Pumpkin Cupcakes

Two words for you. Life. Changing. That’s how seriously amazing these cupcakes are! The dense, rich pumpkin texture of the cupcake, topped with the rich, creamy, cream cheese frosting makes for a dynamic duo! I served these cupcakes as part of my “Gameday Grub” menu as mini’s and full-sized cupcakes. I turned the big ones into a mini-football field, yes there are pictures of this super-cute, really-getting-into-the-theme display of cupcakes to come later in the post! A big shout out to my favorite former inmate, Miss Martha Stewart for the majority of this amazing recipe!

Ingredients (makes 48 mini cupcakes or 24 large cupcakes)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled (or 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup applesauce for a healthier version)
• 4 large eggs
• 15 oz pumpkin puree

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Get your cupcake pans ready by adding the liners. In a medium bowl mix together your dry ingredients, the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice.

Next, add together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter and eggs.

Then add in your pumpkin puree.

Blend together well then add your dry ingredients.

Next step, quality control.

Yes, this picture is meant to suggest that you lick the beaters to make sure that the cupcake batter is tasting up to par, for quality control purposes only of course. Now it’s time to fill your cupcake liners with this “quality-control-tested” cupcake batter.

Now pop them in the oven for about 15-18 minutes for the minis and 20-25 for the full size guys. Now the next step is very important, make yourself a cup of warm apple cider or hot chocolate and wait for the aroma of fall to fill your house with the smell of pumpkin, flashing visions of leaves changing colors and the sound of football in the background should begin to fill your head. Ding! These little guys are ready to come out into the world!

Little bites of heaven… and they haven’t even been clothed yet!! (That’s what I like to call the frosting, the “clothing” on the cupcakes!) Now for how to assemble the cream cheese “clothing” for these little bites.

Ingredients:

• 2 8 oz packages cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend all of the ingredients together until creamy.

Now get to clothing!  There are naked cupcakes sitting around for gosh sakes!!!

And voilà!! Rows of perfectly clothed pumpkin cupcakes dressed in cream cheese frosting! Now add a couple of footballs and they become “Gameday Grub”!

Now for the “really-getting-into-the-theme” cupcake display as promised earlier in the blog! I found these little guys hanging out at a party supply store on Melrose last season and drafted them immediately to my “fantasy cupcake team”. Miraculously I did not lose one team member last season to injuries, trades or garbage disposal’s so the whole team is back for another season!