Banana Cupcakes with Creme Cheese Frosting

I'm going to start out by saying...I'm NOT a baker. Baking is a Science - cooking an Art. And, I am definitely an Artist.

I made these cupcakes last night for my daughter's Birthday. This may have been only the second or third time I have ever made cupcakes.

She's having two rounds of eating (and smooshing and smashing) today, so I wanted something kinda healthy. She likes bananas and my Mother-in-law had some very ripe ones...bam...easy choice.

Plus, I had enough batter left over to make extras to freeze for a quick breakfast down the road. Definitely put them in the fridge...they are tastier cold. All in all, they turned out well. The Birthday Girl LOVED them, so I'm happy.

I found this recipe from Group Recipes, right here. Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

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• 3 cups flour (I used unbleached whole wheat flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (I only had 1 cup of sugar so I used brown sugar for the rest)
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/8 cups canola oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed                                                 
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened                                                 
• 1/2 cup butter, softened                                                 
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make it

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• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard sized muffin pan with muffin liners or spray with cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix until just blended.Fill muffin cups a little more than 3/4 full. Bake for about 20 - 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely.

• While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar

• Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, ice them and enjoy!

• *TIP: I did not have time to make cupcakes, so I just threw the whole batter into a lightly greased 13X9 inch pan! And it finished baking around 35 minutes. I let it cool until it was a little warm, then frosted it. And immediately put it into the fridge, to get the frosting nice and hard. The next day it was even yummier! My whole family and I went crazy for it!