Caramel Filled Apple Cupcakes

I feel like it's been ages since I last posted a new recipe, so I'm really excited to be writing this up today! :) I went apple picking over the weekend and couldn't wait to get my hands on a caramel apple - I absolutely love the combo of those two flavors. (Ask any of my childhood friends who saw me eating caramel apple pops all the time.)

I decided to make a caramel filled apple cupcake with a cream cheese frosting and they were absolutely perfect, if I do say so myself! They were really easy to make (the filling step takes just 2 minutes) and the perfect flavor for fall. This is probably one of my personal favorites that I've baked to date, so you need to try them out ASAP!!

Caramel Filled Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
makes 22-24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes...

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice (this really gives the cake a great flavor!)
• 4 individual serving cups of Mott's 'No Sugar Added' Granny Smith Applesauce
• 2 cups finely diced apples (I think I used a mix of Honeycrisp and Gala)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake tins with your choice of liners.
2. In the bowl of your standing mixer, beat butter on medium high for 2 minutes or so.
3. Add sugar 1 cup at a time and beat until pale and fluffy.
4. Add eggs to the mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients and whisk until well incorporated.
6. Add a third of the dry mixture alternating with half of the applesauce to the standing mixer bowl until all ingredients have been combined. Scrape down sides of the bowl after each addition.
7. Reduce speed of your mixer to 'stir' and add in apples until just combined.
8. Using your 1/4 cup mixing cup, fill each liner 3/4 of the way full.
9. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
10. Let cool for a few minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the filling... (This step is so darn easy but totally makes the cupcakes.)

• One small container of caramel apple dip (the kind you heat up and use to make caramel apples with. I forget what brand I used but it's all over the grocery stores now!)

1. Heat the caramel apple dip in the microwave for about 20 seconds and stir.
2. Using a cupcake corer, take the centers out of each cupcake, taking care not to poke all the way to the bottom or else the caramel will fall through when you add it.
3. Using a small spoon, scoop a bit of caramel into each cupcake center until it just overflows. It should look like this:

click to enlarge

For the frosting...

• 2 8 oz packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 7-8 cups of confectioners sugar
• caramel (you can use your leftover filling or use Smucker's squeezable caramel topping for ice cream - it's easy to drizzle!)

1. Beat cream cheese and butter in the bowl of your standing mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add the confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting reaches a thick consistency.
3. Pipe onto cupcakes as desired.
4. Drizzle caramel on top in zig zag patterns.
5. DEVOUR!!!
6. Keep leftovers refrigerated for up to 48 hours.

enjoying my cupcake at my desk today :)