Blueberry Cupcakes

I've mentioned before that some of my friends think I'm a health nut. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that's not true. Would a health nut seek out the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, eating and testing so many cookies? I think not.

It's a shame though, that healthy eating has become a label that causes people to run screaming in the other direction. I tried to find a label for what I am, but even clean eating has a specific meaning that isn't on point.

My preference is to eat foods that are as natural as possible. I would rather eat plain old-fashioned sugar than some fancy sugar substitute. I would rather eat fruits and vegetables that are not genetically modified or sprayed with man-made chemicals and pesticides.

Of course, that means I buy organic foods as much as I can. That's not always easy. It's hard to find fresh corn around here that isn't genetically modified. I got lucky this past week and was it delicious!

I'm not a snob about this though. If it's not important to you, that's fine with me. (Scroll on down to the sinful blueberry cupcake recipe.) This is just my personal preference. But if you are concerned about pesticides in food, here's the latest dirty dozen from the Environmental Working Group which analyzed pesticide residue date from the USDA.

These are the foods with the highest pesticide residue:

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Sweet bell peppers
4. Peaches
5. Strawberries
6. Nectarines-imported
7. Grapes
8. Spinach
9. Lettuce
10. Cucumbers
11. Blueberries-domestic
12. Potatoes

No matter what kind of blueberries you prefer, I made blueberry cupcakes to share with you. I picked blueberries from our garden, but we really don't have enough yet, so I baked these with frozen blueberries. That worked out well, because when they thawed I used the juice in the frosting to give it a fun blue color. No time for frosting? These are great plain, too.

If you're planning to serve these to guests, you might want to slide them into cute cupcake covers or a second cupcake liner so the berries won't show through.



Blueberry Cupcakes
with Cream Cheese Frosting
(make 12 cupcakes)

Cupcakes

1 stick butter (8 tablespoons) softened
2 eggs room temperature
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in pan. Cream the butter with the sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and add it, alternating with the liquids until thoroughly mixed. Mix in the blueberries. Divide among 12 cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full.


Bake 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.



Frosting

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2-3 tablespoons blueberry juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar


Beat the cream cheese with the blueberry juice. Add the vanilla. Beat in the powdered sugar slowly until it reaches the desired consistency.