Popcorn Chive Blossom Cupcakes

Bake the Book
Emma Kobolakis
Published: Last Updated:
Popcorn Chive Blossom Cupcakes

[Photograph: Miana Jun]

Soaking popcorn in milk and cutting blossoms from stems seem unlikely steps to make cupcakes, but Cooking With Flowers uses both to create these dainty desserts.

Tips: Choose air-popped, lightly or non-salted popcorn for this recipe; popcorn popped in oil or fat will give the milk a funky flavor you don't want ending up in your cupcake.

Tweaks: Taste the chive blossoms before you use them—if they're too strong for your liking, hold off on garnishing the cupcakes with them.

Reprinted with permission by Miche Bacher. Copyright © 2013. Published by Quirk Books. Available wherever books are sold. All rights reserved.

  • Yield:makes 12 cupcakes
  • Active time: 40 minutes
  • Total time:3 hours, including soaking/baking

Ingredients

  • Cupcakes
  • 2 cups popped popcorn
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • Petals of 4 chive blossoms, plus more for topping, if desired
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 6 large egg yolks
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  •  
  • Frosting
  • 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

  1. 1.

    Soak popcorn in milk for about 2 hours. (If you want to leave it longer, refrigerate it, but bring it back to room temperature before you use it.)

  2. 2.

    Strain popcorn through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing the soggy popcorn to get all the good stuff out. Discard the solids.

  3. 3.

    Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup cupcake or muffin pan with liners.

  4. 4.

    Put flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and chive petals in the bowl of a mixer and mix briefly to combine. Add 11/4 cups of the strained popcorn milk and butter to flour mixture and beat for about 2 minutes on medium-low speed.

  5. 5.

    Drop egg yolks and vanilla into the remaining 3/4 cup strained popcorn milk and mix with a fork to break up yolks. Beat mixture into the batter a bit at a time, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.

  6. 6.

    Fill the muffin cups two-thirds with batter and slide the pan into the oven. Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

  7. 7.

    For the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, or until no lumps remain. Frost each cupcake and top with chive blossom petals, if desired. Serve the same day.

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