Pumpkin Yumkins

Fall is my favorite season of the year for many reasons.

Number 1: Aggie Football (okay, this may be Matt’s number 1, but I’ve gotten a whole lot more interested in football since marrying him). Yesterday we even went to College Station for the A&M vs. Auburn game. Tough loss for us Ags, but great weather and lots of fun!

A&M football team walking into the stadium.

Number 2: Cooler weather. Texas is known for our brutally hot summers, so when we start getting some cooler nights and mornings come October, we all get really excited.

Number 3: Candy corn. Need I say more?

Number 4: Pumpkins!! I LOVE pumpkins! I love decorating my house with pumpkins, and I love eating pumpkin. Here’s just a few of my favorite recipes: pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin whoopie pies, pumpkin butter bars, pumpkin butter granola, pumpkin oatmeal …you get the idea.

Spoon batter into muffin cups almost to the top. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Since my mom knows how much I like pumpkin, she decided to make these pumpkin yumkins just for me (okay, I let Matt eat some) this weekend.

The recipe is from one of our favorite cookbooks: Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe by Rebecca Rather. Everything in this cookbook is just like the author: down-home yet grand, and familiar yet one-of-a kind. From Texas Big Hair tarts to fried pies to cookies, I’m ready to try just about all of Rather’s recipes.

Just what is pumpkin “yumkin” you ask?

In Rather’s cookbook, she describes having found this recipe in her grandmother’s things but couldn’t ever remember making them. The unusual name caught her (and our) attention so she decided to make them. It turns out, the yumkins are a cross between a muffin and a cupcake, all dressed up with orange-flavored cream cheese frosting.

When Dad brought these over to us last night at 10:30 pm, I only intended on eating a bite but that didn’t happen…. This is probably my all-time favorite pumpkin recipe ever!!

The orange-flavor cream cheese frosting is genius and pairs perfectly with the yumkins. What may surprise you is that there are no spices in this recipe: no pumpkin spice, no allspice, no cinnamon and no cloves. However, the can of pumpkin, brown sugar, dates and cream cheese frosting create the perfect fall recipe to serve during the holidays. Enjoy!

Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool 30 minutes before frosting.

pumpkin yumkins — Coat the tops of the cool yumkins with cream cheese frosting and enjoy!

Pumpkin Yumkins

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 1 dozen

Source: “The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe” by Rebecca Rather

Ingredients

YUMKINS
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped dates
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cups powdered sugar
Zest of 1 orange, preferably organic

Instructions

TO MAKE THE YUMPKINS: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the nuts on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast for 7 to 9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Cool the nuts, and then coarsely chop.
Grease 12 standard-size muffin cups with butter or cooking spray. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in the dates and pecans. The batter will be thick.
Spoon the batter into muffin cups just to the top. Bake about 20 minutes, until the muffins are firm to the touch or a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert them onto racks to cool for 30 minutes before frosting.
TO MAKE THE FROSTING: Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and orange juice on medium speed about 20 seconds. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Stir in the orange zest.
Coat the tops of the cooled yumkins with frosting. Do no wrap until the frosting has set, about 45 minutes. Well-wrapped yumkins will keep about 3 days at room temperature.

Lemon-Scented Blueberry Cupcakes

How are those New Years Resolutions treating you? We’re just 12 days into the new year, and hopefully you’ve stayed strong and are on the right track to a great 2013!

If you have a sweet tooth, these blueberry cupcakes might be right up your alley. They recipe is from Cooking Light, and they’ve received outstanding reviews. The combination of blueberries and lemon juice is perfect. The texture is more muffin-like than cupcake-like, but nonetheless they were tasty. The lemon-scented cream cheese frosting was amazing! You would never know that you’re eating 1/3 less-fat cream cheese. For a homemade look, use a small flat spatula… like I did. If you want to get fancy, pipe the frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip for a fun, swirled appearance.

So go ahead… satisfy that sweet tooth with these light and scrumptious cupcakes. Enjoy!

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda.

Combine melted butter and egg. Add buttermilk, milk and lemon rind. Then add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture.

Fold blueberries into batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.

In a stand mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, rind, vanilla and salt. Gradually add powdered sugar and stir in juice.

Spread frosting over cupcakes and garnish with blueberries.

Blueberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
CUPCAKES
6.75 ounces (1 1/2 cups) plus 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour, divided
10 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
3/4 cup blueberries

FROSTING
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less fat cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place 12 paper muffin cup lines in muffin cups.
3. To prepare cupcakes: Weigh or lightly spoon 6.75 ounces flour (about 1 1/2 cups) into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Measure 1 tablespoon flour; level with a knife. Sift together 6.75 ounces flour plus 1 tablespoon flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
4. Combine melted butter and egg in another large bowl; stir with a whisk. Add buttermilk, milk and 1 teaspoon rind to butter mixture; stir with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Toss blueberries with remaining 1 tablespoon flour. Fold blueberries into batter.
5. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
6. To prepare frosting: Place cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon rind, vanilla and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed just until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar (do not over beat). Stir in juice. Spread frosting evenly over cupcakes. Cover and store in refrigerator.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 cupcake)
Recipe from: Cooking Light Way to Bake: The Complete Visual Guide to Healthy Baking – delicious recipes, freshly healthy ingredients, smart tools & techniques

Tiffany Blue Chocolate Cupcakes

With the name “Tiffany Blue Cupcakes” you would think I was making these for an engagement shower. Instead it was a lovely baby boy shower for my friend Courtney. I was hoping the blue food coloring would yield a pretty sky blue, but instead I got Tiffany blue… nonetheless they were gorgeous!

The story behind these cupcakes is actually quite funny. In preparation for Saturday’s baby shower, I made the cake part of the cupcakes on Friday night. Check… one less thing to do on Saturday morning. The morning of the shower I thought I would make the frosting, bring it with me to the shower, and ice the cupcakes before all the guests arrived.

Anticipating that I was running late, I gathered the cupcakes, my Wilton decorating kit, my purse and a whisk and rushed out the door. What was missing on that list? The frosting!!!

By the time I realized I left the frosting in my refrigerator, Matt had just arrived home after lifting weights, hungry and ready to eat his Jersey Mike’s sub. Lucky for me, he was home…but to his frustration, I requested that he meet me halfway to my friend’s house with the frosting I left behind.

I won’t go into details, but Matt was pretty mad…. he was hungry and just wanted to eat his sandwich and watch football. My favorite excuse of his: “Just let the guests eat the cupcakes without icing.” Really? Cupcakes without frosting…. that would not cut it. Matt then suggested that I go to Wal-Mart and buy some $.99 icing from a can. Again, not going to cut it when I went through all the trouble to make the frosting this morning. Plus frosting from a can is terrible and I have to keep my reputation!

Long story short, Matt met me with the icing, I frosted the cupcakes and everyone loved them! Matt later sent me a text saying he was sorry for complaining and also wrote “those cupcakes are the best cupcakes I have ever had!”

Guests at the party raved over the icing and how moist the cupcakes were. Even those that don’t like chocolate cupcakes LOVED these, including me! Here’s a great recipe that I’ll be sure to make again and again…

Using a stand mixer, make the batter.

Bake for 18-22 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.

Remove from oven.

Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Pipe frosting on each cupcake. Garnish with sprinkles.

Take a big bite, or two!

Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions
1. Line muffin tin with paper lines. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
3. Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
4. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. Bake cupcakes for approximately 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs.
5. Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Yield: 24 standard sized cupcakes
Recipe from: Glorious Treats

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, set at room temperature about 10 minutes, but should still be cool
8 ounces cream cheese, directly from fridge
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1-2 Tbsp. skim milk

Directions
1. Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
2. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy. Slowly add the milk, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes).
3. Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

Yield: Enough to frost 2 dozen cupcakes if you are piping a nice swirl. (Will also frost and fill a two layer 9″ cake)
Recipe adapted from: Glorious Treats

Sprinkles’ Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Okay, you would think I’m sick of strawberries after my weekend experience with them! Let me tell you what happened….

I had full intentions of baking a strawberry cake made with strawberry Jell-O and strawberry frosting for the 4th of July. My plans changed with a good friend of ours brought us an Apple and Pecan Pie instead. This past weekend, my husband’s grandparents celebrated their 60th Anniversary, so I thought I would attempt the strawberry cake again and bring it to the family celebration. Everything started out like it should… the batter tasted awesome, which was a great sign, so I put it in the oven and eagerly anticipated the baked cake. After about 30 minutes, things started to take a turn for the worse. The cake seemed a little too jiggly, so I returned it to the oven for another few minutes. Five minutes later, I pulled the cake from the oven, and it seemed perfect. Looks can be deceiving….

Since I was looking forward to this cake, my eagerness got the best of me, and I flipped the cake out of it’s pan before it was completely cooled… BIG MISTAKE! As soon as I flipped the pan over, the cake seemed to burst in half, and tumbled out of the pan like lava flowing out of a volcano. I was so upset! I then ruined it even more by attempting to make the cake into cake balls. To my unfortunate luck, the balls did not set up… they seemed to turn into even more liquid. With that said, I don’t know if I will make that strawberry cake ever again….my mom will have to make it for me instead! haha.

This afternoon, my husband I started craving something sweet and he suggested I attempt the strawberry cake again…”NO WAY” I thought. Instead, I had the “brilliant” idea of making strawberry cupcakes. There is no way on earth I could mess those up, especially when they are in the paper liners! I was right, the cupcakes were great and redeemed my self-esteem after the cake fiasco.

Has anyone heard of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the world’s first cupcake bakery in Beverly Hills? Most of you would agree with me when I saw they are delicious. They are also one of the largest cupcakes I’ve ever seen. It would be really hard for little ole me to eat a whole Sprinkles Cupcake! We have a Sprinkles here in Dallas, and I know Houston recently opened one too.

Well, these strawberry cupcakes are “supposedly” the Sprinkles Cupcakes’ Strawberry Cupcake recipe. I thought they were wonderful, moist, and the icing was delectably sweet. No cake mix in these…just pure, fresh, and from-scratch ingredients. No food coloring either….the light pink color comes from the pureed strawberries in both the batter and frosting.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Sprinkles’ Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients
2/3 cup fresh or frozen whole strawberries (thawed if frozen)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg whites, room temperature
*Sprinkles’ Strawberry Frosting

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcakes liners; set aside.
2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 1/3 cup of puree. Add a few more strawberries if necessary, or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla and strawberry puree; set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add the remaining flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
6. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Transfer muffin tin to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.

Sprinkles’ Strawberry Frosting
Ingredients
1/2 cup frozen whole strawberries, thawed
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
Pinch coarse salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small processor; process until pureed.
2. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and 3 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended.
3. Do not overmix, or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.

Yield: 12 cupcakes
Sprinkles Cupcakes