Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Baking girl is back! Oh it feels so good to have some time to be back in the kitchen.

Joe loves anything vanilla and I've never worked with vanilla beans, so when I saw these cupcakes on Annie's Eats I figured I'd give them a try. I didn't plan ahead, so I had to buy the vanilla beans at the grocery store. Oh my goodness they are expensive! It was $8.50 for two beans! So, if you have any sites you know of with decently priced vanilla beans, please let me know!

This is also the first time I used a cake decorating tip to ice the cupcakes. I used Wilton's #21. Next time I need to use a bigger tip I think since I'd like the icing to look smoother.

I also gave Annie's icing a try. It was ok, but I prefer Wilton's butter cream recipe instead. I guess you can say I love my sugar!

Cost of vanilla beans aside, these cupcakes were quite delicious. Turns out I only needed to bake them 15 minutes. I ended up over baking one batch and they tasted dry, so be sure to check periodically.

Recipe From Annie's Eats who ultimately adapted it from The Well Decorated Cake

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together and set aside. Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl of the mixer with the butter and discard the pod (or reserve for another use.) Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full (you will likely have batter left over after filling 24 wells.) Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Replace paper liners and bake remaining batter if desired. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Yield: approximately 30 cupcakes