Apple Spice Mini Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream

Ahhhh... tis my favourite season. The season of sweaters, colourful trees, and fall treats! Pumpkin, apple, and warm spices.

These mini cupcakes are a delicious, bite sized taste of autumn, and were a perfect addition to Sunday night Thanksgiving dinner that we had last night. Turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing! Yummm!

Apple Spice Mini Cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups chopped Granny Smith apples (3-4 apples)
juice of half a lemon
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line your mini muffin tins with paper liners, or grease well. This batter should get you at least 72 mini cupcakes (that's six 12-muffin tins). I made exactly 78 mini cupcakes, which was six full tins, and one half-tin. Remember to fill the empty cups half full with water to ensure the muffins bake evenly, if you need to.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt, soda, powder, and cinnamon. Set aside. Peel, core, and chop up your apples into very small pieces (remember, if you are making mini cupcakes, you want the pieces to be proportional to the size of the cupcake), and toss in a bowl with the lemon juice. This will keep the apples from turning brown. Also, make sure to remove any bruised parts of the apple and discard.

In a large bowl, or in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs, sugar, oil, milk, and vanilla. Make sure not to whisk too much. Add in the chopped apples, and stir well. Then, add in the flour mixture, and fold in with a wooden spoon or spatula. Be sure not to over mix the dry ingredients either. Stir until it is just incorporated and the batter is slightly lumpy.

Using a tablespoon (roughly the perfect amount of batter for the mini tins), spoon the batter into the paper liners, or until they are 2/3 full.

Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Make sure you are checking on them more frequently, as they will cook faster than normal sized cupcakes. If you are making regular cupcakes, bake for 25-30 minutes. It may also be a good idea to rotate the pans around the oven halfway through to ensure they are all baked through evenly. While they are baking you can prepare the frosting.

Cinnamon Buttercream

1 cup butter, soft
3 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons cream or milk

Mix all of the ingredients until the frosting is smooth and fluffy. To help get it fluffy, you may need to use a fork and whisk it quickly.

Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag with any decorative tip you like. I found that these mini cupcakes had great flavour, so you don't want to overpower that with too much icing. Just a little in the center to give it a little bit extra flavour is plenty!

Enjoy!

A peek into my baking corner, featuring The Big Apple,

where all my tasty creations are made!