pumpkin ginger cupcakes

thursday nights are always a good night….we have a slightly sickening amount of tv shows that air this night. too many in fact, that we have to record one, and watch another online in addition to what’s live. last night, we upped the ante, and joined our new friends (*clarify: wil’s school friends, that are by default now mine…i always like how that works in my favor.) to watch the nbc comedy line up together. nbc + laughing + friends = win.

plus, it was a good excuse to have a ‘seasonal’ party…hearty snacks, autumn sweets, and holiday beer.

the sweets were my responsibilty, and who knows why, but i decided to tackle cupcakes. cupcakes, are not one of my strong points. more often than not, one small thing never quite turns out right. sometimes the texture is off, but usually instead of mounding nicely, they sink, and live up to their name in a completely different way, actually turning into funny shaped cups. i’ve trained myself to stick with cupcakes that are vastly different from the norm, like upside down caramel pecan cakes, or black bottom cups with a purposely sunken cheesecake center.

this time, i attempted the real deal, and who knew- they were glorious! all the way down to the lick-your-fingers cream cheese frosting with cinnamon swirl. for me, what sealed the deal was the crystallized ginger dispersed in the batter…little jewels of spice in each bite, complimenting the sweetness of the pumpkin.

pumpkin ginger cupcakes
the cupcake deck

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, and slightly cooled
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, cut into 1/8 to 1/4 pieces

frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
6 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 to 2 teaspoons milk

preheat oven to 325 with rack in center. line 12 muffin tin cups with paper liners (*i spray my liners with pam, because i’ve had a number of instances of the cupcake not wanting to leave it’s comfy paper home.).

for the cupcakes: sift all the dry goods (except for the sugar) into a medium bowl and set aside. in a large bowl, beat the melted butter, sugar and pumpkin with an electric mixer on low-med until smooth. add the eggs and chopped ginger. on low, mix in the flour mixture until incorporated (batter will be thick)

fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter (you know the cheapo ice cream scoops that cafeteria ladies scoop mashed potatoes with? i love scooping my cupcake batter into their cups with one of these)…about 1/2 inch from  the top of of the liner. bake till the top feels firm, and a toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. cool for about 10 minutes, and then take the cakes out of the pan to continue cooling on a wire rack.

for the icing: beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla till smooth, in a large bowl with a mixer on low (about 1 min). scrape sides as needed, and add the powdered sugar and mix till smooth on low again (about 1 min). lastly, beat for one more minute on medium to fluff and lighten the frosting.

take out 1/4 cup of the icing to a little bowl and add cinnamon and milk to it so that it is brown and pourable, but still thick enough to hold it’s own. after icing the cupcakes upon cooling (this recipe told me to use just shy of a 1/4 cup of icing per cupcake {yikes!}, and i feel like i glopped it on and still had quite a bit of icing left over), put the cinnamon icing into a ziploc, nicking a small hole off one corner… i drew concentric circles and swiped a toothpick from the center of the cupcake in alternating directions to make a marbleized web kind of look, but you could be creative with what designs you want to do!