Autumn fruit cupcakes

My my, where does the time go? 2nd December already...and I have that Christmas feeling! Yesterday morning there was a white frost on everything, outlining every tiny leaf and pine needle, and snow on the Hillfoots. I bought 3 bags of cranberries from the local deli to cook up Nigella Lawson's cranberry mincepies, and lit a cinnamon scented candle.

But today is back to the soggy, muddy, 'this is Scotland and don't you forget it' form of winter weather, so baking these little cupcakes has created a pleasantly spicy fug for me to hide myself away in. A last taste of autumn before the Christmas excesses really begin.

The cupcakes will keep for 2 days in an airtight tin - after that they become a little sticky.

Ingredients

• 115g unsalted butter, softened
• 115g golden caster sugar
• 115g self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs
• 115g stewed apple (about 1 large desert apple, peeled and cored and cooked down)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 125g ripe pear, peeled and cubed

Method

• Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Line a 12-bun muffin tray with cupcake papers.
• Cream the butter, sugar, flour and eggs together with an electric beater until very smooth.
• Beat in the apple sauce.
• Carefully fold the pear cubes through the batter with a metal spoon.
• Spoon the batter into the cases - about 2 desertspoons for each cupcake.
• Bake for 25 minutes until golden and cooked. They will be very soft initially so let them stand in the tin for 5 minutes before carefully moving them to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing -

• Sieve 1/2 cup icing sugar to remove any lumps.
• Add 2 teaspoons maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and a dribble of recently boiled water. Beat well until a thick, smooth icing forms - add a little more water if it is too thick to drizzle, or more sugar if it is too runny to sit on the cake and set.
• Using a teaspoon, drizzle the icing over each cupcake, and allow to set.