Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 box Spice Cake Mix
1 cup Apple Juice
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
3 Eggs
1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled cored and shredded
10 oz Caramels (about 36)
1/4 cup Milk
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
24 wooden sticks


Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin pan with paper liners.  Combine cake mix, apple juice, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large bowl.  Mix until well blended.  Mix in shredded apple, and fill the prepared liners about 2/3 full.  Bake about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  Allow cooling.  Melt the caramels with milk over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly.  Spread melted caramel over the cupcakes.  Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and insert a wooden stick into the center of each.

Comments:  My daughter sent this recipe and I have no idea where she found it.  What I do know is that it is so good.  When I went to the grocery store I couldn't find a spice cake mix.  Don't know if they were out or if it isn't one that is bought often enough to keep stocked.  So I used a yellow cake mix and added cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until I got the taste I wanted.  (I used about 1/8 tsp. of each.)  I didn't use the wooden sticks because I thought it would be harder to eat so I made them true cupcakes.  When I iced them I took the paper liners off, placed them on paper plates, not letting them touch and spooned the caramel over the tops and then sprinkled with the chopped nuts.  The recipe didn't specifically say what kind of peanuts to use so I used salted.  This gave me a sweet/salty taste which I love.  This recipe is just in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving so you'll want to add it to your menus.

Apple Butter Cupcakes

1 yellow cake mix
1 cup apple butter
1 cup marshmallow cream
1 stick butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar
cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix cake mix according to package directions.  Fill paper lined muffin tins 1/2 full with cake mix.  Spoon a heaping teaspoon full of apple butter into center of muffins.  Top each with heaping teaspoon full of batter to cover apple butter.  Bake 20-22 minutes or until done.  In a medium bowl mix marshmallow cream, butter and powdered sugar until well blended.  Fold in pecans and add cinnamon to taste.  Ice when cupcakes are completely cooled.  Makes about 18 cupcakes.

Pecan Pie Cupcakes

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs

Peheat oven to 35 degrees.  Line mini muffin tins with paper liners or spray tins with non-stick spray with flour.  Mix all ingredients together.  Fill each tin 3/4 ful.  Bake 15-18 minutes.  Make 24 - 28 mini muffins.

Comments:  I found this recipe on Pinterest where it had been submitted by Lick the Bowl Good.   It looked so good I had to give them a try.  The only changes I made at all to the recipe was to use the paper liners.  I'm sending a batch of these to a friend who had a birthday yesterday and loves pecan pie.  I have no doubts she will be tickled with these.

Citrus Poke Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix
Grated peel of 1 lemon
Grated peep of 1 orange
1/2 cup boiling water
8 tsp. lime flavored gelatin powder
8 tsp. orange flavored gelatin powder

Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
juice of 1 lemon
remaining package of EITHER lime or orange flavored gelatin powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place cupcake liners in 24 regular size muffin cups.  In a large bowl place cake mix and prepare according to package directions.  Add lemon and orange peel.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes.  Using a fork or skewer, poke holes in tops of the cupcakes.  Mix lime gelatin with 1/4 cup of boiling water and spoon over half of the cupcakes.  Do the same with the orange gelatin and pour over the other half.  Refrigerate 30 minutes.  During this time, in a large bowl beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Add lemon juice, powdered sugar and your choice of 1 remaining gelatin powder.  Ice cupcakes. 

Comment:  The original recipe came from bettycrocker.com and called for a lemon cake mix.  I went with yellow to mellow out the flavor a bit.  It called for the peel of 1 lime as well as the orange and lemon.  While at the grocery store I found no single limes so that was omitted from my recipe.  It also called for the gelatin to be mixed with 1/2 cup of boiling water each but I decreased it to 1/4 giving it a thicker drizzle inside and outside the cupcakes.  For the frosting, the original recipe called for lemon extract, I decided to use the juice from the lemon instead.  It also called for 3 3/4 cups of powdered sugar and 2/3 cups of whipped cream.  I cut the sugar down, eliminated the whipping cream and added the remaining gelatin to give extra flavor and to also keep from trying to come up with something to make with the remaining gelatin.  This worked perfectly!  As usual, I decided to Think With My Taste Buds.

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