Lavender Pear Bear Cupcakes

As you can see over on the right side of this page, I am a member of the Foodie Blogroll. The creator, Jenn, has a wonderful site of her own called The Leftover Queen. In addition to recipes and photos, she hosts a forum and a monthly culinary competition that goes by the name of The Royal Foodie Joust. Each challenge requires entrants to use three ingredients in any which way they please, and the winner chooses the three ingredients for the next month's challenge.

 

The challenge for October required use of pear, lavender, and white chocolate. I don't know why, but the first thing that popped into my head was a pear cupcake with lavender and white chocolate frosting. The idea slightly evolved in my head and turned into the following cupcakes. I'm not a huge white chocolate fan, but I still deemed the cupcakes tasty, as did my guests.

Lavender Pear Bear Cupcakes

(makes about 36 mini cupcakes)

Pear and Honey Cupcakes
1 1/3 cup finely diced pears
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
¼ cup oil
½ cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Crack the eggs into a separate, medium sized bowl and beat with a fork to break up. Add the oil and honey and mix to combine.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until all ingredients come together. Fold in the pears.
5. Spoon into lined mini muffin pans.
6. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pan after 7 minutes.



Lavender Syrup
6 tablespoons sugar
¾ cups water
2 tablespoons lavender flowers

1. Heat the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves, about 2-3 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. Stir in the lavender flowers and let the mixture sit over the heat for 3 minutes.
3. Transfer the syrup to a bowl and let it sit at room temperature until cool.
4. Strain the syrup and refrigerate the leftovers (it’s excellent in cocktails.)


Lavender Meringue
½ cup white sugar
2 egg whites
3 tablespoons lavender syrup

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk the egg whites and sugar over a pot of simmering water until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are white and frothy. (This takes about 2 minutes.)
2. Move the bowl to the mixer and, using the whisk attachment, mix on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes until soft peaks form.
3. Drizzle the lavender syrup into the mixer. Increase the speed to high and mix for another 3-4 minutes until stiff peaks form. Add food coloring, if desired.


At this point, pipe the meringue onto the tops of cupcakes using a large round piping tip. Pipe a high spiral onto the cupcake and refrigerate the frosted cupcakes for 10-15 minutes to harden the meringue.


White Chocolate Coating
12 ounces white chocolate
3 tablespoons canola oil

1. Melt the chocolate and oil in a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth.
2. Let the mixture cool until barely warm - this will take 5-10 minutes.
3. Dip the tops of frosted cupcakes into the chocolate and let the excess run off. Sprinkle with luster dust. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to harden.