Lemon Coconut Snowballs

From the book Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans

Makes 12 Regular Cupcakes (I dbl the recipe and it still worked out well, in hindsight I did not need to dbl the lemon filling and did not dbl the frosting)

1 1/3c Cake flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
6 Tbsp Whole Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Almond Extract
6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 C Sugar
6 Large Egg Whites
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
3/4 C Lemon Filling

Lemon Sauce and Filling
Makes 1 Cup (I dbl'd it since I could freeze it to use for when I make these cupcakes again)

1/4 c (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 c fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp cornstart, dissolved in 1/4 c water
1 tsp grated lemon zest

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and lemon juice over medium heat until the butter melts and th emixutre is hot, about 130 F on a thermometer.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar together to blend them, then whisk in the dissolved cornstarch. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the hot butter and lemon juice into the yolk mixture. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a large spoon, just until it comes to a boil and thickens; it will take about 6 minutes. Which thickened, the sauce will leave a path on the back of the spoon if you draw your finger across it and look clear rather then cloudy. Immediately remove from the heat, strain into a small bowl, and stir in lemon zest. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the sauce, use a toothpick to poke a few holes in the plastic wrap to let the steam escape, and refridgerate until cold. The sauce will thicken further as it chills.

The sauce can be refridgerated for up to 3 days or leaving at least an inch of space in the top of the container, press plastic wrap onto the surface, seal tightly and freeze up to 3 months. It does not freeze solid so it's easy to just take it out of the freeze and spoon out what you need w/o having to defrost it.


Frosting:

3 C. shredded sweetened coconut
Seven Minute Frosting

Seven Minute Frosting:

1 1/4 C. sugar
1/3 c. water
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla exract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Put the sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler with at least 2 qt capacity and beat with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until opaque, white, and foamy, about 1 minute. Put the bowl over, but not touching , a saucepan of barely simmering water (or the bottom of the double boiler). The top container should sit firmly over the pan of hot water; be sure to keep the cord of the electric mixer away from the burner. Beat on high speed until the frosting forms a soft peak that standsd straight up if you stop the beaters and lift them up, about 7 minutes. The frosting should register 160 F on the thermometer. Remove the container of frosting from the water, add vanilla and almond extracts, and continute beating for 2 minutes to further thicken the frosting.


Make the cupcakes. Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Pre-heat to 350 F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, stir the milk and vanilla and almond extracts together.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in colour, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating until each addition is incorporated before adding the next, set aside.

In another large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed until the whites are foamy and the cream of tartar dissolves, about 1 minute. Beat on medium-high until soft peaks form. Use a rubber spatula to fold one-third of the whipped egg whites into the batter, then fold in the reamining whites until no streaks of egg white reamin.

Fill each paper liner with 1/3c of batter, to about 1/4" below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs clinging to it, about 23 mins (mine were done at around 18-20 mins). The tops should remain pale or barely brown just on the edges. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove cupcakes and cool completely on the wire rack.

Fill the cupcakes. Remove the paper liners. Cut a cone-shaped peice, about 1" across and 1" deep, out of th emiddle of the top of each cupcake; set the peices aside. Spoon 1 tbsp of lemon filling into each hole. Replace the cone-shaped pcs of cupcake. Immediately frost the cupcakes.

Frost the cupcakes. Spread the coconut on a plate or piece of wax paper. Holding the cupcake in the palm of your hand, use a small metal spatula to spread about 1/2c of frosting over the top and sides, cover it completely. Sprinkle coconut generously over the frosting, letting any extra fall onto the plate to be recycled onto another cupcake. Place on the serving plate and continue frosting the remaining cupcakes.

Serve or cover carefully and refridgerate to serve cold. Cupcakes can be refridgerated up to 2 days.