Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ok...it's almost time to say goodbye to pumpkin recipes for a while. I had made some pies last weekend and found myself with about a cup of pumpkin puree left. I thought about what I could do with it for a little bit, then my 3 year old announced that he would like a cupcake. He basically asks for cupcakes daily...but at this moment I thought...cupcakes...that taste like pumpkin pie...covered in cream cheese frosting...oh yes, I must!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 stick butter (softened)
1 Cup pumpkin puree
3/4 Cup milk
2 eggs
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon (heaping)
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Frosting

4 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 stick butter (softened)
3-4 Cups powdered sugar
1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk (more if needed)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt (optional). Sift them all together and set aside.

Cream the butter and white sugar, and then add the brown sugar.



Add in the eggs and mix until fully incorporated. (about 2 minutes)

Next comes the pumpkin....this step looks rather odd, but go with it anyway, lol

See...strange looking glop at this point

Now add in about 1/2 the dry ingredients, mix for 1-2 minutes then add half the milk. Repeat for the other half of the flour mix and the milk.

Fill muffin cups lined with cupcake liners about 2/3 full (I use the larger of my two cookie scoops) and bake for about 17-20 minutes (mine were done in 18 minutes for the first batch, 15 for the second). Makes 24 cupcakes.

To make the frosting, mix the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time. You can drop in milk a Tbsp at a time to get the consistency that you prefer. If you plan on using a knife to spread a small amount of frosting to the tops you could cut the recipe in half.