Recipe: Funny Honeys

Inspired by: Chicago

Honey bourbon cupcakes topped with honey bourbon cream cheese glaze and lemon zest. 

"Oh, Amos just loves my cupcakes..."

You might have noticed I like baking with bourbon. To that I would have to 'fess up and say: Guilty. As. Charged.  

Directions

Honey Bourbon Cupcakes

Part A: Dry Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl
2. Whisk until fully incorporated.
3. Set bowl aside. 

Part B: Wet Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In large mixing bowl, blend unsalted butter and sugar at medium speed with hand or stand mixer. 
2. Add eggs and beat and mix at medium speed until just blended. Do not over-mix. 
3. Add buttermilk and honey and mix at medium speed. Occasionally stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl.
4. Add bourbon and vanilla extract and mix at medium speed until just blended. 

Part C: Getting Ready to Bake

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Add flour mixture a 1/2 of a cup at a time, mixing at slow to medium speed until fully incorporated. Stop mixer in between adding 1/2 cups to scrape sides of bowl. 
3. Put cupcake liners into pan. 
4. Using a cookie scoop fill cupcake liners with the batter 2/3 of the way full.
5. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden on top. When toothpick is inserted in center it should come out clean. 
6. While the cupcakes cool you can prepare the honey bourbon cream cheese glaze.

Honey Bourbon Cream Cheese Glaze with Lemon Zest

Part D: Making the Glaze

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey (depending upon taste)
• 3 tablespoons bourbon
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 2 cups confectioners sugar

1. In large mixing bowl combine cream cheese and butter. Mix at medium speed until fully blended. 
2. Add vanilla extract, honey, bourbon and lemon zest and mix at low speed until fully incorporated into mixture. 
3. Add confectioners sugar in 1/2 cup increments and mix at low to medium speed. 
4. Feel free to add more vanilla, honey, lemon zest or bourbon depending upon your personal preferences.  When in doubt, I'd say add more bourbon!

Part E: (optional) Before Glazing the Cupcakes

• 1/4 cup of bourbon

As I was saying... when in doubt, add more bourbon.

• Using a fork poke the top of each cupcake 3-4 times
• Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of bourbon on top of each baked cupcake so some bourbon can soak into the cake to make it extra bourbon-y

Part F: Glazing the Cupcakes and Finishing Touches

1. Fill a pastry bag or ziploc bag with corner snipped with scissor with the bourbon cream cheese glaze. 
2. Add as little or as much of the glaze on top of the cupcakes as you'd like
3. I call this a glaze rather than a frosting because I added enough bourbon to make it slightly runny but it was amazingly delicious.
4. After using a pastry bag to pipe the proper amount of glaze onto the cupcakes I used a butter knife to evenly spread it. Then I went back over the cupcakes and created a squiggle of icing on top. There is no right or wrong way to do it. 
5. Finish with yellow sugar or yellow sprinkles if desired. 
6. Store cupcakes in airtight container and refrigerate overnight. 

Enjoy!