Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Salted Caramel Drizzle

I have been itching to make a delicious fall-themed cupcake, and I satisfied that itch with this cupcake. I promise I'm not exaggerating, this is probably my favorite cupcake out of the all the one's I've made over the past few months. I was inspired to make this cupcake by the ever-reliable Pinterest, but I could not find the recipe for the picture that I had originally pinned. I had to use my resources for this one. The pumpkin spice cupcake and cream cheese recipes come from The Sweet Little Book of Cupcakes. I simply added the cinnamon in for the frosting. Then a quick Google search led me to this recipe for the salted caramel sauce. The next time I make the salted caramel sauce I would recommend using white cane sugar instead of brown sugar to help achieve that amber golden caramel color, however the taste is still phenomenal. Now here are some pictures for drooling and gurgling worthy of Homer Simpson.

 

The First Day of Fall

Hello loverlies,

Happy Autumn!! Welcome northern hemisphere to my absolute favorite season of the year, despite the fact that winter follows (I may need to do something about that, hmmm). These few days where we get these gorgeous sun-filled days minus the humidity of the past few months, are worth waiting for. Plus I get to start wearing my cute jackets, boots and scarves again.

I brought in autumn with the Color Me Rad 5K in Albany. Our wave was at the exact start of autumn too at 10 am! The Color Me Rad run is a super laid back and fun race. It's not even timed. You are color bombed with dyed cornstarch and sprayed along the way. It has a young and energetic vibe to it.

Then after a thorough scrubbing, we headed out to Saratoga County for some festive fall activities, such as apple cider cinnamon sugar donuts made right in front of you!

Anniversary cupcakes! These make beautiful wedding or bridal shower treats as well.

Labor Day S'more Cupcakes

It has officially been way too long since I've made a cupcake, so what better way to celebrate the last major weekend of the summer than with s'more cupcakes? I made these cupcakes using this recipe I found in the annals of Pinterest.

Creating the graham cracker base.

The batter for the chocolate cupcake.

I did not take any pictures of the frosting making process because -I can't even sugar coat this- was a huge pain in the ass to make. And I burnt my hand in the process. But ta da! Here is the finished product.

The original recipe calls for a kitchen torch to create the chard marshmallow effect, but what's a girl to do that doesn't exactly have a  kitchen torch just lying around? You use the broiler. I set it on high stuck 2 or 3 frosted cupcakes on a cookie sheet and placed it directly under heat until it started to smoke. Keep your eye on it because it will burn in a second!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Goodness

Last night I made chocolate chip cookies, which I haven't made in eons it feels like. I'm pretty sure these are what made my way into Jared's heart ;)

First pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine 1 cup room temperature butter, 1 cup packed brown sugar, and half a cup of white sugar.

Seriously what could be better in life than sugar and butter?

Next combine the butter & sugar mixture with 2 large eggs and 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract.

Mix together. This is what the batter should look like at this stage.

Then combine with 2 3/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 1/2 tsp of salt, and of course the chocolate chips!

It may take a while for all of the ingredients to combine, this is a dry recipe, but I promise if you keep mixing it, it will combine together. If you find you've been mixing for 5 minutes and the batter still isn't combined, add a teaspoon of water.

 Keep mixing!

This is what the batter should look like when all the ingredients are combined. 

Next, form about 1 to 1/12 tbs of batter into little balls and place on cookie sheets. Pop in the oven for 19 to 21 minutes. These cookies come out of the oven super soft, be careful when you're placing them on the cooking rack. I suggest laying them down on paper towels on your counter or table and let them cool. 

Silly me did not get a picture of the finished cookies because I was distracted by the gorgeous sunset that was happening outside!

If you make these let me know how they turned out in the comment box!

Kinda Rediculously Excited

For my new cookbook. The mother of all cookbooks and the cornerstone of most collections has arrived! What should I make first?

Happy Birthday Julia!

Happy 100th Birthday Julia!

"I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say "nothing" I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." - Julie Powell in Julie & Julia.