Caramel Apple Pop Cupcakes

I love Halloween.

A lot.

I mean, it’s a holiday that revolves around scaring the daylights out of people and getting free candy.

Which obviously, is pretty much the best thing ever.

However–there is one aspect of Halloween that I take issue with.

Adult costumes.

Not ALL adult costumes, of course. I mean, my son begs me to dress up to take him trick or treating every year. So, every year I don some ratty wig…and smear fake blood on my face…and proceed to do my best to make little kids cry in fear.

It’s fun.

But what I want to know, is who the person is that decided that Halloween would be a good excuse for women of the land to give cats, mice, nurses, police women, pirates, cheetahs, and maids a bad name.

Seriously–that person deserves a good punch in the foot.

I can’t even take my son to the costume shop every year without shielding his eyes from half the stuff in the store.

So I have a newsflash for the people selling these tiny scraps of cloth and passing it off as an acceptable costume:

Halloween is for kids.

And those skimpy nurses, cats, and maids have a time, and a place, and a holiday of their own.

It’s called Valentines Day.

I’m not saying that adults can’t or shouldn’t enjoy themselves. Of course they can.

But if your way of enjoying Halloween involves skintight pants or a swishy tail, you need to stay out of sight of my kid.

Until he’s at least forty-seven.

Maybe forty-eight, even.

One of MY favorite things about Halloween is the candy.  Especially Caramel Apple Pops. So of course, I decided to turn them into a cupcake.

With a secret adult ingredient.

Yes, that is Sour Apple Pucker. I totally went there.

In my defense, it was the only thing I could think of that would give the cupcakes that sour candy/green apple flavor. But you know what? It actually worked, and they taste great.

INGREDIENTS

For the cupcakes:

1 box of white cake mix, plus water, oil and eggs called for on the box, minus one cup of the water
1 cup of Sour Apple Pucker
Green food coloring

Prepare the cupcakes as indicated on the box, substituting the alcohol for one cup of the water. Add green food coloring to the batter to achieve desired shade of green.

Caramel Buttercream

2 sticks of butter (I used salted), softened to room temperature
1/2 cup caramel SYRUP (not that thick stuff you have to microwave)
3 cups powdered sugar
Caramel Apple Pops, for garnish

Beat the butter and caramel syrup on medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as neccessary. Add the powdered sugar and beat on low until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and increase the mixer speed to high. Beat for 2 minutes.

Frost the cupcakes and insert a Caramel Apple Pop in the top.

**Now, before you bake and serve these, I need to tell you that I’ve heard varying opinions on whether or not alcohol completely evaporates during baking. I will tell you though, that this stuff is only 15% alcohol. So if any of it does stay behind, it can’t be very much. HOWEVER–I am not taking any chances. So please do not serve these to children or anyone under 21.**

I’ve got lots of kid friendly Halloween treats that I’ll be sharing the rest of the month. I can’t wait to show you!!

Have a happy Wednesday!!

**I am linking these up to Hoosier Homemade’s Cupcake Tuesday, Blessed With Grace’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and A Southern Fairytale’s Mouthwatering Monday. Head on over to check out all the yummy treats and link up some of your own!!