When autumn arrives, thoughts of hot chocolate and apple cider come with it — and of course sweet tasting apple pies. The oh-so-gooey apple filling spilling out of the crispy, sugary crust, topped off with a giant pile of whipped cream — a scoop full of ice cream couldn’t hurt either — makes the mouth water with anticipation.

As a tribute to this delicious season, I decided to bring a little twist to the traditional apple pie. Of course, the essence of the pie is still there but this time, I added caramel, a muffin tin and an all time favorite — snickerdoodle cookies. I like to call these “caramel apple-doodle cups”.

Now, these take quite a bit of time but, believe me, they are worth the effort. Follow the directions and happy baking.

Directions and ingredients:

Snickerdoodle crust — recipe courtesy of www.thepinningmama.com:
1 egg
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (two sticks) butter, softened

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix until everything has been combined

3. In a smaller bowl, mix the dry ingredients — flour, salt and baking powder — and slowly dump the mixture into the larger bowl, mixing well before another addition. The dough should not be sticky or clumpy. If the dough becomes sticky, add in a teaspoon of flour at a time and if the dough is clumpy, add a teaspoon water at a time.

4. In another, separate bowl, use a fork to mix the cinnamon and sugar together.

5. Use no stick cooking spray or butter to heavily grease all around the muffin tins.

6. With a teaspoon, scoop out the dough, roll into balls and flatten between the palms of your hands. Coat the slabs of dough in the sugar mixture and place each slab into the muffin tin cubbies.

7. Place the prepared dough into the oven for three minutes.

Apple pie filling — recipe courtesy of www.cincyshopper.com:
9 apples
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup sugar
1 cup water

1. Core, skin and chop the apples and put them into a large bowl.

2. Pour ¾ cup of water and lemon juice into the bowl, mixing so that the apples do not brown. Let them sit there for a few minutes then use a strainer to remove the excess juice and put the apples back into the large bowl.

3. In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup of water, cornstarch, cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg; whisk together until completely blended.

4. Add the contents of your mixture into the large bowl containing the apple and mix thoroughly, covering each piece of apple.

5. Once the snickerdoodles have been heated, scoop a tablespoon or so into each tin, fold the edges of the snickerdoodles over so they cover the apples and put them back into the oven for another 15 minutes.

6. When the apple-doodle cups have finished baking, take them out of the oven and let them cool completely.

Caramel sauce:
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup (one stick) butter

½ cup milk (whatever milk you may have lying around)
¼ tsp salt

1. Place the butter, sugar, brown sugar and salt in a small saucepan and place over medium heat; stir until the butter has melted and the sugars and salt have dissolved completely

2. Add the milk, stir and let the mixture boil for four minutes, stirring every 15 seconds so that the caramel does not burn onto the bottom of the pan.

3. Remove from heat immediately and allow it to cool almost completely before you drizzle the caramel over your now perfect-sized apple-doodle cups.

Have a thought about what I should bake next? Leave a comment about your ideas.

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