Autumn Pumpkin Muffins w/Cream Cheese Frosting

Variation on a theme: pumpkins!  ;)

A few years ago I tweaked my banana bread recipe by incorporating pumpkin instead of bananas.  It took several tries, but I did eventually get it right.  And then this year I had a "eureka!" moment.  What if I tweaked it some more so that I could make muffins out of the recipe.  Aha! So I did. And here is the result.

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Ingredients:
Dry
2 C Flour (all-purpose)
1 C white sugar
¾ C dark brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Liquid
2 whole eggs, slightly beaten
½ C melted butter (1 stick) or canola oil
1 C milk (can be substituted with soy milk)
15 oz. (1 can) plain mashed pumpkin
4 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:
8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
1 block of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1½ C powdered sugar (3/4 lb powdered sugar)
2 tsp vanilla

Prep:
Preheat oven to 350°.  Line 10-12 large muffin baking pans with paper liners. Set aside.

Directions:
Mix together flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice.  Add eggs, butter and milk.  Stir until everything is moistened, then add the mashed pumpkin; combine well.  Mix in the vanilla.  Divide batter evenly and pour into prepared muffin cups.  Bake for 50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

While muffins are baking, prepare frosting: in a bowl, beat together softened butter and cream cheese with a mixer at medium-high speed.  Once fully incorporated together, add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating slowly.  (Or else you’ll kick up the powder and will end up wearing it. LOL)  Once all the sugar has been added and initially mixed in, add vanilla.  Beat mixture on medium-high to high speed until fully creamed and smooth, about 4-5 minutes.  It’s a good idea to stop after about 2 minutes and scrape the sides of the bowl (especially if you have a stand mixer) to make sure that all of the butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla are fully mixed in. Chill mixture in refrigerator to help it set up; take out 15 minutes prior to frosting muffins so it can warm up a little and be more pliable. You definitely don’t want either the muffins or the frosting to be warm when you apply it to the tops; if the muffin is still warm, the frosting will melt and/or slide right off the top.

Once muffins are fully cooled, frost with cream cheese mixture.  Can be piped on and decorated or spread with a rounded knife.

Makes about 10-12 muffins.

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GBAdams
10/11/2011