Cheese Cupcakes

This recipe is adapted from the Pinoy Cheese Cupcake recipe of Kusina ni Manang, one of the recipe blogs I admire and follow. When I suddenly had the craving for cheese cupcakes, I had immediately thought of checking for the recipe from Kusina ni Manang before checking any other pages since what I liked about her recipes is that it really had that Pinoy bakery touch, as she said she learned from her baker father. There are still a lot more other baked goodies I would like to try..... but, one at a time.... still a struggling baker, I must admit!
Think I've already mentioned it a few times, that baking is not really not my forte. I do love to learn but I just can't stop being a stubborn student when it comes to baking. I am not good at following strict measurements and instructions, which is the first rule of baking. So if you see some baked goodies recipes here, we would be learning them together, and if you have tips, well, I'm all ears! I would also love it if you share your own home tested "simple" baked goodies recipes.. come on, let's take the journey together, surely it would be fun!
Loved how the cupcakes turned out, even with those near misses, lol! Firstly, I made the mistake of mixing all the dry ingredients together. Yeah, ok, I know, I have a recipe to follow, but didn't I tell you I'm not good at following instructions? lol! So that was the first mistake, so when it was time to cream the butter, I don't have any sugar to mix with it. But the good thing was, the sugar here in Qatar was not as sweet and most of the time I had to add more from the original recipe so apart from the 1/2 cup  I had mixed with the flour, I had an additional 1/4 cup I used to cream the butter. Ooops! and I also forgot to add oil! Hahaha! Ok, don't mind me, just follow the Pinoy Cheese Cupcake recipe of Kusina ni Manang! LOL!!!! I should tell you though, it wasn't really a disaster and the finished product was good too! Apart from the last batch that I had burned because I didn't immediately took them out of the oven after I turned off the heat, the rest was, yes, history! hahaha! Everybody loved them and didn't even survive the cooling period! :)

Ingredients:
3 2/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 cans condensed milk
cheddar cheese, grated (for topping)


Method:
Preheat oven to 180degrees C.
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, with only 1/2cup sugar. 
In another bowl, cream butter with the remaining sugar using an electric mixer set to medium. 
Lower the mixer setting then add 1 egg at a time, beating about 2 minutes before adding another egg after the other. Adjust the mixer back to medium after all the eggs were added and beat for a minute.
Return mixer setting to slow and gradually add in the condensed milk. After all the milk is added, beat on medium speed for another minute.
Again, return setting to slow and slowly add the dry ingredients a cup at a time. When all the dry ingredients have been mixed into the batter, return setting to medium and beat well until all lumps have been removed and the batter is smooth.
Line muffin pan with paper cups and slowly transfer the batter into each cup (do not fill the cups to the brim). 
Top with grated cheese. 
Bake for about 15-20minutes, depending on the size of your cupcakes. 
Remove from the oven and cool. Serve as afternoon snack with your favorite drink. Enjoy!


Mommy tip: keep those which will not immediately be consumed in an air-tight resealable container to prevent them from getting hard. This would also be an ideal snack to bring to the office or school. Enjoy!