The Everything Fall Cupcake - Pumpkin, Apple, Maple, Spiced Rum, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, and Cranberry

Fall brings reds, oranges, yellows, and purples; there's no one color to represent Autumn.  Likewise, this year I thought that a single (or even two or three) Fall flavor(s) in a cupcake would not do.  I decided to combine some past single-flavor Fall cupcake favorites into one Everything Fall Cupcake recipe.  What you see above are (take a deep breath) pumpkin, spiced rum, and maple cupcakes topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and dried cranberries - with brown sugar frosting-topped apple cobbler cupcakes baked inside. 

I created the Everything Fall Cupcake for a very special event that you are all attending whether you knew it or not...

Apple Bacon Cheddar Cupcakes with Mesquite Buttercream - The Boyfriend Jeans of the Cupcake World

Apple bacon cheddar cupcakes with mesquite buttercream are the boyfriend jeans of the cupcake world. They are a perfect fit for your man: they feature the magic word - bacon - and the mesquite gives them a nutty, earthy, manly finish. Yet, when you try them on (your tongue) and experience the cheddar, apple cider, and brown sugar, you'll find that they fit you just as well.  Just like boyfriend jeans, your guy will claim they are his, but you'll be stealing them out from under him any chance you get.

Apple Cobbler Cupcakes with Pumpkin Pie Frosting

Have you caught your apple cobbler trying to snuggle up to the pumpkin pie on your holiday table?  I decided to play matchmaker and bring these two lovebirds together - and, let me tell you, it was a match made in heaven!  Take gingery lemon apple cobbler cupcakes loaded with hunks of tart apples and blanket them with a thick coat of pumpkin pie frosting to watch the sparks fly.  Is that your tummy rumbling with desire, or is it the sound of little sweet nothings whispered between the cake and frosting?  You can't be quite sure.


Upcoming Giveaway Alert

Like the cupcake wrapper and the glittery gold sprinkles?  I love them!  They were a gift from Sweet Treats Party Boutique. In the very near future, I'm going to be doing a giveaway of a set of wrappers, sprinkles, and cupcake toppers from Sweet Treats.  But, it will just be for my Facebook fans.  So, if you are not a fan yet, become one now so you won't miss out!


Apple Cobbler Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 12 cupcakes

• 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 C sour cream
• 1/4 tsp lemon extract
• 2 1/2 C apples, roughly chopped and loosely packed (I like having the large chunks of apple in the batter - as shown above - but you can chop the apples more finely if you like a smoother look.)

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger.
2. Beat butter and sugars in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and lemon extract until blended.
4. Mix in flour mixture.
5. Fold in apples.
6. Divide batter evenly among 12 cupcake liners (they will be filled almost all the way to the top).
7. Bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the cupcake clean.

Pumpkin Pie Frosting

Frost the apple cobbler cupcakes with pumpkin pie frosting.  See my post on pumpkin pie frosting for the recipe.

Potato, Mushroom, and Apple Soup

Before I baked with my candy cap mushrooms (read my post on candy cap mushrooms for the back story), I wanted to try using them in a more traditional way.  I put them in a soup - something a normal person does with mushrooms.

My thick potato, mushroom, and apple soup would be a treat for a cool evening no matter what mushroom you use, but the candy caps made the soup extra special and provided more of a nutty, maple flavor than your average mushroom.  They were far less mapley in the soup than I would have guessed from their scent, but in this case, that was probably a good thing.

Because of the addition of  balsamic vinegar and honey, the soup has a soothing sweetness, but the appearance of paprika gives it just a bit of kick.  Keep a spoon near your pot and taste periodically - add more of any of the spices to make the flavor just how you like it.

Apple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls - This Month's Cupcake Project Recipe for Paula Deen

 

As my regular readers know, I create monthly cupcake recipes for PaulaDeen.com.  This month, I was asked to develop something with apples or pecans.  I opted to use both! I made these apple pecan cinnamon roll cupcakes with a glaze that actually contains apple cider! 

Whether or not you make the cinnamon rolls, I'd highly recommend trying out the simple apple cider glaze. The apple cider glaze would be outstanding on my gingersnap cookies.

You'll find both the apple pecan cinnamon roll cupcake recipe and the apple cider glaze recipe on Paula Deen.

Back to School Cupcakes - (A)pple, (B)anana, (C)arrot

Back to school cupcakes are one reason to get excited about the school year beginning.  The other reason is new school supplies; was it just me who got more excited about buying crisp new colorful notebooks and folders than back to school clothing?  My back to school cupcakes celebrate the ABC's - apples, bananas, and carrots.  In doing so, they are almost healthy (if you ignore the butter content and leave off the frosting).

I always talk flavor first because no matter how cute my back to school cupcakes look (and aren't they adorable?), it's the taste that matters.  The super moist back to school cupcakes taste like a combination of banana bread and carrot cake with bits of apple mixed in to remind you that Fall is coming.  I didn't want the back to school cupcakes to taste like spice cakes (I wanted the fruit to shine), so I left out the cinnamon and nutmeg that are often found in banana and carrot cakes.  Instead, I introduced a little cinnamon spice by topping the back to school cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Now that we've covered the flavor of the back to school cupcakes, let's get back to the shallow focus on looks. Then, we'll move on to the recipe that will have your kids begging to work on their ABC's.

Apple Cider Doughnuts with Honey Glaze - Rosh Hashana Recipe

Each year around this time, I start seeing apple cider doughnuts showing up on food blogs and on Tastespotting and Foodgawker. These posts often mention buying apple cider doughnuts at local apple orchards. I've been apple picking many times in my life and I have never seen an apple cider doughnut. I love apple cider and I love doughnuts - and frankly, every time I read about these elusive apple cider doughnuts, I felt cheated. Why didn't my orchard make them? I had to make them myself to see if they were as good as I dreamed.

Rosh Hashana seemed like the perfect time of year to give apple cider doughnuts a try. L'Shana Tova roughly means "for a good year". On Rosh Hashana (the Jewish new year) we dip apples in honey to show our wish for a sweet new year. Why not make apple cider doughnuts dipped in honey this year?!

Apple cider doughnuts are typically baked, not fried. They are essentially cake doughnuts made with apple cider. Because apple cider doughnuts are cake, the doughnut recipe also worked as a cupcake! In the photo above, you see a doughnut on top of a cupcake - both made with the same batter.

Were the Apple Cider Doughnuts Worthy of My Dreams

Our dinner guest, St. Louis food blogger Andrew Mark Veety, said that my apple cider doughnuts would be "killer with a cup of coffee for breakfast." However, he and his wife both felt that they could hardly be called doughnuts. I had to agree. The apple cider doughnuts were moist, fluffy, and sweet, but tasted more like tiny apple muffins than doughnuts. These doughnuts could be a great way to trick your kid or yourself into eating something healthier than a typical fried doughnut, but if you are expecting a Krispy Kreme, don't bother making these.

Apple Cider Doughnut Recipe

To make these apple cider doughnuts, you'll need a doughnut pan. The cool thing is that you can make any cake recipe into a cake doughnut with one of these pans - so fun!! I prefer the mini doughnut pan - that way they fit on top of my cupcakes (I understand that this may not be your priority).

I found the recipe for the apple cider doughnuts on Jen's food blog, Milk and Cookies. Jen adapted the recipe from one found on Diana's Desserts. I am reprinting it here, with my notes.

Makes approximately 36 mini doughnuts or 12 cupcakes.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t grated nutmeg
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2/3 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C apple butter
• 1/3 C pure maple syrup
• 1/3 C apple cider
• 1/3 C plain yogurt
• 3 tbsp hazelnut oil, plus extra for coating the pan (If hazelnut oil is not available, you can substitute with macadamia nut oil or vegetable oil.)
• approximately 3 tbsp sugar for baking pans

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, apple butter, maple syrup, cider, yogurt and hazelnut oil.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until moistened.
4. Brush cavities of a doughnut pan with hazelnut oil and sprinkle with sugar. If making cupcakes, simply fill cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
   
5. For doughnuts, fill each cavity about halfway. For cupcakes, fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
   
6. Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes (doughnuts) or 20 minutes (cupcakes) or until the tops spring back when touched lightly.

Honey Glaze and Cinnamon/Sugar Topping

I topped each apple cider doughnut with a honey glaze and then dipped the doughnuts in cinnamon and sugar. For the honey glaze, simply combine and microwave two parts honey to every one part apple cider (i.e. 4 T honey and 2 T apple cider) until hot.

I used the same glaze to top the cupcakes, and I added some powdered sugar for kicks.

Kosher for Passover Cupcakes - Charoses Cupcakes

Kosher for Passover cupcake Photo disclaimer: The Kosher for Passover cupcake featured in the photo above was taken by the esteemed St. Louis food photographer J. Pollack Photography. However, the photshopping of the cupcake onto the Seder plate was done by me and he does NOT approve of such photo mutilation.

Charoses cupcakes will surely be the "wow" dessert on any Passover table. They are lemon-flavored Kosher for Passover cupcakes with baked-in charoses and topped with brown sugar charoses frosting!

Last year, I featured Kosher for Passover chocolate cupcakes. I got many comments from people complaining that they couldn't eat the cupcakes after a traditional Passover Seder because the cupcakes were dairy.

These charoses cupcakes can be served two ways. Without the frosting, these cupcakes qualify for a Kosher for Passover fleishig meal (no dairy); don't worry, even without the frosting, they are still better than macaroons. With the frosting, you could serve the cupcakes with a dairy meal.

Charoses Cupcake Recipe

I found the recipe that I used for the charoses cupcakes from Key Ingredient. I modified it slightly to make it a cupcake. I'm listing the recipe with my modifications below.

Makes about 16 cupcakes

• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 1/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C safflower oil
• Juice of 2 lemons (4 to 5 T)
• Grated zest of 2 lemons
• 1 1/4 C matzo cake meal (not matzo meal)
• About 2 C charoses (Use my charoses recipe if you don't have your own go-to one.)
  

1. Mix egg yolks and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, combine oil, lemon juice and zest.
3. Add matzo cake meal to yolk and sugar mixture alternately oil mixture.
4. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.
   
5. Using rubber spatula, fold 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into egg yolk mixture until well blended.
   
6. Fold in remaining beaten egg whites.
7. Fill cupcake liners about halfway with batter.
8. Put a spoonful or more, of charoses on top of the batter on each cupcakes.
9. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Charoses Frosting Recipe

For my charoses frosting I used a basic penuche frosting (brown sugar frosting) and just added charoses to it. It's a bit gooey (kind of like the frosting on a German chocolate cake) - only even yummier (if you love charoses)! In fact, I just ate an apple and totally enjoyed dipping it in all the leftover frosting. I'm typing with sticky fingers now.

I got the penuche frosting recipe from Southern Food on About.Com. I used this same frosting minus the charoses on my Gluten-free quinoa cupcakes. The recipe made twice as much frosting as I needed. Unless you want extra frosting around for snacking, you could definitely cut this recipe in half.

• 1/2 C butter
• 1 C brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 C milk
• 2 C sifted confectioners' sugar (I only used about 1 1/2 C)
• 2/3 C charoses (Use my charoses recipe if you don't have your own go-to one.)

1. In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter.
2. Add the brown sugar.
3. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
5. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add sifted confectioners' sugar. (I would highly recommend sifting this confectioners' sugar. It's such a pain to sift, but it ensures that the frosting will be extra smooth.)
6. Beat until thick enough to spread.
7. Mix in charoses.
8. Pour over cupcakes.
   

Speaking of Passover

Don't expect many new posts over Passover. I'll likely be passing over the blog during that time, but, you never know.

Charoses Recipe - Mom's Recipe

Charoses is a reason to look forward to Passover. I would eat charoses year round, but then I wouldn't enjoy it as much over Passover. I could eat it by the bowl - cold or hot. Charoses is almost always served cold, but it's actually great after 30 seconds or so in the microwave - try it!

While I typically experiment and drastically change recipes, there is no messin' with Momma's charoses. Well, except for the fact that I used up this charoses in a Kosher for Passover charoses cupcake.

Charoses Recipe

Mom's charoses recipe is actually from The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook. As I look at this digital picture of the cookbook, I can picture the more worn out version of it sitting in Mom's kitchen and feel all warm and fuzzy. If you want your own worn out version, you can get used copies of this book for only $4 on Amazon!

Here is the recipe twice removed from the book - emailed by my mom and then edited with notes by me:

• 1 C chopped apples (Mom uses a couple of different apples to make it
• interesting.)
• 1/4 C chopped nuts (We always use walnuts.)
• 1 t sugar or honey (This is not a choice. Use honey!)
• Grated rind of 1/2 lemon (I ended up using a whole lemon. The more lemon, the merrier.)
• 1/2 t cinnamon or more to taste
  
• 2 tablespoons red wine (about) (Don't go for fancy wine here. You want Manischewitz Concord Grape. I can't imagine charoses with any other wine. It's really an essential ingredient.)

1. Mix all ingredients.
   
2. Add enough wine to bind the mixture.

Apple Butter Frosting Recipe

While you may be tempted to skip this apple butter frosting recipe and just slather plain apple butter on your cupcakes (and I couldn't blame you), I highly recommend giving the apple butter frosting a try. It's got brown sugar, apple butter, and cinnamon and is perfect for any Fall cupcake or for eating with a spoon! It's sweet, but not too sweet, and if you love apple butter (like me), you may have found your new favorite frosting.

I put the frosting on pumpkin cupcakes with rum and maple.

Apple Butter Frosting Recipe

This is one of those recipes that came out of my head and worked perfectly the very first time I tried it. It's a good day when that happens!

• 1/4 C apple butter
• 1/4 C butter
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 2 T milk
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1 C sifted powdered sugar

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter.
2. Add the apple butter and brown sugar.
3. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to medium low.
4. Continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Add the milk and the cinnamon and bring to a boil, still stirring constantly.
6. Cool to lukewarm.
7. Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until thick enough to spread.

Apple Butter Recipe

I went the lazy route and bought my apple butter at the store. However, if you would like to make your own apple butter, check out these sites for apple butter recipes:

• Simply Recipes
• Andrea's Recipes
• 101 Cookbooks
• Iron Stef
  

Apple Cinnamon Ravioli

Related Posts:

• How to Make Ravioli
  
• Toasted Ravioli
  
• Toasted Ravioli Cupcakes
  

Apple cinnamon ravioli would be a great dessert. You could pan fry them and serve them with ice cream or boil them like regular ravioli and serve them with a drizzle of honey and some fresh whipped cream, or (of course) you could deep fry them and put them on toasted ravioli cupcakes!

How to Make Apple Cinnamon Ravioli

Make the ravioli noodles however you like to do it (read my post on how to make ravioli if you don't know how). Then, use the filling recipe below:

• 4 small apples (1 lb 4 oz), chopped finely
  
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/4 C honey
• 1 t lemon rind
• 1 t cinnamon
  

1. Mix everything together and try not to eat it all before it makes its way into the ravioli.

Spice Cupcakes with a Candy Center: Meet the Barrister

These spice cupcakes were inspired by Chris Reed (no, this cupcake is not designed to look like him). I interviewed Chris about his Reed's natural sodas and he mentioned that one of his favorite party drinks was a float with his Spiced Apple Brew and some vanilla ice cream (he's clearly a party animal).

I decided to make spiced cupcakes that contain Reed's Spiced Apple Brew and to perch some vanilla bean buttercream frosting on top (I got the word "perch" from a comment left here by [Eating Club] Vancouver - I think it sounds so cute!).

I was originally planning on using my sticky candy as a topper for the spice cupcakes. However, the cupcakes were a wee bit on the dry side and using the candy as a filling instead of a topper completely solved that problem.

The cupcake itself was not exceptional. However, everyone loved the filling. As taster Ran (my single friend who I have dubbed Groom 2.5) noted, "It was definitely a happy ending when you reached that surprise in the center."

The Spice Cupcake Recipe

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 1 C Reed’s Spiced Apple Brew (if you can’t find this product, you could use a Ginger Ale)
• 1 t apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/3 C applesauce
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 1 t lemon juice
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t fresh ginger, chopped very finely
• 1 1/3 C flour
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 12 sticky candies (make them yourself or use a store-bought sticky caramel candy)

1. Combine the soda and the vinegar.
2. Add in the sugar and the applesauce and mix well.
3. Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice.
4. Add in the ginger, flour, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until just incorporated.
5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
6. Drop a candy into each liner.
7. Bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when touched.

The Frosting

I frosted the spice cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting. This frosting tastes just like vanilla ice cream. I love it!

I frosted some spice cupcakes completely like you see above. However, I chose to frost other cupcakes (where I had used bigger pieces of sticky candy) like barristers (as you see at the very top of this post). I’m not going to explain what the barrister cupcake is sitting on. See if you can figure it out.

Where Have I Been?

I just returned from a wedding in Jackson Hole. Guess what? There were cupcakes! I didn’t make them, but I definitely ate some!

Really Sticky Candy with Applesauce

My really sticky candy with applesauce is like no other candy I've encountered before - which isn't necessarily a good thing. It's REALLY STICKY. It's so sticky, in fact, that unless it's fresh out of the refrigerator, you can't pick the candy up - it just sticks to your fingers.

Jonathan loved the sticky candy. I did not. Although I did enjoy the subtle apple flavor, I found it to be way too messy and somewhat too sweet for regular eating.

What I did love, however, is what I did with the sticky candy. I baked it right plop in the center of cupcakes to give them a sweet and chewy middle. You'll see that soon and by soon, I mean some time next week. Sorry to make you wait more than the normal couple of days. I'll explain why later.

The Sticky Candy with Applesauce Recipe

I based the sticky candy with applesauce recipe on the pineapple candy that I made a while back. Despite the recipes being very similar, swapping applesauce for pineapple gave me a completely different type of candy. This shouldn't be surprising since pineapple actually has a texture.

Makes one cookie sheet of candies the size you see in the picture.

• 1 C granulated white sugar
• 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C heavy cream
• 8 oz applesauce
• 1 T butter
• 1 t pure vanilla extract

1. Place white sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, and applesauce in a heavy saucepan.
2. Stir and bring to a gentle boil.
3. Cook, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 242 F on a candy thermometer.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Stir in butter and vanilla.
6. Beat until creamy and thick.
7. Drop by the teaspoonful onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
8. Let cool.
9. Refrigerate right on the baking sheet.
10. Once they are cold, you can pull them off the sheet and store them in a different container in the refrigerator or use them in cupcakes!

Raw Food Cupcakes: Cool and Refreshing

The concept of a raw food cupcake seems to go against the entire grain of cupcakes. Cupcakes are a baked product - raw food cupcakes are not baked. They are basically a bunch of raw food pressed together in the shape of a cupcake.

Did the Raw Food Cupcake Taste Like a Cupcake?

Nope! The raw cupcakes tasted nothing like cupcakes. They tasted more like Passover charoset. The good news is that I love charoset. The raw cupcakes were yummy and perfect for summer. I'm sure someone could make a raw cupcake that tastes more like a cupcake, since I've seen some great things done with raw cocoa and dates on Gone Raw. I went for the fruity, lemon poppy seed variety, though.

The Raw Foods Potluck

I mentioned in the post on raw frosting that I made these raw cupcakes because I was attending a raw food potluck. The reason that I was there was because Jonathan had done a photoshoot on the potluck for Sauce Magazine. Sauce wrote a story on raw food and Jonathan had the cover image - his first cover!!

We enjoyed the potluck so much that we decided to go back the next month.

The image on the right shows my cupcakes sitting on his Sauce cover. The title of the article was "Totally Rawsome!" and that also describes these cupcakes!

The people at the raw food potluck loved the cupcakes. One woman even asked for the recipe. I directed her to this site. I hope she isn't turned off by all the baked cupcakes that I have on here!

The Raw Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for the raw cupcakes by modifying a recipe on Raw Freedom Community for lemon poppy seed cake. The recipe with my modifications is below:

Makes 50 mini cupcakes

• 1 1/2 C ground/grated jicama
• 1 apple, peeled and ground
• 2 C walnuts, finely ground
• 1/4 C agave nectar
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• Lemon juice and zest of 1 medium-sized lemon
• 1/4 C poppy seeds

1. Mix all ingredients and form in any shape you want. I made mini cupcakes. I found that it was easiest to form them in the cupcake tin even though I didn't need to put it in the oven. Putting it in the tin helped them to keep their shape.
2. There is no step two. It's just that easy!

The Raw Frosting

I frosted the cupcakes with raw frosting made from coconut oil.

Gluten-Free Quinoa Cupcakes: Quinoa for Breakfast Part 2

 

These gluten-free quinoa cupcakes were inspired by A Southern Grace's apple cinnamon quinoa breakfast which I wrote about in part one of quinoa for breakfast. However, I am dedicating the gluten-free cupcakes to Cathy (a gluten-free friend of mine) whose husband wrote me this email back in September:

"Okay, so I just read the blog posting about the lonely 'cupcake' from your recent trip and it made me wonder if you've given any further thought to creating a gluten-free cupcake?

You could put your creative mind to a real cupcake challenge and take your game to the next level (mixing flours in addition to mixing ingredients)! This could be your chance to shine as a gluten-free superstar, while bringing hope to the despaired. I urge you to rise up and throw off the shackles of society; tell wheat that you don't have to use it...tell it that other options exist...show the world you are not the slave to boring flower any more! Wheat-free or die (or at least sick)! Join us in the revolution... Long live tapioca!!"

What a man! Can't you just picture him as a superhero fighting glutens? You'd think he was the gluten-free one and not his wife. Admittedly, it took me 6 months to respond with gluten-free cupcakes, but these were worth the wait! They were light and fluffy and had a surprise apple cinnamon center. The quinoa gave them a nutty flavor which went perfectly with the apples.

I topped the cupcakes with a penuche frosting. I was turned onto this frosting by an anonymous commenter who insisted that I google penuche and try it. It's basically a brown sugar frosting that tastes like caramel. It's basically delicious! I will be using this frosting recipe again and again. Not only did it taste great, but it was smooth and easy to spread.

Groom 2.0 Called This Cupcake a Wedding Contender

Groom 2.0 actually called this cupcake a wedding contender. I was shocked. There was no chocolate involved. I expected this to be a cupcake that Bride 2.0 would like. However, Bride 2.0 didn't like it. She liked the frosting and the apple part, but didn't like the taste of quinoa and thought the cake on its own was too dry.

My mother-in-law said: "Liked everything about it...taste, texture, quinoa, etc. Would never have guessed the ingredients."

A friend, who is becoming such a regular taster that my loaner Tupperware practically has his name on it, reported: "One of the best combinations of flavors, I enjoyed this very autumn cupcake. The gluten-free dough was a little dry, but I enjoyed the texture. Overall moistness is a critical component to a stellar cupcake from me, and this could have been a little moister."

His co-taster disagreed with his point about the texture. "Overall moisture was satisfactory because of the surprise center."

If I made these gluten-free cupcakes again, I would try mixing the apple filling throughout rather than only putting it in the middle of the cupcake. It would ruin the surprise factor, but I think it might address any issues with moistness.

If you are gluten-free or gluten-full and are looking for a tasty and different cupcake to try, I would definitely feel comfortable recommending this one.

Gluten-Free Quinoa Cupcake Recipe

I got the recipe for these cupcakes by adapting a recipe at Lucullian Delights to cupcake format. I am reprinting the recipe below with my modifications. One modification of note is that her recipe has coconut in it. That's on the banned foods list for Bride and Groom 2.0 so I left it out.

• 2 1/2-3 cups diced apples (about 2 medium sized apples)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup dark rum
• 4 large eggs
• 9 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/3 cup cooked quinoa (You cook quinoa in the same way that you would cook rice. Read part one of quinoa for breakfast if you need more detailed cooking directions. I started with 1 C of uncooked quinoa and ended up with enough for this recipe plus plenty left over to have for breakfast or any other meal. I used Red Inca quinoa, hence the dark spots in the cake.)
• 1 3/4 cups rice flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
  

1. Simmer the apple cubes with the water, sugar, cinnamon, and rum until the apple is cooked and almost all the liquid is evaporated. Try very hard not to eat it all before putting it in the cupcakes. There will be some left over. I ate it with the leftover penuche frosting. You could just make the apples and frosting and forget the cupcakes entirely and be quite happy.
2. Whisk the egg and sugar and add the melted butter. Stir well.
3. Add the quinoa, mix well, and then add the flour and baking powder. Stir well.
4. Fill 12 cupcake liners about 1/3 full with batter.
5. Add a layer of apples.
6. Top with another layer of batter so that they are all about 3/4 full.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the tops bounce back when you touch them.

Alternative: Mix the apples in with the batter instead of doing layers. I have not tried this, but I think it might be even better than the layered method.


Penuche Frosting Recipe
I got the penuche frosting recipe from Southern Food on About.Com.

• 1/2 C butter
• 1 C brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 C milk
• 2 C sifted confectioners' sugar (I only used about a cup)
  

1. In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter.
2. Add the brown sugar.
3. Bring to a boil and lower heat to medium low and continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
5. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually add sifted confectioners' sugar. (I would highly recommend sifting this confectioners' sugar. It's such a pain to sift, but it ensures that the frosting will be extra smooth.)
6. Beat until thick enough to spread. If too thick, add a little hot water.

Looking for More Gluten-Free Cupcake Ideas?

I am entering this cupcake into the blog event Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free. If you are looking for more ideas for gluten-free cupcakes, check out the round-up here. Remember, any cake recipe can easily be converted to a cupcake. Your cupcakes may take less time to bake than the cake recipe. Typically they take 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I recommend making a test cupcake first to see how much it rises and how long it takes to bake before you bake the entire batch.

Quinoa for Breakfast: Part 1

 

I've loved quinoa since I first encountered the little colorful curly-Q's. It's so much more interesting as a base for a dish than the old standby, white rice. However, until recently, I hadn't considered the merits of quinoa over oatmeal. This post is part one of the story of quinoa for breakfast.

Quin-whaa?

The Wikipedia article on quinoa states, "Quinoa (pronounced /ˈkinwɑ/ KEEN-wah or /ˈkinoʊə/ KEE-no-uh, Spanish quinua, quínoa, or quinoa) is a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium) grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal as it is not a grass. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth, but the commercial availability of quinoa greens is currently limited."

A) Do I really want to eat goosefoot? FYI: The other species of goosefoot include Kañiwa, Fat Hen, Good King Henry, and Epazote. Why don't we see these on the market? I love the idea of vegetarians eating their stir fry over Fat Hen.

B) If people are growing quinoa, there must be leaves. How do I get to try them?

Quinoa Varieties

According the insert in my box of quinoa, quinoa comes in over 1,800 varieties. The one I used was Inca Red quinoa. Since I was going to be putting apples in the quinoa, I thought that red would work nicely. The photo to the left is of rainbow quinoa. I found it in a UK seed catalog. It actually grows in multiple colors. Move over, Lucky Charms!

Why Quinoa for Breakfast?

It's Taste & Create time again. This time, I was paired with A Southern Grace. She made my sweet potato casserole cupcakes (here's her version) sound so good that I want to make them again right now! She used homegrown sweet potatoes from her grandpa's garden. Yum!

The recipe that immediately caught my eye on her site was cinnamon apple quinoa. I like cinnamon apple anything and I know that Bride and Groom 2.0 are looking for fall flavor combinations. I concluded that cinnamon apple quinoa would make for a great cupcake flavor.

Cinnamon Apple Quinoa Breakfast Cereal

If you are a hot cereal person and are looking for something different for breakfast, definitely give quinoa a go! The recipe for the cinnamon apple quinoa on A Southern Grace was a great start to a great breakfast. However, like your bowl of oatmeal, everyone is going to have their preparation preferences. I'd recommend using this as a starting point.

Here is the recipe from A Southern Grace with the changes I made. Because there are just two of us here, I adjusted the recipe to make two big bowls.

• 1 C uncooked quinoa
• 2 C water
• .5 t salt
• 2 C apples (I used double the amount of apples that she used. You could also use any other fruit that you like. I tossed in a handful of raisins.)
• 1 t cinnamon

1. Rinse quinoa under cold water until the run-off is clear. (This step may not be necessary for you. My quinoa came pre-rinsed so this was not needed.
2. Bring the water to a boil with the salt.
3. Add quinoa. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat. Fluff the quinoa and let sit covered for another 10 minutes.
5. Peel and chop apples. Cook them however you like. I went the lazy route and stuck them in the microwave for 2 minutes.
6. Add apples and cinnamon to the quinoa.
7. Add whatever other flavors you typically like in your oatmeal. My husband and I had one bowl with maple syrup and one with honey.

In Part 2: Gluten-Free Apple Cinnamon Quinoa Cupcakes

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Mead Frosting and a Honey Swirl: Rosh Hashana Cupcakes for a Sweet New Year

One cupcake taster closed her eyes to savor every bite. Another chose to eat this as his first piece of cake in 3 months and did not regret the choice. I ate one fresh out of the oven and it was so good I was scared that frosting it would screw it up somehow. It didn't. It just made it even better! This may be my favorite cupcake yet.

I had to get that part out of the way. I have lots to say in this post and I didn't want anyone to not make it to the part where I expressed how much I loved these cupcakes!

This week's cupcake was inspired by the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana). Could the holy connection have anything to do with how good they ended up being? On Rosh Hashana it is a tradition to eat apples dipped in honey praying that God will grant us a sweet new year. Apples with honey are delicious on thier own. Give it a try if you have never done so. I turned one of my non-Jewish friends onto this and it became her son's favorite snack. The bride and groom are not Jewish, but they are getting married on the secular new year. Perhaps they would like it to be sweet with an apple and honey cupcake?

The Cake

I was recently loaned a copy of the book 500 Cupcakes: The Only Cupcake Compendium You'll Ever Need. I take issue with the fact that there aren't really 500 cupcakes in this book. Lots of the "cupcakes" are muffins and some of the items they count as unique cupcakes are simply a recipe they already listed, but with ingredient substitutions. However, since I liked the recipe I tried so much, I may have to think more positively about the book.

For the cake, I modified 500 Cupcake's Applesauce Cinnamon Cupcakes. Their cupcake had apples on top and no frosting. I put the apples inside, created my own frosting, and did not include nuts or raisins.

Recipe (16 cupcakes)

*The recipe in the book was for 12 cupcakes. I doubled it and still ended up with only 16. That was my only complaint about the recipe. However, I filled my cups all the way to the top and from the picture in the book, it looked like they let theirs sit a bit lower.

Cream:

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 C + 2 T sugar
• 2 C Flour
• 4 Eggs

Stir In

• 1.5 C Applesauce (unsweetened)
• 1.5 t cinnamon
• 1 C finely chopped apples (I used Fuji)

Fill cupcake wrappers. Bake at 350 for 25 min. Eat some hot out of the oven before proceeding to frost the others. I thought they tasted just like apple pie filling.

The Frosting

I first discovered mead at The Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire. It is technically an "alcoholic drink made from diluted honey and water, fermented by yeast." Essentially it is a honey wine and it is perhaps the 1st wine ever made. We happened to have an unopened bottle of mead sitting in our pantry and it seemed a perfect way to impart a honey flavor to the frosting without making it too sticky.

The frosting recipe was:

• 1/4 C butter
• 2+ cups powdered sugar
• 3 T soy milk (I'm sure you could use milk. I just happened to have soy milk in the house.)
• 2 T Mead

1. Beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Mix in soy milk and mead.

The Honey Swirl

As I worked on creating my honey swirl, I began to feel like I was Goldilocks and had left my house to 3 bears. The bears, of course, were honey bears. When did honey start coming in bear format? Check these out! They even have bow ties.

• One bear's honey was too empty.
  
• The next bear's honey was also too empty.
  
• And the last bear's honey, well that was too empty too.

Why did Miss Goldilocks allow all her honey bears to reach such sad states? Probably, the same reason she left those 3 bowls of porridge on the table: she was in a hurry. It was too much work to get the honey out of the bottom of each bear. The problem with most of the bear shaped containers is that they can't be easily stored upside down.
Anyway, to speed up the honey removal, all 3 bears went into the microwave. The warm, more liquidy honey was poured right out of the bear to a decorating bag with a small tip and piped onto the cupcakes. Unfortunately, because the honey was still toasty, it often just melted into the frosting as opposed to making a defined swirl.
The good news was that everyone did live happily ever after because even the ones that didn't have the swirl looked neat and tasted great.
The moral of the story is to either
a) buy a new bear,
b) have more patience for the honey to come out of the bear, or
c) don't use bear honey at all.

St. Louis Bloggers

The St. Louis Bloggers are hosting a blog carnival this month with the theme of apples. I happen to love carnivals. I particularly like the really small ones where the whole community comes together and everyone either has lots of fun spending money to win cheap prizes or gets dizzy and sick from spinning rides and cotton candy.

I've never worked a blog carnival before (Wikipedia has a great description of blog carnivals for those who have no idea what I'm talking about.). I wasn't planning on participating in this one either, but I had already made an apple cupcake and was planning on writing about it. So... count this as my carny entry.

Apple Banana Cupcakes Topped with Sweet Ricotta: Some Things are Better Naked

One of my favorite comfort foods is pasta (shells work well or wagon wheels) with cottage cheese, cinnamon, brown sugar, and golden raisins. It's basically an easy version of my mom's noodle pudding which is still pretty easy but takes longer to make.

I could be making a stretch here since this recipe doesn't even involve cottage cheese, but I think if my sweet cottage cheese with raisins sounds nasty to you then you most likely won't enjoy the sweet ricotta topping on these cupcakes. This is definitely a cupcake for a small select subset of the population. Not a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Not a wedding contender.

To be even more frank, no one liked the topping except for me and even I thought the topping would have been better on a cracker than on these cupcakes.

The cake portion of these cupcakes however, is a winner. I'd recommend you just make them naked. No frosting necassary for these flavorful treats. I think it might be a bit of a stretch to call them cupcakes. They tasted like a moist delicious banana bread. I might actually consider making them in bread form for a brunch.

I could barely taste the apples. Then again, the groom said he could barley taste the bananas. That was a mystery to me. It's actually always a mystery to me what he will think. I finally thought I had him pegged. I put my guess at his comments on a piece of paper and folded it up prior to his tasting to see if I could guess it correctly. Nope. I guess if I could predict what everyone would think there would be no point in having tastings.

The Details

The Cake

The cake recipe was again from all recipes.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Banana-Cupcakes/Detail.aspx

I used butter and oil instead of shortening as one of the commenters had suggested. I also used crazy ripe (liquidy) bananas and golden delicious apples. Whole Foods didn't carry organic goldens. I was bummed about that, but I really wanted to use that apple type so I went for it anyway. They are perfect for baking.

To make up for the lack of organic apples, this was the first time I used organic sugar. I'd been putting off making that switch because I use so much sugar and the organic sugar comes in much smaller bags and is much more expensive. What I learned though is that organic sugar is actually a different product from conventional sugar. It is actually evaporated cane juice. I had no idea.

According to World's Healthiest Foods, "While both sweeteners are made from sugar cane, evaporated cane juice does not undergo the same degree of processing that refined sugar does. Therefore, unlike refined sugar, it retains more of the nutrients found in sugar cane. "

The same applies to the organic powdered sugar which I've been using for a while now. I also read about how it's a darker color which explains why my icings are never quite as white as I've seen in some pictures.

The Topping

For the topping, I made my own ricotta cheese per the instructions in my blog post on cheese. I used a whole gallon of milk. I then added about 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of butter. At that point, I decided it was sweet enough. Probably because it tasted just like the cottage on pasta that I love but with a chunky play-dough kind of texture.

No need for piping here. I just piled the cheese on top of the cupcakes and sculpted it into a nice shape.

Lastly, I dusted each cupcake with cinnamon.

Anyone have a really good technique for dusting something on a cupcake? I used a mini sifter which worked well, but it was still hard to control exactly how much landed on each cupcake at once.