Chamomile Cupcakes with Honey Frosting

Well, I'm on crutches now. Yeah, that last minor surgery on my foot didn't really take. So I received a new treatment. They used an extract from a fungus in east Asia that actually eats away the infected area. I have a flesh eating fungus now. Nice. Hope I stirred your appetite.

Anyways, I was sitting on the couch, immobile, and bored out of my skull. Here's the thought process that occured:

God, I'm bored. Nothing on TV. Bored... bored, bored bored. *long pause* I think I'll make a cupcake. Wait, crap, I have nothing to make. Well I could make vanilla. F*%@ that. Too boring. Classic, but I'm bored. I don't want a boring cupcake. I wonder where the word boring comes from? *long pause* I think I have chamomile tea. I did like the earl grey cupcake. Ooo, I could make a honey frosting. I think I saw a Jewish recipe for that somewhere. Hope it doesn't need cream cheese. Hope I have enough butter. Shit, I have to get up now to check on how much honey I have. I hate these f*@#ing crutches.

So yeah, I suggest you use a chamomile tea that is 100% chamomile for a purer taste. The cupcake is floral and airy, with a haunting, just sweet enough, grassy note in the back. It's a very Julie Andrews singing on the mountain top kinda' cupcake. The frosting is rich and intensely sweet. I'm not sure if this, like warm chamomile tea, will help you get to sleep. It is however, a great night time treat before bed.

Best part? It tastes amazing. Not bad for out of the blue cupcakes by a gimp, no? (Also, remember to particiapte in the CUPCAKE CHALLENGE!)

Chamomile Cupcakes
Makes 12 cupcakes / 350 oven

What You'll Need...
8 ounces of unsalted butter at room temperature
8 ounces of sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
3 bags of chamomile tea
1 & 1/8 cups of self-rising flour
6 ounces of milk

What You'll Do...
1) Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Line a 12 slot cupcake tin with cupcake papers or lightly grease the slots.
2) Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each egg. Mix in the contents of the teabags.
3) Mix in the flour and milk a little at a time, alternating between dry and wet ingredients, ending with the dry.
4) Scoop into other cupcake papers. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. If your oven is sketchy, rotate the pan after the first 15 minutes.

Honey Frosting
Adapted from About.com - Judaism

What You'll Need...
1/2 cup of honey
1 cup of butter, softened but still cool
2 eggs

What You'll Do...
1) Beat eggs until smooth and fluffy.
2) Bring honey to a boil in a small sauce pan. Then gradually add to the egg mixture while constantly whisking quickly. Whip at high speed on your mixer for about 5-7 minutes, it will be thick and cool.
3) Cream butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in honey mixture until throughly mixed.

NOTE: The frosting may look slightly curdled, just means you weren't whisking well or the honey wasn't hot enough. I added some extra room temperature honey at the end for more oomph and it upset the visual appearence and made it look a bit funky. It tasted fine, just looked a bit off. Make sure to stick to the instructions for this one.