I decided to go ahead and skip over a couple other things I’ve made in order to blog about these. I was flipping through a Cooking Light magazine and not finding much to interest me when I turned the page and found these Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes staring at me. I like apples, I like cupcakes, and I love Amaretto, so there was really no way to go wrong here.

As an aside, what makes these a cupcake instead of a muffin? To me, a cupcake is cake, preferably chocolate, and covered in frosting. Everything else is a muffin. It doesn’t really matter if they were cupcakes or muffins though, they were pretty darn tasty either way. The only thing I would change is a little more amaretto in there somewhere (maybe in the glaze?) and more apples wouldn’t be out of the question either.

I still have more apples in the fridge, and of course, amaretto, so I might have to make these again.

Flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, reduced fat cream cheese, reduced fat sour cream, 2% milk, butter, amaretto, vanilla extract, brown sugar, sliced almonds, egg, cinnamon, powdered sugar, Gala apples

In a small bowl, measure out 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.

Add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.

Stir with a whisk to combine, and set aside.

In a large bowl, add 3/4 cup sugar

2 oz. of softened 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1/4 cup of softened butter

Beat on high speed until well blended.

Add 2 tablespoons of amaretto

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

And 1 large egg. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until well blended.

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

with 1/4 cup milk.

Stir to combine. And make a mess out of it like I did, if you would please.

Returning to the batter, you’re going to add the flour mixture and the sour cream mixture alternately. Begin with the flour mixture.

Then the sour cream mixture…

Back and forth, until you end with the flour mixture. (Side note: anyone know why the recipe would ask for this? I don’t mind extra steps, but I’d like to know what all my extra effort is accomplishing…)

Continue mixing until completely combined.

Next, you need 3/4 cup of finely chopped Gala apple. This took one and a half of my small apples, and like I mentioned up top, I don’t think adding more apple to the muffin would really hurt anything!

Add 1 tablespoon of flour

Stir to coat the apple pieces.

Add the apples to the batter

and stir them in.

Divide the batter evenly among 12 cupcake liners. The recipe called for the liners to be coated in cooking spray, but I forgot. It wasn’t a problem.

Now it’s time to make the streusel topping. Sorry guys, I know it’s a lot of steps, but it’s worth it!

In a small bowl, add 2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons of chilled butter

and 2 tablespoons of sliced almonds.

Use a pastry cutter or two knives to combine topping until it resembles a coarse meal. And I might as well admit that I lasted about 30 seconds with two knives before I threw the whole mess in my mini food processor and pressed the button down twice. Just being honest.

..

Sprinkle the streusel over the muffins.

Bake at 350 for 27 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan.

To make the glaze, put 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl.

Add 4 teaspoons of 2% milk and stir with a whisk to combine. Then laugh. Cause 1 cup of sugar and 4 teaspoons of milk does not make glaze. It makes paste. Add another splash of milk and stir until the glaze is actually thin enough to use.

Drizzle your thin enough glaze over the cupcake-muffins. And enjoy! I set a few of these aside for breakfast, and the rest were eagerly devoured by my coworkers.

Amaretto Apple Streusel Cupcakes
From Cooking Light, October 2009

Cooking spray
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
3/4 cup finely chopped Gala apple
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Streusel:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
4 teaspoons 2% reduced-fat milk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Place muffin cup liners in 12 muffin cups; coat with cooking spray.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon 6.75 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 6.75 ounces flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar, cream cheese, and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add amaretto, vanilla, and egg to sugar mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Combine sour cream and 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until well blended. Combine apple and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl; toss well.

4. Add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until blended. Fold in apple mixture. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

5. To prepare the streusel, combine 2 tablespoons flour, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal; stir in almonds. Sprinkle streusel evenly over cupcakes. Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack, and remove the cupcakes from pan.

6. To prepare glaze, combine powdered sugar and 4 teaspoons milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle glaze over cupcakes.

One day shy of two months since I last posted to this site… time just gets away from you. Part of the problem is that I haven’t been cooking, and when I have been cooking, I’ve been making things that are already on this site! I have actually cooked one or two things now that I need to post about though, so maybe I should do that. Get a current post on the front page, and all that.

I’m going to start with these Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies. Seriously, make these right now. They. Are. Awesome. I’ve actually made them twice now. I made them for my family when we got together for dinner on Sunday afternoon, and we practically licked the pan clean. So I had to make them again in order to take to work. These brownies are easy to make, and insanely delicious. Just about everyone took a bite, and then said, “Oh my god…” I found these at Smitten Kitchen

Let’s make them.

Ingredients: Flour, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, unsalted butter, salt, cream cheese, vanilla extract, eggs.

Chop up 3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate. I chose to melt mine over the stove on low heat.

Add 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.

Stir frequently over low heat, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined.

I moved my chocolate/butter mixture into a separate large bowl.

Add one cup of sugar.

Two large eggs.

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Stir to combine.

At this point, please pretend like there is a picture of me adding in 2/3 cup of flour and stirring until it’s combined. Please and thank you. I do not know where this picture disappeared to.

Grease an 8X8 inch pan.

Spread the brownie batter in the pan.

Now it’s time to make the cheesecake batter. Put 8 ounces of very softened cream cheese into a separate bowl.

Add 1/3 cup of sugar.

1 egg yolk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all the cheesecake ingredients. The directions actually say to whisk it together, but I don’t think that’s actually physically possible, so I got out the handmixer.

Drop cheesecake batter onto the brownie batter

Swirl cheesecake into the brownie batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until set, about 35 minutes. And just try and let them cool a little bit before you cut into them and enjoy! This recipe is definitely in my file to make over, and over, and over again.

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies
Gourmet, 2007 via Smitten Kitchen

Brownie batter
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.

Bake brownies: Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.