Vanilla Spice Cupcakes with Apple Cider Frosting

I love vanilla. Not a little, a lot. We're talking more-than-I-love-my-husband love. (Don't tell him). Whenever a recipe calls for vanilla, I consider the amount a suggestion (and a bad one) and quickly double, triple or even (don't tell!) quadruple the amount. I got this habit from my Mom. I have seen that woman pour an entire 1/4 a c of vanilla in chocolate chip cookies before. She had to go to vanilla rehab. My Mom is like Amy Winehouse. (Not really, but it's funny to say).

I love the taste, color and smell of vanilla... in ice cream, custards, cakes, cookies, puddings, tarts... you name it. Vanilla makes any baked good taste better. Now, I used to think vanilla extract was fine. Great even. But then, one Christmas, I worked at Williams-Sonoma. One night, I was put in charge of re-stocking the spices, sauces and seasonings area, and what to my wondering eyes should appear?!?! Vanilla Paste? What was that? I'd heard of vanilla beans, vanilla sugar, vanilla extract... but vanilla paste? WHAT? I promptly used my 40% employee discount to buy a few bottles, and I have never, ever turned back. Vanilla paste has a beautiful, rich deep brown color, a thick, gooey texture, an amazing fragrance and millions of beautiful little vanilla flecks. It makes vanilla extract look like brown water. Blech.

I buy my vanilla paste by the quart.

Yep, I said it. Quart. I usually find it on eBay for about $30, and it lasts me... 4-6 months, depending on how crazy I go with it. To me, it is worth every penny. If I could only have one spice for the rest of my life, it would be vanilla. What would yours be?

I stayed home from work today because my car is in the shop getting (gulp) $1200 (make that $1800... they found another problem) worth of repairs. Ouch. I was wandering around my kitchen, and randomly opened my spice cabinet. There my vanilla was, and it kept saying "take me out! make something with me!". Ok, ok vanilla. I will, don't worry. So I looked in my fridge and remembered that I had ordered apple cider with my milk delivery (yes, I get milk delivered in glass bottles. I love it!), so I decided to use that too. After a few minutes of deep, heavy thinking, I decided to do a vanilla spice cupcake with an apple cider cream cheese frosting. It is the perfect combination of a sweet, fluffy cupcake and a tart, tangy frosting. For an added surprise, I put a caramel chew in the middle of 1/2 of the cupcakes. They were good either way, but I think I preferred it with the caramel. The caramel sunk its way down to the bottom of the cupcake liner, making a delicious, chewy bottom. Mmmmm.


Ingredients

1/2 c butter
2/3 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp maple sugar (can sub more brown sugar, or leave out if you don't have it)
3 eggs
3-4 tbsp (yes, that's what I said) vanilla paste
1 2/3 c + 2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 c skim milk
3 tbsp apple cider
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ginger
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
6-12 pieces of soft caramel chew candies

Directions

in a stand mixer on medium speed cream butter and sugars
add in eggs and vanilla
in a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and spices
combine milk and apple cider in a cup
slowly alternate adding flour mixture and milk mixture into egg mixture

line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners, and spray generously with a flour based baking spray
fill cups 1/4 way, and add caramel chews if desired
fill cups until just below top of liner


bake on 350 for about 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out cleanly when inserted
cool. frost. serve.


Frosting

1 12 ounce package of cream cheese
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/3 c of vanilla cider glaze*

In a stand mixer, combine all ingredients until fluffy
frost cooled cupcakes
sprinkle cupcakes with more maple sugar, if desired

do you see those vanilla flecks? do you?!

Vanilla Cider Glaze

A few weeks ago, I posted about how much I liked the idea to boil down cider until it reached a glaze consistency, which I first saw over at Laura's Eating Well Anywhere. The first time I made this, I knew it would not be the last. I made this version decidedly sweeter by adding vanilla, brown sugar and regular sugar. It still had a nice tart kick from the apple cider, and paired beautifully with the cream cheese for this frosting.

3 c tart apple cider
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla paste
3 cloves
1/2 a cinnamon stick
1 tsp nutmeg

bring to a simmer over low heat and allow to reduce for 45 minutes, stirring every few minutes
remove cinnamon stick and cloves
cool completely in refrigerator before using

This stuff is like liquid crack

Some Pictures of my Faithful Sous Chef

Mooooom! I'm sleeping!!!!!

Roxie on her pillow throne

what you talkin' about willis? of course i want a cupcake.