In a recent trip to northern Portugal to pick grapes at the farm house of some friends parents we were given, in reward for our work, a number of things.
They included, a flat of figs, 6 bottles of homemade sparkling rosé, a million kilo bag of potatoes (ok, I'm exaggerating but it's really a lot) a butternut squash and a very large pumpkin.
My first thoughts for the pumpkin were to use it to make savory dishes, pumpkin soup, pumpkin and white beans, pumpkin risotto and any other number of dishes that could be made for dinner with pumpkin. But I quickly realized that I was running out of ideas for dinner with pumpkin, it was probably getting to be a bit much pumpkin for Giacomo and I still had a little less than half a pumpkin left, so I decided to turn to sweets. After a little look around at recipes I remembered my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, and decided to search her archive of recipes for desserts. Specifically, pumpkin cupcakes (mostly because I rediscovered some super cute pumpkin cupcake liners that my sister gave me).
I knew I couldn't go wrong with one of Smitten Kitchen's recipes (even if this was 8 years old) so I used another of her recipes, how to make pumpkin puree, to get started and set to work making these cupcakes. The pumpkin puree was even easier to make than I thought, much easier than other recipes I've attempted before. So much so that while I hope for your sake that you always live in a country where you can buy pumpkin puree and don't have to make it, I'm pleased to say I no longer dread the task.
But I digress. In the end, the cupcakes were quite the hit! People from the office who I didn't even know told me how good they were and one of my friends took a couple home with her, one for her and one for her boyfriend, regretting she had told her boyfriend there was one for him.
So without further ado, here's the recipe and Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple–Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Yield: 20 cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (see below for recipe to make your own)
Frosting Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
Cupcake Directions:
1) Heat oven to 350° (175°C). Line a cupcake pan with liners.
2) In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a medium bowl.
3) Add eggs, one at a time, to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition.
4) Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour.
5) Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners until about 3/4 full. Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.
Frosting Directions:
1) In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer like I have) beat all the ingredients on high until fluffy. Frost the tops of each cupcake, swirling decoratively. Refrigerate cupcakes for 30 minutes to set up frosting.
Pumpkin Puree (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Ingredients:
1 sugar pumpkin (some other type of pumpkin or butternut squash or sweet potatoes)
Directions:
1) Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
2) Halve a sugar pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Place the pumpkin halves cut side down your baking sheet and roast the pumpkin until it is completely tender inside, about 45 to 50 minutes.
3) Scrape the pumpkin flesh off the skin with a large spoon (metal is great here, because of the sharper edges) and puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. Let cool and use as needed.
Note: 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree holds about 1 3/4 cups of puree.
Note: 1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree holds about 1 3/4 cups of puree.
