Pumpkin Butterscotch Cupcakes
Pumpkin puree, butterscotch, and pie spice make this treat a moist and delicious addition to your next Halloween or Thanksgiving party. And they couldn't be easier to make. Includes regular and high-altitude instructions.
Servings: 24 cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butterscotch morsels I used Guittard (which does contain some artificial color, darn it.)
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 3/4 cups Sugar
- 3 tsp Baking Powder This heavy batter needs some extra baking powder for oompf.
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (Or use whatever your favorite pie recipe calls for.)
- 1 cup Pumpkin Puree (Use puree, not pie filling)
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
- 3 lg Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz Cream Cheese (At room temp)
- 4 tbsp Butter (At room temp)
- 1 tsp Vanilla (Or be creative - some use a touch of cinnamon)
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Milk or Cream, if necessary (Just to bring the frosting to consistency)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Line two muffin tins with 24 cupcake liners. (I used aluminum liners and they came out perfectly clean.)
- Melt butterscotch morsels over double-boiler or in microwave for about 30 seconds, stirring and heating again until JUST melted.
- In one large bowl, combine the Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder, Spice and Salt. Whisk together until blended.
- In a mixing bowl, lightly blend the pumpkin, vanilla and vegetable oil.
- Add the melted butterscotch chips and blend just for a minute. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture in 4 portions, blending just until moistened. Beat at medium for two minutes.
- Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. (I use an ice-cream scoop.) Make sure all the liners are well-seated in the tin and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into an inner cupcake comes out clean.
- Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from tin and cool completely
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat together the cream cheese and butter until blended and smooth.
- Add vanilla and blend.
- Beat in the powdered sugar. I put ALL the sugar in the mixing bowl and drape a large, very light tea towel over the whole thing. This keeps the sugar from floating all over the kitchen and spares me from mixing it in batches.
- If the frosting is too thick for spreading or piping, add a few DROPS of milk or cream and mix again. I usually never have to.