the "thank you" cupcake

I work with some pretty amazing people. They work really really hard - and have to put up with all sorts of last minute changes and high stress... so whenever I can, I bake "thank you" treats - so far they've been given brownies, double chocolate cookies, and cake. Today I brought in my lemon butter cookies and cupcakes - banana and toffee to be precise :0)

Another reason for these treats is that one of my co-workers is going on maternity leave - a little boy to add to her little clan - and so I wanted to make sure that Vero knows how much we all appreciate her and wish her an amazing year with her little ones.

The recipe was inspired from my Cupcakes recipe book by Sue McMahon. I have to warn you all, I ended up using my scale since her measurements are in grams and ounces... I meant to convert them for all of us North Americans... I just lost track - note: always keep a pen handy for notes and adjustments... lesson learnt!

cupcake and frosting recipes follow - I adjusted from the original adding some roasted walnuts and chocolate chips to the sticky toffee frosting... DELISH!

Banana Cupcakes
ingredients:
100 g butter, room temperature
100 g brown sugar
2 eggs
100 g self-rising flour
1 ripe banana, mashed (I thawed a frozen banana)

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat into the batter. Add the flour and incorporate into everything using your electric mixer. Once the batter is smooth, fold in the mashed banana.

Divide the batter into the paper liners - about a scoop and a half in each cup. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool on a wire rack (remove from the tin).

Sticky Toffee Frosting
ingredients:
100 g butter, room temperature
125 g sweetened condensed milk (about 1/3 of a 300 ml tin)
50 g brown sugar
1 tbsp corn syrup
handful of walnuts, roasted and chopped
handful of dark chocolate chips

In a small saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Now add the condensed milk, brown sugar and corn syrup - and whisk non-stop for the next 7 minutes. You want the mixture to thicken up and turn a golden colour - but keep whisking it otherwise it'll stick to your pan.

Remove from heat and allow to sit for about 10 minutes - it'll thicken a bit more. Then grab a spoon or palette knife and spoon on top of the cooled cupcakes. Spread evenly and then top with walnuts and chocolate chips.

There it is - a simple way to thank awesome people... and wish Vero a very wonderful year... we'll all miss you!