Apple Cider Cupcakes

It's apple season.  I always get overly excited about apple season.  Am I the only person who gets sucked into the over the top apple displays at the grocery stores and then buys way more apples and cider than you could possibly consume?  Apparently, I'm a dream shopper for the marketing department at my grocery store.   

I come home from the grocery store and fill the basket on my counter with all of the delicious red, green and yellow fruit in hopes that the sight of it will encourage me to make better snack choices.  Let me be honest - that doesn't always happen BUT we do eat a lot of apples.  

No matter how many apples we eat, I always seem to end up with an excess of fruit and cider.  When the apples need to be eaten - I bake pies.  But the question is, what can I do with the extra cider?  

I normally make apple cider doughnuts to use up extra cider but I would love to hear your ideas for leftover cider too.  I recently tried a new recipe for Apple Cider Cupcakes.  These cupcakes were really delicious and when topped with a sweet apple chip, they are beautiful too.  

Apple Cider Cupcakes

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ⅔ cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• ¾ cup fresh apple cider

​Cream together butter and sugar.  

​Beat in eggs and vanilla.  

Stir in dry ingredients, alternating with cider.  

​Scoop batter into paper lined cupcake pan.  

Bake 24 minutes at 350.  

Top with a swirl of cream cheese frosting and an apple chip. 

Admittedly, I went a little (or a lot) overboard with the apple cider cupcake pictures.  I just couldn't help myself.  

If you've got a sweet tooth like me, you should probably make an extra batch of the sweet apple chips too.  They make a great snack. There's nothing like soaking a perfectly good piece of fruit in sugar until it doesn't even resemble anything remotely healthy.  Either as a cupcake topper or a sweet snack - you'll love these little treats.  

Ciao!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe