Then, I hit the grocery store to grab what I needed for meals this week. After the grocery store was the real challenge...taking Lana to Petco.She's still fairly new to the leash, but she did pretty well. She walked through the store, stayed with me, and let people pet her. She even let someone put a coat on her. But, once we were in the checkout line, about 5 golden retrievers came in, sparking wayyyy to much excitement for her. What does she do? Pees. Right in the checkout line. Luckily, it's Petco and they didn't care. Lana had a pretty active weekend, playing with another pitbull, and then hanging at the hockey rink last night until 10, so I was banking on her taking a nice long nap while I prepared dinner and baked all afternoon. Nap she did, so into the kitchen I went.
I made my shrimp and corn chowder that Dan requests on a monthly basis fir dinner. Getting into the fall spirit, I had to make some fall flavored cupcakes. Pumpkin Snickerdoodle was the final vote. I changed up the recipe slightly, but just by filling my cupcakes with some pumpkin caramel sauce I had from Stonewall Kitchen. The stuff is delicious and is recommended for a topping on desserts and ice cream, so using it as a filling for these cupcakes was a no-brainer. The cupcakes came out very moist due to the pumpkin and applesauce in the batter. They made the liners really stick to them though. One step I over-looked was sifting out the cake mix. I wish I had because I had little tiny clumps of cake mix throughout the batter that never mixed out. Next time, I will definitely sift it first (and it must be with a sifter, not with a whisk). The frosting was incredibly easy to make, and since you want to showcase the cinnamon sugar topping, you only want a small amount of frosting. You could even cut the frosting recipe in half, I had so much leftover. Usually, I like a full frosted cupcake, but since these had the cinnamon sugar coating, it was okay that there was only a small amount. These cupcakes were delicious. Super moist and PACKED with flavor. The cake, filling and frosting all went well together. Due to the sweetness of all the cinnamon and sugar, I recommend going with the cream cheese frosting instead of a buttercream. Or, for something even fresher and a little less sweet, you could make a cinnamon whipped cream for a topping.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
adapted from Your Cup of Cake
1 box yellow cake mix (or use a spice cake mix and omit the spices)
1 tbsp.pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup applesauce (or oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
4 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup of cinnamon and sugar. mixed (you will have plenty leftover)
Stonewall Kitchen's Pumpkin Caramel Sauce (or any caramel sauce)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line two pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the cake mix, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the pumpkin, eggs, milk, applesauce and vanilla. Add the cake mix and continue to beat until combined.
4. Fill liner 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.
5. Brush cooled cupcakes with melted butter and dip the tops in the cinnamon sugar mixture, coating the tops.
6. Using a straw, poke 4 holes in the tops of each cake.
7. Put the caramel sauce into a squeeze bottle and microwave for 30 seconds on half power. Squeeze caramel into the holes in the cupcakes.
8. For the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the cinnamon and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. If it seems too thick, add a tablespoon of milk until you get the consistency you want. Frost cupcakes and eat!
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