Cranberry Cupcakes

This weekend was not good to me since I had a migraine for most of it!

One thing that made it not so bad was logging in today and seeing that I have surpassed 1000 page views! A milestone for me, whoo-hoo!

Thanks to everyone who has tuned in so far!  And I hope I keep you entertained enough to keep coming back!

Anyway I'm back with a goody to share.

This time it's cranberry cupcakes.

I started with some gluten-free cake mix from Gluten-Free Pantry.  

I've tried this brand before and I like it because it actually rises when it bakes and it bakes up quite fluffy.  I really take issue with the picture on the box though.  It is so unimaginative and bland and to me illustrates the idea that you can't expect anything exceptional from this box but a literal one layer boring blah cake.  Step it up gluten-free marketing guys!

 However it's a good, satisfying buy and I actually found it on clearance at Sprouts for .99 cents!  I scooped up about 3 boxes and a few other gluten-free clearance items for around a dollar or two each but I was limited only by my cash at the time, otherwise I would've cleaned them out!

I mixed up the recipe as instructed and spooned it into cupcake cups.  This mix actually rises when it bakes so I only put one heaping tablespoon into each cup.

I can't remember the exact baking time but I just set my timer for 15 minutes and check it every 3 or 4 minutes after that.
While that was baking I got started on the cranberry "relish" for the filling based on this one.  I always cut the sugar in any baking recipe I use.  I tend not to have a very sweet tooth and prefer to sweeten to taste, which for me is less sweet.  I also like to taste the actual food enhanced by sweetness, not just take a bite and just taste "sugar".
So for my version I sweetened using agave nectar.  (Bonus: you actually use less agave nectar than sugar to sweeten!)

Although I must admit I did add a teaspoon or two of regular sugar because there are some properties to table sugar that just can't be beat, especially in baking.
Sugar is like salt in that it draws moisture out of food.  When you're making something like this cranberry relish or say apple pie filling, the natural juices of the fruit help enhance and flavor the overall product.  So adding a little bit of sugar helps draw out more of the tart juice of the cranberries.
Since these cupcakes are going to have a cream cheese frosting that calls for powdered sugar, I prefer to replace my sugar here in the cranberry filling, were I can't really notice a difference in taste or texture, not that there's a notable difference to begin with.
I have a small food processor that I got for my wedding last year so I just filled the compartment with cranberries and added the agave nectar to taste, with a little sprinkling of sugar and pulsed until it was finely chopped and slushy.
For the purpose of these cupcakes I opted to make it smoother rather than chunky because...

Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled I filled them with the cranberry relish.  It's a little bit tricky at first but you get the hang of it quickly.  All you need is a basic cake decorating kit with a narrow round tip.
When we were younger my sister and I got my mom this one, which has come in handy more than it's fair share.  It's easy to clean and not messy to work with.  The long tip that comes in the kit is actually for filling pastries.

If you don't have a cake decorating kit you can cut a small slit in the top of the cupcake and spoon some of the cranberry filling in.  Then just cover the top with a generous amount of frosting.

Speaking of frosting I made a cream cheese variation using neufchâtel cheese.  It's just like cream cheese but has a third of the fat.
I beat two packages of neufchâtel until creamy, then I added powdered sugar to taste (about a cup).  Cream cheese frosting is one of those things were you just can't substitute sugar, which is another good reason to replace the sugar in the cranberry filling.  I also added the juice of one lime and a tiny bit of pink food coloring to match the bright fuchsia of the cranberry filling.

Even though these cupcakes look kinda plain on the outside, the good surprise comes from biting it.

The texture is a bit more crumbly than regular wheat cupcakes but honestly the taste from the tart, zingy cranberry and the creamy frosting more than make up for it.

I didn't even get a picture of the cross-section because quite honestly we gobbled these up!  I even made a second batch, which was promptly gobbled up as well :")