Irish Oatmeal Cupcakes with Broiled Brown Sugar Frosting

Top of the morning to you! Happy St. Patrick's Day. I wish I could just lean through the screen and give you all a pinch. I really don't care if you are wearing green or not. I would just pretend that I hadn't seen it yet. To me, March 17th is my big chance to pinch everyone; those who are wearing emerald hues are not exempt! Especially those lucky people, like my sister Michelle, who feel that they are above wearing green just because they happened to be born with gorgeous green eyes. Ha Ha, I'm coming to get you guys especially. So be on the lookout and be on the run. And looking cute and festive won't help you either. I would even pinch these guys.If you want to avoid my yearly squeeze, you'll have to be on the run so you may need a few extra grams of energy in the form of calories. These cupcakes, faith and begorra, they are so delicious, especially the crackly brown sugar icing. And while they aren't exactly Irish, they do have oatmeal, and oatmeal is Irish; so if A=B than the compound B will still retain the Irish qualities of A. So let it be written. Happy St. Patrick's Day and don't say I didn't warn you...
Money Saving Tips:

These cupcakes are simply a scaled down version of an oatmeal sheetcake with a broiled brown sugar frosting. They are made from inexpensive and common pantry ingredients, so you should have everything on hand, hopefully including some sale priced butter. If you've got a cup and a quarter of leftover prepared oatmeal in the pot, you can use that here.

Irish Oatmeal Cupcakes with Broiled Brown Sugar Frosting

Estimated Cost: $3.00 for 24 cupcakes
1 cup old fashioned oats

1 and 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 and 1/3 cup flour (I used half whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Brown Sugar Broiled Icing:

1 cup brown sugar

5 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons cream or milk

pinch of salt and cinnamon

Combine oats and boiling water in a small bowl. Let rest for twenty minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, cream butters and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Gently stir in flour, soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in oatmeal mixture and combine gently. Pour a scant 1/4 cup into each of 24 muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until top springs back and toothpick is clean. The tops will be flat and slightly bubbly looking. Let cool for about five minutes. Preheat broiler. In a small bowl, combine all of the icing ingredients. spread cupcakes with icing. Broil, WATCHING CLOSELY, until icing bubbles.
Today was also Tuesdays with Dorie and we made this.

But, we really didn't care for it very much and it didn't have any Irish oatmeal in it. Enough said.

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