mmmmmmm cupcakes...

So I found a interesting looking recipe on The Pioneer Woman (one of my fave blogs). So I decided to try it out. Olive oil cupcakes with lemon and thyme. Oh my goodness. They're so good I've made these cupcakes 3 times in less than a week! They are nice and dense and fresh. And you can pretend they aren't too bad for you because they use olive oil instead of butter! I can't seem to keep these around for very long, they get eaten up so quickly.

Olive Oil Cupcakes with Lemon and Thyme (from thepioneerwoman.com)

Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 20 Difficulty: Easy Servings: 12

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon melted butter

1-1/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons Grated lemon zest (2 large lemons worked for me)

2 Whole Eggs

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

2/3 Cup Whole Milk

1 Cup flour

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Minced Fresh Thyme (I used lemon thyme)

For the Glaze:

1-1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

3 Table spoons Fresh Lemon Juice, or more as needed.

Preparation Instructions:

Preheat you oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with melted butter and then dust with a little flour. (I used muffin/cupcake cups and was happier with how they turned out). Pulse the sugar and lemon zest in a blender until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, then gradually pour in the olive oil and milk, pulsing until emulsified into a thin batter, about 30 seconds. Don't overblend or the cakes will be too puffy.

Whisk one cup flour, the baking powder, salt and thyme in small bowl. Add to the blender in 2 batches until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the cakes just start to pull away from the sides of the pan and spring back when lightly touched, about 25 minutes depending on your oven.

In the meantime, make the glaze: whisk the powdered sugar, melted butter and lemon juice until smooth, adding more lemon juice if too thick. Drizzle over the cooled cakes and garnish with a thyme sprig. (I dipped my cupcakes in the glaze).