The Great (Mini) Pumpkin

one great lil' pumpkin

Thanksgiving is in a week, folks! Are you ready? Do you need a little treat for your friends and family? How about something with the most autumnal food of all?

How about mini pumpkin cupcakes?

Yep, I’ve finally done it. I brought out the great pumpkin. Which is something I loved watching as a kid (and as an adult). I know, I know … that was last month. But pumpkins are the reigning king of the season. We carve ’em at Halloween, turn them into pies at Thanksgiving, and maybe even stuff them into ravioli at Christmas. And now I’ve turned them into mini cupcakes, topped with brown butter icing. You’ll gobble (gobble) them up.

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Butter Icing
For the cookies:
– 2 ¾ cups of flour
– 1 teaspoon of baking soda
– 1 teaspoon of baking powder
– 1 ¼ teaspoons of salt
– 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
– 1 ¼ teaspoons of ginger
– ¾ teaspoon of nutmeg
– 1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 2 ¼ cups of brown sugar
– 2 large eggs
– 15 oz of canned pumpkin
– ¾ cup of evaporated milk
– 1 teaspoon of vanilla
– Mini muffin pan
– Min baking cups
– Pastry bag or a Ziploc bag

For the icing:
– 2 cups of powdered sugar
– 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter
– 3 tablespoons of evaporated milk
– 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Heat your oven to 375º.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin, evaporated milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. (The mixture will be dark orange and very liquid-y at this point.) Add the flour mixture a little a time and mix until well combined.

Line your mini muffin pan with mini baking cups. If have a pastry bag, fill it with some of the batter. If you don’t have a pastry bag like me, you can fill a Ziploc bag with batter, snip off one of the corners and you’re good to go. (You can also use a spoon, but if you read egg me on on a regularly basis, you know I have very little patience.) Carefully squeeze batter into each baking cup. Bake for about 12 minutes until the tops spring back. Rotate halfway through to make sure they evenly brown. Cool for a few minutes in muffin pan, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Note: this recipe made about 80 mini cupcakes. So if you have two mini muffin pans, I’d use them.

To make the icing: Put the powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Immediately add the butter to the sugar, scraping any browned bits from the sides and bottom of the pan. Add the evaporated milk and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Spread a little icing on top of each cupcake.

a little army of mini cupcakes

Or, you could leave some without icing. Those are just as good. Gobble, gobble, gobble!

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