These I made shortly after Christmas-- and this leaves for the last of my Christmas posts. Now all posts will actually be from this year-- hurrah! That's more caught up than I expected to be!While I was home and cooking for my little brothers I went through a whole slew of my recipes to decide what to make for them. I had leftover pumpkin from making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I thought that was a good reason to make more pumpkin flavoured things. I still didn't use all the pumpkin before I left.
My mom doesn't really like pumpkin (or any squash) either.
But whatever! Originally this recipe calls for a dulce de leche frosting, but I decided to go with chocolate instead. I really like the combo of pumpkin and chocolate, though I can't exactly tell you why. It's probably just the spice and chocolate, since I love mexican chocolate and cinnamon chocolate too. Spicy, sweet, bitter, all in one load-- can't go wrong with that.
My dulce de leche didn't set very well. I was sort of under time constraints (imagine, with two little boys running underfoot) so I didn't give it as much time as it needed. Thus, the dulce looks good here, but within a day or so it was completely absorbed into the center of the cupcake and just made it moister. Which was fine-- considering half a week later I was feeding them to Brian and they were still almost as moist as the day I had made them (unlike the red velvet cupcakes).
These were moist cupcakes anyway-- which were more like muffins, really, with the way they were prepared and the texture inside. But they were still tasty-- muffins with frosting. Less complicated than cupcake making, and still really just as delicious. I really liked the chocolate frosting.
They were a hit among the boys, and Brian, and etc. I was pleased with the results. I didn't get around to making pumpkin bread yesterday (I realized I had left my spices at Brian's), but I have every intention of doing it today. :D
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Dulche de Leche FillingInspired from Sweetest Kitchens
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7.5 oz of pumpkin puree
1 small can sweetened condensed milk
Oven at 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Whisk together your dries (including the spices). In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Add the dries, then add the pumpkin.
Pour into 12 prepared cupcake cups and bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
For the Dulce de Leche, take one small can of sweetened condensed milk and bake in the oven for one hour in a tin. Until golden and thick.
To prepare the cupcakes, once cool, using a melon scooper remove the centers of the cupcakes and add a dollop of Dulce de Leche. Replace cupcake centers and top with frosting.
Chocolate Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 oz bakers chocolate, melted with 1 1/2 teaspoons of butter
1 pound of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk, optional, to thin
Combine butter and chocolate, whisk until smooth. Add powdered sugar when butter starts to break apart, and mix until thick and fluffy. Add vanilla extract.
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