Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 C. Butter, softened
1 1/2 C. Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
3 Eggs at room temperature. VERY IMPORTANT!
2 1/2 C. Cake Flour – this is important too!
1 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 C. Whole Milk
1/2 C. Sour Cream

Instructions:
But first, a TIP: If you forget to pull the eggs and butter out of the fridge before you are ready to bake – not that I would EVER do that – you can nuke them both, in package and shell, for 10-15 seconds to soften and bring to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners. Set aside. Sift together four, baking powder, baking soda and salt. If you really love to sift, because who doesn’t, you can do it again, or even three times! The more you sift, the lighter the cupcakes will be!

Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium until light and fufy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. This is important too! I bet you never thought there were so many
important things in baking didja? Let me tell you why this matters. If you don’t scrape down, then
there will be a layer of batter stuck to the sides that doesn’t get combined with the rest and will give your cupcakes a super weird texture.

And that’s a bad thing, by the way. I’ve never once heard someone say they LOVE super weird texture cupcakes.

Add vanilla to the mixer, then the eggs, one at a time, until everything is mixed and happy as clams. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the dry, sifted mixture alternately with the milk. When this is JUST BARELY combined, (Did you see that? It’s capitalized. That means it, too, is very important!) turn of the mixer and fold the sour cream in by hand.

Don’t overmix or you will be sad. Use a big ice cream scooper to put the batter into the cupcake
liners, fll up halfway to the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

They should be domed and lightly browned and when you insert a toothpick into the center, it comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Then…dun, dun, dun, dun! Frost them! My favorite is the cream cheese frosting that we use for the cinnamon rolls so I’m not even going to give you another recipe for frosting. I don’t like to complicate things.