Caramel and Apples have been friends forever. I am so glad they are besties for life because let me tell you… it makes food blogging so much easier! I don’t have to spend long hours thinking about elaborate cupcake recipes. I don’t have to think up some new and crazy food combination. I just have to put two things together that were made for each other… caramel and apples!
Breaking news: I LOVE PAPER STRAWS! Yes, I saw an isle full of paper straws at Target and boy oh boy do I have about 60 more reasons to continue taking pictures of food now! Are they not just the best thing that ever happened to food blogging? Ummm yes I do believe so. I can now go to Target in all of my yoga pants and messy hair glory and wander through the paper straw isle like I don’t have a care in the world!
In other breaking news if you have a husband make sure he knows paper straws don’t mix well with wee lil’ ones who like to chew on things. Apparently mine wasn’t aware of this information because I found baby Christian chewing the top off of a paper straw my husband put in his cup. Yeah, not a good mix! Fear not, Mommy swooped in and grabbed that straw right out of his cute little mouth and saved the day. Ok, maybe it didn’t go that smoothly but somehow I finangled that crap out of his mouth. Baby Christian is ok and was not hurt in the making of these cute cupcakes!
Now let’s talk about how crafty I’ve become since blowing through the paper straw isle at Target because this is the breaking-est of breaking news. Who knew DIY cupcake toppers could be so easy and so cute. 😉 All I did to make the toppers was cut the straw on an angle, then tape a construction paper leaf onto the straw. BAM! That is it. I do believe this is officially called crafting for the non-crafty folk? Why yes, yes it is. Now please excuse me while I hand model this genius idea.
*Pro non-crafty folk tip: Fold a piece of construction paper in half to cut out the leaf to get it perfect. I do believe I learned this pro-tip in Kindergarten. Thank you Mrs. Margerum!
Maybe we should just get back to food because I’m more comfortable being a foodie then a craftie. There are a few components that go into a Caramel Apple Cupcake so let’s discuss:
- The amazing, moist *hate that word*, whole wheat goodness that is the cupcake
- Cinnamon buttercream
- Apple pie filling
- Caramel drizzle
I know, I know, that is a lot of steps! But I promise they are ohhhh soooo delish and totally worth a few extra minutes to make the filling and drizz.
On another note, I broke one of my own rules and used 10x sugar in the icing. Being a former pastry chef, this is basically the lazy way to make icing but I know some people are intimidated by cooking sugar so I wanted to provide a recipe that did contain 10x, and suggest a brand that is trustworthy and non-GMO. Here is the brand I used. This link is for 20 lbs of sugar, hence the price. You can find it at most grocery stores in the organic section.
Apple Pie Cupcake Filling
Ingredients:
- 2 large apples (3 small)
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar (I used my Homemade Brown Sugar)
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Directions: Dice apples small. Put apples and all other ingredients in a small sauté pan and cook over medium heat until apples are tender and sugar becomes syrupy.
Caramel Drizzle
Ingredients;
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (I used my Homemade Brown Sugar)
- 1/8 cup milk
- 1 Tbsp butter
- pinch salt
Directions: Put all ingredients in a small sauté pan and cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly, about 5-6 minutes.
*Cake recipe adapted from my favorite baking blog Sally’s Baking Addiction using her Snickerdoodle Cupcakes with Cinnamon Swirl Frosting post.
