White Chocolate Cranberry Cupcakes

Since I'd already exhausted gingerbread and pumpkin before Christmas, I decided to go with another festive flavor for the day of: CRANBERRY!

I've been wanting to make these white chocolate cranberry cupcakes for a while, and after success making cranberry sauce, I decided to try them.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cupcakes (from culinography)

makes 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

6 (1 ounce) squares white baking chocolate
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake tins with liners. 
2. Chop 6 of the chocolate squares and set aside. 
3. Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. 
4. Add eggs, orange peel, and 3 tablespoons of the orange juice; mix well. 
5. Add flour and baking powder; beat until well blended.
6. Fold in chopped chocolate and the cranberries.
7. Bake approximately 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 (1 ounce) squares white baking chocolate, melted
3 tablespoons orange juice
3-4 cups powdered sugar

1. Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. 
2. Mix in white chocolate. Mix in orange juice and powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. 

If you use the typical 12 oz. bag of cranberries, you'll have about 2 cups of berries leftover. I decided to make cranberry sauce with the leftovers.

Cranberry Sauce

2 cups fresh cranberries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1. In a medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.
2. Add washed cranberries and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. Once mixture has boiled, reduce heat and simmer until most of the cranberries have popped. Sauce will thicken as it cools.