Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 

I don’t know what the correlation is with colder weather and baked goods, but somehow they’re directly proportional in my books. It could be that all the autumn produce is perfect for baking or the fact that the cooler weather is enticing me to stay indoors more often. Either way, there is always something cooking in the kitchen or rather the oven.

The only downside is that often times the recipes I’m using only calls for a cup of this or a half a cup of that, making my fridge rather cluttered with leftover ingredients that I’m struggling to use up in my everyday cooking. This was the case after we decided to carve a pumpkin, leading to homemade pumpkin puree and a pumpkin pie. However, after the pie was baked and consumed, we were left with still more pumpkin puree and now an open can of evaporated milk it’s like the domino effect.

In a last ditch effort to use up the leftover ingredients, I was able to find a delightful pumpkin recipe specifically calling for those ingredients. So I whipped up a batch of moist pumpkin spice cupcakes, but now it seems I’m left with some extra cream cheese. Maybe they make ingredients with non-specific volumes for this exact reason, to keep enticing people to continue baking….anybody got a recipe that calls for cream cheese?

 

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 cup salted butter
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

Cupcake Preparations:

Preheat oven to 375ºC. Place paper baking cups in the muffin tin and set aside.

In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in the butter until the pieces are fairly granular (like the size rough sand).

In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla.

Slowly sift the dry ingredients in to the wet ingredients. Gently fold them together until just incorporated.

Fill each of the paper cups to roughly 3/4 full (fill slightly less if you want a flatter cupcake).

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Allow to cool in pan for 5 mins then remove and place on a wire rack to cool fully before icing with cream cheese.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

 

Frosting Ingredients:

1/8 cup butter at room temperature (salted or unsalted, it’s based on the baker’s preference, I usually use salted because I find that it provides that extra bit of flavour)

1/2 cup light cream cheese
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Frosting Preparation:

For the frosting, whip the butter and cream cheese together on high.

Add in the vanilla and continue to beat until combined.

Turn the speed to low and add the powdered sugar a bit at a time until incorporated.

Scrap in to piping bag or use a spatula to ice each cupcake.

Enjoy!