Coconut Cupcakes

We actually had a cool day last week.  Shocking I know.  It has been so hot here and, of course, we don't have air conditioning so there was been zero cooking going on.  No one wants to eat hot food while their steaming hot.  So, the cool day came and I spent the whole day in the kitchen making tons of snacks and meats for salads and tacos.  These cupcakes were my favorite creation of the day.  So moist and yummy.  I totally cheated and used store-bought frosting but really they were pretty good plain too. 

 Coconut Cupcakes

A Williams-Sonoma Recipe

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 cup sugar

1 stick of butter

3 large eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cup sweetened dried coconut flakes

Frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.  In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, using a handheld mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the sugar and butter until the mixture is light in texture, 2 to 3 minutes.  Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then beat in the vanilla.  Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the coconut milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and scraping down the bowl as needed, beating just until smooth.

In another bowl, using the mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Stir one-fourth of the whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites, leaving some whites visible.  Gently fold in the coconut flakes.  Divide the batter evenly among the lined muffin cups, filling them about 3/4 full.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out the pan onto a wire rack and let cool completely.