Tony and I have Christmas at 3 different homes so finding something to bring for dinner is always a challenge. This year we decided to make White Christmas Crunch Squares from Kraft Foods. These were a huge hit and were so good! I love the recipes on this site. Such cute ideas.  

Photo: From Site - Click photo for source! 

I was in the mood and wanted to make homemade caramel dipped apples with nuts. However, I was also in the mood for cupcakes. Well I decided to hop on Pinterest and check some ideas out. I found Caramel Apple cupcakes, BINGO best of both worlds. I could smell the deliciousness through the picture, so I had to make them.

What you need is:

For the amazing cupcake batter:

-1 Can of apple pie Filling

-1 box of French Vanilla cake mix

-1 teaspoon of apple pie spice or (cinnamon and nutmeg)

-3 eggs

-cupcake liners

For the caramel buttercream frosting:

-1/2 cup butter

-8 oz cream cheese

-1/4 cup caramel sauce (store bought)

-2-3 cups powdered sugar

-chopped nuts to sprinkle on top of final cupcake

Here’s what I used:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1. In a large bowl mix together the can of apple pie filling (slice the apples so that they are bite size), French vanilla cake mix, apple pie spice, and eggs.

2. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, bake for 14-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

3. For the buttercream frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese until its light and fluffy. Add caramel and beat again.

4. Add powdered sugar until it taste perfect. If the buttercream is too thin to pipe you can refrigerate until it thickens. I was inpatient, so mine wasn’t as pretty as if I were to wait.

5. Pipe buttercream frosting onto cupcakes, drizzle with caramel, and if you wish sprinkle with chopped nuts.

I ran out of frosting (probably because I was inpatient and it was thin) so I had a few cupcakes that I just drizzled caramel on and sprinkled with nuts. Those were still delicious, but had more of a muffin taste. Enjoy!

I found this yummy recipe on Pinterest.  I love Pinterest because you can type in a word such as strawberries and get all sorts of delicious recipes.  This is a very easy recipe and if you can’t cook (me!) than its perfect for you.

The Ingredients

  I used 1 carton, but you will want 2 cartons of strawberries.

  8 oz. package of softened cream cheese

  1/2 cup powdered sugar

  1/2 teaspoon vanilla

  1 sleeve of graham crackers (I only used about 2-3 crackers)

  1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips (optional)

PS. not sure why I didn’t retake this photo after I noticed the powdered sugar was upside down…(awesome photography skills)

1. You will want to wash the strawberries and cut off the top. Than you core the insides out (I put the insides into a separate cup and set them aside).  This part is pretty tough and the most annoying part. Sugar Derby mentioned she used a thin apple peeler and a small knife. She said the Knife worked better. I was blessed with this amazing tool (not sure where it came from), which was awesome and worked very well. I actually believe its called a strawberry corer. HA!

2. Next you want to make the filling (the yummy cheesecake filling).  Beat the cream cheese, add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth. This is where I added the cup I set aside with the insides. I thought it might add an extra touch. Mix the insides with the filling. 

3. In the next step you want to crunch the Graham crackers, which is another pain if you don’t have an awesome meat hammer. I just used a big spoon.

4. Now you can fill the empty strawberries with this amazing filling.  I used a plastic bag and filled it with the filling than cut off the corner. This is the fun part. 

5. Last take the strawberry and dip them into the crunched graham crackers.

6. Now if you want you can add the chocolate drizzle on the strawberry. Take half a bag and melt them in the microwave, I also used the plastic bag clipped corner technique here. Than drizzle the chocolate over the strawberries.

Here is the final look keep them cold in the refrigerator for best results. ENJOY!  

Hi, I’m Tara! I wanted to share these yummy Mini Oreo Cupcakes and Kristen mentioned I should start blogging all the yummy things I bake. So I am! 

The First time I made the cupcakes was for my boyfriend Andrew’s Birthday. They were a hit! So I made them again for Tony. Easy gift, HA HA!

Preheat Oven to 350°F

Makes 24

Altered a tad from this recipe at Kraft Foods

1. The Ingredients

• 1 pkg chocolate cake mix
• 1 pkg cream cheese, softened (8 oz)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp sugar (30 ml)
• 1 (8oz) Bag of bite size Oreo cookies (Maybe 2 See #6)
• 8oz Container of Cool Whip
• (Don’t forget the ingredients for the cake mix you get)

2. Cupcake Batter & Filling

Follow the directions on the back of the cake mix. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, egg, and sugar to make the filling.

3. Cupcake layer & Surprise filling

Spoon half the cake batter into the lined cupcake pan. Then spoon about 1-1/2tsp. of the Cream Cheese filling on top of the batter. 

4. Make that surprise extra Yummy

Add one Oreo on top of the filling to each cupcake. Make sure it sits flat and is in the center.

5. Cover your surprise

Add the rest of the batter to your cupcake. Make sure to cover them fully. Almost to the top.

Bake 19 to 22 minutes or until your toothpick is clean. Remove and cool on a wired rack.

6. Make frosting

This is where I altered a little from the linked recipe. It calls for just cool Whip. However, I added the extra Oreo crumbles to the cool Whip. We don’t want to waste any of them little guys. I even use a little from the extra bag to give the frosting a little more color and flavor.

7. Add frosting (Sorry about the picture)

I normally add the frosting to a zip-lock and cut a corner to make it pretty and it’s much easier. After cupcakes cool completely, add frosting and top with an Oreo! Eeep!!

8. Eat

Put in Refrigerator and wait until cold.

Make sure to cut in half and take a photo – Just Kidding!

Eat and Enjoy!!