Seasons Of A Pastry Chef: Olive Oil And Lemon Mini Cupcakes With Citrus Glaze

Tiny Muffins, Big Taste. #worthit Everyone loves mini things, especially cupcakes…but how do you transform a usually kid-friendly sweet into something more elegant and Chanukah-relevant? Olive oil makes these super moist and pairs well with citrus, which is at its peak now in December. You can also prepare these cupcakes using Meyer lemon, orange, or grapefruit zest or a combination of different varieties (just make sure to zest the full two tablespoons to get that flavor!)

Directions

Prepare and Bake the Cupcakes

Yield: 12 mini cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a mini cupcake pan.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar. Add zest, eggs, olive oil, and milk and mix to combine. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes.

How to Plate This Dessert

Rather than topping the mini cupcakes with the glaze, serve the glaze on the side as a dipping sauce. If serving as a plated dessert, you’ll only need one tasting spoon of glaze alongside a few mini cupcakes. The garnishing is easy…these are beautiful and elegant with a simple sprinkling of citrus zest and a small mint leaf.

1. Prepare the glaze while the cupcakes bake. In a bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and milk, adding only a bit at a time. When glaze reaches desired consistency, add zest. Serve alongside cupcakes.

2. To garnish, sprinkle cupcakes with additional zest and a mint leaf, letting some of the zest fall naturally onto the plate.