Aaaaannnd....part two!!!

Hi again! 

Did everyone have a good week? 

Okay, so here is part two (of two) of the desserts made for Halloween. (Yes, I know people started talking about Halloween like last week, but it's still closer to Halloween than Thanksgiving, so I think it's fair game.) 

(For part one, here you go)

I was very excited and nervous about this dessert, as I had pretty much conjured it up in my mind, and had no reviews or hearsay to lean on. All I knew that it might possibly through some shred of hope work and maybe maybe taste good. 

I have a lot of faith in myself, don't I? I feel as though I should disclose that I'm writing this right now eating chocolate chips with a spoon (why? I don't know), so people can accurately adjust their faith level in my abilities. 

I call this...Caramel Apple Cupcakes. 

Adam peeling apples. Yup, he's been put to work. 

Grating apples. This one's all me. And no, I have no idea why my skin is magenta. 

Originally I meant for these cupcakes to be normal (not sure what the actual name is) size, and had even bought little Halloween cupcake wrappers. Unfortunately, that pan went missing, so they had to be made as minis. 

And leftover snowman cupcake wrappers had to be used. They're festive...just not for the right holiday. 

Ooh I hope they taste good, 'cause this made A LOT of cupcakes. 

I didn't call them caramel for nothing!

There, autumnal sprinkles will balance out the encroaching winter theme.

So I'm not even kidding when I say that this made a LOT of cupcakes. Like 90 cupcakes. Plus batter left over to make a little tiny cake. I mean, I know it would have yielded less cupcakes had they been made at their desired size, but if you want to feed a crowd via small desserts, this is not a bad option. 

So not only did this recipe make a lot of cupcakes, it made a lot of pretty good cupcakes. (Phew, right?) At first when we tasted the cupcakes out of the oven, they got reviews of "pretty bland" (keep in mind that I have the spice allergy, so these cupcakes did not have the little kick that cupcakes with cinnamon or nutmeg would have). I'll admit, at that point, I was getting nervous. Several surfaces were filled with diminutively sized cupcakes. These had to work. (please?)

Thankfully, they were amply boosted by the caramel topping. I'm not sure that the sprinkles lent themselves to any flavor enhancement, but they couldn't hurt to add a little texture and cuteness. And really, how could I afford to skimp on the cuteness level? 

So dressed and adorned and accessorized, these cupcakes are quite good! And really, pretty easy to make! Yay!

To make Caramel Apple Cupcakes (you know you wanna...):

- 1 box of yellow cake mix (sorry, I totally forgot to check what size the box I used was. But I don't think it matters too much. We'll go with "regular size")

- Whatever ingredients the cake mix says to add (feeling the love here, right? haha)

- 2 granny smith apples

- Caramel topping (I used a type in a squeezable bottle, it makes the process a bit neater)

- Sprinkles (if you desire sprinkles of the autumnal variety, I got the ones I used at Michaels)

- Cupcake wrappers (they help to keep the caramel sauce from dripping all over)

That's it! Oh okay, you do have to do this...

- Assemble the cake mix according to the box instructions, set aside

- Peel and grate the apples (I'm sure you could use the food processor for this, but I chose to be hands-on). Put the grated apples in a paper towel or two and blot up excess moisture (I thought this would be a good idea, as to not mess with the moisture level of the mix). You don't have to go nuts trying to dry them.

-Combine the apples and the cake mix, and put in a cupcake tin. I tried to fill them up about 1/2 - 2/3 of the way. 

-I baked mine for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees, but I usually find I need to bake things longer than recipes say, so it's probably a good idea to start checking them earlier.

-When the cupcakes are cool (by the way, they can be frozen), top each with a squirt of caramel sauce, and spread the sauce to the edges of the top of the cupcake using the edge of a knife. 

-Sprinkle to your heart's content.

Enjoy! Hope you like lots of little tiny cupcakes!