This shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias , Inc. and its advertiser #FlavorofFall . All opinions are mine alone.
I have a confession to make. I do not love everything pumpkin. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a slice of pumpkin bread or a Thanksgiving pumpkin bar occasionally between the months of September and November but I guess I just can't get on the pumpkin obsession band wagon. I do not count down the seconds until the return of the pumpkin spice latte; I don't eat pumpkin with every meal; I refuse to "pumpkin all the things." When it comes to
fall recipes, apple is way more my style.
I love how versatile apples can be in recipes. You go sweet, savory or even spicy. My personal favorite has to be the combo of apples and chocolate. I also love that back to school and fall coincide which the teacher in me secretly loves and even though the temperatures in Florida haven't gotten the message yet I decided to throw a little Flavors of Fall/Back to School dessert party for my family and friends.
I come from a long line of teachers. My grandmother taught high school Spanish, my mom and aunt are both elementary/middle school teachers, and my sister and I both teach at the same high school. And while fall may mean college football, crunchy leaves, knit sweaters and boots for most people, to me it means back to school and all that comes with it. So to celebrate that we had all made it through the first few weeks of teaching, I had everyone over for a Sunday afternoon dessert party.
While shopping at Walmart for the party, I noticed that they already had out all of their fall candy and I am nothing if not sucker for seasonal and limited edition flavors. I grabbed a bag of the White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's because we loved them last year and I way too excited to see that M&M now has a new Candy Apple flavor out for fall. I swear I think I planned out 5 new recipes using that Candy Apple flavor before I even left the store. I also grabbed some Mott's apple juice and applesauce to make one of said planned out recipes.
Since I've never met a theme I didn't like, every one of the desserts I decided to serve were either made with apples, apple juice, or applesauce or a combination of the three. I went for a mix of simple recipes, tried and true favorites and a few new ones to mix things up a bit.
I made and served:
I used a red and green color scheme for my dessert table and added some fresh apples for color and a healthier snack option. All in all, it didn't take me too long to set up and it was easy to use things I had around the house. I loved using the apples for decor because now we have apples to snack on all week especially since my family and friends aren't the type to leave any left over desserts.
What are your favorite fall flavors? Are you team apple or have you boarded the pumpkin bandwagon? Are you in full fall mode or still hanging on to summer? Let me know in the comments!
Candy Apple Cupcakes
- 1 box of yellow cake mix (just the mix)
- 3/4 cup of Mott's Apple Juice
- 1/3 cup of Mott's Applesauce
- 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice
- 3 eggs
- cream cheese icing (I use this recipe but you can use store bought too)
- red food coloring
- Candy Apple M&M's
1.) In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the cake mix, apple juice, apple sauce, apple pie spice and eggs. Beat for 2 minutes.
2.) Using an ice cream scoop, fill lined cupcake pan with batter and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Should make 24 regular sized cupcakes.
3.) While cupcakes are baking, use the red food coloring to make your cream cheese icing your desired shade of red.
4.) Once cupcakes have completely cooled, ice and decorate with Candy Apple M&M's.
5.) If not eaten the same day, these are best stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
Want to save money while stocking up for fall? Save
$1 off any two (2) Mott's sauce or Mott's juice drinks and
$1.50 off any two (2) M&M's brand chocolate candies so be sure and print them out for your next shopping trip to Walmart!
Want more apple recipes? Check out my Apple A Day Pinterest board!