Maple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Pumpkin Icing

 I wanted to make these as my last hoorah to Halloween because come November 1st it is going to be all things Christmas!  I am so excited for Christmas, and plan on trying out a lot of new recipes for my favourite holiday.  I hope you like these festive Fall cupcakes.  You can never have too much pumpkin, am I right?



Ingredients:

Cake:

1 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Margarine
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Maple Extract (or substitute an additional tsp of Vanilla)
1 1/2 cups White Flour
1 3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Water (You could also use milk)
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (optional)


Icing:

1/4 cup Pumpkin Puree (Pure)
1 TB Margarine
1 tsp Maple Extract
1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (Or cinnamon)
3 1/2 cups Icing Sugar


Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place your liners in your muffin tins.  Cool looking Halloween themed liners preferred.

2.  Combine the sugar and margarine in your mixer.  Add eggs one at a time with the vanilla and maple extract.  Mix until smooth.

3.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and spices.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Add the water until fully combined.

4.  Spoon into the muffin tins, filling the liners about 2/3 full.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center of a cupcake.

5.  While the cupcakes are cooling begin to make the icing.  Start by mixing the pumpkin puree, margarine and maple extract in your mixer.  Slowly add the icing sugar until the icing is your preferred consistency.  I like mine pretty thick, but you could stop adding icing sugar at 3 cups and go for a slightly lighter icing.

6.  When the cupcakes are completely cool, ice and enjoy!

 

Evil Scientist Beaker Sprinkles from Save-on-Foods

Pumpkin Scones

 

 

 I am pretty much obsessed with pumpkin.  I love it in drinks, soups, baked goods, ice cream, you name it!  I even have pumpkin tea, pumpkin shower gel, and have been known to spend an uncomfortably long time sniffing the pumpkin scented candles at Bath and Body Works.  

 

 I love this recipe because the flavour of the natural pumpkin really comes through.  It tastes a lot like the Starbucks pumpkin scones that come around this time of year but without the added sugar from the icing, as much as I love it.  This recipe is super easy, fast and will make your house smell festive! 

 

Ingredients:

2 cups Flour
4 -6 TB White Sugar
1 TB Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (optional)
6 TB Margarine
1/2 cup Pure Pumpkin Puree
3 TB Milk (Any kind)
1 Medium or Large Egg

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare your baking pan by greasing it or adding a piece of greased parchment paper.

2.  Begin by mixing your flour, spices, baking powder and sugar in a mixing bowl.  I added 4 TB of sugar to my scones because I don't like them too sweet and I feel like I can justify eating them for breakfast this way.  I really enjoy the taste of the pumpkin, but adding more sugar would work too if you prefer a sweeter tasting scone.  The flour can be a mixture of whole wheat or white, I did half and half.  Recipes with pumpkin work well with whole wheat flour because it adds to the natural, earthy flavour.

3.  Add the 6 TB of margarine to the dry ingredients and mix with either a fork or a pastry blender.  A pastry blender is a handheld tool that works really well to cut the margarine into smaller pieces, I would definitely recommend getting one of these!  Blend until the margarine is combined and the pieces are no larger than pea-sized.

Pastry Blender

4.  In a separate bowl combine the milk, egg and pumpkin.  I used skim milk for this recipe and it turned out great.

Look at this brilliant colour!

5.  Add the wet ingredients to the flour/margarine mixture and mix with a wooden spoon.  The mixture might seem too wet for a scone, but it works out well because the scones are incredibly moist.

6.  Flour a cutting board and place some flour on your hands as well.  Form the mixture into a rectangle on the cutting board and cut into 6 equal triangles, starting by cutting in half and then each half into 3.

7.  Place the scones on the baking sheet and bake for 16 minutes.  They will double in size, so don't worry if they look kind of small before cooked.

Cooked scones.

So moist!!

Good luck eating just one!