Apple Pie Cupcakes

Hello friends! It is officially Fall! While I'm a little bummed about the lack of sunshine and the excess rain, the trees are absolutely gorgeous. My roommates and I have been constantly drinking spiced cider and and carving pumpkins and carrying around our personal space heaters to each room we move to. It's like we are bachelors with only one light bulb carrying it around to whichever room we need light in. You know, Yolo. In the spirit of the season and to ease my woes/ self pity about having to work on Halloween weekend, I whipped up a little batch of apple pie cupcakes. Don't be alarmed, it wasn't another Pi Day Mishap sort of situation. They were scrumptious. It was the perfect little treat before everyone went out and about on their merry ways to various Halloween festivities/ Work.

The Dread Pirate Pinta, Patty Mayonnaise, Lumberjack, Cow, Formal Apology. Happy Halloween!!

CAKE
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Many shakes of cinnamon (this is kind of to taste. I LOVE cinnamon)
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter (room temperature)
2 eggs
Splash of vanilla
3/4 cup apple cider

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. and set aside. In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla one at a time. Alternating with portions of the cider, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Blend until creamy and combined, being cautious not to over mix. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes. Usually 20 minutes is the perfect timing for my recipes, but this one took a bit longer. It seems as though most of our household appliances are on the fritz, though, so bake at your own discretion. As always, let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

APPLE PIE TOPPING
5-6 Apples (I used honey crisp and braeburn because I don't like granny smith, but if you like tart, those seem like a nice option too)
3 T butter
Cinnamon to taste

Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces. I used a paring knife and just cut away at them willy nilly. In a large pan (I used a wok because that was readily available and seemed to keep my apples in check and in the pan) melt the butter and add the apples and cinnamon. Saute the apples until they are a bit soggy (I realize this usually isn't a word you want to use when discussing food items. Maybe soft is a better word) and warm. Pull them off the burner and let them cool completely.

Place/mound the completely cooled apples on top of your completely cooled cupcakes.

FROSTING
1 1/2 sticks butter (room temperature)
3 cups powdered sugar
Lots of cinnamon (again, to taste)
Splash of vanilla
A splash or two of apple cider

Beat the butter and slowly add to powdered sugar and cinnamon. Add the vanilla and apple cider for liquid cohesiveness. The apple cider gives the frosting a really nice, light flavor but it can make the frosting really thin, really quickly so add with caution! Spoon or pipe onto your apple-topped cupcakes!

My frosting got a bit thin. Oops. I sprinkled mine with a bit of cinnamon

These were totally yummy. They were light and fluffy and the frosting and batter had the perfect amount of apple flavor to compliment the real-life apple mountain on top. I think these would also be really good with some sort of caramelized nut or something of the sort. Or maybe a pie crust-like struesel. 

Happy Fall!!

xoxo,

KG

Honey Strawberry Cupcakes with Goat Cheese Frosting

I'm alive!! After a crazy summer of taking too many credits and not enough time for cupcake baking and a wonderful European adventure, I am back to a (relatively) normal school pace. Thank goodness. I'm finally back to my preferred schedule of being able to bake a lovely batch of cupcakes once a week and I couldn't be happier. I promise my posts will actually be weekly from now on. Anyways, cupcakes. This summer, my mom found the coolest little Instructable cupcake contest. First prize for recipes: A KITCHEN AID MIXER. Holy smokes. I have the biggest passion for Kitchen Aids. They are incredible mixers, not to mention super durable. My grandma's from the 1950s is still in commission! The bad news for yours truly: It's a tradition in my family to get a Kitchen Aid for a wedding present. The bad news isn't a free mixer from my wonderful relatives. As a mere senior in college, I still have a while until a glorious new kitchen aid graces its presence in my kitchen. This contest seemed like the perfect fix. I knew I had to make something a little kooky in order to catch voters' eyes. For months, I have wanted to incorporate goat cheese into a buttercream and I decided Honey Strawberry cupcakes would be the perfect base for the savory frosting. For the first time in the history of this blog, I don't have a picture of the people eating them since I was so focused on taking pictures of the actual cupcakes:( 

Ben and Me with Beer, Brauts, and pretzels in Munich. Not cupcake related but we are eating so it's close enough.

HONEY STRAWBERRY CAKE:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 stick room temperature butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Splash of vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup milk

1 container of strawberries, diced

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. One at a time, add the eggs, vanilla, and honey. Slowly, alternating with the milk, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend until combined. Since the honey makes this cake a bit denser, be extra careful not to over mix, otherwise you'll have rock-like cupcakes. Carefully fold the strawberries into the batter. Divide the batter among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

GOAT CHEESE BUTTER CREAM:

1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter

3 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. room temperature goat cheese, crumbled

A squeeze of honey

Beat the butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and honey and whip until thick. Crumble the goat cheese into the buttercream, being careful to make sure the goat cheese is fully incorporated into the frosting. Spoon or pipe the buttercream onto completely cooled cupcakes. 

HONEY BALSAMIC REDUCTION:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

In a small pan (I used a pan over a pot to make sure the heating of the balsamic was uniform) bring the balsamic vinegar to a boil. Stir in the honey and turn the burner down to let the balsamic simmer. Let the vinegar simmer for about 10ish minutes until it's thick and syrupy. This is prone to burning (I know from experience) so just keep an eye on it. Let the reduction cool in the fridge and once completely cool, drizzle on top on the goat cheese buttercream frosted cupcakes!

In the end, I decided not to submit my recipe. For the first time in my life, I didn't enjoy making cupcakes. I was too wrapped up in the competition to win the glorious kitchen aid that I almost dreaded each step that went into this recipe. Not to be too metaphysical/spiritual/what have you, but I took it as a sign to not enter the contest. If competing took away the fun and relaxation baking usually brings me, the brand new mixer just wasn't worth it. Maybe I'll be able to enter my cupcakes in other competitions in the future, but until then, baking cupcakes is just going to be for my own enjoyment (and the enjoyment of the people eating them!)

As my mom always told me, follow your gut. It is usually right. Happy Fall, Friends!

xoxo,

KG

PS. I put the link to the instructables contest in the intro! I urge you to take a gander at some of the cupcakes. They are absolutely beautiful!