Delicate and airy, these are the perfect end of the day sweet morsel to calm the stomach and the mind.
Ingredients
- For chamomile-infused milk
- 4 TBS dried chamomile *
- 1½ cups 2% milk
- For cupcakes
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 egg
- 2 egg whites
- 1 TBS vanilla extract
- ½ cup sour cream
- ⅔ cup chamomile-infused milk
- For chamomile icing
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3-3½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 3 TBS chamomile-infused milk
Units:
Instructions
For chamomile-infused milk
- In a small stainless steel or glass saucepan, combine dried chamomile and 2% milk. Warm over medium low heat slowly just until under boiling, stirring with a small wooden spoon or wooden chopsticks. As milk begins to steam, decrease heat to simmer and cover. Steep for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping temperature constant at about 200 degrees. It is not necessary to measure the temperature, just make sure that milk does not boil.
- Cool in saucepan for 30 minutes, keeping covered and then strain milk into a small bowl pressing on chamomile in strainer to extract as much of the milk as possible.
- Cool completely before adding to cupcake batter. May be prepared a day ahead and stored covered in the refrigerator.
- The milk will have turned a light yellow color from the chamomile and you will have about 1 cup of milk, which is a bit more than needed for this recipe. Try any extra in coffee or hot chocolate or just drink it, it is really nice tasting, especially if you like chamomile tea.
For cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 °F and line cupcake pan with 18 liners.
- Into large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add softened butter, egg and egg whites, vanilla, sour cream and chamomile-infused milk. With mixer on medium speed, beat until smooth, small lumps may remain which are ok.
- Using a ¼ cup measure, pour batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes until cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool for 2 minutes in the pan and then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before icing.
For chamomile icing
- For icing, cream softened butter until light and fluffy. Add sifted powdered sugar gradually, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition until creamy. Add chamomile-infused milk and mix until incorporated.
- Keep icing at room temperature until ready to ice cupcakes. Store iced cupcakes in refrigerator. These cupcakes also freeze well, wrap them individually before freezing.
Recipe Notes
*A note on chamomile for this recipe: I grew chamomile this year but I did not use it for this recipe. You would need to cut a lot of flowers and they are just too pretty in the garden. You certainly can use the fresh flowers though, just dry them before measuring. My first choice is to buy bulk dried chamomile from a small herb farm supplier (see chamomile plant profile). My second choice is to use organic chamomile tea bags. Each tea bag contains 2 grams of chamomile so you would need 4 tea bags. Cut open the bags and remove the chamomile, measure to be sure and then add to saucepan.
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