Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Today is a special day in the Buck house.  I can’t believe I’m saying this but my baby turned five today!  Hard to believe it was five years ago today that my smart, funny, sweet, spunky little handful entered this world.  He chose to have pasta for dinner tonight so that wasn’t much to post about, I needed to be creative with dessert to keep all of you reading.  How do sweet potato cupcakes with maple frosting sound?  

Sweet Potato Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon each baking soda and baking powder
• 1 cup sweet potato puree 
• 2 cups flour (I used gluten free flour)

Start by cooking your sweet potatoes until very very soft.  Let the potatoes cool while you gather your ingredients for the cupcakes.  Cut the potato in half and scoop out the flesh into a food processor.  Process until smooth and slightly thickened, drizzling in the oil as you go and adding the eggs.

 Add the brown and white sugar, spices, baking powder, and baking soda.  Pulse to combine, the batter will be thick.  Spoon carefully into the muffin cups and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until done.

 This is a great recipe using just the food processor bowl so it’s pretty easy clean-up, especially if your food processor parts are dishwasher safe.  These cupcakes came out beautifully.

To tie in the flavors I added 2 tablespoons of Ben’s maple syrup to my vanilla buttercream frosting before adding the colors my son wanted.  They were so moist and flavorful, a really nice recipe and a perfect birthday surprise for my little guy.  I hope you try it in your kitchen, Enjoy!

adapted from overtimecook.com