flour child baking: apple pie cupcakes

Guess what guys? These aren't cookies! I thought I'd branch out a bit and make some cupcakes...apple pie cupcakes! The recipe's one I found ages ago on Annie's Eats, and have been meaning to try out since then. And I'm sad, because I waited so long for such tasty cupcakes! (I cut the recipe in half and only made a dozen, because really? What are the boy and I to do with two dozen cupcakes?) So, without further adieu, let's get this show on the road!

Apple Pie Cupcakes
Makes 2 dozen
Cupcake Ingredients:
3 cups sifted flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup milk
Apple Filling Ingredients:
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 tbsp. sugar
Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. heavy cream (I used milk and it turned out fine)
optional: a pinch of salt, if you used unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and put your liners into your cupcake pans. (You'll notice I'm a bit sparse on photos until it gets to the decorating bits - that's because honestly? These cupcakes are super easy and pretty straightforward. Also, I was lazy.) In a medium bowl, sift together the four, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for about two minutes, until it's light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl when necessary. Add the vanilla extract and mix well until combined. Alternate the dry ingredients with the milk, starting and finishing with the dry ingredients. (I halved the batch, and didn't have a lot of flour, so I just did dry-wet-dry, but you could do dry-wet-dry-wet-dry, or get as finicky as you'd like really!) Mix until just combined, then divide up into your cupcake liners.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, until they're golden on top and a toothpick (or fork, if you're me) comes out clean. Let them sit in the pan for a few minutes after removing from the oven, then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Next up: the apple filling! You could probably start getting this together while the cupcakes are baking if you're crunched for time; that's what I did and it worked fairly well. First, peel, core, slice, and dice your apples.

Then, put the butter into a saucepan/skillet and heat it on medium-high. When it's all melted, add the sugar and cinnamon, give it a good stir, and cook it for a minute or so until the mixture bubbles.

Then, turn it down to medium low and add your apples.

Mix it up well, so the apples are all coated in cinnamon-sugary goodness, and cook for about 10 minutes, until the apples are nice and tender.

Once they're done, remove the mixture from heat and let it cool. While it's cooling, you can make the buttercream frosting if you'd like. (Or if you have a way of heating the cupcakes and also have some vanilla ice cream, you could skip the buttercream and just opt for that!) In a mixer (you can use a paddle or whisk attachment, but I'd only use the whisk if the butter's really soft), beat the butter at medium-high until very smooth, about 30 seconds. Then add the sifted icing sugar (and salt, if you need it) and beat on medium-low until the sugar is mostly moistened (probably under a minute). Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat for another 20 seconds or so. Add the vanilla and cream and beat on medium for about 10 seconds to incorporate, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat for about 4 minutes until light and fluffy. You should end up with something a bit like this, only more because I just made half a batch.

Now it's time to lobotomize your cupcakes! Take a small sharp knife (like a paring knife) and cut a cone out of the top/centre of your cupcakes, leaving a rim around the top of each one.