Mocha, Apple, plus Chocolate Biscotti

Yesterday I spent the day at my mother-in-laws making these cupcakes for her to bring to a church function. And since I bookmarked this page for her when I got on it to grab, of all things, my own recipe (yes my memory is that bad), I'll note how nice it was to have the use of her kitchen. No worries about kids getting into things, nobody underfoot, lots of space. Mmm. Thanks MIL!

I have no pictures yet, she took the pictures and I need to retrieve them. But like I said, I literally have the memory of a goldfish so I'd better get out the details while they're still rattling around in my brain somewhat.

To clear up any confusion, I made two kinds of cupcakes. It's not mocha and apple together, though the more I think about it the more I think that might be good.

I made a mocha cupcake, similar in looks to the previous coffee one - but more, shall I say, cost effective. There is no ganache or cream. The effect is about the same, looks-wise, but probably less rich. The night before I made mini chocolate biscotti, which I used as a garnish. So I'd suggest, if you're doing it, do these first and get them out of the way. They will keep up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, you won't even need half of them for these cupcakes and they go great with coffee.

Chocolate Biscotti
Recipe found here.

50 to 60 cookies

Use a good-quality cocoa powder. You can use natural or Dutch-process for these, whichever one you like. Just remember that the chocolate flavor of the finished cookies is dependent on the quality of cocoa powder you use. So it’s worth using a decent one. I used Valrhona. See notes below on ingredients.

If you like extra-crisp biscotti, you can flip each one over midway during the second baking, in step #6. I sometimes smear one side of the cookies with melted dark chocolate. When dipped in a warm espresso, I can’t imagine anything better.

For the biscotti

• 2 cups (280g) flour
• 3/4 cups (75g) top-quality cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup (125g) almonds, toasted and very coarsely-chopped
• 3/4 cups (120g) chocolate chips

For the glaze

1 large egg
2 tablespoons coarse or crystal sugar (see Notes)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.

2. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat together the 3 eggs, sugar, and vanilla & almond extracts. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, then mix in the nuts and the chocolate chips until the dough holds together.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into two logs the length of the baking sheet. Transfer the logs onto the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart.

5. Gently flatten the tops of the logs. Beat the remaining egg and brush the tops of the logs liberally with the egg. (You won’t use it all). Sprinkle the tops with the coarse or crystal sugar and bake for 25 minutes, until the dough feels firm to the touch.

6. Remove the cookie dough from the oven and cool 15 minutes. On a cutting board, use a serrated bread knife to diagonally cut the cookies into 1/2-inches slices. Lay the cookies cut side down on baking sheets and return to the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies feel mostly firm.

Once baked, cool the cookies completely then store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. If you wish, the cookies can be half-dipped in melted chocolate, then cooled until the chocolate hardens.

Notes:

1. I did not use the glaze at all, I didn't have any coarse sugar. I don't know that it's necessary, but might be a nice touch.
2. I made 4 logs out of this, not 2 - since mine were mini. For the purpose of this cupcake they need to be small. But if you like larger biscotti, I'd suggest you break into 2, make one regular log and two of of the remaining half.

These only took me about an hour, hour and a half maybe, all totalled. Plus, the scraps you get before the second baking will make you popular around the house, everyone here loved them.

Okay! On to...

Mocha Cupcakes
Recipe found here.

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup cold brewed coffee
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 teaspoons cider vinegar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, coffee, oil, vinegar and vanilla until well blended. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into coffee mixture until blended.
Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool.

I baked these, like I said, in the coffee cups. The link has a mocha frosting, I didn't use it - I used strictly butter-cream that I piped on. On the top I put the chocolate crunch sprinkles again, and then a biscotti at edge of the cup on each one.

For the apple cupcakes, I used my apple cake recipe that can be found here.

Then I made a caramel apple filling that unfortunately you are not going to get exact measurements on, but I'll do my best.

Filling

• 3 apples, diced (I used Gala apples, Granny Smith would probably be better)
• 1/4 cup plus a handful of white sugar
• 2 or 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp (or so) pumpkin pie spice*
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tbsp flour

*Failing pumpkin pie spice, use a dash of ginger, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring frequently. Keep boiling until the mixture thickens and caramelizes, the colour will turn dark. Remove from heat and cool. It will be syrupy, not hard or very thick. Set aside.

Apple Cake

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour (all purpose can be used, I didn't have cake flour)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered apple cider mix (or 3 individual pouches)
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp rum extract (or 1 tsp rum)

I substituted almond extract for rum this time, and butter for shortening. Same measurements.

Preheat oven to 375*F. Prepare pans; first grease and then flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Into a large mixing bowl, measure all ingredients except frosting and jelly.

With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, scraping bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium; beat 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the bowl.

Drop one full spoonful into each cup of a paper-lined cupcake pan. Cover with 1 tsp of caramel apple sauce, try to get more apple and less sauce. Drop one more spoonful of batter over each to cover.

Bake at 375* for about 20 minutes, or until browned. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto cooling racks.

I ended up with about 18 cupcakes out of this recipe.

When they cooled, I piped butter-cream on them, sprayed with pink, and garnished with chocolate pieces I'd made.

That's it, that's all - I'll add photos when I have them!

Edit: And now I have them. Here they be, enjoy.