Cooking with Oil...Pumpkin Cupcakes

The Holiday Season is for pumpkin so when I found the recipe for pumpkin cupcakes from The Barefoot Contessa I needed to make them. While I like the bars, bread, and pie it is always nice to find something new to bake. The frosting calls for real maple syrup and if you don’t have it just use your favorite cream cheese recipe. I did have the syrup and it gives the frosting a great flavor.

 Ina says it makes 10 cupcakes and I got 12 and a dab of batter left. They did not raise as high so I could have filled the cups a little more which I will do the next time. I like the size of the recipe as than you don’t get tired of them. If you need more, try doubling it. It also made a large amount of frosting and we don’t like ours frosted as thick as is now the trend so I cut the amount by a third and still had some frosting leftover. If you do like frosting go for the full amount.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

Makes 10 to 12 cupcakes

Ingredients 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 large to extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup canned pumpkin (8 ounces), not pie filling

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush or spray the top of 10 muffin tins with vegetable oil and line them with 10 paper liners.

 Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Divide the batter among the prepared tins (I use a level 2 1/4-inch ice cream scoop) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.

Spread the cupcakes with the Maple Frosting 

Maple Frosting

Ingredients 

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup or 1/4 teaspoon Maple Flavoring (not maple flavor pancake syrup)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Directions 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and butter on low speed until smooth. Stir in the maple flavoring and vanilla extract. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.