I made these little beauties for Matt Mullarkey's 40th Birthday Bash! I found this great recipe at Patent and the Pantry and I added my own headbanging touches and boom-diggity, Apple Spice Cupcakes with Candied Apple Slices were born.
I pretty much followed the recipe, some things I didn't quite have the full amount, some things I switched up a bit. The candied apple chips are all me. Here's what I did to the best of my recollection.
First I mixed together all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Then, in another bowl I creamed together 1/2 cup of softened butter, about a cup of white sugar, about a half cup of turbinado sugar and a good pour of maple syrup. Yeah, I've gotta learn to write these things down.
I added four eggs, one at a time, Then I added a can of applesauce. OMG! I KNOW! A CAN OF APPLESAUCE? My neighbor gave me a few and, of course, I've had no use for it. But this was my opportunity to get it out of my cabinet and I seized it. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened applesauce, so if you make your own (like I usually do) you'll be able to make these bad boys that much better.
Once the applesauce was mixed in I added the dry to the wet and mixed until it was just incorporated. Then I put portions of the mix into a piping bag and piped both large and small cupcakes until they were about 3/4ths full and baked them at 350 until they were done - about 20 minutes, give or take. The small ones obviously take less time.
The candied apple chips were actually a big chore. The Silpat I bought is the size of a sheet of paper, so I could only do so many at a time. I took a good part of the day to get it done, but the resulting chips were so tasty I was really glad I'd made so many extras.
I sliced the apple really thin on the mandolin and dipped both sides in white sugar. With the oven at 300 I cooked them on each side for approximately five minutes each for a total of about 15 minutes. They get dark quick, so you have to keep an eye on them. And be careful turning them over because hot sugar burns like a motherfucker. Use a small angled spatula if you have it. And don't be tempted to use your fingers to separate them when they get folded and such in the turning process because, like I said, hot sugar burns like a motherfucker. After I took them out of the oven I let them cool on the Silpat for a little while, then I peeled them off, put them elsewhere to cool, washed and repeated.
The icing...oh, the icing. I had one stick of butter and less than a package of cream cheese, but I figured it was enough so I softened them and mixed them together. Then I threw in all the powdered sugar I had, which was not a lot, maybe 1/3 a cup and a good pour of the turbinado. And I mixed and I poured a few more times. Until I thought I had enough and I thought it tasted nummy. It was a little crunchy, but I liked that. And I sampled some on a small cupcake and I knew I'd hit it out of the apple grove.
The rest is self-explanatory really. I put the cupcakes in a pan for transport, topped them all with apple chips and off I went.
People loved them. Of course.
Rock on!
-HH
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