In the process, I stumbled upon something better – Apple Struesel Cinnamon Swirl Cupcakes. The recipe comes from Cupcakes by Elinor Klivans. Coincidently, she also wrote one of my new favorite cookbooks The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook. I shared the cookie dough cheesecake bar recipe a few weeks back from her book and have a great cookie recipe to post later in the week.

These cupcakes did not disappoint! The crunchy streusel on top and the cinnamon sugar middle is awesome. I would definitely make these for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. The icing is optional and tastes great both ways. You can never go wrong with cream cheese frosting. The end result is more like coffee cake than cupcakes, but regardless of what you choose to call it, it’s delicious.

Apple Streusel Cinnamon Swirl Cupcakes

Swirl and Topping

• ½ cup sugar
• 2 Teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cupcakes

• 1 cup grated peeled apple (1 large apple)
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar (from above)
• 1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Make the swirl and topping: In a small bowl, stir the sugar and cinnamon together.

Make the cupcakes: In a small bowl, mix together the grated apple and the 2 table spoons cinnamon sugar; set aside. In a large bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the eggs, oil, and vanilla, stirring until blended. Stir the reserved apple mixture, with any juice that bas been released. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the batter into each paper liner. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon cinnamon sugar over the batter in each liner. Spoon the remaining batter over the cinnamon sugar, using a scant 2 tablespoons of batter for each cupcake.

Use a pastry brush to dab the top of the batter with the melted butter. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the top of the cupcakes. Bake just until the top feels firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove the cupcakes from the pan onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Now that Halloween has passed, we’re officially entrenched in the fall season (whether or not your weather is cooperating).  That means it’s time for soups, chilis, and stews.  And where there’s slurpy food in a bowl, you know you need to bake something warm and mouth-watering alongside it.  And that something is cornbread.

I have been pursuing the perfect cornbread for a little over a decade now.  And I will let you off the hook now and tell you that you’re not going to do better than the thirty-nine-cent-goodness-in-a-Tiffany-blue-colored-box.  That’s right.  Jiffy.

That being said, you can’t just bake it up from the box.  Well, you can.  But you’ll run the risk of it being dry (it’s a wee bit temperamental) and/or boring.  Either of which will result in you just crumbling the cornbread into your soup, chili, or stew and why would you go to the trouble of baking when you can just crack open a box of wheat saltine crackers for a similar effect?

Instead you need to add three things:  frozen corn, shredded jalapeno jack cheese, and a grill seasoning.  Easy as pie.  Actually pie is really, really hard for me.  Easy as crumbling saltine crackers.  Follow the instructions below and enjoy some autumn goodness tonight!

P.S.  Don’t be alarmed by the picture.  It’s my Halloween/Harvest version where I add orange gel food coloring to the milk/egg mixture and then pop half a pretzel rod into the center of the cornbread muffins after they come out of the oven.  Thank you, Family Circle (I think) for the idea!

Autumn Cornbread

Pour one box Jiffy cornbread mix into a medium bowl.  Stir in ½ cup of frozen corn, 1 cup of shredded jalapeno jack cheese, and 1 Tablespoon of grill seasoning (recipe below).  Follow the remaining instructions on the Jiffy package.

Grill Seasoning

This is a lower-salt version of Emeril Lagasse’s Bayou Blast.  Don’t get me wrong:  I love salt.  I just prefer to add it to my dishes separately so I can better control the taste.  Save the extra grill seasoning for grilling (obviously) or any time you need that extra something to spice up your food.

2 ½ Tbsp paprika

2 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp ground pepper (do it yourself; it’s worth it)

1 Tbsp onion powder

1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dried thyme