Brown Butter Cupcakes with Cinnamon Streusel and Blueberry Frosting

I made these Brown Butter Blueberry Cupcakes to welcome my dad home from his latest trip, that lasted two weeks, so in order to do so, I started brainstorming all his favorite flavors- blueberry, cinnamon, etc. They turned out great.

I think there should be a whole flavor genre dedicated to flavors like cinnamon, brown sugar, and brown butter. I can’t put my finger on it, but they all kind of go together! But what would the genre be called? Are they even part of the same flavor genre? Are there such things as flavor genres?

I was thinking about this flavor genre when making these Brown Butter Blueberry Cupcakes – I was in the mood for it. Coming up with the idea to incorporate them was simple enough- brown butter cupcakes with cinnamon streusel. And blueberry just seemed to be a fitting addition.

This was my first time making brown butter, and it turned out great, so I was super happy!

I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. At this stage, when it was just browned butter, brown sugar, and vegetable oil, I almost stopped making them. Yes, I did maybe possibly swipe a little taste with my finger. And yes, it maybe possibly tasted delicious and good enough to eat with a spoon. And yes, I maybe possibly had plans for a business idea that I need to copyright fast- packaging up this stuff to sell as a snack or for ice cream toppings. 

The cupcakes themselves turned out a little muffiny, so if you make them, you could always leave off the frosting and just eat the cupcake part for breakfast and call it a muffin.

But I don’t really suggest that for all of them, because this frosting was AMAZING. It was actually quite blueberry-y. More so than you’d expect. To get the blueberry flavor, you have to puree the blueberries (we just got a nice new mini-blender-pureer), then put the strainer over a bowl and let it sit. The bowl will collect the blueberry juice, and the strainer will hold the blueberry puree.

Look at it, all be-speckled with blueberry puree. I thought it looked really nice, but when it’s all done, it gets this nice purple-y-pink tone to it.

Now, you may be (I sure hope you are) noticing the frosting job on these Brown Butter Blueberry Cupcakes! I got some new frosting tips that are huge and perfect for doing tall, more professional looking frostings jobs. This was my first go with them, and I think it went pretty well!

I can’t wait to use them in future recipes (wink, wink).

I suggest these for sure- they are a great blend of that flavor genre I was describing earlier.

-Audrey

Brown Butter Cupcakes with Cinnamon Streusel and Blueberry Frosting

• Author: Molly
• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours
• Yield: 1 dozen cupcakes 1x

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Ingredients

For the brown butter cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup browned butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the streusel:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoons salt

For the blueberry frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup blueberry puree
• 2–3 tbsp blueberry juice (from puree)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. lemon zest
• pinch of salt
• 5–6 cups confectioner’s sugar

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Instructions

1. Pour glass of wine, set aside for yourself. Baking with a glass of your favorite beverage always makes it better.
2. First brown the butter in a small sauce pan. (I started on low and gradually raised the temperature little by little, swirling occasionally, until the milk solids started to turn brown and it started to smell nutty.)
3. Then place the browned butter in an ice water bath. (You can do this early and let it cool completely on the stove or use a water bath, which ever you prefer. I let it cool in an ice bath in the sink and let it sit there while I got everything together and preheated the oven.)
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking tin with cupcake liners.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the browned butter, vegetable oil, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
6. Beat the eggs in one at a time then scrape down the bowl. Add the vanilla, milk and mix. Then add the cake flour and baking powder.
7. Mix until batter is smooth. Then pour evenly (I used a ¼ cup measure) into prepared cupcake tin.
8. Combine the ingredients for the streusel topping and sprinkle over the top of the cupcakes.
9. Bake for 12-17 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. (In my oven, mine came out perfect at 15 minutes)
10. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing them and letting them cool completely on wire rack.
11. With a mixer, cream the butter on medium speed until smooth.
12. Add blueberry puree, blueberry juice, vanilla, lemon zest and salt, and mix on medium-low until well-combined.
13. Gradually add in the powdered sugar, beating on low speed until combined. Then beat for 3-5 minutes on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.