Apple Pie cupcakes

Cutest cupcake liners ever!

Thanks to a coworker, I have discovered this website. It has a LOT of recipes that I am interested in trying, but I decided to start off with a very fall taste - apple pie cupcakes. These ended up being quite a bit of work. If I had an apple corer/peeler, it probably would have gone a lot quicker. I think if I were going to make them again I would skip the homemade apple mixture in the middle and just buy a can of apple pie filling. Might not taste as good, but it would definitely save me some time. The other note to make about this recipe is that the frosting recipe is not correct.

On her website it calls for 2 1/2 c. butter and 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar, which if you've ever made frosting before, you can tell right away this isn't correct. I think I might have ended up with something like 4-5 c. powdered suger, which ended up making waaaaaaay too much frosting. So I would halve the rest of the ingredients and then add powdered sugar until you get the consistency and flavor you're looking for. I wasn't a huge fan of the taste of the frosting, but everyone else raved about it, so it must just be me. :)

I'm not as artistic as the blogger I got the recipe from, so don't judge my pictures. lol

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup milk

For the apple filling:

2 tbsp. butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 tbsp. sugar

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

Directions:

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well to combine. Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Cupcakes fresh out of the oven. Again, don't judge my photography skills.

To make the apple filling, heat the butter a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cinnamon and sugar and cook for a minute, until the mixture begins to bubble. Lower the heat to medium and stir in the apples. Mix well. Cook until the apples are somewhat tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

I would seriously make a double batch and eat the leftovers with ice cream. So yummy!

While the apple mixture is cooling, use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake, making sure to leave a rim around the top of the cupcake. Fill the holes with the cooled apple mixture. To decorate, top each cupcake with a swirl of vanilla buttercream.

A little taste of fall!

For decorating:

Easy Vanilla Buttercream

20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/8 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Copied from Annie's Eats