Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

It's crawfish season here in south Louisiana, and boy oh boy are the good times a rollin'. Last Friday our company sponsored a crawfish boil for its employees, and as usual I was eager to jump in with a dessert offering. With the memory of last year's pucker-inducing lemon cupcakes still burning in my mind, I was only after one thing: redemption.

Mini Lemon Cupcakes Yields about 5 dozen

• 18.25 oz. box Betty Crocker® Lemon Cake Mix
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 box (4-serving size) lemon gelatin
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp. lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place paper liners into mini muffin pans.
Combine lemon gelatin and boiling water in a 1-cup glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir for 2 minutes to dissolve gelatin. Add butter pieces and stir until melted. (Clever trick alert! This cools down the gelatin mixture to a reasonable working temperature while simultaneously transforming the butter into a liquid state. Thermodynamics is kewl.) In a separate medium/largish bowl beat the eggs, sour cream, and lemon extract until blended. Add cake mix and gelatin/butter mixture. Blend on low speed for 30 seconds or so. Scrape bowl down, then increase mixer speed to medium and beat for another 2 minutes. Batter will be very thick.
Portion batter into paper-lined mini muffin tins and bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes, or until cake tests done. Remove to wire racks to cool and repeat with remaining batter. Cool cupcakes completely before glazing with:

• 1 can of ready-made lemon frosting

Heat frosting in microwaveable bowl for 10-15 seconds, until liquid. (Tips: Keep your eye on it while it heats, because the frosting melts almost instantly. Don't melt the whole can at once, because it will start to set up before you've had the chance to dip all the cupcakes. I worked with about 1/4 of the can at a time.) If desired, top cupcakes with a candy crawfish decor before the glaze sets up. You can find red candy coating disks at any craft/hobby store. I got my crawfish mold locally, but you can buy them from CK online (hint: they are normally labelled as "lobsters").


And the verdict? It's tough to say. Many of my co-workers began the day with intentions of "eating my weight in crawfish," leaving little room for dessert. Our dessert table was positively buckling under the weight of brownies, walnut brownies, lemon gooey butter cake bars, mini lemon cupcakes, aaaand... about 4 gallons of ice cream.