Applesauce Cupcakes with Penuche Frosting

These are some of the best and easiest cupcakes I've ever made! These bring back childhood memories and are just plain delicious and addictive.
Generally, this recipe makes 18 cupcakes, but if you only fill the liners 1/2 of the way rather than 2/3 you can get 22 cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/3 cups applesauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line eighteen 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with foil cupcake liners; set this aside.
 Beat sugar and shortening with an electric mixer on meduim speed until well mixed.

Beat in applesauce, the mixture will appear curdled.

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves.

Beat into the applesauce mixture.

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full (or in this case, 1/2 full).

Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.
Cool in the muffin pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the muffin pans and place them to cool on a wire rack.

At this point I make the penuche frosting.
Sift 2 cups powdered sugar.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup packed brown sugar and 1/3 cup of butter.

Cook and stir over medium heat until the butter is melted.

 Remove from heat.

Stir into this mixture, 1 tablespoon milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar.

Mix until you get a smooth texture.

If necessary, stir in additional milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, to make of spreading consistancy. Also, if your frosting thickens later during application to cupcakes, stir in some additional milk to the mixture in the bowl.

Allow the frosting to harden on your cupcakes...or not. ;)

Enjoy these delicious cupcakes!!

Good luck trying not to eat them all yourself, Annie!

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DIY Starbucks Caramel Macchiato

This is my favorite non-frappuccino drink from Starbucks. I like being able to have one whenever I want, without having to leave my house and spend a crazy amount of money for one cup. I feel like this recipe is a close second, the only thing I find different is that the caramel dissolves in the coffee, whereas at Starbucks it gets sucked up through a straw. So let's get started!

Ingredients:
Milk (I used 2%, but you can really use whatever you like)
Caramel (doesn't matter if it's homemade, just personal preference)
Vanilla Syrup (I like Torani's Vanilla Syrup)
Espresso or coffee (any flavor/strength will do, again, this is personal preference)
Pleanty of ice
A straw of any sort

How To:
-First off, brew your espresso or coffee. I have a nespresso machine, so I just have to pop in a little cap and make sure there is water in the tank and select which size I would like, it really does the rest.
-Now go ahead and pour that into a large cup, if it isn't already.
-I only used one cap of espresso because I like my coffees sweet and at a low strength. Add a couple cubes of ice (just enough to cool it off for now).
-Pour in as much milk as you desire. I pour it in until my coffee turns the color of coffee ice cream.
-Add about two teaspoons of vanilla syrup, again you can adjust this to your liking.
-Fill your glass with ice to get it fully cooled and to keep it nice and chilled in the summer weather.
-Pour as much caramel sauce in as much as you wish. I like to do this step after the ice because then you can see how much you are putting in, without dirtying another utensil in the kitchen.
-Enjoy!!

 Enjoy less expensive coffee in the end, Annie

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Introduction!

Hello there! So I am not new to blogging, I have another blog named MAC Cosmetics Reviews, which covers make-up. I have had that blog since November or December of 2011.
This blog is going to cover recipes that I feel are unique and/or deserve to be shared with everyone. :) The main reason I created this blog is so that I would have something to link a recipe to on Pinterest. Please feel free to check out my other blogspot account. I will have two new posts on Recipes With An Attitude tonight. :)

 Enjoy!, Annie

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