Green Velvet Cupcakes

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner and I couldn't resist trying something different to celebrate the occasion.  Oh, there will be Irish Soda Bread, for sure, but today, I was thinking on the sweeter side with these cupcakes.  I changed up my red velvet cake recipe with green gel color, added a white chocolate "gold" nugget in the middle, then, topped it off with a white chocolate/cream cheese frosting...sprinkled with more gold!

During the 19th century, thousands of impoverished Irish citizens came to British North America and the United States.  My grandfather said the Tierney family came through Canada because they didn't have papers to enter Ellis Island.  Since the 1840 Great Potato Famine brought so many settlers, I suppose they could have been in that group.  My great grandfather, William Henry, lost his family to illness and was raised on a remote island in the Chesapeake Bay--Tangier Island.  My dad sailed to this island to see where his grandfather grew up and said it was as if time stood still, but it maintains the fishing and crabbing industry that it was well known for. When he was there, only a few people had automobiles and he saw the one room schoolhouse that his grandfather attended.  As the story goes, my great-grandfather left the island at age 16 to join the navy and was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Constitution; the oldest commissioned boat in the navy.  It was retired in 1881 and he received a medal for being on the ship that has been passed down to the first son--my grandfather, my dad, my brother, and now my nephew--all of them are named William!

Green Velvet Cupcakes with a Gold Nugget Center and White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest from 1 lime
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
1 "tube" green food gel
2 1/2 cups + 2 T King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk (at room temperature)

Gold Nuggets:
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted
2T peach or apricot jam  (if you use apricot, make sure you mince any large pieces of fruit)
In a double boiler, warm the jam first (if it's from the refrigerator), then, add the white chocolate chips.  As the chips melt, stir to combine.  Use a scoop to drop the mixer onto a parchment lined tray, then refrigerate.

I actually cute these into quarters to resemble a nugget! 

Preheat oven to 350F-degrees and line 18 openings of a muffin pan with liners.  
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the first seven ingredients together, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and with the mixer on low, slowly add the buttermilk.  Mix just until combines.  Remove from stand and give the batter a stir with the rubber spatula to make sure all ingredients are combined.  

Fill the cupcake liners half-way up. Then add the nugget and fill 2/3 full.

 Bake in the preheated oven about 18 to 20 minutes until done.  Remove from the oven and cool completely--about 1 hour.  This recipe makes 18 cupcakes.

White Chocolate~Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 cup of white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave

6 cups confectioners' sugar
juice from 1/2 lime (about 1 T)

Gold Sprinkles

In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter, cream cheese, melted white chocolate and half of the confectioners' sugar together.  Scrape down the sides as needed.  Add the lime juice and the remaining confectioners' sugar and mix once again, whipping it to a fluffy state.  Use your favorite tube to pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes.  As a final touch, sprinkle Pearlized Gold Sugar Crystals over frosting.
The cupcakes are moist and the nugget will be the treasure at the end of the rainbow.

 ...and may God hold you in hallow of His hand. Enjoy!