Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Granola Frosting

It is my last week at both jobs, The Times and Teke's, and what kind of person would I be if I didn't bring in cupcakes? Not a memorable one.

At the half marathon this past weekend, I took advantage of all the free food they give the runners at the finish line. Most runners used the bananas and granola for recovery fuel. I of course was thinking about how I could use them in my cupcakes. After 13.1 miles of running, all that I'm thinking about is cupcakes.

I was feeling especially banana-ish, since I ate bananas every day in my training for the race. So I found a great recipe on The Cupcake Project for Banana Cupcakes with a Vanilla Cinnamon Cream Cheese Granola Frosting. Perfect!

The recipe itself is very easy and doesn't take much time to whip up. The smell of banana cupcakes baking in my kitchen takes me back to kindergarten when I learned how to make banana bread. Along with chocolate chip cookies, isn't banana bread one of the best smells of the kitchen? I just love it. The little cupcakes crack at the top and you can see the banana, just like banana bread. These would have tasted great plain, without frosting, if you love banana bread.

 

But, frosting makes everything better. I have a few tweaks I would suggest on this frosting recipe however. My cream cheese frosting was very runny and gooped over my cupcakes, making them very messy. I would suggest doubling the butter, and maybe use half the amount of cream cheese. It will still have the cream cheese taste, but should be thicker and less runny.

The frosting tastes incredible. It calls for ground up granola, in which I used a Bare Naked fruit and nut granola sampling pack they gave us at the race. (Refueling with cupcakes should not be frowned upon.) You can use any kind of granola you like, even cereal if that works better for you. As long as there is a crunch in the frosting.

I topped my cupcakes with some granola, too. That gives them the healthy illusion.



The cupcake has received rave reviews from my co-workers at The Times. Hopefully they impress the Teke's crew just as much.

Banana Cupcakes (from www.cupcakeproject.com)

Yield: 18 cupcakes

• 1 stick butter
• 1c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2c. sour cream
• 1t. baking soda
• 2c. flour
• 1t. vanilla
• 2 bananas

Vanilla Cinnamon Cream Cheese Granola Frosting

• 1 8oz. package cream cheese, room temp. (use only half for less runny frosting)
• 1/4c. butter, room temp (double for less runny frosting!)
• 4c. powdered sugar
• 2t. vanilla
• 2T. cinnamon
• 2c. ground granola

Cupcake Instructions:

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs.
3. Add sour cream, flour and baking soda.
4. Add vanilla and mashed bananas.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frosting Instructions:

1. Mix cream cheese and butter until fully integrated. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon. Add powdered sugar 1/2c. at a time. Make sure it is fully mixed in, but do not overmix. Fold in granola.