Harvest Apple Cupcakes

 

  

  I was recently trying to decide what to do with a couple dozen apples, and I just couldn’t make up my mind. If you know me, you know apple desserts are my very favorite (especially with vanilla ice cream on top!) Hmm.. so many to choose from. But then I thought, wait.. are there any apple desserts I haven’t already shared? I’ve done pies, cakes, fritters, brown betty, pan dowdy, blondies, cookies, crisps…. but what's left? Then I thought.. AHA! Cupcakes!!
 So here we are. The perfect apple cupcake recipe, courtesy of Betty Crocker.
 It’s very straight forward. Mix your wet ingredients, add your sifted dry, spoon into cupcake tins, and bake. Boom. Easy, right? And then you cool and frost them with your favorite frosting. The recipe calls for cream cheese frosting, so who am I to argue??  But feel free to use whatever floats your boat.
 Perfect recipe. Give ‘em a try!

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups chopped tart apples
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)


For the Frosting:
2 pkgs cream cheese
2 sticks butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar



Heat oven to 350°F.
Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. 
In large bowl, beat sugar, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed about 30 seconds or until blended. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla and the salt; beat on low speed 1 minute. Stir in apples and nuts (if using).
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, using about 1/2 cup batter for each. 
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling racks to cool. 
To frost cupcakes:
Combine frosting ingredients in order listed, until well mixed. Pipe or spread frosting onto each cooled cupcake. Store frosted cupcakes or any remaining frosting covered in refrigerator. 

 

Tips:
As you can see in the ingredients list, the original recipe adds chopped nuts, but I decided to make them optional. You do you!
When combining your frosting ingredients, be sure to turn you mixer to LOW speed, especially when adding the powdered sugar. Trust me on this!
Oh, also, the original recipe called for a can of store bought cream cheese frosting, but I prefer to make my own. Again, you do you!