Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Salted Carmel Cupcakes

I don't bake. I try. But I don't do it often. So, you could imagine my shock when my husband asked for "Salted Caramel Cupcakes" for his birthday. It was a challenge and I was willing to take it! First off... there is no way that this non-baker was going to start from scratch (there are perfectly good box mixes in the store that are just waiting to be used).  Anyway... these cupcakes turned out AWESOME and I am so excited to share the how-to with you all!

I started with a basic cake mix. Why reinvent the wheel... (actually this helped limit the steps that I could possibly mess up). I added an extra egg because I read in some cooking blog that an extra egg makes them a bit more "cake" like. Sure.

I loaded all of the cake batter into a plastic bag and cut off a corner. This was very helpful in loading up all fo the cupcake tins! To store the bag of batter, I placed it in a bowl to hold the hole upright.

Once they cooled, it was time to get fancy. I filled a pastry bag full of caramel flavored topping. I "injected" it into each cupcake. For those of you that actually do bake, I am sure your are cringing at this step. I am sure there is a better way to fill a cupcake, but for someone who does not bake, my $1.99 pastry bag did the job!

Once they were all filled, I took to flavoring the frosting. I bought vanilla frosting, emptied it into my mixer, added some caramel sauce and mixed it up. It had a very mild carmel flavor but more importantly, I liked the color ;) (Or should the flavor be the more important part....??? Hm.)

I then took my nifty $1.99 pastry bag and filled it with frosting. I frosted all of the cupcakes, then placed a small piece of caramel on them (I cut the caramels into smaller pieces for the mini cupcakes), and put a pinch of sea salt on the top.

Wow. They were good.

Yep.  We will be making these again. :) 

A VERY UNIQUE All-American Apple Pie

Before reading this... you must know that this pie is AMAZING! A friend of ours made it for us at a dinner party and I was SHOCKED to find out what was in it. I brought it to a BBQ for the 4th of July and it was a HIT! Here is the interesting part....this is a gluten-free, flour-less, sugar-less, no-bake apple pie! Crazy, right?! But I am not kidding you when I say you won't miss any of that stuff! It's that's good (and it's easy as pie to make)!

All-American Apple Pie

Recipe from: 

Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes

by: Ani Phyo

Almond Pie Crust

2 cups almonds, dry

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups pitted dates

Syrup

1/2 cup pitted dates

1 orange, peeled and seeded

Splash of water, as needed

Filling

5 cups apples, peeled, seeded thinly sliced, about 5 or 6 apples (have fun picking whichever types of apples you like for the filling)

1 cup rasins (optional)

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

To make crust, pulse almonds and salt in food processor until nuts are in small pieces. You want your crust to have chunks of almonds in it, so don't overprocess. Use some of the finer powder to "flour" the bottom of your pie dish.

Slowly add dates into processor in small batches to mix with almond bits. the dates will bind the almonds to form a dough. Press dough into the bottom of "floured" pie pan. Set aside.

To make syrum, place orange into your blender first. Then add dates and blend. If needed, add small amounts of water to help everything mix well. Set aside.

To make filling, place sliced apples in a large bowl with raisins. Toss with cinnamon and syrum. Spoon filling into pie crust. 

Will keep for two days in the fridge.

Banana Crumble Muffins

I hate to throw away bananas, but I refuse to eat them if they have the littlest spot of brown on them (I prefer my bananas to be GREEN!). I gave this muffin recipe a try today and I am in love. The crumble adds an entirely new taste to your typical banana bread. Enjoy :) 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.