Apple Pie Filled Cupcakes are the perfect easy fall dessert. They mix the best parts of cake, pie and fall! These cupcakes are guaranteed to be your new fall favorites! Oh, and did I mention the brown butter cream cheese frosting?!
My dearest readers, after a few grueling months of very special (baking related) projects, I am back! Though I hope your summer was spent enjoying sunshine and refreshing ice cream, I am thrilled to return in the best season, Fall.
I’m starting off the fall bakes with these Apple Pie Filled Cupcakes for obvious reasons…um, they’re delicious! It’s like making an apple pie but doing half the work to get there which is what makes these babies such an easy fall dessert.
I’m so excited to be back to baking for this blog that I’m just going to jump straight into the recipe! Happy Fall to you, and Happy Baking!
Can baking be therapeutic?
I often talk about baking being a therapeutic hobby but I’d like to share more about why I feel that way as well as how it can become a relaxing hobby for you!
When I bake, it’s my creative time. I may put on my favorite nostalgic movie or tv show in the background, or a Spotify playlist titled “French café” and leave my troubles behind.
Sometimes I pour myself a glass of wine and light a candle. Then, with the mood set, the mixing of batter, kneading of dough and smoothing of icing is my only care in the world.
When I say baking is therapeutic, sometimes people respond saying “not for me it isn’t!” I completely understand why someone might feel that way. There have been plenty of times where I spend hours on something only for it to fail or something breaks that shouldn’t or I forget to clean as I go and am left with a disastrous kitchen to clean.
So I should in reality, have a caveat to my “baking as therapy” claims…
Baking is therapy when you curate the experience to be relaxing.
How do you curate that relaxing experience for yourself, you ask?
How to make baking therapeutic…
- Prepare your mind–know that it’s okay if the cake doesn’t rise, or the butter wasn’t chilled enough. Shift your mindset from seeing your failures as mistakes to seeing them as opportunities for learning.
- Prepare your space–I cannot and will not bake on top of a messy kitchen. If I were to do this I would be starting from a place of stress! Take an extra 10 minutes to clean any dishes in the sink and wipe down the counters, this small effort will pay you back greatly in brain space and clarity.
- Clean as you go! I’ll tell you the one way to make baking stressful and tiresome, is to not clean as you go! After I use each ingredient that I no longer need, I put it away.
After each major step in the process, I wipe down the counters and put dishes that are no longer needed in the sink. If there is chill time or baking time I don’t sit, I do the cleaning then. Make this shift and you’ll really notice the difference!
By the way, this last tip really helped me when I was on The Great American Baking Show–and the crew that cleaned up behind us made a point to tell me that my workspace was always so clean they didn’t have much to do!
I would reply by saying “it’s how I stay sane in this tent!”
Additional suggestions:
*Maybe try printing off the recipe instead of looking at it on your phone, tablet or laptop and use this time to unplug from technology for a few hours
**Invite friends or family over to share your creation with you. Time spent with loved ones over food is a universally special experience
And that’s how I discovered baking for my mental health. If you try any of these suggestions, let me know how it went for you! I’m really invested in spreading this message to others in hopes that baking will enhance your lives more than it already does!
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Apple Pie Filled CupcakesYield: 12 cupcakes Prep Time: 30 minutes Baking Time: 25 minutes Total Time: 55 minutes |
Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (room temperature)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
For the Apple Pie Filling
- 1 apple (honeycrisp preferred)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (cold)
- 8oz (1 block) cream cheese
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions:
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350oF (roughly 180oC) and prepare your cupcake pan by lining it with cupcake liners.
- In a medium mixing bowl, sift together 11/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp nutmeg, then whisk to combine.
- In a separate large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer, add 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter at room temperature, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 3/4 cup of light brown sugar and beat for a few minutes (2-3) until lighter in color and fluffy.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and then add 2 eggs at room temperature, 1/2 cup buttermilk at room temperature, 2 tbsp vegetable oil and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Beat again to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix carefully until combined. It’s best to mix by hand to ensure you don’t overmix.
- Place even amounts of cupcake batter into the cupcake lined tin and bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the middle cupcakes comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
For the Apple Pie Filling
- Cut your apple into quarter inch pieces (this may seem tedious, but the apples need to be small enough to fit into the center of the cupcake).
- Place the cut up apple, 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, 1 tsp of cornstarch, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1 tsp of cinnamon, a pinch of salt, 3/4 cup of water and 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce down to a simmer and allow to cook until the mixture thickens (2-3 minutes).
- Be sure to stir very well so there are no clumps of cornstarch leftover.
- Set the apple pie filling aside to cool completely.
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Take 1/2 cup (1 stick) of cold unsalted butter and cut it into tablespoon-sized pieces. Add the butter to a saucepan and place over medium/high heat.
- The butter will melt, foam, bubble and then form tiny brown bits at the bottom of the saucepan and let off a nutty and delicious aroma. At this stage, the butter is browned and ready to be removed from the heat. Be sure to stir continuously so that it does not burn.
- Pour butter into a separate small bowl and allow to get to room temperature (careful, it will be very hot!).
- Once slightly cooled down (15 minutes or so) you may place the butter in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process, just be sure to set a timer (5-10 minutes) so that it doesn’t harden completely. The butter should still be soft enough to mix together with the cream cheese.
- Once the butter is ready for use, add it and the 8oz (1 block) of cream cheese to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Beat the butter and cream cheese for 2 minutes until smooth.
- Add 6 cups of powdered sugar and mix again on low speed at first, then high speed once the powdered sugar has been incorporated for the most part.
- Mix for about 3 minutes at a higher speed to incorporate air into the frosting.
- Finally, add 3 tbsp of heavy cream, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vanilla extract to the bowl and give the frosting one final mix.
For the Assembly
- Take completely cooled cupcakes and create holes in the center of each cupcake using a cupcake remover tool, a round teaspoon or a melon scoop.
- Fill the hole in the center of each cupcake with the completely cooled apple pie filling, making sure that the filling is level to the top of the cupcake and does not overflow (if overfilled, icing the cupcake will be more difficult).
- Either place the icing in a piping bag fitted with your favorite piping tip and frost the cupcakes or apply with an offset spatula like I did!
- Take some of the leftover apple pie filling and drizzle it over each cupcake.
- Enjoy!
[…] If you’re looking for more fall recipes, check out my Apple Pie Filled Cupcakes! […]