Fall is apple picking season.
Going apple picking doesn't mean taking home five apples, no it means taking home a ton of apples you could never eat yourself. That's the same with every fruit picking. But it's also the definition of it. I mean, why would you go apple picking and only take home the amount you would get at a store? When you enter the orchard and see all the trees standing in rows, only waiting for you to take there fruits, it is your chance to do exactly that.
After a couple of hours, eating and picking apples (the eating part is also an important one) I had a whole lot of apples to take home with me. They looked beautiful, with some having leaves still on their stems, red-cheeked, like Snow White's apple she got from the evil which and still glooming from all the sun, which made them ripe.
This almost sound like a poem about apples in an orchard....
So the only rational idea about using up all those apples is baking apple-ishious things.
Number 1: Apple Caramel Cupcakes
Yes, apple and caramel together makes me happy. I am a huge fan of caramel so this is totally one of my favorite recipes. While making the dough it leaves you wonder, if the cupcake will actually taste like caramel, but I can soothe you: the caramel taste is unbelievable. And the frosting gives everything the final touch for perfection.
Apple Caramel Cupcakes
serves 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups flour (240g)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar (220g)
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
1 cup vegetable oil (220g)
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded - I used two Golden Delicious and two Granny Smith, you can really use whatever you want. Plus 1 extra apple if you are going to garnish
For the Caramel Sauce:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces (110g)
1 cup brown sugar (220g)
1 cup heavy cream (230g)
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
For the Buttercream Frosting:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature (230g)
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar (450g)
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup caramel sauce
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tbsp. heavy cream
Directions:
Preheat to 350° and line 2 cupcake pans with baking liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples. Spoon the batter into the pans until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
To make the caramel sauce, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to foam a bit. It will look and smell like it’s on the verge of burning. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Stir until the sauce is smooth (you may need to return it to the heat to smooth it out), then mix in the vanilla and salt. Let cool.
To make the frosting, add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed 1 minute until smooth. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla, caramel sauce and salt until incorporated. (Note: the caramel sauce should be just warm enough that it is workable, but not warm enough to melt the butter in the frosting.) Add the heavy cream and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
Decorate the cupcakes as you'd like, I piped the caramel butter cream, added the apple slices and drizzled the rest of the caramel sauce over.
