Spiced Apple CupCrisps

To kick off the new school year, I gave the apple a starring role in my latest baking endeavor.  While the apple does make a nice teacher gift, I thought my teacher-in-training friends would prefer their back-to-school apples in a cupcake.  So, I set out to turn a can of apple pie filling and a box of spice cake into an apple crisp-inspired cupcake.  I was a little hesitant about how the two would combine and I was a lot unhappy when the cupcakes first came out of the oven.  The texture of the cake was weird and I was on the verge of scrapping the whole project.  But, with some encouragement and eye-rolling from my sister, who was managing the project over iChat, I stuck to it.  I really liked how the maple cream cheese frosting turned out and figured, with my fingers crossed, that it would go a long way in masking a few cake quirks.  Luckily, after a night in the fridge there was no masking necessary; the cake set-up quite nicely, the crisp topping actually crisped and was a nice contrast to the soft cake and baked apple pieces, and the frosting was the perfect touch of sweet to finish it all off.  With just a bit of beauty sleep, these Spiced Apple CupCrisps earn themselves a passing grade, and maybe they can even keep the doctor away for a day or two!

Spiced Apple Cake Ingredients
1 box          Spice Cake mix (plus oil, water, and eggs according to instructions)
1 can          Comstock Apple Pie Filling

Crisp Topping Ingredients
1/2 cup        flour
1/2 cup        brown sugar
1/4 cup        butter (if butter is unsalted add 1/2 tsp salt...or maybe just 1/4 tsp!)
1 tsp            cinnamon

Frosting Ingredients
1 can          Cream Cheese frosting
To Taste     maple syrup
Pinch          cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Prepare cake batter according to box instructions.
4.  Cut canned apples into bite size pieces (I just chopped around in the can with a butter knife).
5.  Stir can of apples and filling into cake batter by hand.
6.  In a separate bowl combine all Crisp Topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until well combined and crumbly.

7.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, making sure there are some apple chunks in each cupcake.

8.  Cover batter with small handful of crisp topping.

9.  Bake for 20 minutes.
10.  Let cupcakes cool.
11.  Meanwhile, empty can of Cream Cheese frosting into mixing bowl.
12.  Mix maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon into cream cheese frosting until desired taste (I love maple so I added quite a bit, but be sure to go slow so it doesn't get too sweet...if there's such a thing!)
13.  Now for the fun part, frost cupcakes!

14.  Let set in fridge, then enjoy this cupcake-take on apple crisp!

Happy back to school baking :)

Funfetti Cookies: To Frost or Not To Frost?

Funfetti cupcakes are the good luck charm and feel better treat for my sister and I when school and tests roll around.   But when the start of this school year came along, all too soon, we were looking for something a little different.  So, we turned to a back-of-the-box twist on our back-to-school go-to and made Pillsbury Funfetti cookies.  Lose the water and an egg, add a little more labor, and the result is a cheerful batch of soft colorful cookies.  This is when the frosting or no frosting debate came along.  With Funfetti cupcakes there's definitely no debate, frost with the one and only Duncan Hines Rainbow Chip frosting.  This same frosting atop the Funfetti cookies won my and my mom's vote, but my dad and sister voted for frosting-less cookies.  That leaves us with a 2 to 2 tie and so the question remains:

to frost...

or not to frost?

Cookie Ingredients
1 box        Funfetti cake mix
1/3 cup     oil
2              eggs
* Duncan Hines Rainbow Chip frosting...optional!

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3.  Stir together cake mix, oil and eggs.
3.  Roll dough into ball about the size of golf balls.
4.  Place dough balls onto cookie sheet.
5.  Flatten dough balls into disks about 1/4 inch thick.
6.  Bake for about 10 min or until lightly golden (the box says 6-8 min, but mine took longer).
7.  Let cookies cool.
8.  Now it's up to you, frost or not...but I do recommend it!

An Oldie But Goodie

Every summer our town has a little antique fair and my mom, sister and I use it as an excuse to get out of the house.  Generally we leave empty handed, but this year we were all bit by the vintage bug.  Rather than just combing the tables and tents of old smelly stuff, we stumbled across some great finds.  My pick of the day waaaas...

                     ...this great old mixer, red just like my new one!
It caught my eye from a couple tables over but I tried to be sly and not act too excited.  I apparently wasn't particularly sneaky because the seller saw me eyeing the mixer and came right over to make her pitch.  Just a couple dollars off the sticker price and I was sold!  This awesome little mixer has now found a home across the stove from my shiny new one in my apartment sweet apartment.  Though it may not get as much use as the brand spakin' new one, this vintage mixer will certainly get its fair share of looks!

No-Maple Maple Bar Donut-Esque Cupcakes

This brown sugar caramel frosting makes the plain yellow cupcake a top notch sweet.  This frosting certainly had a leg up in our house thanks to my mom's and my especially sweet tooth for brown sugar...we've both been caught more than a couple times panning through the bag for the little nuggets of clumped brown sugar.  Even though there isn't a drop of maple in this frosting, it tastes just like the maple frosting on maple bar donuts...my favorite!  It also is very similar to penuche, a yummy brown sugar fudge.  Penuche, pe-no-ce, maple, no maple, whatever you call this frosting is just plain good.  So, with just a few ingredients, a lot of stirring, and only a couple seconds of terror while milk and boiling sugar combined, these no-maple maple bar donut-esque cupcakes have found a place among my favorites.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 box yellow cake mix (plus oil, water, and eggs according to instructions)

Frosting Ingredients
3/4 cup        butter
1 1/2 cups      brown sugar
6 tbsp          milk
3 cups          powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp        vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Prepare cake batter according to box instructions.
4.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full (the boxes always say 2/3 full but the top is the best part so why not make it bigger!).
5.  Bake cupcakes according to box instructions.
6.  Let cupcakes cool-This is the hard part, but the frosting has to be used immediately so the cupcakes need to be cooled and ready.

7.  Bring butter and sugar to a boil in a medium-sized sauce pan, stirring constantly.
8.  Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly...i did say a lot of stirring!
9.  Stir in milk and bring back to a boil.
10.  Remove from heat.
11.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla.
12.  Stir until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
13.  Frost cupcakes immediately.

14.  If the frosting starts to harden, reheat the frosting over low heat then keep on frosting.
The frosting gives these no-maple maple bar donut-esque cupcakes a great taste and a fancy shine that both get better with a little resting time!

** Leftover List: Put extra frosting in the fridge and let it set.  Break it into little pieces and nibble away.  When it's set in the fridge, this frosting tastes even more like penuche and makes a perfect little snack.

S'more Summer

S'mores are both a favorite treat and a favorite way to cap off a day of camping either in the woods or in our own backyard.

I think the best guide to the s'more is Hamilton "Ham" Porter of The Sandlot, a classic go-to movie in our house.  So, I'll let Ham take the lead and I'll add in just a few little secrets of the family s'more trade.

"These are s'mores stuff."

There are some things that are just as good, if not better, generic as they are brand name, but s'mores stuff are not those things.  Jet-Puffed and Hershey's are the only way to go and Honey Maid is a must.  An extra special touch to our s'mores is Cinnamon graham crackers.  The cinnamon-sugar coating on these graham crackers adds a touch more sweet and crunch to complete the perfect s'more.

"First, you take the graham.  You stick the chocolate on the graham.  Then you roast the mallow.  When the mallow's flaming, you stick it on the chocolate."

This, sadly, is where I have to disagree with Ham.  The roasting of the mallow is a careful process, almost a challenge, to get the perfectly puffed and golden-toned marshmallow.  The flame-out is avoided at all costs.  Even though a microwave has served as substitute many a time in my dorms, nothing compares to the campfire.  After the flames have died down a bit we find, and sometimes fight for, a pocket of hot coals that will slowly but surely roast the mallows to a crisp blonde outside and ooey-gooey inside.
But, I am a fan of Ham's s'more plan.  There's nothing worse than having the perfect mallow slip off the roasting stick as you scramble to get the graham cracker and chocolate together.  So, like Ham, I always have the graham and chocolate ready and waiting before the mallow roasting begins.

"Then you cover it with the other end."

"And then you stuff.  Kind of messy but good!"
...very very good :)