Lucky Charms Cupcakes and Breakfast Rules

Paraphrasing the Grinch, I got an idea.  An awful idea.  A wonderful, awful idea.  These kinds of things happen when you are in the car for 3 1/2 hours, with nobody other than your son.  And he sleeps for half the ride.  And he is not even two, so his current idea of a deep conversation is, “Mama, open mi-illkk!” or “Want raisins-n-O’s”.

I have three words for you.

LUCKY. CHARMS. CUPCAKES.

Yes, I said it.  I was thinking about what I could do as the very first St. Patrick’s Day sweet treat for my blog.  Sure, I could have thought about something involving Bailey’s or minty green frosting or even some Guinness stout chocolate thing that seems to be all the trend these days.  But no, I though about a totally marshmallow-laden, sugar-filled, horrible-excuse-for-breakfast (despite the Whole Grain claims on the package) American breakfast cereal.  And cupcakes.  How Irish!

I am not sure if this is in defiance of or homage to my mom.  As a kid, the rule was that I could not buy any cereal that had marshmallows in it.  Mind you, I could have all of the Frosted Flakes or Cookie Crisp I wanted, and our house was never short on M&M’s or Chips Ahoy! cookies  And she does advocate an occasional dinner of ice cream.  But marshmallows in my breakfast cereal – NO WAY!  So what did I do every time I slept over my cousin’s house?  In the morning, I immediately bee-lined for the Lucky Charms or Franken-Berry or Boo-Berry.  Unfortunately my cousin usually beat me to the toy surprise.

So as I thought about this some more, I knew that what I found when I Googled “Lucky Charms Cupcakes” and essentially found “use your favorite box cake mix and canned frosting, and top with a few marshmallow from the Lucky Charms box” that this was not going to cut it.  I was going to go all Momofuku on these bad boys.  I am talking Cereal Milk!  If you haven’t heard of it, Momofuku Milk Bar is a restaurant/bakery in New York City, where they use “cereal milk” in some of their baked goods.  They are even getting a trademark for it.  So I had to try the idea out for myself.  Because isn’t that one of the best parts of eating a bowl of sugary cereal – drinking all of the yummy, sweet milk at the end?!

I did make an attempt a a marshmallow frosting.  Tasted pretty good, but looked awful.  So when in doubt, I turn to Martha, and used her basic buttercream frosting.  I just added more vanilla, because I always add more vanilla.  This recipe should make enough to frost the entire batch of cupcakes if you don’t put quite as large of a mound of frosting as I did because I really only utilize cupcakes as a vehicle for frosting consumption just to make them look prettier in the photos.

So yes, this recipe does involve opening a box of Lucky Charms and picking out all of the marshmallows.  But hey, if you do that then it is a perfectly acceptable breakfast food, right?  No marshmallows, so I think mom would agree.

Oh, and though he didn’t get to eat too many, these were definitely Bug-approved.  Look at him doing quality control…

What is your favorite cereal?  Is it something healthy, or a kiddie, sugary one?  I love Strawberry Yogurt Cheerios and right now I am kind of into Cinnamon Sugar Chex.  I tend to eat it dry as a snack, rather than for breakfast.

Lucky Charms Cupcakes with Marshmallow-Studded Buttercream Frosting (makes about 24)

Cupcakes adapted from Claire Crespo’s White Cupcakes posted on Epicurious.

Frosting adapted from Martha Stewart’s Basic Buttercream

Ingredients for Cupcakes

11.5 oz. box Lucky Charms Cereal (or bigger, but then you may not need all of the marshmallows)

1 1/2 c whole milk

2 t vanilla extract

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

2 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

Directions

1.  Preheat your oven to 350°F, and put liners in cupcake tins.

2.  Pick the marshmallows out of the box of Lucky Charms.  Set aside the marshmallows to fold in to the batter and frosting.

3.  Combine 1 c of the Lucky Charms (after removing the marshmallows), the milk and vanilla extract.  Let soak while you finish assembling the other ingredients, about 15-20 minutes.

4.  Grind 1 c of the Lucky Charms (after removing the marshmallows) into a powder using a food processor, or just crushing them up really well.  You should be left with a little less than half a cup of cereal powder.

5.  Sift together the cereal powder, flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

6.  In a large bowl, cream the butter, then gradually add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.

7.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each addition

8.  Drain the milk mixture off of the cereal.

9.  To the butter and sugar, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture in thirds, beating until smooth after each addition.

10.  Fold 1 c of the reserved marshmallows into the batter.

11.  Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until it springs back when you touch it.

12.  Let cool before frosting.

Ingredients for Buttercream Frosting

1 1/2 c (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

4 c confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

Food coloring, if desired

Reserved Lucky Charms marshmallows (up to 1 c, if you use a larger box of cereal)

Directions

1.  With a mixer on medium-high, beat the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

2.  Reduce the speed to medium, and gradually beat in the sugar.  Continue mixing for a few minutes, until the frosting is smooth and creamy.

3.  Add the vanilla and food coloring, if using, and beat until smooth.

4.  Carefully fold in the marshmallows.

Enjoy!

This recipe was shared with:

Scrumptious Sunday Link Party #2 at I Am Addicted to Recipes

Sweet Indulgences Sunday #46 at A Well-Seasoned Life

The Sweet Spot Recipe Party

Sundae Scoop Link Party at I Heart Nap Time

Crazy Sweet Tuesday at Crazy for Crust

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Tagged as: Buttercream, Cereal, Cupcakes, Frosting, Lucky Charms, Marshmallows, Milk, St. Patrick's Day