{GIRLS IN APRONS} pumpkin cupcakes

{GIRLS IN APRONS}

pumpkin cupcakes

i am SOOOOOO excited to introduce to you

the NEWEST MONTHLY CONTRIBUTOR!!!

its no secret that i love these gals.

they are my cooking go-to girls!

i love ALL thier recipes and have personally tasted many and am in LOVE!

if you didn't catch this post earlier then here is a little introduction:

We are three sisters (okay... triplets, to be exact) who love to cook and bake (and hey, we can be pretty crafty too if we wanted to be... or had the time!). We started our blog last fall because we wanted to share our recipes with our friends and family - everything from new experiments to Pinterest finds to tried and true family favorites! We all have husbands and *picky* kids and super-busy lives (sound familiar? does this sound like you?) so we're always on the hunt for recipes that are easy, family friendly, and relatively cheap to make.

i can't wait to try all of the recipes they share with us here!

welcome to creative juice girls in aprons!

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I love *almost* everything about Fall weather. I love the crisp, breezy weather and the chance to finally wear my cute coats and fuzzy scarves. I love that my CocoaMotion has a permanent place on my kitchen counter. I love the smell of butternut squash soup and pumpkin pie.

And I hate the rain.

Did I mention I love the smell of pumpkin pie? Well, unfortunately, my dear old husband does not love that smell. Or any spice smell. In fact, he has been known to unplug and hide any air fresheners that have some kind of "spice" smell in them. That means no yummy Apple Pie smells in my Scentsy people!! Do you understand how awful this is for me??

Anyway, to get past his "no spice smells" rule, I bake with the smells. Yup - genius! My favorite foods to bake are pumpkin breads and desserts. Mostly because 3 out of 4 of my kids love pumpkin and so do I. And pumpkin is healthy, right? So I am doing my kids a FAVOR by making these for them!

I love these pumpkin cupcakes. They are easy to make - dump the ingredients in the bowl and mix. And the are light and fluffy, just the way I like my cupcakes! And the frosting is amazing. It's a typical cream cheese frosting (my favorite!) with pumpkin pie spice added to it. It really combines the flavors of the cupcakes and the frosting, and it's Fall-ish. You know what I mean, right?

Oh, and a side note, the leftover frosting is soooo good on graham crackers. 

So don't worry if you have leftover frosting - rejoice!

Step One: This one is crucial. Find super cute cupcake liners. Please don't use those boring pastel ones!! Why would you? I love the brown damask ones I found at Michaels (and only $2 for 75 liners!)

Pour a box of yellow cake mix into your bowl. There is nothing wrong with using cake mix! It's just premeasured dry ingredients. If you wish, make your own yellow cake mix!

Add 1 cup pumpkin puree - NOT pumpkin pie filling!

Add four eggs, oil, and milk. Then add pumpkin pie spice, between one and two teaspoons. I add two, because I really want the flavor to stand out, but if you just want a hint of the spices, then just add one.

Mix mix mix! Mix for two minutes. This lets air into the batter and makes your cupcakes nice and fluffy! Isn't it a gorgeous color?

Now here is where it gets tricky, well for me anyway. I am notorious for overfilling my cupcake liners. I've been better lately, but it's always a gamble!

Yum! I love these even without frosting. But the frosting is totally awesome, so I resist.

Ah, speaking of frosting...combine cream cheese and butter. Then add powdered sugar, a splash of vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice.

I like to garnish it with a little cinnamon.

Yum - I'm pretty sure it's teasing me to eat it. Okay. I'll eat it.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

by Girls in Aprons

Cupcakes:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix (2-layer size)

1 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup oil

4 eggs

1 to 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with an electric mixer for 2 minutes on medium speed. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 19-21 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:

1 cube butter (1/2 cup), softened

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1 lb (16 oz) powdered sugar (or 3 3/4 cups)

Splash of vanilla (about 1 tsp.)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Cinnamon (for optional garnishing)

With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter. Mix well. Slowly add the powdered sugar, mixing between each addition. Add vanilla and pie spice. Frost cupcakes and dust lightly with cinnamon. Refrigerate any leftovers (as if there are going to be leftovers!)



** Here's a tip! You can find pumpkin pie spice in most bulk foods areas (Fred Meyer, Winco, etc). It is way cheaper to buy it this way!

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thanks girls in aprons!

be sure to check out thier blog www.girlsinaprons.blogspot.com 

for the rest of thier favorite recipes and for giveaways! 

or follow them on facebook:  www.facebook.com/girlsinaprons 

happy entertaining!

mindy starr