Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I wanted to share this recipe for Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting with you all, because it is so very DELICIOUS! I could sit down with an entire bowl of this rich frosting…shhhh. With Thanksgiving fast approaching these cupcakes are ideal for the holiday! Do they look familiar? Two years ago my sister Beth, of Home Stories A to Z, did a glowing post about my pumpkin cupcakes, in hopes that I’d start blogging soon. Well her (and her readers’) encouragement worked! A little over a year later I started Sand & Sisal!

  Let’s get straight to the good stuff shall we? The recipe!

Mix the following 4 ingredients in a med. sized bowl:

2 1/4 c. flour

1 Tbl. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix the following ingredients in a large bowl:

4 eggs beaten

1 can of canned pureed pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 c. oil

3/4 c milk

Add half of the dry ingredients in your med bowl to the large bowl and mix, then add the rest and mix to only combine (don’t over mix or you’ll have hockey pucks).

Spoon into 24 paper lined cupcake pans 3/4 full.

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 25 min.

Frost when completely cool.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 (8oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. butter, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar (add more if needed)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

With an electric beater, mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy, add vanilla and cinnamon, and one cup of sugar at a time until desired consistency is reached. For an easy way to pipe on the frosting, place frosting into a freezer quart size bag, twist air out of top of bag, snip the corner off of the bag, and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Caramel Acorns (this nut idea came from the book Happy Cupcake):

24 Brach’s caramels

handful of chocolate chips, melted in microwave

chocolate jimmies

Microwave 2 unwrapped caramels at a time for about 8 seconds. Roll into a ball and shape into an acorn shape. Set aside. When all are shaped, dip caramel top into melted chocolate chips and then immediately into a pile of chocolate jimmies. Set onto plate. Voila! Acorns.

Click to read Beth’s post about these cupcakes here.

Kim