Pumpkin Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

Monica posted these awhile back.  I whipped them up for a party last weekend and they were absoltuely perfect.  Quite the hit!  Delish!

Well I found it. I found my perfect go to pumpkin cupcake. I'm excited because so far I've had only semi good luck when making a pumpkin cupcake. Last year I did the Martha Stewart Pumpkin cupcake and although it tasted good it had more the consistency of a muffin. Sorry Martha. This cupcake is light and fluffy and delicious. The frosting on the other hand is all Martha. This is my favorite cream cheese frosting. It is simple, basic, and perfect. It tops this cupcake perfectly.

I wanted to take pictures of my process but I was in a hurry. So you get the finished product and the recipe so you can tries these babies out at home.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes
4 eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 cup Oil
2 cups sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Corn Starch
4 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Blend the eggs, oil, sugar, and pumpkin in a large mixing bowl; set aside. Stir together dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and beat until well blended. Scoop into lined muffin tins. Fill about 2/3 full. Bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 30 minutes or until center springs back when touched.

My oven cooks hot so these only took 20 minutes and they were perfect. Make sure you check on them earlier than 30 minutes. If you touch the top and it bounces back, they are done.

Martha Stewart Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. Butter (2 sticks) room temp.
12 oz. Cream Cheese room temp.
1 lb. (4 cups) powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Cream the butter and cream cheese together until they are light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and mix well. Add vanilla and mix. Now get a spoon and taste. Heaven. :)

Source: Allrecipes.com, MarthaStewart.com

By the way...the cupcake topper was made using Photoshop Elements and Products from JessicaSprague.com. One more thing you can do with your digital stash. :)

Monica :)

Pumpkin Streusal Muffins

We are deep into Fall. The air is getting crisp and the colors are breathtaking. I love this time of year. With the cool air comes the need to get in my kitchen to bake. I've been looking for muffin recipes to stock up in the freezer. My son loves them for snack at school. Anyway, I found this little treasure. If you're looking for a Fallish pumpkiny muffin, here you go my friend. :) Pumpkin + Buttery Streusal, you can't go wrong.

Pumpkin Streusal Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose baking flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup canola oil (You can use applesauce!!)

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Streusal:

1/4 cup all-purpose baking flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup butter

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, pie spice and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter.

For topping, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar and pie spice; cut in shortening until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Source: Taste of Home

Have an aweome Monday!!

Love, Monica

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Do you know how long I've been waiting for Fall, and all the wonderful things that come along with it?  FOREVER!  I love Fall.  The smells, flavors, leaves changing, cooler air, warm clothes...everything about it! 

I thought I'd ring in the new season with a pumpkin cake.  I have a recipe for a giant sheet cake too, but knew if I had that sitting around my house all week, I would consume the entire thing.  This one is perfect. You bake it in a small 8x8 pan, and it's usually gone the night you serve it.  YAY!  It's flavors go together so perfectly.  The cake is so soft and moist.  Almost wish I had a piece to eat right now.  *sigh*  O'well. 

Amazing...and oh, so beautiful!

 

 

Pumpkin Cake

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin puree

In your mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, and eggs.  Whisk together until all combined.  Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Stir around until there are no more lumps.  Add in pumpkin and stir until well combined.  Pour into greased 8x8 baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let it cool completely before icing it.


Cream Cheese Frosting
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. milk

Beat your cream cheese, and butter together until light and fluffy.  Add your vanilla and sugar, and mix until well combined.  Add your milk.  If it's too thick add a tiny bit more.  Ice your cake, and ENJOY! 

Source-Kitchen Simplicity

Have you entered our giveaway yet?!  If not click HERE and go enter ASAP!  You have until Thursday night to do so. 

I love this!  Ha ha!  I don't even have 12 entered.  So go do it!

 

Have a happy Tuesday!

Love, Erica*

 

 



Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake

Pinterest!  The most amazing website out there!  Besides our blog, of course.  I have discovered so many yummy recipes and food blogs.  This is one of them.  It was awesome!  My hubs enjoyed it the most and has been taking it with him for breakfast until it was all gone.  1 sheet pan is way too big for my little family, so if you make this, make it for a big crowd. They'll be happy you did.

Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a big sheet pan with cooking spray. 

In your mixing bowl add cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, milk, pudding, sour cream, and pumpkin.  Mix until well combined.  Pour into prepared pan and spread it out evenly.

Melt butter in microwave safe bowl.  Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon.  Stir until combined.  Drizzle over cake batter evenly.  Then take a knife and run it through to swirl the cake. 

Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, or until cooked through.  In a medium bowl combine powdered sugar and heavy cream.  Start with a 1/4 c. and if the glaze needs to be thinner add more.  I think I could have got away with a double batch of the glaze.  Let it cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

Source-Picky Palate  (This woman is AMAZING)

I have my daughter's birthday party to plan!  She will be 12!!!  She is inviting a few friends over for pizza and a movie this weekend.  I'm super excited for her.  Think i'll be making her favorite chocolate sheet cake.  Mmmm...that's all I need is more sweets.  O'well.  I think I've given up the diet until after New Years.  Yeah!

Have a fantabulous day!!

MSC Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cupcakes and a Giveaway

It's been a long time since I've participated in my Martha Stewart Cupcake Club. I've been wanting to jump in again and what better way than to host a cupcake. If you are fellow Cupcake lover, welcome to our blog!

Okay, I think by now you've figured out how much we love pumpkin. When flipping through my MSC book these have caught my eye on a few occasions. If you've ever been to The Old Spaghetti Factory then you may have tried their Brown Butter Spaghetti with Mizithra Cheese. I love that stuff. It is no where near healthy but the nutty flavor of the browned butter and the Salty Cheese is a delicious combo. With this recipe your mixing browned butter with pumpkin. I knew it would be a hit.

Browned butter is pretty much burnt butter. It's easy to do but needs a watchful eye. It can get too dark pretty quickly and needs to be poured off when done into a bowl to stop the cooking. Even the smell makes me happy. The cupcakes turned out moist and not overly dense as some of Martha's cupcakes tend to do. I thought it had a nice crumb and a wonderful pumpkin spice flavor. These are topped off with a Brown-Butter icing. Mmmmm, this icing is rich and so yummy. I may have had a spoonful.

Anyway, if you need a new tasty Fall recipe, give these a try. They really were simple to toss together. The longest part being browning the butter. It is well worth it though! Happy Friday!

Brown Butter Icing

I searched Martha's website for the Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes and couldn't find it. Darn it. I try hard to give credit where credit is due and not type out copy righted recipes. If you really want this recipe, email me and I'll see what I can do. Or you can buy this cookbook HERE.

Edited to Add: A fellow blogger found the recip HERE. The only difference is the cupcakes have an extra 1/2 cup sugar. Just add it with the brown sugar. Yay! So glad you have the recipe!

And to celebrate the Fall season we are doing a fun giveaway!!  Our friend Tori is sponsering this giveaway for a fun scentsy warmer and scent!!

I absolutely love Love LOVE all my warmers and scents.  Makes my house smell so yummy and cozy!  And what is more fitting than this cute Pumpkin warmer?!

And to go with it this awesome scent!

Yummy!!

You have 3 chances to win this fun giveaway.  All you have to do is #1 become a follower of our blog, and leave a comment.  If you already are a follower then leave us a comment and just say, "HEY!"  #2  Like our facebook page and leave us a comment saying that you 'Like' us.  And #3, share with your friends and family about our blog and this fun giveaway.  I'm thinking once we get to 200 followers we will do another fun giveaway!!

If you want to order some of the fun stuff from Scentsy, head on over to Tori's page and order away!  Seriously, I have never been happier with a product!  I use it every single day.  Love all the variety of smells!!  Go HERE to order.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I love Bakerella. If you've seen a cakepop than you have been influenced by Bakerella. She is kindof the leading gal in the CakePop arena. And if you've ever had a cake ball then you know that they are pretty much amazing.

I've been following Bakerella for a few years now and have loved all of her creations. Fall 2009 she did mini Pumpkin Pies and I loved them. I had completely forgotten about them until in comes Pinterest. Thank goodness for Pinterest. It reminds me of all the beautiful and delicious creations I yearn to make...someday. :) Well, lucky for these little guys, someday had come.

You can find her Pumpkin Pie Bites post here. I pretty much followed her directions to a T. Although, I used the Libby's Pumpkin Pie recipe which I think is perfect and my mother in laws crust recipe, which I think is perfect too. I happened to have the exact same cookie cutter she had so they were a cinch to make. You could easily use a round cookie cutter and add your own stem or not. They turned out adorable and were a hit. These are perfect for a Fall get together. Your friends will love them!

Yeah, I took that bite. Look at that flakey crust! Yum!

Delicious!

Have a Great Thursday!

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin

Since I was canning pickled beets all day yesterday, I didn't have much time to do anything else.  So today I decided to a post on all the pumpkin yumminess that Monica and I have made over the past year.  If you've tried any of them let us know what you thought.  My favorite has to be the pumpkin roll and the pancakes.  YUM! 

Pumpkin Roll

 Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Cupcakes

 Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

 

So there you have it.  They are all awesome, so you wouldn't go wrong trying any of them.  Hope you are having a great week so far.  Now it is time for me to go clean the beet juice off my kitchen and get caught up on the rest of the To Do list.  :o)  

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had the pleasure of opening my very first can of pumpkin this season. Why does that make me so happy? Aw, I just love Fall. LOVE it. I'm sure you all have your own Pumpkin Chocolate Chipe Cookie recipe, but I thought I'd share my go to. They are easy to whip up and sooooo tasty. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until they are light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin. Mix well. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients minus the chocolate chips. Gradually mix the flour mixture into the creamed sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough using a spoon or your handy dandy cookie scoop onto cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes until they are light brown. Cool. Enjoy!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I love this day. Even being far away from all those I love this day means so much to me. Baking in the kitchen has brought me so close to my dear Grandma. Grandma and I had a little tradition together. We spent the day before Thanksgiving baking pies together. We probably did this for ten years. I loved those times spent with her. She taught me so much in that time. I can still see her hands carefully rolling her dough and crimping the edges. Time had made her an expert and I was privileged enough to learn from her. I'll forever hold those memories dear to my heart. I am thankful for lessons from those around me.

I am truly blessed. I am thankful for my husband and his ambition. He is smart and funny and I adore him. I'm thankful for my children. They are my life. I am thankful for my family. My dad for always believing in me and my mom for teaching me valuable lessons. My brother and my very best friend Erica. I love you both. I am thankful for my inlaws. My dear mother-in-law for showing me how to truly love your children and my father-in-law for teaching me unwavering faith in God. To my siblings-in-law, it's so nice to have so many close friends. I love you all. To my Heavenly Father, thank you for my life, for the lessons I've learned, the trials I've faced, and the blessings I've received.

Thank you to our readers. We love doing this blog and sharing our passions with you. We appreciate your support.

I hope your day is full of love, family, and laughter. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a little recipe to celebrate the day. I know it's too late to make it for you dinner this year, but bookmark this. You will want it for sure next year. It is HEAVEN. Especially the next day!

Pumpkin Cheesecake
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 3/4 cups sugar
Salt
2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
6 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups sweetened whipped cream

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.


Brush a 10-inch springform pan with some of the butter. Stir the remaining butter with the crumbs, 1/4 cup of the sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, packing it tightly and evenly. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a rack, then wrap the outside of the springform pan with foil and place in a roasting pan.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth. Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups sugar and beat until just light, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beaters as needed. Beat in the sour cream, then add the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, 1 teaspoon salt and the spices and beat until just combined. Pour into the cooled crust.

Gently place the roasting pan in the oven (don't pull the rack out) and pour the boiling water into the roasting pan until it comes about halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake until the outside of the cheesecake sets but the center is still loose, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the door briefly to let out some heat. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1 more hour, then carefully remove from the roasting pan and cool on a rack. Run a knife around the edges, cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Bring the cheesecake to room temperature 30 minutes before serving. Unlock and remove the springform ring. To finish, place a dollop of the whipped cream on each slice.

Enjoy!

Source: The Food Network 

Monday Match-Up

Pumpkin, pumpkin everywhere. Is anyone else just loving the season? I've already made pumpkin cupcakes last week and it wasn't enough. I had to have more. Today we're featuring pumpkin. Yay!

I was very lucky to have some company for the weekend. My sister-in-law Jamie and I were brainstorming pumpkin recipes and she mentioned one of her favorites. She makes these every year for her family and they love it. We made these today for the fam and they were fabulous. Seriously, yum. Make these this weekend. You won't regret it.

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 1/4 c. flour
2 Tbls. sugar
2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/2 teas. ground ginger
1/2 teas. salt
pinch of ground cloves
1 cup milk
6 Tbls. canned pumpkin
2 Tbls. melted butter
1 egg

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix milk, pumpkin, butter, and egg. Fold pumpkin mixture into dry mixture. Pour about 1/4 cup on a hot griddle and cook about 3 minutes on each side Serve with my favorite syrup.

Source: Martha Stewart

This is the best breakfast syrup ever. It is a cinnamony sweetness that my whole family loves.

Ann's Syrup
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1.4 c. water
1/2 teas. cinnamon
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

Combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Cook on medium heat stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in whipping cream.

Enjoy!
Monica :)
----------------------------

Pumpkin Pancakes?  Mmmm...something I have to try!!  I love this time of year!  All the flavors of fall are pretty much awesome.  I decided to make a Pumpkin Roll.  I've been making these for quite a few years.  I had all the ingredients on hand, except for the pumpkin, and that's always a good thing in my book...and my husbands.  :o)  Justy helped me throw them together.  It's fun getting your kids involved in the kitchen.  Hope you enjoy it just as much as my family does.

 Pumpkin Rolls-
3 eggs
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. canned pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice
3/4 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar

Filling-
1/4 c. butter softened
6 oz. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a BIG cookie sheet with parchment paper and grease the paper. In a large bowl, beat your eggs until a lemony color.  Gradually add sugar.  Stir in pumpkin, and lemon juice.  In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.  Fold into egg mixture.  Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing out the top.  Bake 15 minutes.  Lay a clean dish towel on the counter and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.  Turn your warm cake on the towel and remove paper.  Roll up cake.  Cool either in the fridge or if your in a hurry, throw it in the freezer for a few minutes.

Beat butter, and cream cheese until smooth.  Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.  Unroll cake and spread with filling and roll back up.  Cut and serve...AND ENJOY!

Have a great week! Erica*

MSC Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Please tell me how adorable these little pumpkins are.  I mean really!  Look at them!  They are so stinkin' cute I can hardly stand it.  I was so looking forward to this cupcake.  Nothing says fall to me than pumpkin whatever baking in the oven.  Oh man, I wish I could somehow send the smell through your screen because my mouth waters just thinking of it.  Soooo yummy. 

So if you can't tell these are a pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting and little marzipan pumpkins just hanging out on top looking all cute.  As far as the cupcake goes these were very easy to prepare.  They came out very moist with a fluffy crumb.  I have made this cream cheese frosting before.  I still love it.  It is really so yummy you must try it.  You can find it here.

The batter was very thick.  I folded in the pumpkin by hand.  It gave the batter a beautiful orange color.  I scooped the batter in my cupcake wrappers with this.  Is anyone out there still spooning your cupcake batter in?  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I don't like any batter dripped on my pan.  That is why I use the scoop.  I got mine from Pampered Chef.  I love it.

These baked up beautifully.  You can't tell in this picture but they had a beautiful orange tint.  Oh I couldn't wait to try one!  The cake by itself is very tasty.  It definately needed to be topped though.

Mmmmmmmm.  Yum.

My finished product.  I did enjoy making the little pumpkins once I got the color mixed in.  I hate that part.  Speaking of marzipan, does anyone have a good source for marzipan?  I got mine at the grocery store and it was okay.  I've had better.  I'm not sure how many people actually eat these anyway.  I'm thinking they are more for decoration?

I got this adorable little pedestal from my in-laws for my birthday.  I'm in love with it.  Thank you Bob and Marilyln!  You two are always so thoughtful!  Don't they look pretty?

I thought my little pumpkins needed a friennd.  Mr. Jack-o-lantern designed by my little boy.  I really do love this time of year!  :)  Overall I would say this cupcake is a 4.5.  It was so yummy.  Hopefully it holds up for tomorrow.  We'll see.  You can find this recipe on page 236 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.  Stay tuned!  Two more cupcakes this month!