I’ve said before that I like bite-sized baked goods. Once you break out plates and forks and spoons, it becomes too much of an ordeal. Things like cookies, cupcakes, and mini treats are easy. You could grab one and walk away. Or walk back and grab more than one. Or sit down and eat a lot because they’re so small you’re allowed to eat more of them. Whatever works.

I had seen Bakerella make some pumpkin pie bites and swore I would try my hand at it, too. While I used a different recipe for the filling, I did use her idea of shaping the pastry dough into little pumpkins. Love it!

Also, I cheated a little bit. I used refrigerated pie dough. To a purist like me, it feels like I bought some Tollhouse Break-and-Bakes, stuck them in the oven, and pretended they were my own. But pie crusts have never been my forte so I’m totally fine with using refrigerated dough. Really, I am.

I drizzled melted vanilla chips on some. Adding some pecans or walnuts for garnish would also be cool.

Mini Pumpkin Pies
(design inspired by Bakerella)

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 9-inch unbaked pie crusts (usually comes 2 to a box)

Baking Temperature: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 15 minutes minutes

1. Remove pie crusts from fridge and bring to room temperature. Roll them out a little bit with a rolling pin to get more surface area.
2. In a large bowl, crack eggs and mix slightly.
3. Add pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and salt. Wisk until well combined.
4. Using a cookie cutter (or if you’re cheap like me, a cup with a 3-inch diameter), cut circles from the pastry dough and press in and around the top of the muffin cup. Make sure there is enough crust over the sides of the muffin cups. Using the overflow dough (or scrap pieces), fashion a stem and affix to pie shells. I alternate slots in the mini muffin tin so the sides of the crust don’t stick together.
5. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until crust turns golden brown.
6. Garnish with melted vanilla chips or chocolate chips, if desired.

Ogle the beautiful pumpkiny goodness and find the recipe after the jump. I used the classic pumpkin cupcake recipe and this time topped them with cream cheese icing.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
splash heavy cream (optional)
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Baking Temperature: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add in eggs one at a team, beating well after each addition.
4. Slowly add flour mixture and mix on low speed until smooth. Add splash of heavy cream if desired.
5. Whisk in pumpkin puree until everything is well blended.
6. Line cupcake pan with paper liners, and fill each liner up a little more than halfway full of batter.  Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
(from AllRecipes)

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, cold and cubed
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and and sugar.
2. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually mix in the cream cheese cubes until well blended.
3. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

I don’t know about where you are, but here in Upstate New York this week has been a scorcher, which is why I wasn’t sure if the world was ready for pumpkin quite yet. Yes, it’s September. Yes, pumpkin beer and pumpkin lattes have already been rolled out at most retail locations. It just seems a little weird eating pumpkin-and-cinnamon-flavored treats when it’s a hot and hazy 93 degrees outside. Nevertheless, pumpkin is just too good to put off any longer, so here they are!

I’ve posted the original pumpkin cupcake recipe again after the jump. You’ll also find my improved frosting recipe – this time, a cinnamon buttercream instead of that brown sugar monstrosity from last year. If it wasn’t my first post, I’d delete it. Why did you guys eat those things?!

These are much more adorable:

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
splash heavy cream (optional)
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Baking Temperature: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add in eggs one at a team, beating well after each addition.
4. Slowly add flour mixture and mix on low speed until smooth. Add splash of heavy cream if desired.
5. Whisk in pumpkin puree until everything is well blended.
6. Line cupcake pan with paper liners, and fill each liner up a little more than halfway full of batter.  Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk, vanilla and cinnamon. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
2. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes after each), until the icing is thick enough to be of good consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar (note: I ended up using 6 cups of sugar for this recipe.)
3. Sprinkle with cinnamon for garnish, if desired.
   
4. Store at room temperature or else icing will set. Can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days.

Next week’s mission: bake something that makes me feel more like Betty Draper. Maybe a pie? Something with booze?

Spoiler alert: I’m making red velvet cupcakes. Recipe and pics on the way.

If only I had my Jessie Steele apron…

Pumpkin Cookies
(Recipes for cookies and frosting adapted from In Praise of Leftovers)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 cup chopped pecans

Baking Temperature: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 10-12 minutes

1. Beat butter in a mixer and sugar until fluffy.
2. Add pumpkin and mix until combined.
3. Add egg and mix well.
4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves together, then add to pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Stir in chopped pecans.
6. Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheets covered in parchment paper and bake until lightly golden.

Brown Sugar Icing

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
pecans (for garnish)

1. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter, and milk over low heat until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
2. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.
3. With a knife or spreader, spread icing on each cookie. Ice cookies while still warm so that the icing spreads easily over the cookies. Sprinkle pecans while icing is still warm.

First, let me tell you something about pumpkins: my family really loves pumpkins.

No, you don’t understand.  We really love pumpkins.

My mother claims my brother got his red hair from all the pumpkin ice cream she ate while pregnant with him.  From September to November, our home is surrounded by pumpkins like a little gourd army.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, even pumpkin puree straight out of the can…nothing was too pumpkiny for us.

If there were a Church of The Great Pumpkin, we’d all be devout followers.

Anyway. Since I love the smell of spiced pumpkin in the fall (if you don’t, you’re a Communist), I wanted to bake something pumpkin that wasn’t pie.  I bring all my baked goods into work so I need something portable.  Hence…the pumpkin cupcake.  Nay, a cupcake cookie with freaking brown sugar frosting.  A sweet, cakey, pumpkin-and-spicy bit of perfection.

This was my first attempt at a buttercream frosting (we were big on Betty Crocker frosting at home), and, well…I missed the mark on the frosting.  Next time, I will definitely put it in the refrigerator long enough for it to harden, but not so much that I can’t pipe it out with a pastry bag.  Regardless of how the frosting looked in my head vs. how it turned out in real life, they tasted AWESOME.  And I stopped telling people it was buttercream so they didn’t have any expectations (shhh).  Also, I doubled the frosting recipe to make sure I had enough frosting; the recipe below is a single batch.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
(recipe adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Baking Temperature: 350 degrees
Baking Time: 20-25 minutes

1. In a medium bowl, blend together our, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream sugars and butter until fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Slowly add in eggs one at a team, beating well after each addition.
3. Slowly add flour mixture until smooth, mixing on low speed. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
4. Line cupcake pan with paper liners, and fill each liner up a little more than halfway full of batter.  Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely before frosting.

Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting
(adapted from The Repressed Pastry Chef via Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

2 cups light brown sugar, tightly packed
1 cup heavy cream
½ pound unsalted butter, cut into 8 1-ounce pieces
¼ tsp cream of tartar

1. Heat brown sugar, heavy cream, 2 1-ounce pieces of butter, and cream of tartar in a 3 quart saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently while bringing the mixture to a boil. Allow the mixture to continue boiling while stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.
2. Transfer the hot mixture to a stainless steel bowl and allow to stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding.
3. Place the cooled mixture int the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle. Beat on low for 30 seconds. Then beat on medium for 2 minutes, while adding the remaining 6 pieces of butter, one at a time, until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to high and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on high for an additional 1 minute until light and fully.
4. Transfer 1 cup of icing to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, and place in the refrigerator until needed.