Yazdi Cupcakes (Cayk-e yazdi) - with Rosewater and Cardamom

These are Persian cupcakes with the flavours of rosewater and ground cardamom.

Fresh whipped cream would be nice on these if you wanted to fancy them up a bit. I made half the recipe and we got 9 cupcakes out of it. Also, I didn't have any rice flour or pistachios so I used only all purpose flour and walnuts.

My little helper.

Yazdi Cupcakes (Cayk-e yazdi) - with Rosewater and Cardamom

Adapted from the book New Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij

Makes 9 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 eggs, separated (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• a few pinches of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (I ground 3 pods)
• 1-2 teaspoons rose water
• 1 1/8 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped nuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line your muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Beat egg yolks and sugar for about 2 minutes until creamy. I did this by hand with a whisk. I suppose you could follow the recipe from the book and do it for 5 minutes, but after 2 my arm was about to fall off. Or you could get smart and use an electric mixer.
3. Add the butter, yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and rosewater. Whisk again until combined, then gradually whisk in the flour.
4. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites (this time I used the electric mixer) for several minutes until they're fluffy and stiff. Use a rubber spatula to fold the whites into the batter.
5. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and sprinkle a few nuts on top. Bake for about 16 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.