pumpkin brown butter cupcakes

I'm sorry if you're tired of pumpkin already. Actually I'm not. Because you'd be wrong. Pumpkin is awesome. You might think you're awesome, but pumpkin wins. So you have no right to be tired of it.

The story of this cupcake is a bit roundabout. It actually started off as a madeleine, which failed in shape but not in taste. So I decided to adapt it into a mini-cupcake, which was quite successful, and it made an appearance at brunch. For the brunch, I did it with two different frostings: regular cream cheese and caramel swiss meringue buttercream. The latter was a hit and inspired likenings to "crack". These are the minis:



So then, I had the can of pumpkin from the pumpkin pancakes. And it was a friend's birthday. It's a little like the book "If you give a mouse a cookie..." I decided to make the pumpkin cupcakes again. For some reason, I thought I'd be cool and tweak the recipe by adding more flour. I though the original one didn't have enough structure or something. Then, unintentionally, I measured my tablespoons of pumpkin with 1/2 tablespoons instead. So, the full-size pumpkin version turned out a little dry. They were only slightly saved by the innovation of a cinnamon brown sugar cream cheese frosting.

So here are my tips for this recipe:
1. Don't get too creative. It's already really awesome.
2. Don't mess up when you're doing it.

If you must break 1, at least do so while following 2. Here's the slightly dry crumb:



Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes
makes about 15 mini cupcakes or 6 regular sized cupcakes

Note: I'm of the Martha Stewart cake baking camp. This means that cake to me is 1. cream butter and suger 2. add eggs 3. add flour and milk, alternating 4. bake. This recipe is completely different, and every time I worry it won't come together, which partly spurred my genius idea to add more flour. Don't. Don't be a hero. Just follow directions. It works, and it's beautifully simple. I'm at the front lines, taking the bullets for you. You're welcome.

1/4 cup butter, plus more for toasting pecans and greasing madeleine tin
2 large eggs
pinch of salt
1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/3 cup + 1Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp cinammon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1 tsp. baking powder
4 Tbsp. pumpkin puree

1. Brown your butter by melting in a light colored saucepan. Butter will first melt, then froth, then go clear and slowly brown. Pour into a bowl to cool.
2. Sift flour, spices and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs with a pinch of salt on high until pale and syrupy. If you have doubts, keep going. Slowly add the brown sugar. The mixture will have gained a lot of volume.
4. Slowly stir in flour. Then mix in pumpkin and brown butter.
5. Spoon into cupcake liners. Bake 10 minutes for minis, 15 minutes for regular sized cupcakes.

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

So, if you don't feel like baking today, no big deal. Just make this frosting and eat it with a spoon. You might want to have the prenup signed first though.

1 package cream cheese (8 oz), at room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar (or to taste)

1. Beat cream cheese alone until fluffly. Add butter, beat to combine.
2. With the mixer on low, add brown sugar and vanilla, beat to incorporate.
3. Continue beating while adding powdered sugar. Taste frosting to gauge desired sweetness. ("to gauge...")




Happy Tuesday!
Linda

pumpkin brown butter buttermilk pancakes, and the theory of fluffiness

Why thank you Erin, I do make some awesome breakfasts. :)

I want you all to know how committed I am to NaBloPoMo. Right now, I'm in my living room, surrounded by stacks of boxes. I'm on the ground because the desk has been disassembled. There is no food in my apartment except pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin cupcakes (to come later). I'm moving.

But, life is about priorities, and I believe in free choice. Despite many, many grumblings from the peanut gallery, I will not be battered by the winds of logic, practicality or reason. I will choose to make pumpkin pancakes with half my kitchen equipment while loading the other half in boxes. That is what this country is all about. I'm mixing my metaphors. I'm tired.


Anyways, you're not here for my rambling. You're here for food. Good food, not like the bad food I tried to foist on you all a few days ago. Well, call these pancakes pizza because they are delivering.

So... buttermilk pancakes from scratch. I know. I know you get lazy. We all do. I know there's a box of mix in your pantry that can look pretty easy and sexy first thing Saturday morning. But let me appeal to your inner love for fluffiness, which, along with laziness, lives inside all of us. It is what makes frosting so irresistible, down comforters seem like heaven, and it is what ensures the survival of mostly useless animals like baby kittens and bunnies. These pancakes are like that. Like frosting+down comforter+baby bunnies. Fluffy. Box mix can't play this game.

I tried these with pumpkin, brown butter and some spices. I have more recipes I want to share with brown butter. It's a recent love affair of mine. Here's a tip on how to use it. Melt your butter in a light colored saucepan (so you can gauge the color change easily). Wait for it to froth, then turn clear, then turn brown. Your kitchen should smell amazing by now. Pour the butter out into a bowl, and cool slightly. Add to something: risotto, batter, cookies, mouth...and eat. Yum. Hopefully I'll have a cupcake and risotto recipe up for you soon. In the meantime, try these pancakes. No, I mean, print this out, go to your kitchen, and try these pancakes.

pumpkin brown butter buttermilk pancakes
makes about 1 dozen 4 inch pancakes

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
dash of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice (come on people, don't be afraid of the uncertain)
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
6 tbsp pumpkin puree

1. Brown butter in light colored saucepan. Pour into small bowl to cool.
2. Whisk pumpkin puree and buttermilk in another bowl, set aside.
3. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar and spices together.
4. Whisk eggs (I beat mine with a mixer). Add buttermilk and butter. Whisk in flour, being careful not to overmix. Stop when the batter is still lumpy but you don't see visible flour.
5. Set non-stick pan over medium heat. Add batter in 1/4 cup additions (makes a 4 inch pancake). Wait until bubbles have mostly popped and top has set before flipping (about 4-5 minutes). Cook 1-2 minutes more and remove to covered container to keep warm.


Back to the boxes. But I think I'll have a cold pancake first.



Yuuuuum,
Linda