Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Icing

Hi!
I shouldn't even be writing this because of all the school work I have, but, I seem to be finding any way I can to procrastinate. Oh well :) I've wanted to share this one with you since last week because it is oh, so delicious. Since it is now "Fall" (I promise all you southerners, really, it is. We've got our heat on and I even saw some snow flakes today)--it means I can now start cooking/baking with seasonal goodies. And, pumpkin is one of my faves. I have been scavenging through different recipes and finally landed on one I thought sounded devine. I was able to share the yumminess with some school friends, as I brought along these suckers to a cocktail party held after a conference-like thing my school held last week. Not to toot my own horn, but I got some pretty good reviews.

I followed the recipe exactly and had no difficulties. The whole thing was pretty easy--although, somehow in the process of all the mixing and baking, I managed to dirty every dish in our kitchen. I think that says more about me than it does about the recipe. Andrew doesn't call me Messy Marcin for just any reason. Anyway, I just know all you pumpkin lovers' mouths are watering in anticipation, so here's the recipe. BTW--I found the cupcake recipe from Duchess of Fork's blog and the frosting recipe from Cupcakes Take the Cake's .

Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
• 1 box Vanilla or Golden cake mix
• 1 box vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup oil
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• ½ tsp. cinnamon

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with liners, or spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, water and sour cream. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until ingredients are well combined. Add pumpkin and cinnamon and mix for another 30 seconds.
3. Divide batter between prepared mini or regular muffin tins. Bake for 20-23 minutes for regular cupcakes and 12-15 minutes for mini cupcakes.
4. Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely. Once cupcakes are cool, top with frosting.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
8 oz fat free cream cheese - room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter - room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4-6 cups powdered sugar

Preparation:
In an electric mixer, cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until fully incorporated. Gradually add powdered sugar in small portions, scraping down the sides with each addition, until desired consistency is reached.

Makes approximately 24 cupcakes, with plenty of frosting leftover to put on anything and everything you can get your hands on.


See, I had so much fun with it, I even got "fancy" and piped on my icing. And, to half of the cupcake mix, I added mini chocolate chips--which, I think made them extra good. Even if you aren't too fond of pumpkin, the pumpkin flavor in these is pretty subtle and the cupcakes themselves are super moist b/c of the pudding. I double dog dare you to try them out. Happy Halloween everyone!!