Chunky Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Joe and some of his crew at work had to work really late this past Tuesday night so we thought it would be nice if we brought them dinner and dessert so they didn't have to worry about buying anything to eat.  Good thing we did, since they wound up being there until after 11pm!  I made a pan of macaroni and cheese with bacon and vegetables per Joe's request.  I guess he hadn't gotten enough of it from a couple of weeks ago.

He left the dessert portion of the night entirely up to me.  I had a bunch of apples that I needed to use and I didn't want to do a pie or tarts so I started looking at apple cake recipes.  I found this recipe on My Recipes and decided to make them into cupcakes which are easier to transport and serve at work over a whole cake.  I used my own cream cheese frosting recipe which you can find here and just made a 1/2 batch of the frosting since this recipe makes only about 18 cupcakes.  Joe came home with an empty pan and an empty cupcake container and rave reviews for both dishes.  He also told me that there were a couple of request for the apple cake recipe so for those of you who asked, here it is.


Chunky Apple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from My Recipes

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg (freshly ground is preferable)
4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch chunks (I used a mix of Jazz and Granny Smith)
1/2 Batch Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line cupcake pan(s) with 18 paper liners.

In a mixer, using the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until blended.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add to butter mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Stir in the apple chunks by hand and divide evenly among cupcake pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs clinging to it.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Spread with cream cheese frosting.  Store in airtight container in the refrigerator if not serving immediately.