Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Seasonal sweets in a jiffy

Last year, I made pumpkin cake and pecan pie for Thanksgiving dessert. Since I won't actually be at home with my family for the holiday this year, I made pumpkin cupcakes as a pre-Thanksgiving treat to share with them. I love how easy these were and how moist they stayed even days later — leave it to a Paula Dean recipe to make the magic happen. Her recipe is for pumpkin bars, but I went for cupcakes instead, adding more spice and using some applesauce instead of oil. Whether you try it my way or Paula's, these babies won't disappoint! 

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WHAT YOU'LL NEED
CUPCAKES
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce (I used cinnamon applesauce)
1 tsp vanilla
15-oz. can pumpkin
2 cups flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING 
4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 to 1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
sprinkling of cinnamon

WHAT YOU'LL DO
1. For the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a muffin pan.

2. Using an electric mixer, combine eggs, sugar, applesauce, oil, vanilla, and pumpkin until light and fluffy. 

3. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, mixing at a low speed until just combined. Scrape down the bowl as you go. 

4. Pour batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake at 325 for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool in the pan, then move to a cooling rack.

5. For the frosting: Using an electric mixer, combine cream cheese and butter until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix. Add vanilla and sprinkling of cinnamon and mix. Spread or pipe on cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving. *Note: If you want to pipe on a heavy layer of frosting, make double the amount.

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Another tweak I made to Paula's recipe: Less sugar in the frosting. Most cream cheese frosting recipes have too much sugar and you can always add more, so start with half of what's called for and go from there. Better safe than sickeningly sweet and sorry!