Pumpkin Cupcakes

I love anything pumpkin, and these totally fulfilled my craving!  I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's site, so they have some prison cred. to boot...haha

I topped these with cream cheese frosting.  I'm still not 100% happy with the consistency of the frosting I made, so instead of posting the recipe I'll let you choose your own.  As an alternative, these would be killer topped with whipped cream!

I got some dark purple cupcake liners as a Christmas gift, and I thought they were a nice contrast with the orange.  I didn't realize it was so dark in my kitchen until after I took the pictures! lol

The batter was pretty thick, which I always love because it makes scooping the batter out so much easier.  Overall, I loved everything about these!  I went a little heavier with the spices as I love that pumpkin pie flavor, so I did slightly heaped/rounded measuring for the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. This is definitely my new go-to pumpkin cupcake recipe!

You'll notice in the bottom picture I line my cooling racks with paper towel sheets.  This gets rid of any moisture on the bottom that accumulated while baking, and keeps the cupcake liners nice.


Pumpkin Cupcakes
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com
http://www.marthastewart.com/317069/pumpkin-cupcakes
Makes 22-24 cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (heaping tsp. recommended)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (heaping tsp. recommended)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (heaping 1/4 tsp. recommended)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (heaping 1/4 tsp. recommended)
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1, 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree

~Preheat oven to 350 °F.  Prepare muffin tins with cupcake liners.

~In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

~In a large bowl whisk together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.

~Fill your cupcake liners about two-thirds full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (20 minutes was spot on for me)

~Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.  Once cooled, top with your favorite cream cheese frosting, whipped cream, or whatever topping you like, and enjoy!