Real vanilla beans make these cupcakes especially delicious. (photo by Aimee Richter)

Double Vanilla Cupcakes
There are a lot of people who obsess over, crave, swear by and will do something morally questionable for chocolate, but what about the vanilla lovers? I admit to loving dark chocolate probably more than I should, but sometimes I need some vanilla.  This cupcake recipe is for all those in love with the vanilla bean.

These Double Vanilla Cupcakes are light, fluffy and moist.  Half of a vanilla bean and over a teaspoon of vanilla extract give the cake a distinct, real vanilla flavor.  The frosting is equally vanilla-ee with half a vanilla bean, lots of powdered sugar and plenty of butter.  It's creamy, not too sweet and you can see and taste the tiny vanilla bean seeds in every bite. The frosting is so good, I was tempted to spread it on everything in my fridge and pantry.

The recipe does only make 12 cupcakes, so you will want to double up if you get a serious craving, like I did this past weekend.  These cupcakes are really easy and perfect for baking beginners.

I found this recipe on simplyrecipes.com, a site that all home cooks should visit for anything from gluten-free asparagus risotto to chilaquiles. It was posted by Garrett McCord.

Double Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients:

Cupcake

    * 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (cooks note: I used cake flour and got a much fluffier cupcake)
    * 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
    * 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
    * 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
    * 1 cup sugar
    * 1 egg plus 2 egg whites
    * 1/2 cup whole milk
    * 1/4 cup sour cream
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
    * 1/2 vanilla bean (or one whole bean if you can spare it)

Frosting

    * 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
    * 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar
    * 1/2 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut open the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out.  Put the seeds, the empty bean and the milk into a saucepan and heat to under a simmer.  Remove from the heat and let cool. You can use the empty vanilla bean to flavor sugar by wiping the milk off and placing it in a jar of sugar.

Beat the butter with a mixer until light and fluffy, then add the sugar and beat until the mixture is fluffy again.  Add the egg and egg whites separately.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, whisk the vanilla milk, vanilla extract and sour cream.

Add the flour and milk mixture to the sugar mixture until well blended.  Place 12 cupcake wrappers into a muffin tin pan.  Divide the batter and pour into the tin.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Cool then frost.

Frosting

Beat the butter and sugar until it looks fluffy.  Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean and add to the mixtures.

Enjoy!!!