Cupcakes with beans. Beans!

I randomly picked up a copy of the Martha Stewart Food magazine and decided I had to try the recipe for cupcakes with beans.  It seemed crazy.  And they turned out to be crazy good.  I changed the recipe just a bit, and baked them about 5 minutes longer.

Vanilla Cupcakes (with cannellini beans)
3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 can (15.5 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, plus 2 large egg whites
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in middle and lower thirds. Line 24 standard muffin cups with paper liners. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a food processor, combine beans, butter and granulated sugar; process until smooth. With machine running, add eggs and egg whites and process until incorporated. Stir into flour mixture until well combined. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla.

2. Divide batter among muffin cups and bake until puffed and set, about 17 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Transfer cupcakes to wire racks and let cool completely.

Filling:
1 pkg frozen raspberries
freshly squeezed orange juice (use some for the frosting, the rest for the filling)

Defrost raspberries a bit and mix with orange juice.  Yep.  That's it.

Frosting:
2 oz neufchatel cheese
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract
zest of 1 orange
some freshly squeezed orange juice

Cream cheese and zest and a bit of juice.  Add sugar and blend until smooth.  Add vanilla and enough orange juice to reach desired consistency.  (I didn't know how this would turn out so I just made a small batch. You will need to double or triple this to frost all cupcakes.)

I recommend slicing your cupcake into thirds.  Spoon some of the raspberry mixture over the bottom and middle layers and then spread the top layer with some frosting.