Recipe: Lemon Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

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Have you seen Disney Pixar’s Inside Out yet? It’s so good, we’ve seen it twice already! We spotted the cutest Inside Out plush toys at Walmart and just had to bring home the whole cast of characters. You can’t have Joy without Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust right? My kids love reenacting the movie and putting on puppet shows with the plush toys. The toys have also been a great opportunity to chat about emotions and we use them as a sort of check-in at the end of the day. My almost 5 year grabs whatever emotion he’s feeling and we can talk about it.

Inspired by Joy, we recently made the most delicious lemon cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting. They match Joy’s cheery personality perfectly and you’ll want to eat the frosting by the spoonful! Coincidentally, baking with my children always leads to some great conversations about emotions. It’s the perfect time to check in with your kiddos and get more than a “fine” when you ask how school was. There’s just something about measuring and mixing that gets them chatting. 

CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS (yields 1 1/2 dozen)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 lemons

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup blueberries
Blue food coloring (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: Head to Walmart and pick up the Inside Out plush toys (a Walmart exclusive) and the rest of the ingredients.

 Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time.

Step 3: Slowly mix in vanilla, lemon juice from 2 lemons, zest from 2 lemons and milk.

Step 4: Add flour and baking powder. Combine until smooth.

Step 5: Bake for 15-20 minutes until you can pierce with a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Step 6: While cupcakes are baking, get started on the frosting. Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar, blueberries and food coloring (optional) together until fluffy. Place frosting in a pastry bag and refrigerate until ready to use.

Step 7: Once cupcakes are finished baking, allow to cool and then frost. Enjoy!

How do you help your kids sort through their big emotions?