Caramel Apple Cupcakes or a.k.a. "The Hills Have Eyes Cupcakes"...

Doctor Franken-Recipe was as it again, the Doctor kind of has this bad habit of experimenting with recipes until some ghoulish (or delicious - your call) creation awakens.  There were all these twisted thoughts of Halloween goodies lurking around in the dungeon called my brain.  I pulled out the high-kilowatt capacitor and added some extra juice (Earl Grey Juice).

I sewed on different parts of some of my all-time fall flavors.  Tweaked here and consulted with Egore there. Flipped the switch and with a burst of electricity that shot through my kitchen and probably startled the neighbors too, these "Hills Have Eyes Cupcakes" were born (insert evil laughter here).  It didn't even take that much of an electrical charge either. Just try explaining this though to angry firemen whose dinner you just disrupted when you blew the transformer to the neighborhood and they had to come out and respond.

Good thing I had some cupcakes as a peace offering or things might not have ended so well for the good Doctor.

Caramel Apple Filling
1 cup (or 2 medium) apples, diced 1/4-inch I used Envy which is similar to a Honeycrisp (a firm and sweet apple will work well)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small saucepan combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon and cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until most of the juice has evaporated.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Apple Cupcake Batter
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a clean bowl beat the 3 egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Set aside.

In another bowl combine butter, egg yolks, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt.  Add the apple filling and then fold in the egg whites gently.

Place paper muffin liners in 12 muffin cups and divide the batter between the liners.

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These cupcakes are a little denser like an apple pound cake so don't worry if they don't rise too much.

Caramel Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Salted Caramel - You can use store bought or here is a recipe for you

Recipe for Caramel:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
Pinch Flake Sea Salt (such as Maldon)
1/2 cup heavy cream

A tutorial on the caramel is here if you are interested.

In the bowl of a mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, slowly add the powdered sugar in and keep beating. Slowly drizzle in caramel, if the frosting is too runny add a bit more of the powdered sugar.  Also I put my frosting in the fridge for a few to set up because my caramel was still a little warm when I added it.

For assembly of the cupcakes, use a round tip with a 1/4" opening to pipe the frosting on and use store bought googly eyes that were prettied up with food color markers and a little colored sugar.  You could even buy cupcakes and give them the spooky treatment and call it a night.

Don't be Doctor Kill-Joy and have a little fun with your cupcakes this Halloween!

Enjoy,

Gina