White Chocolate Filled Kahlua Cupcakes

My daughter wakes up for the day anywhere between 4:30-5:30 these days. And that's after she has woken up anywhere from 4-10 times during the night. I'm beginning to think there is a problem. The only thing that has gotten me through is knowing she wont be like this forever! Most people with sleepless babies have said there kids usually grow out of it in between 12-18 months. So I'm keeping those fingers crossed!

It is okay, I suppose...I get to see my husband before he leaves for work which is nice. But it also makes for reeeeaaally long days. For example, yesterday when it was only noon, I could have sworn it was at least 3/3:30.

So I'm trying to make the best of it, and get more stuff done with my extra hours...But I'm pretty sure I would be more efficient with maybe a couple hours of more sleep. But I could be totally wrong. It truly is amazing how your body changes and learns to function on only 3-4 hours of solid sleep a night and the fact that I haven't killed anyone yet is nothing short of miraculous. 

One thing I have found that really really helps on those mornings my daughter wakes me up to watch the sunrise (which is a plus), is knowing I have a yummy breakfast awaiting me. Like cupcakes.

Kahlua is coffee- right?!?!

But really, these have a slight hint of the kahlua coffee taste without being all boozy tasting. 

I like a lot of frosting, so I piled mine up so it was almost as much frosting as there was cupcake, but for the normal person, I don't think they would like that. So it's your call with how much frosting goes on....

For some reason, when I set out to make kahlua cupcakes, I had it in my head that they had to be chocolate cupcakes with that coffee/kahlua depth, but I actually found a great white cupcake I used instead and I'm really glad cause they came out perfect and were WAY better than I had imagined they would be!

White Chocolate Filled Kahlua Cupcakes

Pre-heat oven to 325.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup Kahlua (I used French Vanilla)

12 unwrapped white chocolate Lindt Balls

Freeze Lindt balls for no less than 30 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Scrape down sides of the bowl, and beat in eggs 1 at a time.

After everything is well mixed, add in flour, baking powder, salt and Kahlua all at once.

Mix until everything is well combined.

Divide batter evenly between 12-16 cupcake liners.

Push a Lindt ball down into the center of each one.

Bake for 22-24 minutes until lightly golden brown on top.

After a few minutes, remove liners from tin, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Kahlua Frosting

1/2 cup non-hydrogenated shortening (or Crisco- GROSS!)

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup Kahlua

For White Chocolate Drizzle:

1 Cup White chocolate chips

3 Tbsp. Shortening

Beat all ingredients on medium high until light and fluffy and perfect for frosting.

Pour frosting ingredients in a ziploc bag lined bowl, snip off a corner and frost your cupcakes.

Put cupcakes in the freezer for 20-30 minutes so when you drizzle the white chocolate it hardens quicker.

Melt white chocolate and shortening in microwave at 20 second intervals til smooth, and drizzle oven frosted cupcakes. 

Return to freezer for a few minutes to harden chocolate completely.

Enjoy!