Walnut, coffee and mascarpone cupcakes

The creamiest dessert for all those who like individually-sized treats and are in love with coffee and walnuts in your sweets (as I am, of course). Also, they look cute, don't they? :) 

Yes, I'm kind of over the cupcake craze too, but I still can't resist their homey afternoon-ish charm when I stumble upon a recipe that suits my tastes so well. So give them a try :).
Recipe vaguely adapted from here.

Last year: Sweet potato spicy wedges with guacamole (Mexican and Tex-Mex).
Two years ago: Sticky banana and maple syrup cake bars.
Three years ago: Cheddar and leek muffins.
Four years ago: Asian white fish (pangasius) fillet with sesame noodles, Ruladă de pui cu spanac (Romanian chicken and spinach roulade) and Green pasta and pesto souffle (gratin).





Ingredients (makes 12):

For the muffins:

• 100 g butter, softened
• 100 g brown sugar
• 100 g flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 tablespoons instant coffee, mixed with 100 ml water (I like the flavor extra strong)
• 50 g chopped walnuts

For frosting and decorating:

• 200 ml mascarpone
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 12 large walnut pieces (preferably whole walnut halves, mine were all broken so I used pieces)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line a muffin tin with papers or butter it really well.

Mix the butter, sugar, salt and eggs in a medium bowl. Add all of the coffee infusion, except 2 tablespoons. Gradually mix in the flour, and then the chopped walnuts. Transfer the mix in the prepared muffin tin (it will only fill the holes halfway).

Put it in the preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden. Take out and allow to cool.

Mix the mascarpone with the remaining 2 tablespoons of coffee infusion and the 2 tablespoons brown sugar until even. Use this cream to frost the muffins, then decorate each with a piece of walnut. Everything is done, dig in! :)

P.S: The frosting is even better if you keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes before using it on the muffins. The slightly cold cream kind of enhances the delicious coffee flavor - counter-intuitive, I know! :)