Key Lime Pie Cupcakes by Dee Stewart
My recipe is a modification of Paula Deen’s Key Lime Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting. I ditched the frosting for my own key lime cream cheese frosting and graham cracker crust lining the cupcake liner and on top of the cake before iced. My modifications are in blue. Also note I’m on a low sodium diet so if salt is your thing, add it. So here goes…
From Paula Deen:
Cake Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping teaspoon grated key lime zest
- 1 1/2 tablespoons key lime juice (bottled or freshly squeezed)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Swan Cake Flour)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt - 1/2 cup buttermilk (I substituted 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt)
- 1/4 olive oil
- 3 limes
Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients (Not Paula Deen/Basic)
- 12 graham crackers, finely ground (1 1/2 cups)
- 5 tablespoons, unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
Dee’s Key Lime Butter Cream Ingredients:
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1/2 cup unsalted butter
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1 (8 ounce) package Philadelphia reduced fat cream cheese
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2 tablespoons lime juice
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1 tablespoon lime zest (from the limes we used in batter)
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4 -5 cups powdered sugar Dixie Crystal
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract, key lime zest and juice and mix well. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 5 parts total, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold the coconut into the cupcake batter.
Line a muffin pan with paper liners and fill each liner with 1/2 of the pie crust then fill almost to the top with batter. Use an ice cream scoop to load the batter into the muffin pans. Bake for 25 minutes or until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer cupcakes to a baking rack to cool completely.
While the cupcakes are cooling you can make the frosting.
Frosting Directions (Dee’s):
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Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy with hand mixer
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Add in lime juice and zest.
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Mix in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.
Before you add the frosting add the rest of the graham cracker crust to the muffin tops then pipe the frosting on top. I use the Wilton icing piper kit. You can slice the remaining two lines and wedge them on top of the key lime icing.
For those of you boozy cupcakes I’ll share that recipe later. There’s a trick to getting them drunk.
Dee
Thursday I finally turned in Someone Bad and Something Blue to my editor. I took Friday off to relax my brain and read. I hope you all will help me write Book 3 (will begin plotting next week.) However, this morning I learned that you could read a sneak peak of A Good Excuse to Be Bad. It releases next month, so I’m pinching myself every day. Would love for you to check out and tell me how you feel. Here’s the link: 
