Hi, all! It’s my first post since being off social media for Lent and it’s good to be back with you all! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed some time over the past couple months with friends and family.

My mom and I recently went to a spring tea party with my cousins and we were asked to make a mini dessert to share. We decided to make mini apple cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. I made the cupcakes, she made the frosting, and they tasted sooo good- so good that I was asked for the recipe and was asked to make them again for Easter! I figure if they were that good, they’re worth sharing to the blog. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1+3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350. Line mini muffin cups with baking papers or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl. In a large separate mixing bowl, mix applesauce, sugar, oil, and egg together. Sift flour mixture into egg mixture and mix well.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Bake 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Using an electric hand mixer, combine butter and powdered sugar until well mixed. Add powdered sugar in, one cup at a time, until fully mixed. Add vanilla and mix well (I usually turn the mixer speed to high for several seconds so that the mixture gets really whipped and airy). Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cupcakes.

I also bought some caramel sauce at the store and drizzled it over the top, just because I love caramel and it goes so well with apple things! You can of course make your own caramel sauce (I have a simple recipe here) but I was pinched for time so I went with the store-bought stuff.

And that’s it! These don’t take very long at all to make, but they are SO yummy, and since they’re mini you don’t feel bad having more than one! Happy baking!