Apple Pie Cupcakes

HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY!

223 years ago, our founding fathers (except for Jefferson) sat down in Philadelphia, penned the infamous phrase “We The People” and wrote out the document that would create one of the greatest free nations.  Now that is something to celebrate, indeed! I would like to dedicate this post to James Madison (the father of the Constitution & Bill of Rights and one of my favorite presidents) for being such a brilliant mind and leader. (If you can’t tell, I am a big history nut and hope to teach high school history once I finish up my Masters!)

Clearly, Constitution Day calls for a classic American recipe. The first thing that came to mind was of course Apple Pie. Did you know that in the 1700s apple pie was considered to be the poor man’s food? Today, it has evolved into the quintessential American dish. However, I do not currently own a pie dish (weird, right?), and my mom would like me to stop stealing her kitchenware. So I thought and I thought and I thought some more about what to do when I came across this recipe for Apple Pie Cupcakes on Annie’s Eats (check out her blog, she is amazing). I think my jaw literally dropped when I saw them, and I knew that this recipe was perfect for Constitution Day. Two American classics in one!

Apple Pie Cupcakes

As seen on Annie’s Eats

For the cupcakes:

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup milk

For the apple filling:

2 tbsp. butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 tbsp. sugar

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

Easy vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream  

First things first, preheat your oven to 350 and line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl prepare you dry ingredients by sifting together the cake flower, baking powder and salt. In a larger bowl (or in the bowl of a mixer), beat together the butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Beat in the eggs, adding one at a time and thoroughly combining after each. Then, add in the vanilla extract and stir to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients alternating with the milk. Stir until all ingredients are nicely combined.

Disperse the batter amongst the liners, filling each one 2/3 to ¾ full. Pop them in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool completely.

While the cupcakes bake and cool, you can prepare the apple filling and frosting.

To make the filling, melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the sugar and cinnamon and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and add the apples, cooking them for about 10 minutes until they get nice and tender. Remove from heat and let cool.

For the icing, beat the butter until it becomes smooth. Add in the confectioners’ sugar and salt and mix until the sugar becomes softened. Add vanilla and heavy cream and mix (on medium-high) until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes.

To assemble the cupcakes, cone out the middles of each cupcake. You can discard the tops (or eat them…after all, it would be a waste not to!). Fill each cupcake with the apple mixture. Then pipe on your icing in any fashion you choose. Annie’s cupcakes are so elegant and beautiful, and I probably should have stuck to a more simplistic design. However, I was feeling ambitious and thought I could suddenly channel Martha Stewart and turn into a master piper. Instead, I quickly realized that my piping skills are somewhat lacking (something I must improve on in the future!) as I tried to duplicate the lattice design that I use on my apple pies.

Although my icing work isn’t fantastic, the taste is out of this world! These are probably the 
best tasting cupcakes I have ever made. It's impossible to just eat one, so I had two...or maybe three and then was left in a sugar coma for a couple hours. Oh well, it was worth it =)

It was very nice to have the familiar flavors of apple pie combined with the portability and cuteness of a cupcake! These would be very good to make on Thanksgiving or Christmas, or whenever you feel like having a little bite of apple pie.   

For me, this is the perfect Constitution Day treat  =)

Danielle