I ran across a recipe for churro cupcakes online and immediately thought of the yummy fried pastry, rolled in cinnamon sugar, and filled with warm gooey dulce de leche that one of our Argentinian friends made for us.  For Argentinians, they just aren’t churros unless they are filled with dulce de leche.  I can agree to that one.  I had my fair share of dulce de leche when I visited Buenos Aires two years ago with my husband to visit his family.  I think they put it in or on just about anything.  It’s good stuff.  One day I will try to make some myself, but for now I will continue to buy it at the store.  As a busy mom, recipes need to be kept easy.

So anyway, I knew that if I made churro cupcakes, they had to be filled with dulce de leche.  I had some left over from my recent recipes, so it worked out good.  First I picked out a recipe for the cupcakes.  I chose one from Bakingdom-But I didn’t want a cream cheese frosting, so I chose a mascarpone frosting from Martha Stewart You can’t go wrong with Martha.

Churro Cupcakes with Cinnamon Mascarpone Frosting

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 20-30 min.

Cook Time: 14-16 min.

Keywords: bake dessert cinnamon dulce de leche mascarpone cheese cupcake

Ingredients (18 cupcakes)

FOR THE CUPCAKES

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 (1 stick) cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

FOR THE FILLING

• 3/4 cup dulce de leche
• 1/4 cup sour cream

FOR THE FROSTING

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions

To make the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined then stir in the vanilla. Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture over the butter mixture and gently stir in until barely combined. Add half of the milk, mixing until just combined. Repeat these steps with the remaining flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Do not over mix.

Fill each muffin cup with 2 tablespoons of batter. I used a measuring spoon. Bake the cupcakes for 14 to 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 2 to 3 minutes, then dip the top of each cupcake into the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat it. You really have to smush them in there to get it to stick. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before filling.

To fill the cupcakes

Combine the dulce de leche with the sour cream and mix well. The sour cream makes the dulce de leche less sticky and easier to pipe. Put the mixture into a piping bag or a thick plastic bag with the edge snipped off. Make a hole in each of the cupcakes, making sure you do not go all the way to the bottom. I used an apple corer. It worked quite well. Then pipe the mixture into each cupcake and fill to the top.

To make the frosting

With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone, cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately. After frosting the cupcakes, sprinkle a little bit of the left over cinnamon-sugar onto the frosting.

I made a good match with these recipes.  The cupcakes were a perfect blend of cinnamon and dulce de leche.  And the frosting was like eating a cloud from heaven.  It was well worth the extra money for the mascarpone cheese.  Just looking at this picture makes me want to lick the screen.  I will go compose myself now.

Cupcake recipe by Bakingdom

Filling recipe by The Sweet Chick

Frosting recipe adapted from Martha Stewart