Make Margaritas, Then Make Margarita Cupcakes!

When a cookbook named Cupcakes & Cocktails ends up on your desk, you take note. I mean, what’s not to like? Cupcakes are awesome. Cocktails are awesome. So why not have both — at the same time? No objections from anyone here!
Written by Bonnie Marcus, the cookbook is full of, as one might expect, cupcake recipes and essential cocktails, as well useful hints and tips for when you’re planning anything from a sweet pick-me-up to a romantic evening in to throwing a full-out cupcake and cocktail party! And this Margarita Cupcakes recipe from the book that we’re sharing today? Well, we just have one word for it: olé!
Oh, and how great would these be on a picnic?!

Margarita Recipe

Serves 1
Ingredients
2 lime wedges
kosher salt
2 ½ ounces white tequila
¾ ounce triple sec or Cointreau
1 ¾ ounces lime juice
Directions
1. Rub the rim of a chilled cocktail glass with a lime wedge, then dip in a saucer of kosher salt to frost.
2. Put cracked ice into a cocktail shaker. Pour the tequila, triple sec, and lime juice over the ice. Shake vigorously until frosted.
3. Strain into the glass and dress with a lime wedge.

Margarita Cupcakes Recipe

Serves 12
Cupcake Ingredients
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup/1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons tequila
juice and zest of 1 lime
Frosting Ingredients
3 large egg whites
¾ cup sugar
1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup triple sec
zest of 1 lime
green food coloring
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put the butter and superfine sugar into a separate bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add half of the flour mixture and the milk, tequila, and lime zest and juice and beat until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix.
3. Spoon the batter into the paper liners and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick pushed into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
4. To make the frosting, put the egg whites and sugar in the top of a double boiler (or use a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water) and whisk over simmering water until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and whisk the mixture for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, and continue to whisk until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Add the triple sec, lime zest and 2 drops of food coloring and stir until just combined.
5. Spoon the frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a star-shaped tip and pipe it onto the cupcakes.
Make a cocktail and then make cupcakes? This is so our kind of party. Will you make this margarita and margarita cupcakes recipe? Or prefer another cocktail-inspired cupcake flavor? —Jenn