My dad used to take me on walks in the woods to look for fairy rings when I was a child. I wanted to see a real fairy so badly! I read a book about fairies, hoping to learn more about them. Fairies love little cakes, milk, honey and butter so I’m sure these Fairy Puffs would be fairy approved.
My Fairy Puffs recipe is loosely based on an old favorite mini muffin recipe. I tweaked it quite a bit, including the addition of pink dragonfruit powder. Dragonfruit has a subtle flavor, so the bright fuchsia powder is mostly for color. But oh what a beautiful color it is! You can find dragonfruit powder in healthy food stores or online. To find the dragonfruit powder, also known as pink pitaya powder, I used, click here.
Decorating these little cuties was so entertaining! After sampling multiple variations of sparkling sugar and cinnamon sugar, I decided that dipping the bottoms of the muffins in butter and cinnamon sugar, then dipping the tops in butter and sparkling sugar gave them the perfect balance of sugar and spice. I had purchased some edible flowers a couple of days prior, and they added a pretty, magical touch. The flowers I used are called bachelor’s buttons and I got them at a local gourmet flower seller.
Servings |
mini muffins
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- 1 1/3 cups (6 oz or 99g) all purpose flour, sifted
- 3 tablespoons dragonfruit powder *See note below
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Scant 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup (2 5/8 oz or 75g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (4 oz or 118ml) whole milk
- 1/2 cup (4 oz or 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz or 100g) sparkling sugar crystals **I used combinations of white, pink, purple & blue
- edible flowers (optional)
Ingredients
Fairy Puffs
Topping
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- Preheat oven to 350ÂşF. Grease and flour a 24 serving mini muffin pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, dragonfruit powder, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add egg and beat until smooth.
- Add flour mixture and milk alternately in two additions and mix just until combined.
- Transfer batter to prepared muffin pan, filling muffin cups about 3/4 full.
- Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean, about 12-14 minutes. (Be careful not to over bake. Check a few minutes early. Small muffins can dry out easily.)
- Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove puffs from pan and transfer to cooling rack. (Loosen puffs with a small offset spatula or butter knife if necessary.)
- Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.
- Place colored sparkling sugar crystals in another shallow bowl.
- Dip the bottoms of each puff in melted butter, then into cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Dip the tops of each puff in melted butter, then into sparkling sugar.
- Decorate with edible flowers if desired.
*To purchase dragonfruit powder, click here.
 **To purchase pink sparkling sugar crystals, click here.
Beautiful work
Thanks for stopping by!