8 Gluten Free Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Hey everyone! I hope that you've had a good weekend (better than my concussion-filled one, at least...). All this month, EA Stewart (@TheSpicyRD) and a variety of other bloggers are hosting an apple event called #applelove. Search the #applelove hashtag on twitter to find all the amazing recipes collected so far. 

For this cupcake, I wanted to take the essence of a caramel apple and turn it into a cupcake. The cupcake is filled with walnuts and tons of apples, then topped with a caramel sauce (the recipe for that located here). I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Also, as a fun alternative, you can bake this as a cake (for about 35 minutes) and drench the top in the caramel sauce. Delicious! Be sure to check out the bloghop below for more apple recipes!

Yields: 3 dozen cupcakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 18 minutes for cupcakes

Ingredients

3 cups gluten free flour
1 1/4 tsp xantham gum
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
1/4 c whipped cream
2 apples, thinly sliced and cubed
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Caramel Sauce

Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with baking cups. In a medium bowl combine the flour, gum, powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl, whip the butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugar by the half cup. Once all the sugar is combined, blend the eggs into the butter, one at a time. Add the vanilla to the egg mixture.

Alternate adding the milk and dry ingredients into the egg mix, by about 1/2 or 1/4 cup at a time. Blend until the batter is completely smooth. Fold in the whipped cream until well mixed. Fold in the apples and the walnuts. Distribute these into the muffin tins, and bake in the oven for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Prepare the Caramel Sauce by following the Food Network recipe. To ice the cupcakes, here's a quick and easy tip. Either go to the store to buy a condiment bottle (normally only a few dollars), or clean out an empty ketchup or mustard bottle for reuse. Fill the bottle with the sauce, and use that to create the design of your choice, or give to your kids and let them have fun decorating.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, and be sure to check out #applelove on Twitter this month!