, slowly add in the dry ingredients until dough forms a semi-cohesive ball. Fold in the fruit & nut mixture until just combined.

Roll the dough into a log in parchment paper or plastic wrap, or roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Either way, slice the dough into circles. For better results and to avoid sticking, refrigerate the dough until it is firm and flour your knife.

Bake cookies on a cookie sheet in the center rack for 8-10 minutes until cookies appear set on the sides, but still slightly moist in the center.

Let cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring onto a wire rack.

CUPCAKESALOT. now has a new email address. You can place your orders or reach us via

cupcakesalotbakery@gmail.com

Send us some love, and we’ll send you some back.