Celebrate National Margarita Day (February 22) in style with Margarita Cupcakes – a sweet mix of lime and tequila!

There’s nothing more refreshing on a hot day than an ice-cold margarita and it’s hot pretty much every day in Cambodia (and Texas). While we don’t drink very often, my mother and I still splurged on the occasional margarita to cool off after a hot day. With all the fresh fruit here, the flavors are amazing – passion fruit, mango, pineapple and of course lime.

I’ve been home for several months now and it’s National Margarita Day so I wanted to recreate the margarita flavor in a cupcake. Fortunately, Baking the Goods has a great recipe for margarita cupcakes that I modified to use ready-to-drink margarita wine cocktail from Costco. You should check out her Baking the Goods’ blog. She has lots of yummy recipes!

Why is there a National Margarita Day? I don’t really know. One source said it was founded by a few bartenders and therefore it is hard to track down the origins of the holiday. Even so, it’s just a day to enjoy the classic drink and all of it’s variations in drink and baking form!

If you want to serve these cupcakes to children or just don’t want the alcohol, you can substitute limeade for the margarita wine cocktail.

Don’t forget to share pictures of all of your margarita and baking creations on social media using #CC&M, #ChocolateChocolateandMore, #NationalMargaritaDay!!

I can’t wait to see how everyone celebrates!

Margarita Cupcakes

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Ingredients

• For Cupcakes:
• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• Zest from 1 lime
• 4 tablespoons Kirkland Signature™ Ready-To-Drink Golden Margarita Wine Cocktail (can substitute with a 1:2 ratio of Fresh Lime Juice to Tequila)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• For Icing:
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 2 ad 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons Kirkland Signature™ Ready-To-Drink Golden Margarita Wine Cocktail
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 325F and line a cupcake pan.
2. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Beat butter in a stand mixer with sugar until creamed (about 5 minutes). Add the eggs mixing well after each addition. Then add the vanilla, Kirkland Signature™ Ready-To-Drink Golden Margarita Wine Cocktail, lime zest and mix for a few minutes until well incorporated.
4. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and buttermilk into the egg mixture, scrapping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.
5. Divide batter into prepared cupcake pan(s) and bake for around 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean of uncooked batter, turning the pan around half way through.
6. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.
8. Icing: Mix butter in a stand mixer until creamy. Add in powdered sugar and allow to mix for several minutes on high until creamy.
9. Add in Kirkland Signature™ Ready-To-Drink Golden Margarita Wine Cocktail, Lime juice, and the pinch of salt.
11. Brush Kirkland Signature™ Ready-To-Drink Golden Margarita Wine Cocktail onto the tops of the cupcakes before you decorate them.
12. Ice the cupcakes and garnish with lime slices, coarse salt, lime and lemon zest, or coarse clear sugar.

Notes

To make the non-alcoholic version of these cupcakes, substitute limeade or margarita mix for the margarita wine cocktail.

I used Kirkland Signature™ Ready-To-Drink Golden Margarita Wine Cocktail. If you don’t shop at Costco or can’t find a similar product, you can always just use tequila and fresh lime juice! Add around 1 Tablespoon Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice for every 2 Tablespoons Tequila.

If you want more chocolate in your adult cupcakes, check out these whiskey toffee chocolate cupcakes from Beyond Frosting.

Or if you’d like to try some chocolate cupcakes without alcohol, these special dark cupcakes might be up your alley.

If you need more of a pick-me-up, try these wonderful chocolate coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream frosting from Roxana’s Home Baking.