Raspberry Cupcakes

Here's a cupcake success story.

After a couple of batches of the strawberry cupcakes (and no extract or syrup available to boost the strawberry flavor), I decided to try the formula (from Julie Hasson's cupcake cookbook) with raspberry instead of strawberry. I replaced the original recipe's 1/3 cup of strawberry puree with raspberry puree, which I'd strained through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the seeds. I added a teaspoon of raspberry extract. And for fun, I tossed 1/2 cup of miniature chocolate chips with 2 teaspoons of the dry ingredients and added them to the batter after all the dry stuff and liquid were incorporated.

Leaving the oven, the cupcakes had a pleasant berry aroma. Because raspberry and chocolate are such great buddies, I topped the cupcakes with a fudgy chocolate frosting. If I had to name them, I think I might choose something alluring like Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes.

It's entirely possible that I might not share these cupcakes with anyone.