It's All About Me: My "100 in 2010" & Coconut Lime Cupcake Recipe { take 2 that is }

Not bad, 2 for 2 now and I have the next 3 recipes/blogs all fresh and rarin' to go in my head! Have I mentioned I love 2010? So may hopes and dreams lol! Actually, I attempted to come up with a list of 100 things I would like to accomplish this year. I only came up with just over 50, but am hoping to add to my list as the weeks/months pass, things catch my attention in life, AND as I am able to cross other things off :) I suppose that one could call that a list of "New Years Resolutions", but I don't like looking at them in that way. In all honesty, I think people set themselves up for failure when they come up with a NY's resolution list... typically they are the SAME goals every year so what fun is that? I tried to pick things that I have always wanted to do, things that I know I am capable of, things that hopefully won't look like a "chore" to me, things that I needed a little push to do, but have been on the horizon already, and some just silly things I'd like to do! So here it is, my incomplete list for 2010 (maybe I need to add that to my list... "finish my list" lol):

complete Project 365
plant an herb garden
launch a new website
buy an investment property
complete my “at least a treat a week” blog project (2 down, 50 to go)
run at least 3 miles without stopping
sign up and run a 5K
find a charity or good cause and donate my time and/or talents somehow
send out Christmas cards NO later than December 10^th
create 5 marketing sets for my photo site
create at least 12 new digital kits (1 down, 11 to go)
create 6 template sets for Polaroid
book a session in another state
make a set of handmade aprons for Makena and I
surprise Joe with a weekend getaway, just the two of us
surprise the kids with a trip to Disneyland when they are supposed to be at school
complete my canvas wall for the hallway
send out handwritten cards for no particular reason… just because
book a family session for US with another photographer
learn Illustrator enough to create a vector drawing from beginning to end
get a short, cute (or maybe NOT so cute as it turns out) new hairdo (completed January 11, 2010)
donate an entire photo session to a deserving family/person, maybe even twice
read at least 1 book every 2 months
double my blog traffic by updating regularly
make a photo book of family pictures
take a really good photog workshop with someone I admire
try a new genre of photography
buy a new lens, preferably the 50mm 1.2 OR the 35 mm 1.4
enter a photo contest
print our family, everyday pictures each and every month
attempt to learn another language (preferably Spanish or Sign language)
try learning an instrument
join AND use Twitter
listen to an audio book
bake cupcakes for a friend for no reason and surprise them with a little gift package
double the amount of weddings I shot in 2009
host a real, grown up dinner party
cook dinner 6 times a week for 2 months straight
do something nice for someone without them knowing I did it
go scuba diving
WRITE in a personal journal at least once a week
take a trip to Florida to visit Lizette
scrapbook 1 page a month
make a tiramisu (completed January 9, 2010)
double my photography income, but only book ½ as many sessions as 2009 :)
make 5 different tablescapes for our dining table (1 down, 4 more to go)
try eating fish again.... gross, but I will try again
babysit for a friend to let mommy and daddy have a romantic evening together
scale my closet down by at least 50% and donate everything to my local women's shelter
sign up and do the Susan G. Komen 3 day walk
take an entire month OFF from shooting and photography just to play
finally get the prints done for the playroom of the kids

I seem to be off to a hopping start so far... should be an interesting year to say the least!!! Alrighty, onto the yummy's of the week!

So, last year I attempted a couple of recipes for these and while they were tasty and perfectly fine to eat, I have been on the lookout for an even better recipe. After giving 2 or 3 more a try, I think I have the most perfect, scrumptious, super fabulous, and EXTRA yummy delicious coconut lime cupcake batter ever... I'm getting excited just thinking of how it tasted today when I made it :)

Alright, so here goes...

Coconut Lime Cupcake's

Ingredients:

cupcakes

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 egg

zest of 1 lime

juice of 1 lime (approximately 2 teaspoons)

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut milk

1 teaspoon coconut extract/flavoring

frosting

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons lime juice

2 teaspoons lime zest

3/4 cup shredded toasted coconut

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F

1. grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin with baking cups.

2. Sift your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) together in a small bowl. Don't know if I will ever get tired of the flour in action shot...

3. In a separate bowl or bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until smooth & very pale in color, approximately 2-3 minutes.

4. Beat in egg and mix thoroughly until light and fluffy.

5. Add lime zest, lime juice, and coconut extract.

6. Scrape down sides of bowl. At low speed, add your dry ingredients AND coconut milk alternately starting with the dry and ending with the milk.

7. Scrape down sides of bowl and give 1 final, quick mix. Batter will be thick! Begin to spoon your batter into the cupcake liners/pan. Fill to 2/3 full. I like over filling a 1/4 cup measuring cup!

And seriously... before you go and clean the bowl, you HAVE to take a little lick (or 2 or lick the entire damn bowl, it's THAT good)!

Set timer for 24 minutes. I like to turn my pans around in the oven when I bake HALF way through the baking time just to make sure that everything has baked evenly!

8. Bake 24-28 minutes or until cupcakes have literally JUST started to turn ever so light golden on top. Do NOT over bake, please, it will just make me sad!!!

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, begin to make your garnish and frosting. Heat oven to 325° F. Put your

shredded coconut on a baking sheet in a single layer.

9. Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes OR until coconut is slightly toasted and golden brown. Remove and let cool completely.

10. In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat heavy cream, until soft peaks begin

to form. Slowly add sugar, then lime zest and lime juice. Beat until stiff peaks form. Do NOT

overbeat!!!

When cupcakes have cooled, spread frosting using a knife or a pastry bag

fitted with a large, fun tip. My favorite tip is this one. I adore how big and fat the swirl is :)

The easiest way I have found to fill the bag for piping is to put it in a large cup, tip down. Then you fold the sides of the bag over the edges of the cup... use them to scrape off the sides of your spatula! By the way, isn't my pink Valentine's cup from Target perfectly cute?

11. Go ahead and pipe your frosting on... start on the outer edges of the cupcake and circle around towards the center.

But really... in the grand scheme of things, just hurry and get the frosting on so you can EAT them lol!!!

12. Sprinkle the tops of them with cooled toasted coconut. I normally only sprinkle a little bit on and then add some more as they are ready to be eaten. This way you still get a little texture and crunch from the fresh layer.