Cupcakes!

I know.  It's been awhile. 

In my defense, I went out of town for four days.  And I never specified exactly what "updating frequently" would mean.

Ok, so it's a crappy defense.  I'm sorry.

On the bright side, I can now offer you a delicious, delicious cupcake recipe.  And really, doesn't that make everything better?

So a week and some change ago, the husband and I went to the apple orchard and picked a ton of apples and two pumpkins.  Apples are probably my favorite fruit and I pretty much love anything with them in it.  Especially desserts.  So when I came across this recipe for apple cupcakes, I knew it was meant to be.  I did change the recipe slightly from it's original form so I will give you the adjusted recipe which I used.

Apple Cupcakes:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 cups coarsely shredded apples, (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Most of what I changed was the spice.  I like cinnamon and all those other good things and I have found that ginger pretty much makes any baked good better.  Especially ones with apple.   I also don't really measure spices, so these are my best estimates of what I used.  I like to think they are fairly accurate.

I would also recommend weighing your apples if possible, so as to avoid chopping up too many or too few, which will inevitably end up with you being frustrated and not enjoying said cupcakes as much.  I think I ended up using about 5-6 apples, but some of mine were small so weighing is best.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Do it now.  I always end up skipping the preheating step and then I have to wait to cook anything for 10-15 minutes while the oven heats up.  Save yourself some hassle and turn that oven on.

Line 2 standard cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside (or if you're like me and only have one: line the one that you have and then take the cupcakes out when they've finished baking and re-line). Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy.  Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; mix in apples. Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until just combined.

(You could also easily do this by hand with a whisk and a wooden spoon.  Or even with a hand mixer.  But kitchen gadgets are fun, so if you have a stand mixer, us it!)

Scoop out batter into liners, filling each to about 3/4 full.  I like my cupcakes to have a rounded top that extends past the paper liner.  However, the standard is 2/3 which means the top just comes right to the top of the liner.  It also prevents spilling over and big messes on your cupcake pan.  I don't mind making a mess when I bake, but not everyone appreciates that part of the creative process as much as I do.

Cook for 18-20 minutes, or until top is springy.  Remove from the pan (without burning yourself, good luck!) and let cool on a wire rack.  If you only had one cupcake pan to start with refill it and repeat the baking process, until you run out of batter.


Brown-Sugar Buttercream Frosting:

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

The original recipe says to use cold butter, DO NOT DO THIS!  Seriously, use room temperature butter. Using cold butter when your other ingredients are at room temperature will cause the frosting to separate and look something like the top of yogurt that's two months past it's expiration date.  Get the butter out of the fridge while you're making the cupcakes, it will be the right temperature by the time you get to the frosting.

Put egg whites and sugar into the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly, until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).

I don't have a heatproof bowl for my electric mixer so I just used a regular mixing bowl and then transferred it to my stainless steal mixer bowl.  I'm pretty sure this didn't effect the frosting negatively.

With the whisk attachment for your electric mixer, (or just a regular hand whisk) beat this mixture until it forms stiff but not dry peaks.  (I had to look up what this meant, it means when you remove the whisk from the mixture sharp peaks form that are uniform in color and glisten.  If they are dull and speckled, it means you've whisked too much and they've become dry).  If you're using a regular hand whisk this will take quite awhile, with a mixer plan on 6-8 minutes.

Switch to paddle attachment (or wooden spoon).  Slowly add butter (about two tablespoons at a time) on a medium speed.  It says if the frosting separates to beat on a high speed until it recombines.  This didn't work for me.  In fact it made it worse.  If your frosting separates, I would recommend removing the bowl from the mixer and mixing with a hand whisk until it becomes smooth again, either at room temp or in a cool water bath to make it go a little faster.  Mix with the paddle attachment for about two minutes after the last butter is added to remove air bubbles.

Frost cupcakes with the frosting in your favorite way.  I like to put it in a plastic sandwich bag with the corner cut off and make a swirl.  See picture for details.  But really, unless you're entering them in some kind of contest, it doesn't really matter if the frosting looks perfect.

Here's a couple pictures of what mine looked like:

They are scrumdiddlyumptious!  Seriously.  My favorite cupcake recipe ever.  The only thing I would change is the frosting.  I like light and fluffy frosting and this one turned out to be pretty heavy.  This could just be how this frosting is or it might have had something to do with my huge frosting fail and the fact that it separated and I had to spend an extra 20 minutes whisking it by hand to get it back together.  Either way I would give the frosting another chance before I changed it.  But the cupcakes are so yummy.  No change needed there.

Now go make your own.  Because I ate all of these.