Churro Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting and Caramel filling

Happy Day before Friday! 

My apologies for not making the rounds this week, 

I'm playing catch up today!

Monday, was fun! Lindsay had a school field trip to the Casa Grande Ruins! This Native American 4 story building was built over 650 years ago. We visited the compound, watched a short movie, and toured the museum. I'd heard of the ruins, but when you see it in person, you marvel at ingenuity of the culture that had no modern tools or equipment to build such a building of this magnitude.

Tuesday, my son had a doctors appointment, with a kidney specialist that was an interesting visit. He's had tests that are at first thought look like mild kidney damage from living with Type 1 diabetes for almost 15 years....{how time flies}, and when the kidney specialist runs a simple test in the office, there appears to be nothing wrong with his kidneys! I'm always fascinated with science! Looking at my son he's growing fine {finally}, starting to put serious weight on, because he's eating me out of house and home. The doctor explained his condition happens to non-diabetic teenage boys alike, and athletes that run marathons, and that it could quite possibly be nothing, 

but all the same, she's not ruling anything out!

Then yesterday, I had some insurance details to take care of, that anyone who's dealt with insurance companies knows the run around game. I had eight different people telling me something different, and even the fax number they gave me wasn't the right one, so now I have to email the documents. 

So I am excited to share with you today, something my daughters helped me make for our Thanksgiving brunch, Churro cupcakes. We had the pumpkin, apple, cherry pie twice for Thanksgiving, so I asked the girls what kind of cupcakes they wanted to make, and  I was surprised when they didn't pick anything with chocolate in it! These Churro cupcakes were all the rave and were gone in a flash. Everyone agreed the girls did an amazing job, I just supervised and made the caramel!

If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you know that my twelve year old daughter just recently attended a mock Shark Tank for her school, where the students presented their small business ideas to a panel of judges who offered financial assistance and advice to get their businesses up and running.

Now, Katelyn's new idea involves baking, so she has me addicted to watching Cupcake Wars on Netflix. There was this one cupcake company that stood out to me out of all the 99 episodes I watched.

It was Kastle Kreations , a cupcake Food Truck up in Anchorage, Alaska. They were the Season 9 winners, and her cupcakes were simply the most adorable aquatic cupcakes I'd ever seen.

One of her winning cupcakes, was a Churro cupcake. Who doesn't like Churros? 

Whenever we go to the fair, or Costco, the kids and I love to share one or two or three!!

I only adjusted a few things, but these cupcakes are incredibly delicious!

Churro cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream cheese frosting, 

and Caramel filling (adapted from Kastle Sorensen)

Ingredients: 

Cake Batter:

3 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cup sugar, plus more for dusting

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for brushing

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup whole milk

Filling:

2 cups sugar

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream, room temperature

Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

8 ounces cream cheese

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbls. Milk

1/2 Tbls. cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions: 

For the cake batter: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixing speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk. Beat until combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

For the filling: Combine the sugar and 1 tablespoon water into a medium bowl over medium-high heat. Constantly stir until the sugar dissolves into a liquid form. The sugar will dissolve and start to turn brown. Once the sugar and water have completely dissolved, add in the butter and vanilla. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream. Let cool for 10 minutes. Refrigerate for 1 hour to let the caramel thicken before using. { I put mine in the freezer for about 20 minutes}

For the frosting: Beat the butter and cream cheese until light and creamy. Add in the vanilla and cinnamon. Add in the powder sugar, 1 cup at a time, incorporating fully before next addition. Add milk as needed if the frosting is too thick. Place the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, make a well in the center of the cupcake by scooping out the center about halfway down the cupcake, making sure to leave the bottom in tact. Melt down the butter. Mix together some cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Using a rubber brush, brush the melted butter onto the cupcakes, then roll the tops of the cupcakes into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Fill the cupcakes with the caramel sauce. Frost cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, dust with more cinnamon and sugar. If you choose, drizzle the cupcakes with leftover caramel sauce.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Until next time! xo,

Sharing at these Parties!

 You can follow me here!

Twitter | Bloglovin | Google+ | Facebook | Pinterest