Pumpkin Cupcakes

The blogosphere is definitely playing mind games on me.

Everyone everywhere is cooking with pumpkin, cinnamon, or apples.

But really, it’s only halfway through September!! Part of me feels like I should be clinging on to these last beautiful days of summer instead of preparing for fall…

This tree is in transition….half summer, half fall!

….but who am I kidding? I love fall and everything that comes with it. (I’m just going to ignore the fact that winter is coming, for right now.)

Which is why I made these pumpkin cupcakes twice in the past few weeks. 🙂

Before I found this recipe, I had never made pumpkin cake/cupcakes before. I’ve made bread and some 2-ingredient cookies using pumpkin (click here and here for the recipes), but nothing else beside that. For a long time I thought pumpkin-flavored things were overrated, but the delicious, moist, slightly spicy (not as in ouch-my-mouth-is-on-fire spicy, but like warmth spicy) quality it brings to these cupcakes definitely changed my mind.

Please note: I halved the original recipe both times that I made these, and it makes the perfect amount of cupcakes for a family get-together or just a regular old weekend when you want something sweet. 🙂

Pumpkin Cupcakes (E, N, D?)
makes about 15 cupcakes
adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:
– 1 cup all-purpose flour
– 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
– 1 cup brown sugar
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 1 tsp. baking powder
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

– 1/2 cup warm water
– 1/2 cup (4 oz.) canned pumpkin puree – NOT pumpkin pie filling!
– 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce or nonfat plain yogurt
– 1 tsp. white vinegar

– 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Line cupcake tin with paper liners, or spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour through ginger).
3. In a medium bowl, combine wet ingredients (water through vinegar).
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and whisk for about 2 minutes. (You could use a hand-mixer on medium speed here, but I wanted to manually whisk it. I don’t know why. 😛 ) Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into the cupcake tin, filling each about 3/4 of the way full.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
7. Allow cupcakes to cool in the tin for about 3 minutes, then move to a wire rack to complete the cooling process. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
8. Enjoy!

Notes:
– If you’re making these dairy-free, use applesauce instead of yogurt. I’ve tried both ways, and they both turn out wonderfully!
– On the same note, use dairy-free chocolate chips and frosting. I decorated mine with store-bought cream cheese frosting, but you could buy plain vanilla (which most of the time contains no dairy) or make your own!

Even though the leaves haven’t changed yet, pumpkin is one fall trend that I will gladly get on board with! Have a great Friday!

Tags: cake, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, pumpkin, recipes