Essential Oils Lemon Cupcakes!

Hello everyone!

As much as I loooove chocolate, my love for citrus flavors are just as great, if not greater, especially during the summer!  So when baby cuz came asking me what he should bring for his class bake sale, I decided to whip up some lemon cupcakes for him!  

It was also a perfect opportunity to incorporate the DoTerra lemon essential oil I have been trying out and loving lately! I have always been really interested in natural remedies--you know, the whole ancient methods of using herbs and roots and such to heal and treat illnesses?  I think that is soo cool!  haha  sorry, an extreme nerd moment...--and essential oils seem to be today's version of it!  I got a trio of oils--Lavender, Peppermint, and Lemon--and I have been loving it!  What is so great about DoTerra oils is that they are not only good for aromatic and topical use, but are also safe to ingest!  There are not very many oils pure enough to ingest, so make sure that your oil says that it is 'therapeutic-grade' before you ingest them! 

Lavender has been really great for all sorts of skin problems, especially in taking away the sting in bug bites, (Mom recently came back from our camping trip in Oregon with 20 bug bites on her leg--not even joking-- and after she tried putting on lavender oil instead of anti-itch cream, she completely abandoned the anti-itch cream!  Sorry lil guy(anti-itch cream), it's nothing personal.. lavender just worked so much better than you! haha)  It's also good for minor cuts and burns because it is anti-bacterial.

And we've been using the lemon around the house a lot for cleaning purposes because it cuts grease like nobody's business and also because it just smells oh-soo-good! Lemon is supposed to be really good for uplifting your mood as well if you get a little blue once in awhile.  I have never tried it for that reason because I tend to be a pretty chirpy person usually, but I know some people who have really benefited from using oils to help fight depression, which is really cool.  

Peppermint has been really great for my incredibly sensitive and fussy tummy.  I just put one drop of peppermint oil in my water and drink it throughout the day, and it keeps my tummy happy for the most part.  Of course, it's not a magic drop of oil that will cure all illnesses, but I'm just happy that now I don't have to pop TUMS like they're candy!  haha  Another perk?  It keeps my breath fresh and minty!  I used a drop of peppermint oil in my water bottle and drank it throughout the day during the Austin Open Ballroom Competition that I was in a couple of months ago, and bad breath was definitely not something I had to worry about all day!  ;)  Oh, and I used it to make mint chocolate cupcakes awhile ago and it tasted amazing!

I just bought another oil (Melaleuca, aka Tea Tree) and I will keep you updated on how much I love that one.  I've also been perusing the book Modern Essentials: A Contemporary Guide to the Therapeutic Use of Essential Oils and it's so fascinating!  If you are interested in the oils, you can check out my DoTerra website or shoot me a message!  =)

Anyway, enough about my fascination with the essential oils, let's get to baking some lemony goodness!

Essential Oils Lemon Cupcakes!

makes 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
Cupcake
3 cup whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup salted butter
1 cup sugar in the raw
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup 2% milk (divided in half)
10 drops of lemon oil

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
6 tbs butter
2 cups powdered sugar
10 drops of lemon oil


Let's Bake!

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line your muffin pan!

2. In a small bowl, sift the flour and mix in the baking powder and set it aside.

3.  In a bigger bowl, beat the butter and sugar (preferably with an electric mixer) until fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.  I didn't realize that mom's kitchen that I thought had everything imaginable is actually missing the electric mixer...  I would highly recommend using an electric mixer.  but if you don't have one, you can ask your cousin to be the human electric mixer  ;)

4.  Make some lemon zest and mix it into the wet ingredients along with the vanilla extract.

5.  Beat in half of the dry ingredients (flour mixture) into the wet ingredients.  Beat in half of the milk, and add the essential oils.  Add rest of the dry ingredients and milk and beat until just combined!  Here's some more footage of poor souls without an electric mixer...  haha  oh good old manual labor...

6.  fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 full with the batter, and bake for about 15 minutes.  The toothpick test should come out clean  ;)

7.   while your cupcakes are baking, make your frosting!  Just beat all of the ingredients (cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and lemon oil) together in a big bowl!  so simple!   Our hand beating isn't so bad, eh?  ;)

8.  Once your cupcakes are out, take them out of the muffin tin and put it on a wire rack to cool.

9.  Once they are cooled, frost away!

It makes your whole house smell absolutely incredible, tastes just as good, AND you know that you're getting all of the benefits of the lemon essential oil in every bite  ;)  go on, have another one, I sure did!  haha

Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

--Janny