apple pie cupcakes*

I am so deeply in love with these cupcakes that it is almost a problem. Although I have not made them more than once (yet), I have a feeling that these are going to be in my life for the long haul. I want to make more apple, some cherry, mixed berry, well basically any kind of flavor that would normally be a pie, then make it into a cupcake! They turned out so dang cute, and they tasted even better! But grab a fork people, because this is no eat-and-go dessert. Unless you want to skimp on the filling, and if you do that then shame on you!

The recipe called for a vanilla buttercream frosting, but I am sorry but I HAVE to have whipped topping on my "pie"! So instead I made some homemade spiced whipped cream, and you will notice some little specks in the picture. That is cinnamon people! Someone told me that they are going to buy me an industrial sized container of cinnamon for Christmas because I use it so much. Although she was kidding, I didn't think it was a bad idea :).

Apple Pie Cupcakes
adapted from Annie's Eats

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

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

For Decorating: 

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

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.

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.

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.  

For the spiced whipped topping, mix the heavy whipping cream in a mixer on high until it has reached medium peaks - about 2-3 minutes. Put mixer on low and add the powdered sugar. Once blended in, put back on high for another 30 seconds. Then add the cinnamon. At this point it should be stiff peaks, which is perfect so that the cream holds its shape. Top each cupcake with a swirl of the spiced whipped topping.

LOVE!

-alyssa*