Walnut Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!

The holidays are well under way and I've already gained my obligatory five pounds of winter squish.  A little early this year because I just came back from a 7 day cruise to Mexico where I ate my face off, yes, but also because I just had my first of at least four Thanksgivings.

Yes you read that correctly.  I am having at least four Thanksgivings this year.  And of course I will be baking for all.

The first thing I've baked so far are these very autumn themed Walnut Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes.  After two or so years, I think I have finally perfected my pumpkin spice recipe.  I'm very excited about that.  I'll be adding nuts each time I make it now though, that's for sure. But I am also very happy with the aesthetic of how they came out.  (That means I think they're prettyyyyyy.)

At first I was not even excited about making these.  Until I made a basic pumpkin spice cupcake my own, of course.  Add walnuts.  Add a ginger molasses cookie crust.  And more walnuts on top.  Done.

But I also wanted them to LOOK like fall.  I had done leaves before and I loved how they had come out but they needed something more.  And then I remembered the teeny tiny little leaf shaped cookie cutter that I had bought almost a year ago in a set of cookie cutters at Sur La Table.  I bought it for the star to use on my red velvet cupcakes, but the pack contained a leaf too.  I searched about the grocery store until I found some type of candy I could roll out and settled on gum drops because of the added sugar sprinkle flare. They're quite easy to roll out once you get the hang of it.  But until you get the hang of it, it's a sticky mess so beware.

Gum Drop Leaves
Large Pack of Large Gum Drops/Spice Drops
Small Leaf Cutter

Directions:
1. With a rolling pin and medium pressure, roll on top of gum drop. Turn gum drop 90* and roll again.  Flip gum drop over and repeat until gum drop is mostly flat, about an 1/4 inch long.
2. Press cutter over gum drop and remove excess gum drop from sides before pushing out the leaf.
Tips:  The reason you are are slowly rolling out the gum drop is because if you apply too much pressure and roll it out flat at once, you will make a sticky mess.  You want the gum drop to retain the sugar on top so that it not only looks pretty, but also so that you can still work with it.  Once it's too thin you won't be able to use it anymore.


Initially I wanted to use ginger snaps.  Unfortunately I couldn't find them at the two stores I went to and it was pouring rain so I ended my search and bought molasses cookies.  I spiked them heavily with ginger instead.


Ginger Molasses Crust  (optional)
1 package (10 medium-large) of molasses cookies
2 tsp ginger
1/8 c butter, melted


1. Crush cookies with rolling pin and place in bowl.
2. Add melted butter to cookies, add just enough to make the crumbs workable.
3. Add ginger. Spice to taste.
4. Place one tablespoon of crumbs at the bottom of a lined cupcake tin and press down.
5. Bake in oven for 3-4 minutes at 350* and set aside to cool.



Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Makes 15, Bake for 350* for approx. 15 minutes

1 1/8 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. oil
1 egg
1 c. pumpkin
1/3 c. sour cream
1/3 c. roasted walnuts

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, all spice, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
2.  In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir two sugars, egg, oil, pumpkin and sour cream until combined.
3.  Slowly add in your dry ingredient mixture to the wet mixture, beat on medium speed.
4. Fold in roasted walnuts.
5. Scoop batter onto the top of the ginger molasses crust and bake in oven for 15 minutes or until done.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese in stand mixer until smooth.
2. Add in vanilla.
3. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time and beat until fluffy.
4. Frost cupcakes.

I can't say how much the walnuts added to these cupcakes.  Really.

That and the fact that they bake up super fluffy and full of moisture.

Actually I think it's the combination of the spice and the walnuts and the ginger crust that makes these so good. When people first bite into the crust, they know it's good but they aren't even sure what it is except that they like it.

It's all the flavors of fall (dressed up with a bow of course) in your mouth all at the SAME time. Awesome.

Let's see what else I end up making this week.  Hopefully you fill your kitchens and your bellies with something wonderful.

xoxo,
Anna

Caramel Apple Fritters

September must be caramel month here at my feelings taste like cupcakes, cuz last week I  had those caramel pumpkin snickerdoodles, and just look at the caramel on that plate this week!  Nom.  Can't take full credit for these those, I had a lovely little baking partner this weekend.  My dear Rachelle, who I baked that soft chocolate cake with a few months ago, and I got together Saturday morning to churn out some quick donuts for a late dessert after brekkie.  Rachelle dates are the best.  They always involve food.

We adapted the recipe from here, but made one crucial change.  Instead of making a simple glaze (milk + powdered sugar) to coat it in, we drizzled it with caramel.  Yeah, just because caramels and apples are lovely and delicious.

Apple Fritters
Makes about 24 fritters, around 1.5 inches in diameter.
Fry at 375*  on each side as needed.

1 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt
2 tsp cinnamon (feel free to add more, we wished we had!)
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 – 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped apples

vegetable oil for frying
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients together.

2. In mixer, slowly add in vanilla, butter, egg,milk and beat until incorporated. 

3. Fold in apple pieces. 

4. Heat oil.  Should be around 375*. Test with a small piece of dough before starting to fry.  Place 2-3 scoops of batter at a time into oil and cook on each side until golden brown and cooked all the way through.  (Once we got the hang of it, it took about 3 minutes to get them cooked all the way.  

5. Place on paper towels to absorb oil

6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still hot

Easy Caramel Sauce
About 8 oz of unwrapped caramels
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
1. Place caramels in a sauce pan over low heat and add cream

2. Whisk slowly until caramels are completely melted and sauce is smooth.
3. Drizzle over fritters and serve

So how do they look like when they're done and sprinkled with powdered sugar and drizzled with caramel?

Like this:

And when you bite into them, revealing those chopped up apples inside, they look a little like this:

Consume these ASAP because the warm insides and gooey caramel have a short shelf life.  Make sure that you have plenty of taste testers near by to help you do the job though.

Cuz the temptation to shove them all in your mouth is high.  They do smell, and look,  like caramel cinnamon apple deliciousness after all.

So put them on a plate, invite some friends over and have a fritter brekkie party.

It took a few to get the hang of frying them, I try not to use oil in anything I cook (granted, i can't cook) and neither does Rachelle but in the end they came out pretty awesome.  Now we feel confident that we will be adequately prepared for our next baking adventure:  churros.  I told you Rachelle dates are awesome.

But before we do that, we're hitting up Oakland's Eat Real Festival.  So no baking this weekend since I will already be eating 4x my body weight anyways. (I'm actually going for 2/3 days, haha.)  Check it out if you're in town.  It's 100% more awesome than any other foodie thing you've ever been to.

xoxo,

Anna

Autumn Themed Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting 2.0 turned into my first real baking failure.  Well, half failure.  Half the batch turned into a hot mess.  The other half were fine.  Luckily i was doing mini cupcakes though, so half a batch made 48 mini cupcakes, lol.  Exactly what i needed!  So this post wont be too heavy with the pictures on baking.  And  ill omit the actual recipe to the pumpkin spice cupcakes i made  (just use last years for now, and add more puree and sour cream).  I added too much butter, and while the first batch was cooking, the rest of the batter sat out on the cold counter and the butter started to congeal back together... so when it baked it was like broken butter bubbles.  Not pretty.

I WAS trying to add moisture to the recipe. So i added more butter, pumpkin puree, buttermilk and sour cream. But the butter was too much in the end... haha.

Instead we will talk about how ridiculously easy it is to make cuppycakes look fancy pants.  I found this tutorial online last year and book marked it.  When i found the same sprinkles later on i bought them so that i could use them one day. (Side note:  these were all the rage a few years ago in the cupcake world.  But since im just starting, its okay that i am behind on the times.) Then, last weekend, with two Thanksgiving dinners (omg so much food in two days) and limited time it became the perfect opportunity.  

So i made myself some quick directions that doubled as a template for the trees.  All you need is melted chocolate chips, Leaf sprinkles from Wilton, some parchment paper and a ziplock bag.

Melt some chips in the ziplock, make a small snip at the end of the bag (no tip needed) and make a thick tree trunk.  Then draw 4-5 branches.  Before the chocolate starts to harden, throw some leaves onto the branches.

 Don't forget that it's fall!  Not that many leaves left, therefore not that many needed on your tree.  I just made 4 and start to finish including clean up was 15 minutes.  Super easy.  Could have busted out more, but i had things to do that day.

Then i just carefully placed one little leaf on each of the mini cupcakes.  

And then i stuck the big trees in a cupcake and put them with the rest.  Super easy, super looks like it was hard work.  It wasn't.  Don't tell anyone.  :)

photo credit: pandipoo

photo credit: pandipoo

They were all eaten happily, with no one knowing how close to disaster the actual baking process was.  Sure more butter was consumed than was needed...  but that's Thanksgiving for you.  Your loved ones slowly killing you with fatty food.

xoxo,

Anna

P.S.  Happy Thanksgiving!  :)  I'm off to Costa Rica for 9 days, but i will be back the second week of December with an uber cute cupcake  >.< .  And then maybe something for New Years?  We'll see.