Apple Cinnamon Sticky Bun Cupcakes

Yes, you read that correctly! Apple Cinnamon Sticky Bun...CUPCAKES! You're in for a real treat with this one! A cinnamon bun cupcake...who would have thought?

I am a firm believer that the messier the food is....the better! And these are definitely sticky and messy! I brought these in for everyone in my office and the office next door, and they were a hit! A few people asked for the recipe and I got nothing but positive feedback!

The tart apples really balance out the sweet cinnamon bun...perfect match! Pop these in the microwave and you're in a for a super gooey sweet treat!



I am still using up these apples that my mom brought me, but you could easily leave the apples out with this recipe. I think the tart apples add a little something extra though!

I totally tested my abilities with this cupcake! I have never made dough before, and it's more challenging than I expected. I got sick of all the kneading, so I threw the dough in a bowl and prayed for the best....lucky me, they turned out! This is why I NEED (notice "need" not "want") a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer...hint hint Nick.

Lets get to the how to....

Dough Ingredients:
2 cups milk (2%)
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups finely chopped tart apples (I shredded three granny smith apples)

Icing Ingredients:
1 cup confectioners sugar
2-3 tsp apple cider (I used milk)

Directions:
1. Heat milk to 110 degrees and dissolve yeast and sugar

2. Add salt and 2 cups of flour, beat for 2 minutes

3. Beat in eggs and butter

4. Stir in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time making sure all is Incorporated

5. Kneed dough on floured surface until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes)

6. Place dough in a large bowl and cover with a towel. Allow to rise for about 40 minutes or until doubled in volume in a warm spot

7. Roll dough out in a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick

8. Brush with half of the melted butter

9. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, apples, and pecans and spread over the dough, leaving about 1 inch uncovered on all sides

10. Roll dough from back to front and slice into 24 even sections

11. Place pieces in a lined cupcake tin. If they do not fit, make a "C" shape

12. Cover in a warm spot and allow to rise for another 40 minutes

13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

14. Brush the tops of the pieces with the remaining melted butter

15. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown (mine baked exactly 20 minutes)

16. Mix the confectioners sugar and milk OR cider and drizzle over the cupcakes

17. ENJOY

Apple Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

Man have I got a treat for you! I know I keep saying, "Best cupcake yet!" But seriously, best cupcake yet! As you already know I am a fan of apple! Anything apple! This combination of the apple cupcake and brown sugar frosting is AMAZING! This cupcake is dense but sooo moist!

I am still trying to use up all of these apples my mom brought! I made one batch of these yesterday (13 cupcakes), and I loved them so much I made a second batch of them at 10:00 last night to share with my coworkers. I also made enough to take to my Dad's office for them to try. I have to admit, I am pretty proud of this cupcake! Try it, I promise you will love it!


The recipe for apple cupcakes is adapted from rachaelraymag.com and it called for a caramel icing, but the reviews for the caramel icing scared me a little so I went with a brown sugar icing. Perfect marriage of flavors! I love Rachael Ray, and have purchased most of her '30 minute meals' cookbooks, and for that she is a saint! But I have an all new respect for her after trying this recipe! I cannot express my overwhelming excitement to share it with you!

My boyfriend loved these! He prefers his without icing though, and the cupcake is good enough to stand alone! It really doesn't need icing. Leave the icing off and you have a perfect breakfast food, or if you're like me...add the icing and you have the perfect breakfast food! Cupcakes for breakfast...what a concept!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 Rome apples peeled and shredded ( I used 3 granny smith apples)
*Shredding the apples helps to keep the cake moist.*

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tin with paper liners
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon
3. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth
4. Add oil and vanilla to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth
5. Whisk the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined
6. Fold in the shredded apples
7. Spoon batter into the cupcake wells until wells are almost full
8. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
9. Cool before icing
10. ENJOY!!!



Brown Sugar Icing recipe: (Adapted from cupcakeproject.com)
1 stick butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners sugar

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan
2. Add brown sugar
3. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium low, and continue to boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly
4. Add the milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly
5. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm
6. Add confectioner's sugar (Sift sugar to ensure that frosting will be extra smooth)
7. Beat until thick enough to spread. If icing is too thick, then add a little bit of hot water

I went to my new favorite place this weekend, the Wine and Cake Store in Norfolk. I also visited Ben Franklins and Michaels to stock up on some baking necessities. I found some fun candy molds that I thought would be great to decorate my desserts with. The shell candy molds I purchased at Ben Franklins and are made my Wilton. I used Wilton Candy Melts, chocolate and vanilla, to make these little candy sea shells. I garnished the cupcake with brown sugar. Cute right???

Applelicious~Apple Crumble

When my mom came to visit for Christmas, she brought me a whole bag of Granny Smith apples from the orchard behind her house in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. My boyfriends son was eating them along and along, but there were too many to eat. I didn't want them to go to waste so I decided to slice them up and make up something sweet. Turned out wayyyy better than I expected!

There is nothing bettter on a cold day than a warm apple dessert. Throw some vanilla ice cream on top, and I'm in HEAVEN!

I asked my boyfriend what to name this and he came up with Applelicious, so of course I had to use it. It's more like a cinnamon apple crumble.... I was so impressed with this dessert, especially since it was something that I threw together. It turned out AMAZING! With this dessert you have the contrast of sweet and tart, soft and crunchy, and hot and cold...PERFECT!

Lets get to the how to...

Ingredients:
5 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Streusel
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 stick butter softened
3/4 cup brown sugar packed
3/4 cups oats


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Toss apples in lemon juice

3. Combine apples, cinnamon, and sugar and pour into a baking dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray

4. In a separate bowl combine flour, brown sugar, oats, and butter

5. Sprinkle Streusel mixture evenly over the apples

6. Bake for 45 minutes or until apples are soft, but not too soft

7. Serve with ice cream and caramel sauce if desired

8. ENJOY!!!!

*I tuned the broiler on high and cooked for a few minutes to brown the streusel before pulling the apples out of the oven. It made the streusel nice and crunchy!*

Seconds. That's more like it!

Caramel Frappucino Cupcake

My weakness.....COFFEE! I am so addicted. My convos in the mornings, pre-coffee, consists of grunts, snarls, and growls. Sometimes I even show a little teeth.

I hated coffee until college, and when I realized I needed an extra boost to get me through finals I turned to coffee for help. Dunkin Donuts was on the corner between my apartment and campus so I pretty much lived at Dunkin Donuts...before class, after class, between classes, breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime....well maybe not bedtime but you get the picture.

I always find myself trying to justify paying so much for coffee at the local coffee shops, and I always seem to find a way for it to make sense to pay $5 for a cup of coffee..."I had a really bad day." "I had a really good day." "I deserve this." "I did good on a test." I saved money by skipping lunch."....I can always find a reason. A damn good reason to treat myself to such a perfect cup of Joe.

My point is, I'm crazy over coffee! I thought this cupcake would be sooooo perfect for me. Caramel and Coffee....what a perfect marriage of flavors....and add some whipped cream and ZAM! You've got a damn good cupcake!

It would also be fun to add a chocolate covered espresso bean to the top of the cupcake, but I did not have any..... I'll have to keep some around in the future because I will definitely be making these bad boys again!

Adapted from Ericasweettooth.com

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
1 tsp espresso powder

*I would recommend using espresso plus espresso powder instead of coffee and espresso powder*

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with paper liners

2. In one bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt

3. Brew coffee and dissolve espresso powder in the coffee

4. In another bowl beat buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla together on medium speed until well combined

5. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in thirds until just Incorporated

6. Add the coffee and stir until well combined, scrap the ingredients out of the bowl

7. Fill cupcake liners a little more than half way full. Do not put too much batter in the tins.

8. Bake 14-16 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

9. Cool completely before icing and garnishing

10. ENJOY!!!

To give this cupcake a caramel frappucino taste, I used a homemade vanilla whipped cream and then topped it off with caramel sauce.

Here's how to make the whipped cream:
4 cups of heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp vanilla

Beat the heavy cream on high with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat the cream until peaks form. Keep chilled until used. It also helps to chill the bowl and beaters before mixing the heavy cream.

The recipe for this whipped cream was only enough to cover half of the cupcakes, so I have doubled the recipe and added one more tsp of vanilla for flavor.

*I suggested using espresso and espresso powder because I used a strong coffee and the coffee flavor was hard to find in this cupcake although the flavor was great. Because I am such a coffee lover, I would like the coffee flavor to be a more prominent.*

*The recipe calls for hot coffee, but I would like to try this recipe again and chill the coffee before mixing it into the batter. The hot coffee instantly melted everything and the batter became very thin. The bottoms of the cupcake liners were damp after pulling them out of the oven, but they were dry the next day. I do not know if the consistency of the batter contributed to this, but it's worth a shot to try and chill the coffee before adding it in.*

*Do not overfill the cupcake wells because the batter will run over the sides of the wells before rising due to the consistency of the batter.*

I know I have a lot of notes about these cupcakes, and it looks a little scary but these are well worth it! The flavor is awesome and they are so moist. A coworker even asked how I got them to be so moist! This is a must try folks!

Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes with Maple and Bacon Buttercream

I had an "ah ha" moment at breakfast Monday morning when I ordered my all time favorite breakfast, blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon. I thought, "How freaking awesome would it be to make a blueberry pancake cupcake with maple and bacon frosting?" When I was a little girl my grandmother always made me blueberry pancakes on Saturday mornings, and they have been my favorite breakfast food every since!

I searched some of my favorite cupcake web pages, and sure enough it had been done! I am sooo excited to share this one with you because it can't be beat! It's an entire breakfast in one cute little cup. How cool is that???

The cupcake recipe is adapted from yourcupofcake.com, but I switched up the icing. My boyfriend is terrified of cream cheese, for whatever reason, so I made a maple buttercream and added a fresh blueberry and bacon pieces on top. The icing is super sweet, so the salty bacon is a perfect balance! EVERYTHING is better with BACON anyway!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 egg whites
3 1/3 cups of flour (I used all purpose but recipe does not specify)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla (just realized I left out the vanilla, but these cupcakes are still awesome!)
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I used fresh blueberries)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees

2. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy in one bowl

3. Add eggs and egg whites slowly until fully Incorporated at low speed

4. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda
5. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture by alternating with the milk, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix each ingredient thoroughly before adding the next

6. Fold in the blueberries

7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and bake for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cupcake

8. Cool thoroughly before icing

9. ENJOY!!!

Maple Buttercream:
2 sticks of butter softened
4 cups of confectioners sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
Use enough milk to make the icing loose enough to pipe (a few tbsp)

Mix all ingredients together

Mix all ingredients together. Garnish cupcakes with bacon and a blueberry! You can also drizzle maple syrup over the cupcake if you wish!

Donuts EASY PEASY

I am obsessed with this donut shop that opened in Gloucester, Sunrise Donuts. They have the most creative flavor combos! I thought, "How awesome would it be to make my own donuts?!" Turns out, I should stick to the other sweets! I found an easy Paula Deen recipe for biscuit dough donuts. I attempted to fry two of the donuts, but they turned dark brown very quickly. I cut one open and the middle was not cooked, so I threw them aside, became irritated, and threw the rest in the oven to bake. My boyfriend came in and ate both fried donuts. The one portion of the donut I cut into was uncooked, but the rest of the donut was perfect. They tasted great! I may have had the grease too hot, so if I ever attempt these again, doubtful, then I will fry them with the grease at a lower temp. Here's what I did with the baked donuts....

Directions:

Cut holes in the biscuit dough circles (I used a cap to a pepper shaker)

Bake biscuit dough as directed on the can

You can even bake the cut out centers for donut holes

Frost or decorate donuts as desired

*I used butter, confectioners sugar, and milk for a glaze and man was it good! I do not have exact measurements, but I used about 2 tbsp of melted butter, 1 cup of confectioners sugar, and enough milk to make the icing smooth.*

*I also used 1 cup confectioners sugar, 1/8 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 2.5 tbsp milk for a chocolate icing.*

*I brushed melted butter on some donuts and rolled them in a sugar and cinnamon mixture, and these turned out very good.*

*These make a fun and easy snack for kids, even if baked! They would also be fun for breakfast! I would recommend trying one of my other recipes when entertaining adult friends... They may not be too impressed with these although they look awesome*

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies

I had no choice but to make these cookies because they are my boyfriend's favorite! When we were on our way to Maryland he had to stop at Sheetz gas station to buy their packaged chocolate no bake cookies. I was snuck a cookie out of his bag and instantly feel in love. These are super easy to make and I really like the texture that the oats add to the cookies. You can't help but love these! They are perfect for the cookie jar on the kitchen counter or for the tins that you plan to give to neighbors, coworkers, family, and friends!

These were also a great addition to my christmas cookie tins because this recipe makes so many! So lets teach ya how to make them!

Recipe adapted from Foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
wax paper

Directions:
1. In a saucepan, bring to a boil the sugar, cocoa, butter, and milk.

2. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla, and oatmeal

3. Drop cook mixture by the teaspoon full on the wax paper and allow to cool and harden

4. ENJOY!!!

*I'm not really sure how many cookies this recipe made, but it was a couple dozen at least*