Eggnog Cupcakes with Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

Only 2 more days until Christmas!  Are you prepared?  My gifts are all wrapped and I am anxiously counting down the days until I get to share them with my loved ones.  I have also been doing quite a bit of baking recently but have had very little time to blog about it because of the craziness the holidays bring.  

While I was at the grocery store the other day, I spotted some eggnog and couldn't resist throwing it in my cart.  As much as I love my eggnog, and I mean love, I always end up wasting some of it.  To avoid such a terrible thing from happening again this year, I came up with a couple of recipes.  One was eggnog french toast (recipe to come), which was so good!  I then decided to make these tasty cupcakes.  What a delicious and fun way to use up leftover eggnog!    

Ingredients:
Yields 12 cupcakes

• 1 c eggnog 
• 1 large egg 
• 1/4 c vegetable oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 
• 1/2 c white sugar 
• 2 tbsp brown sugar, packed 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 c all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Kahlua Buttercream Frosting:

• 2 lb confectioners' sugar 
• 1/3 c unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1/3 c shortening 
• 1/4 c milk 
• 1/4 c Kahlua
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract 
• 1 tsp salt 
• Ground cinnamon, for dusting 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggnog, egg, canola oil, vanilla, white sugar, brown sugar and salt until well combined.  

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, until just combined. 

Fill a cupcake pan 2/3 full with the batter.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow the cupcakes to rest in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, make the frosting.  In a large bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar, butter, shortening,  milk, Kahlua, vanilla and salt together for 3 to 5 minutes.  If the frosting is too thick, add some more milk until desired consistency is met.  Pipe the cupcakes with the frosting.  Dust the cupcakes with cinnamon.

Enjoy!