Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Chai Buttercream Frosting

With a capital C.

Can I get a heck yeah?!

If that title alone didn't get you jazzed about this post, you better check your pulse, m'friend. 'Cause we're talking Cupcakes with a capital C!

(Unless you don't like pumpkin, and then, well, it's ok. I forgive you, even.)

We stay on a pretty even straight-and-narrow when it comes to baking around here. Chocolate chip cookies for P and the boys. Ginger Crinkles for me. Peanut butter cookies for me and P. I rarely venture off just because I'm a big ol' chicken and I have night terrors about eating an entire batch of cookies by myself because my family has shunned them. (My fears are kind enough to constantly look out for my vanity. Sweet, right?)

But I stumbled across a recipe for pumpkin muffins that piqued my interest. Partly because my husband is a fanatic about pumpkin pies but mostly because I had a ton of canned pumpkin in the fridge from a failed attempt at pumpkin pancakes earlier in the week. Something had to be done use up that poor, neglected pumpkin.

We don't need no stinkin' stand mixer!

Something, indeed. From the land of one and a half-ton pumpkins, comes something truly worth that blessed squash's orangey goodness.

 I adapted the recipe into cupcakes by upping the sugar a bit and tinkering with the airiness of the crumb with the pain-in-the-butt mixing process.

(OK, it wasn't that bad. But I'm more of a dump-and-go sort of girl, so alternating ingredients as I mix them is definitely a step toward fussiness in my opinion.)

As ever, my constant kitchen companion Boo was my faithful helper, jabbing chubby toddler fingers into the batter and swiping my mixers fresh out of the bowl. I love that kid.

On to the cupcakes...

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes with Chai Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes:
1.5 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each of ginger, clove, and nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Yields about 18 cupcakes.

Double sift flour, baking soda, spices, and salt into a medium sized bowl and set aside. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars well with a mixer. Add eggs one at a time and mix well before adding next. Add vanilla and mix well again, allowing the batter to expand slightly.

Here's where we get the extra work for the extra payoff:

To your butter/egg/sugar mixing bowl, alternate 1/3 of your flour with 1/3 of the canned pumpkin into the bowl. Repeat two more times, making sure you end with the last of the flour mixture. Add batter to individual tins, about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Icing:
2 tablespoons of strongly brewed chai tea, cooled completely
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup cold milk

Combine ingredients and mix on high for 2-3 minutes. Spread on cooled cupcakes.

Happy eating!