Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes

Our darling sweet Lo turned 2!  

It's amazing how fast these precious moments fly by.  It feels like yesterday she was a newborn and just fit into our hands...

This Memorial Day was spent not only celebrating our country's heroes, but also celebrating the birth of our sweet angel.  Lola's favorite food is cinnamon rolls, and it was only fitting to make a special birthday variation of this delicious treat!  

Amaretto was the secret ingredient in these cupcakes and definitely kicked it up a notch--ok, a big notch!  It lends a sweet, nutty, irresistible almond flavor.  Similar to a bear claw; one of my favorite breakfast pastries!  Although these cupcakes have a melt-in-your-mouth sugar glaze drizzled over the tops...heavenly! 

I had one very happy birthday girl! 

Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light 

Yields 12 servings

Ingredients

For Cupcakes:

Cooking spray

1 1/2 cups all purpose-flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup (2 ounces) low fat cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened 

2 tablespoons amaretto, almond flavor liqueur 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 reduced-fat sour cream

1/4 cup 2% reduced fat milk

3/4 cup finely chopped gala apple

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Streuesel:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter, chilled

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

4 teaspoons 2% reduced-fat milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place muffin liners in 12 muffin tin, coat with cooking spray.

Spoon 1 1/2 cups flour in a dry measuring cup, level with a knife.  In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, stirring with a whisk.  Set aside. 

Combine sugar, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup butter in the bowl of a standing mixer.  Beat on high until well blended.  Add amaretto, vanilla and egg to sugar mixture, beat on medium speed until well blended. 

Combine sour cream and 1/4 cup reduced fat milk in a small bowl, whisk until well blended, set aside.  Combine apple and 1 tablespoon flour in a separate bowl, toss well and set aside. 

Add the flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to the sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour  mixture.  Beat until just combined.  Fold in apple mixture.  Divide batter evenly between cups.

To prepare streusel, combine 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.  Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives (or the way I do it...you hands) until mixture resembles coarse meal; stir in almonds.  Sprinkle streusel evenly over the top of the cupcakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, and remove. 

To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 4 teaspoons milk in a small bow, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over cupcakes.

DIY Fondant Pumpkins

This post is from a Themed Cupcakes post I did about a year ago but since Halloween is almost here, I thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit the DIY fondant pumpkins I made!

The pumpkins are actually surprisingly easy to make! I don't have a photo tutorial but I'll try to be very detailed:

You'll need:
yellow food coloring
orange food coloring
green food coloring
leaf green food coloring
1 package fondant
pairing knife
2-toothpicks
leaf shaped presser (I got mine from Williams Sonoma)
gloves

Assembly:
Divide a package of pre-made or homemade fondant into 2 separate disks (one disk should be twice as large.)  Place a very slightly damp paper towel over the small disk.

Put gloves on. Using a toothpick pour a small amount of orange food coloring and yellow food coloring onto large fondant disk.  I eyeballed the amount of food coloring to find the perfect pumpkin color.  Knead fondant until soft and food coloring is incorporated evenly.

Break off small 1- 1 1/2-inch pieces of orange fondant and roll into a balls (This made about 2 dozen fondant pumpkins.)  Once you have a perfect ball carefully squash the fondant with your thumb and fore finger to form a squat ball.    Using a pairing knife draw about 6 lines around the entire fondant pumpkin, starting from the top center and going down.  Set aside.

Wash gloves thoroughly.  With the other fondant disk follow the same steps with the green food coloring, as with the orange.  Again, eyeball the color to your liking.  

Next use the leaf presser and press out the same amount of leaves as pumpkins.  For the pumpkin stem I shaped them to curve away from the leafs.

Using a toothpick poke a small hole into the tops of the pumpkins and attach the leaf and the stem.  You may need to push some of the pumpkin back into the hole to secure.

And you are done! Beautiful cute pumpkins you can top on cupcakes, cake, pies, etc...

Themed Cupcakes

I love baking and have started to make theme cupcakes! For Kyla's birthday I made chocolate cupcakes  with a pink fondant ladybug and a buttercream frosting...

For my friends Halloween party I made white chocolate cupcakes with a fondant pumpkin and a vanilla buttercream frosting. I made the pumpkins by kneading the coloring into the fondant and rolling the orange fondant into balls then squashing them into a shape of a pumpkin and used a pairing knife to etch the lines and shaped the leaf and stem then i poked a hole in the top of the pumpkin and attached the leaf and stem with help from the toothpick....

And for my dad's birthday I made chocolate fudge cupcakes with a fondant golfballs and a vanilla buttercream frosting...