Thursday, October 28, 2010

Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cupcakes

Posted by thecaramelcookie / 8 comments » / Cake, Cupcakes, Dessert

I am SO glad the great pumpkin shortage of this past year is over. It was a very dark and sad time in my life without pumpkin. I held on tight to my last can of pumpkin for months, not wanting to waste it on just any dessert. Since the shortage is over, I felt it was okay to finally use my last can to make these cupcakes. Although it is fairly simple recipe, the results are nothing short of amazing.

I absolutely love the flavor that the brown butter gives these. There is brown butter in both the cupcakes and the frosting.  Although these cupcakes would taste great with any regular vanilla or cream cheese frosting, the brown butter frosting really puts them over the top!

I made these as mini cupcakes so they were great for snacking; perfect for a fall get together!

Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart's CupcakesMakes 15 cupcakes (I can't remember exactly how many mini cupcakes this made; I think around 35)

Ingredients:

For Cupcakes:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
1 2/3 cups flour
A pinch of ground sage
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch of ground nutmeg (about 1/8 teaspoon or less)
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs

For Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed

Directions:

For Cake:

Preheat oven to 325. Grease or line a standard or mini muffin tin.

To brown the butter: Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a saucepan. Swirl the pan occasionally, until the butter is a deep golden brown--about 10 minutes. Immediately pour into a bowl to stop the butter from cooking, leaving any burnt sediment behind. Let cool.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, sage, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, and brown butter. Whisk in the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into cupcake pans and bake: 20 minutes for standard muffins or 15 for mini. Cool completely before frosting.

For frosting:
Follow the same directions as above to brown the butter. After you pour the butter from the saucepan into the bowl, mix in the confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and milk. Add additional milk as needed to make icing spreadable (I used about 3 tablespoons of milk total).

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