Celebrating William Carlos Williams's Birthday with Caramel Apple Cupcakes

"The Red Wheelbarrow" is a poem by American modernist poet and physician William Carlos Williams. (1883–1963). It is one of Williams' most frequently anthologized poems, and is considered a prime example of early twentieth-century imagism.

The imagist movement began in 1913, ten years before Williams wrote this poem. Imagism focuses on the objective representation of objects.
“The Red Wheelbarrow” is perhaps one of the shortest serious poems ever published by an American poet. The structure is rigidly formal. The poem consists of four miniature stanzas of four words each. Read the poem focusing on Williams' use of language and imagery.

William Carlos Williams September 17, 1883-1963 

It's the birthday of the American poet who once wrote, "A poem is a complete little universe" and "Say it! No ideas but in things." William Carlos Williams has always been known as an experimenter, an innovator, a revolutionary figure in American poetry. Yet in comparison to artists of his own time who sought a new environment for creativity as expatriates in Europe, Williams lived a remarkably conventional life. A doctor for more than forty years serving the New Jersey town of Rutherford, he relied on his patients, the America around him, and his own ebullient imagination to create a distinctively American verse. Often domestic in focus and "remarkable for its empathy, sympathy, its muscular and emotional identification with its subjects," Williams's poetry is also characteristically honest.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Cook's notes: These moist cupcakes have hints of spice, apples and caramel. They are the perfect treat for your autumn weekend. The caramel sauce may need warming in the microwave so it's easier to pour. 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice can be substituted for nutmeg, allspice and ginger.
Recipe adapted from Tide and Thyme and makes 18
Cupcake Ingredients:

• 2-3/4 cups flour
• 1 TB. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. allspice
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp.salt
• 1 stick margarine and 1 stick butter (room temperature)
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs (room temperature)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 TB.vanilla
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped (2 cups) 
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce from a jar (room temperature)

Cupcake Directions:Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. Set aside.

• Whisk in a bowl flour, spices, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In another bowl cream sugar, butter and margarine. Beat for 4 minutes until fluffy.
• Mix in eggs one at a time and beat well.
• Mix buttermilk and vanilla in a measuring cup and add to butter/margarine mixture. Blend well. 
• On low speed alternate dry ingredients with wet ingredients and mix just until incorporated. 
• With a wooden spoon add in apples, caramel sauce and mix until incorporated.
• Divide the batter evenly filling each cupcake liner 3/4 full.
• Bake 18-20 minutes. 

Frosting Ingredients:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup caramel sauce 
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 TB. softened butter
• 1 tsp.vanilla
• fat free half and half

Frosting Directions:

• Beat all ingredients until frosting is smooth using only as much half and half as needed for correct frosting consistency.