Apple Pie Cupcakes

 
This recipe is brought to you by yet another Willow Bird Baking challenge! This time we had to come up with a stuffed and frosted cupcake. Since it's fall and the husband and I both love pie but baking an entire one is just too much for us, I thought I'd make a cupcake version of an apple pie! Perfect, right?! I started off by using a cinnamon spiced cake, filling it with soft apples and topping it with some vanilla ice cream frosting and a crust crisp. These cupcakes are absolutely to die for! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. I love love love the snickerdoodle cupcakes I made a while back, and these are just a new and improved version of them! If you're curious about the vanilla ice cream frosting, I just melted a little bit of our favorite french vanilla bean ice cream and used it in place of heavy cream or milk. It adds a little something extra to it! Enjoy!

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Ingredients

¾ c. all-purpose flour

¾ c. cake flour
¾ c. + 2 tbsp. sugar

½ c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature

⅔ c. whole milk

2 eggs

1½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

1¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. allspice

1¼ tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling:

2 apples, peeled and diced

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. butter

¼ tsp. lemon juice

¼ tsp. cinnamon

For the vanilla ice cream frosting:

3 c. powdered sugar

½ c. (1½ sticks) butter, room temperature

¼ c. vanilla ice cream, melted (just let it sit at room temperature)

½ of a vanilla bean, scraped (or ½ tsp. vanilla bean paste)

pinch of salt

For the pie crisps:

Packaged pastry crust (not puff pastry), thawed

Turbinado sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, salt, allspice, and cinnamon in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until incorporated.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 16-18 minutes (do not over-bake or your cupcakes will be dry). Remove from oven and place tin on a wire rack. Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to the wire rack.
6. Cut out circles from pastry, place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown in color. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet.
7. Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients into a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook apples until soft, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
8. To prepare buttercream, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together butter, vanilla, ice cream, and salt until smooth. With mixing speed on low, gradually add powdered sugar. Once the all of the powdered sugar has been added, turn the speed up to high and beat for 4-5 minutes until fluffy.
9. To assemble, using a cupcake corer or a knife, remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake- enough to put a generous amount of filling in there. Fill cupcakes with cooled apple mixture, then using a large ice cream scoop, place a scoop of frosting on top. Garnish with a pie crisp.
Adapted from Recipe Girl, Snickerdoodle Cupcakes | Makes 12 cupcakes