Carrie Hribar is Project Coordinator with the National Association of Local Boards of Health in Bowling Green, Ohio, where she writes about environmental health issues like food safety, factory farms, and air and water quality.  She is a baking and music enthusiast who blogs at chasingpaper.blogspot.com and contributes to dontforgettodance.com.

My family takes its desserts very seriously. This is because I come from an accomplished line of bakers, including both my grandmother and my mom. I unfortunately do not recall much about my grandmother’s baking (except that there was a fresh coffee cake made every time we’d visit). But I’ve heard stories – my father speaks of his mother-in-law’s pies reverentially— so I know she was amazing.

My personal baking idol is my mother. She regularly whips up a couple pies or has cinnamon rolls in the oven before I’ve even stumbled out of bed in the morning. Barely reliant on recipes, she masterfully measures out cups of flour when I would still be trying to remember how much salt the recipe calls for. I had the good fortune of growing up with homemade treats – store-bought birthday cakes were not typically found in our house. One of my favorite dessert memories is the cake from my fifth birthday, shaped like an ice cream cone with a rainbow of scoops of ice cream on top. I thought it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen (however, if you ask my mother about it now, she says it was a nightmare to make, with ice cream melting everywhere).

I gradually learned to bake from my mother. Every Christmas, my mother, sisters, and I would bake and decorate Christmas cookies together. When I became an adult, my mother started me out on easy recipes, for example, a simple graham cracker torte with sliced fresh fruit and whipped cream on top.   My first attempt at making a homemade pie crust from scratch went so horribly that I did not try it again for several years. I was beyond proud when I finally managed to make an edible pie, even though I probably called my mother at least five times during that first successful attempt. The frantic calls home have lessened over the years, but my mother continues to be my own personal expert hotline.

I’m pleased to say I’m growing into my role as a baker. Whenever I express frustration at not being able to replicate my mother’s results, my husband reminds me that she has 30 years of experience on me.  As I practice, I’ve started trying to bring some of my own creativity into my desserts. My blueberry pie gets some ginger added or I’ll attempt baking with gooseberries, which weren’t readily available where I grew up. Not all of my experiments are a success, but I enjoy trying to expand on the skills she gave me.

These cupcakes are the result of such experimentation.  The base of this recipe is a pistachio coffee cake that has been passed down throughout my family. Every time my mother makes this cake, it promptly gets inhaled. Perhaps a snootier baker would frown at the use of prepackaged cake mix, but I vow he or she would change his or her tune after tasting the cake. I was inspired to turn the cake into cupcakes for some friends’ birthday, one of whom does not enjoy typical sweet goods. This is probably one of my most successful attempts at experimenting with or adapting a recipe, and I’m proud of how it bridges an old family recipe with one of my personal obsessions, cupcakes.

Pistachio Cupcakes with Maple Cinnamon Frosting
Makes approximately 18 cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 small package pistachio instant pudding mix
1/4 oil
1 ½  cups chopped walnuts
3/4 cup sugar
1 ½  tsp. cinnamon

Frosting
1 Tbls & 1 1/2 tsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Combine chopped walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon into bowl. Place paper liners into cupcake pan, and sprinkle half of the sugar-walnut mixture into a thin layer that covers the bottom of the liners.

Beat cake mix, eggs, sour cream, pudding mix, and oil until thoroughly mixed. Scoop a small spoonful into liners until filled until almost halfway. Sprinkle another layer of sugar-walnut mixture on top of batter, and top off with another spoonful of batter. The batter is a little thick, so smooth the top with a spoon if batter isn't completely covering sugar.

Place cupcakes in oven and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until the cupcakes are golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool before frosting.

Make sure your butter is well softened so the frosting doesn't turn out lumpy. I recommend leaving the butter out of the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes before attempting to make the frosting.  Beat the maple syrup, cinnamon, butter, and milk until smooth. Add the powdered sugar gradually, beating until combined. Using a knife, frost the cooled cupcakes and serve.