Adorable Applesauce Cupcakes

By dette

Don't like unsweetened applesauce? Regular will taste great in these cupcakes too.

Ingredients

• CUPCAKES:
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt]1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 c. butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c. apple juice
• FROSTING:
• Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
• 1/2 tsp red paste food color
• DECORATIONS:
• 12 thin pretzel sticks, broken into pieces
• 16 spearmint leaf gumdrops
• 12 gummy worm candies, cut in half, if desired.

Details

Servings 24
Cooking time 3mins

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line Muffin cups.

In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixr on medium speed 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, aobut 1/4c. at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl occasionally. Beat 2 minutes longer. Add eggs, one at a tme, beatingwell after each addition. Beat in appleasauce and vanilla. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture, about 1/3 of mixture at a time and apple juice, about 1/2 at a time, beating just until blended.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. cool in pans 5 mintues. Remove cupcakes from pans; place on cooling racks to cool.

Make Vanilla Buttercream Frosting as directed in recipe. Sir in food color paste. Frost cupcakes.

To decorate cupcakes, poke 1 pretzel piece into each cupcake for stem. Cut each gumdrop leaf ito 3 slices. Poke 2 gumdrop leaves into top of each cupcake on either side of pretzel stem. Poke half of gummy worm into each cupcake.

cal 350; fat 14g; sat fat 8g; chol 60mg; sod 220mg; carb 54g; port 2g; 1/2 starch; 2 other carb; 2 1/2 fat; carb choices 3 1/2

Using a Cake Mix:
Substitute 1 box yellow cake mix for the cupcakes above. Make ake mix as directed on box for cupcakes EXCEPT-use 1 c. apple juice, 1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce and 3 eggs, and add 1/2 tsp ground dinnamon. Bake and cool as directed on box. For the frositng substitute 1 container vanilla creamy ready-to-spread frosting mixed with 1/2 tsp red pste food color. Frost and decorate as directed in recipe.