Cupcake Envy!

One of my favorite blogs is Good Things Catered. I am always thoroughly impressed just not what she can pull off but how beautiful everything looks. As we all know I am the first admit my stuff tastes excellent but is not pretty!

She had these beautiful cupcakes that I caught myself just going to stare at how pretty they were so I finally bit the bullet and made them!! Now mine were not pretty like Katie's but they were delicious! I made one change to the cupcake recipe and left out the rum; I didn't have any at home and just kept forgetting to buy it and they were still delicious!

Now I had some issues with the frosting and ended up making 2 batches! The first one I followed to the T and used light brown sugar and it just came out hard and gross! :( The second batch was delicious!! I used dark brown sugar, a tiny bit extra butter and some buttermilk (it is all I had in the house!). I didn't use it all but it worked out well and added just the right amount of sweetness. The cupcakes tasted like a yummy apple muffin with tiny bites of apple! These will definitely be made again, thanks Katie!







This is my traveling cupcake container and you should see the looks I get out on the metro with it!!

AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE CUPCAKES
(Source: Good Things Catered)

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. plus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp spiced rum
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c. apple, finely diced (about 1 large apple)

1/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 c. powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
-In large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, soda, powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
-Whisk to combine thoroughly and break up all pieces of the brown sugar.
-Add milk, oil, rum, and vanilla and stir until just incorporated.
-Fold in apple until just incorporated.
-Spoon into fill cupcakes liners about 3/4 way full, dividing evenly among all liners.
-Bake in oven until cooked through, about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean.
-Meanwhile, make caramel glaze: In small saucepan combine brown sugar and butter over medium low heat.
-Bring to a boil, remove from heat, stir in powdered sugar and glaze cupcakes before mixture cools.

Makes 12

NOTE: You can certainly make these "lighter" by using a mixture of all purpose and wheat flours, subbing splenda brown sugar mix at half capacity and subbing applesauce for oil. We have noticed no compromise in taste with this.