Caramel Apple Cupcakes and Artichoke Dip

Last night I hosted our book group, and I made these two delicious recipes. I had to share!

I made Caramel Apple Cupcakes, that I found the recipe here.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes with Caramel Topping

Cupcakes:
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 medium sized tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped small


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan. In a large bowl beat together brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat for one minute after each addition. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Beat until blended. Stir in apples. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted come out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.


Caramel Topping:

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract


In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the brown sugar, butter and cream to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the warm caramel topping over cupcakes.

* I have recently become fascinated with all the cupcake hype lately. I guess that cupcake bakeries are popping up all over the place, and they are becoming quite the "thing". Anyway, I made these cupcakes and they were divine! I was a bit skeptical about how good a cupcake could truly be. Most of my memories of cupcakes consist of the super sweet, a lot of times really dry and crumbly cake, with canned frosting. The batter for this recipe was really thick and I was hoping it would turn out. The caramel sauce was sooooo good. I could have eaten it with a spoon. When I bit into the cupcake I was very pleasantly surprised. It was really moist and dense. It was almost like a muffin, but not quite. The chunks of apple were yummy in it, and the caramle topping was perfect. Much better than a frosting. Everyone raved about them! I was able to get 18 cupcakes from the recipe, although they were not all uniform in size. I wanted to stretch the batter a bit to get more.They were still a decent size. Go try these, you will love them!


I also made a new recipe for artichoke dip, and it was sooo good. I think it is my new recipe for this dip from now on. I got it from my Fix It and Forget It Recipes for Entertaining cookbook. You will love it!

Hot Artichoke Dip

2 14 3/4 oz. jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water chestnuts, chopped
2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup finel chopped scallions

1. Cut artichoke hearts ino small pieces. Add mayo, sour cream, water chestnuts, cheese and scallions. Pour into slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on high 1-2 hours or on low 3-4 hours.
3. Serve with crusty French bread or crackers.

* I happened to have a HUGE 64 oz. jar of artichokes from Sam's Club, so I was happy to find a use for them. I used my Pampered Chef Food Chopper to chop up the artichokes, and it worked out perfect. I also used fresh shredded parmesan instead of the grated. I love water chestnuts, and so I thought they really added something super yummy to the dip! It was delicious!