Pumpkin Cupcakes

Without a doubt, one of the best fall flavors is pumpkin.  I started my love affair with pumpkin last Thanksgiving when I made my first batch of pumpkin bread.  Turns out, pumpkin bread is delicious for breakfast, as a side, and as a dessert.  So, needless to say, we went through that first batch pretty quickly.

About a month ago, I decided to start fall a bit early and begin the pumpkin madness.  Unfortunately, I did not follow the cardinal rule of cooking--READ before you DO.  I added twice the pumpkin puree that I needed...which means that I was filling every pan I could find with pumpkin batter.

It took us quite a while to work our way (and GIVE away!) this much pumpkin.  So, I waited until just this past weekend to start the pumpkin craze again. 

Aiding in my addiction, I noticed that Cooking Light tweeted a list of some delicious Pumpkin recipes that I plan to try soon. 

Without further ado, here's the cupcake recipe I used and altered this weekend.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree


Preheat oven to 350.  Place liners in cupcake pans. Stir together all dry ingredients.  Stir together all wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Slowly add dry mixture into wet mixture. 

Cook at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Thanks to Ashley, we iced these with some fabulous cream cheese icing.  Definitely my favorite.

I made a combination of regular size cupcakes and miniature cupcakes; I think we ultimately decided that no matter how many mini cupcakes you eat, it will never equal the calorie and fat content of the regular cupcakes....right?!

The most beautiful dinner roll...

the cloverleaf roll!

I have basically been cooking all day long. The Chocolate Chip Scones were a delicious success.  More on that later.  The baguettes taste delicious but look terrible.  More on that later as well.

Overall the greatest recipe of the day was the cloverleaf dinner roll. 

Almost as an afterthought, I decided to work on these jewels.  Using a basic dough recipe for rolls, I set the dough to the side to rise for a bit.  Once I punched it down, I split the dough into 24 pieces.  Then, I separated each one of those into three balls and placed them in a muffin tin...

Brush a little melted butter on each roll, cover it, and set it to the side to rise again.  Major tip here:  Before you get started, make sure you have 4 muffin tins!  I only have two, so my second batch doesn't look quite as beautiful because I had to move them after they had already risen.

Pop these babies in the oven for 15 minutes, and you have a gorgeous dinner roll!

Now, during the school year, I definitely wouldn't have had the time to make these from scratch.  That's okay, though! The Publix bakery always has some dough on hand, ready to go.  I'm sure you could also use any of the frozen dough as well.  Bottom line...these rolls are much cuter than your basic roll. Plus, think of all the glory that will be yours when people realized your rolls are handmade.  :)

Oh, by the way, I threw in a four leaf clover roll for that one lucky person.  Can you find it?!