Keeping your New Year’s resolution to eat more salad just got easier!  These Waldorf salad cupcakes have all the trappings of a Waldorf salad; there are no greens, of course, but the cupcakes contain apples, raisins, walnuts, lemon, and even mayonnaise.  If you are a mayonnaise hater, don’t worry - rather than making the cupcakes taste like a condiment, the mayonnaise simply adds moisture (after all, mayonnaise is made with eggs and oil – key cupcake ingredients).  Enjoy these tart lemony cupcakes topped with whipped cream and swap the iconic cherry on top for a grape!

Note:  If you like the look of cupcake liners, use silicone or grease-proof liners.  The moisture of the apples will cause the cupcakes to pull away from standard paper liners.

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup full-fat mayonnaise
2/3 cup lemon juice
¾ cup raisins
¾ cup roughly chopped walnuts
¾ cup finely chopped apples
Whipped cream, to taste
9 grapes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Add in the butter, and mix until well-combined.  You should end up with a fine crumb texture.
Mix in mayonnaise until well-combined.
Mix in lemon juice until well-combined.
Fold in raisins, walnuts, and apples.
Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.
Remove cupcakes from tins and set on a cooling rack to cool.
Once cool, top cupcakes with whipped cream and garnish with half of a grape.