Friday, September 2, 2011

Cupcake of the Month- Pumpkin!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall!  Although it is now September 2nd and 100 degrees outside, I can feel fall coming, or maybe I just am wishing it would be here a little sooner.  One of the reasons I love fall so much is that I {heart} pumpkin!  I know this blog makes it look like I LOVE all foods.  This is probably a true statement.  When I was in college I noticed that IHop had the pumpkin pancake and Dairy Queen had the pumpkin Blizzard.  It was my mission in life to eat as much pumpkin flavored confections as I possibly could.  They are usually only around for a few months a year after all. 
I got pretty excited when I saw September coming up and thought about how I could finally post a pumpkin post.  At first I wanted to post about my pumpkin spice sheet cake that I used to make for Thanksgiving because it brings back memories of spending Thanksgiving at my grandma's house and being in the kitchen with my grandma, mom, sister, aunt and cousin.  Because my grandma is no longer with us, Thanksgiving doesn't quite have the same feeling it used to so I decided to hold onto that one for a little longer and possibly add a couple memorable stories.  I'll probably bring it out in November...stay tuned. 

I found this pumpkin cupcake recipe on Pioneer Woman (thanks Bethany...another hook up from you.  Remember when we were both preggers and eating every party mix in sight!?).  You all should make sure you catch the new PW show on the Food Network.  Happy Fall Y'all (here's hoping)!

TPW_2361 
Ingredients

■Muffin Ingredients:

■1 cup All-purpose Flour

■1/2 cup Sugar

■2 teaspoons Baking Powder

■1-1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

■1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger

■1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

■1/2 teaspoon Salt

■4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces

■1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree

■1/2 cup Evaporated Milk

■1 whole Egg

■1-1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

■1/2 cup Golden Raisins (optional!)


Topping

■2 Tablespoons Sugar

■1 teaspoon Cinnamon

■1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg


FOR FROSTING:

■1/4 cup Softened Butter

■4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese

■1/2 pound Powdered Sugar

■1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.

Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.

To make the frosting, mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.




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