Coconut Cupcakes

My order of girl scout cookies came in last week. Within seconds I opened my first box and bit into the delightfullness of a Samoa. Heaven! Instantly my mind flipped into baking mode... it was time for me to incorporate the great flavors of a Samoa cookie into a cupcake. I'm sure this has probably been done many times before me, but I didn't bother googling it because I knew what I wanted to make and didn't want another recipe to alter the direction I was headed in... coconut cupcake, topped with chocolate ganache, frosted with toasted coconut caramel icing, drizzled with more chocolate ganache. Tah dah! A coconut cupcake inspired by my favorite girl scout cookie. Yum. :)

What shall I try next? Lemon Chalet truffles? Thin Mint brownies? Do-Si-Do trifle? Tagalongs pie? Oh the possibilities... :)

Ingredients

Yields 12 cupcakes

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

3.5 oz sweetened, shredded coconut

Chocolate Ganache:

3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup light cream

Icing:

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup light cream

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup  sweetened, shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside. 

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time, scrape down sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. Add half the flour mixture, then buttermilk, and finish with adding the remaining flour mixture. Mix just until combined. Fold in shredded coconut.

Fill prepared muffin cups three fourths full. Bake 25-35 minutes, until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

For ganache, heat cream in a small sauce pan until bubbles appear around the edges. Place chocolate in a small bowl. Pour scalding cream over the chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Refrigerate until cold, stirring occasionally.

For icing, toast coconut in a large skillet over medium heat until lightly browned; set aside. Whisk together sugar, cream, and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Cook until thickened, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Let stand 5 minutes, stir in coconut and cool completely. 

To assemble, spoon a small amount of ganache on top of cupcake. Let the ganache set before adding the icing (icing is a bit runny so don't add too much). Drizzle with remaining ganache.

Source: cupcake adapted from Ina Garten, ganache and icing adapted from Martha Stewart