Baby Back Cupcakes

Like cupcakes? Like Baby Back Ribs? Like Corn bread? I know I do, but its such a hassle switching back and forth.  Hey wait, why not combine them all!  And, just like that, Baby Back Cupcakes were invented.  Now usually when i come up with a zany idea, I'll trawl the internet to see if someone else has all ready done this before or not, and to my surprise it hasn't.  Now sure lots of people make savory cupcakes, I've seen some stuffed with pulled pork and other tasty options , But none on the actual bone.  Doing this with ribs is perfect as it even gives you a stick of sorts to eat the cupcake off of.  The frilly paper hats are optional of course, but they do offer a fun silliness and a functional application as well, a reduction in the messy fingers category.

Variations
The more I think of this cupcake on the bone sort of think I realize this could be applied to other meaty things!  Why not pre-cooked chicken drumettes or even raw jumbo prawns with the tails popping out.  The prawns would steam cook as the batter finishes!  Once again an exhaustive internet search left me with no such cupcakes ever done before, on the bone that is...  (Gotta trademark this quick! , remember you saw it first here on instructables, June 13, 2011)

Prep
Now one could easily modify how much or how little of the recipe they want to do.  For one, one could skip on the marinade and just braise them in whatever BBQ sauce they had on hand, some beer/cider maybe or just a dry rub and then steamed in there own juices.  Even the de-boning could be skipped, you'd just have a meaty handle!  Now the sweet chili glaze and  spicy chipotle cream-cheese really do taste great with it and both are so easy.  Its up to personal tastes really.  Make sure to check out the videos and get busy baking/braising/barbecuing?

Step 1 Ingredients & tools

Ingredients - for 1 dozen

Dr.Pepper Marinade/braising liquid

• 750ml Dr.Pepper - diet doesn't work
• tablespoon salt
• 1/4 cup sweet stuff - brown sugar, white sugar or honey
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons dried chili flakes
• 2 tablespoons hot chili paste
• 2 tablespoons  whole cumin seed
• 2 tablespoons dried ground smoked ancho or chipotle chili powder
• 1 jalapeno minced - more if they are not very hot
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro - minced
• 1/4 cup butter

Rib Rub - no real directions here, just mix it all up - pooooof! your done

• 2 tablespoons whole cumin seed
• 2 tablespoons dried ground smoked ancho or chipotle chili powder
• 2 tablespoons each powdered onion and garlic
• 1 tablespoon each of sugar and salt

Cupcake batter

• 1 ear of corn, shucked, and kernels cut off and steamed for 3 minutes
• 1/2 bunch of cilantro
• 1 jalapeno minced
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 tablespoon whole cumin seed
• 1/2 tablespoon of salt
• 1/3 cup melted butter

Cupcake toppings

• 1/2 jar sweet red chili jam
• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon each of minced cilantro and ground smoked chili powder
• another tablespoon of minced cilantro for sprinkles

And of course, 1 rack of pork baby back ribs of course

Tools?

• cutting boards and knives
• cupcake tins
• parchment paper and tin foil
• pots, pans the usual sort of kitchen-ee stuff

Comments

[DotatDabbled]

This is just inspired! congrats :)

[iminthebathroom]

Thank-you! It was a fun one, just for the looks on my friends faces!

[bajablue]

Good Luck!!!!!

[jentheartist]

I made these for my Dad for father's day this past weekend. And they were really good. I dry rubbed the ribs a day ahead of time and let them in the fridge overnight. The marinade was delicious. I'd definitely use this recipe again for the meat marinate alone! Wow! Incredible idea! I think I'll try using maybe BBQ chicken drumsticks next time and possibly a regular biscuit recipe. So many possibilities!!! Awesome!

[lmnopeas]

Very clever and creative! I love the idea of savory vs. sweet. These ROCK!

[bajablue]

Zany, but BRILLIANT!!!! Excellent Instructable and 5 stars from me!

[iminthebathroom]

awesome, thanks! always surprised that many people never bother to rate!

[bajablue]

I always rate. I don't like that my 5 Star rating translates into 4.09 though. ;-(

[zazenergy]

LOLWUT! These look unbelievable. They also look like a lot of work (am I wrong?) but sooo worth it!

[iminthebathroom]

They were done in no time at all, The ribs took just a couple minutes to toss together, then you forget about them for a couple hours. And nothing is easier or more forgiving then cornbread batter. Everything else was a snap to whip up, course lots of it could be omitted as well. I started making these just as a killer headache was starting, so even in a pain induced delirium I pulled them off no prob. Maybe its the whole starving artist concept, as being in a bit of stress or grief cause you to rise above?

[mary candy]

I like very much this idea ;)

[wilgubeast]

These look AMAZING. Believe it or not, the topic of savory treats dressed up as sweets was brought up yesterday in the Instructables lab. Pizza-flavored cookies, loaded baked potato cake, etc. This is a glorious, savory idea. It's got everything: cupcake, pork, corn bread, and it's even ON A STICK.

[iminthebathroom]

Thank-you! They are just as tasty! Really though, someone should try it with other meats. Think BBQ'd chicken wings would make an awesome meat stick, prawns or maybe even a spring-roll with sesame ginger wasabi cream cheese icing :) how about cooking these in antique Popsicle molds, they were aluminum back then, or even the new silicone ones. You could use the longer rib from well prime-rib, oh my... thinking thinking thinking