Apple Pie Cupcakes

I LOVE APPLE PIE!!
Im ALWAYS saving recipes I see here or there that I know I want to try.  Around Thanksgiving time I saw this new recipe and I knew I HAD to try them! What better occasion than the Holidays???  They came out DELISH!!!!  I would definitely suggest serving them warm.  In order to accomplish that, I put my filling in Tupperware until it was time for desert.  I nuked it in the micro, filled the cupcakes I brought and then topped them with the icing I brought in a ziplock! My pseudo 'pastry bag'!
They were YUMM!!  You could also do this SUPER easy with a cake box, store icing and just make the filling also.   Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk

For the apple filling:
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 tbsp. sugar
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

For decorating:
Vanilla buttercream

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well to combine. Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the apple filling, heat the butter a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cinnamon and sugar and cook for a minute, until the mixture begins to bubble. Lower the heat to medium and stir in the apples. Mix well. Cook until the apples are somewhat tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

While the apple mixture is cooling, use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake, making sure to leave a rim around the top of the cupcake. Fill the holes with the apple mixture. To decorate, top each cupcake with a swirl of vanilla buttercream.

Enjoy, Dani:)