Baking With Booze
By Nicole Watts
Photos & Video by Jeff McSweeney
September is the start of apple season, which means that it’s time for homemade Apple Pie & apple themed cupcakes at my house. This year, I decided to combine the two.
For those of you not familiar with Apple Pie, it is a concoction of grain alcohol, apple cider, apple juice, sugar, and cinnamon. It is delicious served very cold or slightly warm, but should never be served at room temperature.
Having been sworn to keep my recipe for Apple Pie in the family, I went to Friar Tuck in search of bottled apple pie. I ended up with two types of moonshine, and an apple pie liqueur.
· Travis Hasse’s Apple Pie Liqueur was almost too sweet to drink, but smelled the closest to the homemade version.
· Ole Smoky was rich, complex, smoky, yet smooth, but did not have much of an apple taste.
· Everyone had the same reaction to Midnight Moon: swear words were uttered, tears were wiped, shots were spit into the sink. Any apple taste that may have existed was overpowered by the alcohol fumes.
For the cupcakes, the obvious choice was Travis Hasse’s Apple Pie Liqueur.
Apple Pie Cupcakes (makes 24)
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
1 white cake mix (Betty Crocker Super Moist)
3 eggs (whole)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 ¼ cup Apple Pie Liqueur
For the frosting
2 sticks of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 box (1 pound) powdered sugar
3-4 Tablespoons Apple Pie Liqueur
Red gel icing color
For the details
Red sugar
8 chocolate Tootsie Rolls midgees
24 green apple Tootsie Frooties
Special tools
Red cupcake papers (24)
Parchment paper
Fondant veining tool
Fondant leaf cutter
Rolling pin
Directions
Cupcakes
1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake papers
3. Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and Apple Pie Liqueur in a bowl
4. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes
5. Fill cupcake papers 2/3 full
6. Bake for 15 minutes
Frosting & Decorating
1. Mix butter in mixer until creamy
2. Add vanilla
3. Slowly add powdered sugar
4. Add 3 Tablespoons Apple Pie Liqueur
5. Mix until blended
6. Add ½ teaspoon red gel icing
7. Mix until blended (frosting should be a dark reddish pink to light pinkish red color)
8. Add more Apple Pie Liqueur if frosting is too thick
9. Once the cupcakes have cooled, pipe frosting onto cupcakes
10. Next, add enough red sprinkles to cover the top of the cupcake (I use a cookie sheet under my cupcakes so that the mess is minimized.)
11. Set cupcakes aside so the frosting can settle
12. Repeat until all cupcakes are frosted and covered in sprinkles
13. Cover cupcakes and place in refrigerator while making the leaves and stems
To make leaves & stems
1. Unwrap candies
2. To make leaves, fold a piece of parchment paper in half
3. Place green apple Frootie inside parchment paper “envelope”
4. Press down with rolling pin and roll until the candy is flattened
5. Using fondant leaf cutter, cut the shape
6. Use the veining tool to draw a line down the center of leaf and veins running to the center line
7. Fold one end and curl to look like a leaf
8. Set aside
9. To make the stems, pull a small piece off of a chocolate Tootsie Roll.
10. Roll it between your hands until it starts to look like a stem (Play-doh snakes?)
11. Shorten it to the desired length
12. Flatten the top and shape to look like a stem
13. Set aside
Final Assembly
Once all of your leaves and stems are done, remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator. To place the stems, insert a toothpick into the top, remove and add stem in the hole left by the toothpick. Add the folded end of the leaf as close to the base of the stem as possible. Refrigerate cupcakes (in an airtight container) until ready to serve.
For a kid friendly version of these, substitute water in the cake mix for the Apple Pie Liqueur. Substitute milk in the frosting in for the Apple Pie Liqueur.
