Halloween! One of my favorite times to make themed, baked items during the year. This time around, I decided to do pumpkin cupcakes to incorporate a favorite fall ingredient. There were several good recipe options to go from, but I chose this one from my new Bon Appetit Desserts cookbook, and made a few modifications:
Cupcakes:
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Frosting
4 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 12 muffin tins. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl. Mix wet ingredients in medium bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet, stir to blend, and then add walnuts.Spoon batter into paper liners. Bake until cupcakes are golden and tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack and cool completely.
To make frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and butter together. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.
Pumpkin batter
Frosting the cupcakes. I prefer using bags and tips when I have the time. It doesn’t take that much to master an easy swirl, and they look so pretty!
Frosted and decorated for Halloween! The other good thing about this recipe is that they can be made as a breakfast item (sans the frosting). Or, you can eat them for breakfast anyway, like I did this week.
blissfullybaking 