Ingredients
CUPCAKE BATTER:
- 2/3 cup (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter. at room temp
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ginger root
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 apples. for example Gala or any other baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces (a couple of cups)
- 2 cups powdered sugar. plus much more when needed
- One 8-ounce package cream cheese. at room temp
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1 cup store-bought or homemade caramel sauce
- Apple slices, for topping, optional
- Cinnamon, for sprinkling, optional
Directions
Special equipment: a plastic squeeze bottle
Preheat the oven to 350 levels F. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
For that cupcake batter. By having an electric hands mixer. cream together the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add some milk. vanilla and egg and blend until incorporated. Inside a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger root. nutmeg and salt, and gradually incorporate in to the wet ingredients on low speed until combined. Fold within the apple pieces.
Pour the batter in to the cupcake liners (small cupcakes are the most popular!) until around three-quarters full and bake until a toothpick or knife arrives clean, about twenty minutes for normal-sized cupcakes, or 12 to 14 minutes for minis. Put aside to awesome.
For that frosting: As the cupcakes awesome, make use of your hands mixer to mix the powdered sugar, cream cheese, cinnamon, vanilla flavoring and salt, adding a little more sugar if you like sweeter frosting. Beat until smooth, and refrigerate until available.
Before topping each cupcake with frosting, insert a squeeze bottle full of the caramel into each cupcake, about midway in, and fill with caramel. Frost the cupcakes, after which top each having a small slice of apple drizzled with the caramel, a drizzle of caramel or perhaps a sprinkle of cinnamon--or the 3 if you wish to be considered a badass.