Festive Rum Pumpkin Cupcakes

Every weekend I have this little obsession of browsing through the recipes of Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Martha Stewart & Sunset magazines in search for a little inspiration or a recipe that is unique and fun. This Sunday I had a hankering for something Fall, Halloween themed and Sassy. Something that I could easily ship to work to feed my coworkers and something that I could add a personal twist too. There's nothing like the personal twists!

My eyes fell upon the mini Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes in this month's Bon Appetit (Page 52 to be exact). I noticed they mentioned the cupcakes were "kid-sized" so I decided to add some Rum to the batter as there are no kids in this household! These are now the Working Girl's "bite-sized" Sassy Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes that will wow any adult crowd.

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

Bon Appetit, October 2009

1 cup self rising flour

(1 Cup flour + 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda + 1/8 teaspoon salt)

2/3 cup packed golden brown sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

(1/2 tsp cinnamon + 1/4 tsp ginger + 1/8 tsp nut

meg + 1/8 tsp cloves)

1 large free range egg

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (pure! pumpkin)

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I use Spectrum Canola Oil)

1/3 cup organic Greek yogurt (substitution for sour cream)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp Dark Rum (or to your discretion)

1 tbsp chopped crystallized ginger (optional, but worth it)

1 cup powdered sugar

nonfat milk

1/2 lemon

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your mini muffin pan with paper liners (I skipped this step . . . no motivation to drive to the grocery store)

Cupcakes

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking

soda, salt, golden brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice. In a medium bowl mix together the wet ingredients: egg, canned pumpkin, vegetable oil, Greek yogurt, rum. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir to combine. Spoon batter into paper liners (or just the muffin tin).

Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. I baked my cupcakes at 335 F convention bake for 12 minutes, they turned out perfect. The Bon Appetit bake time is 16 minutes.

Frosting

In a bowl combine the powdered sugar, a drop of nonfat milk and just a small squeeze of a lemon. Combine with a fork to the texture you desire. I wanted my frosting thick so didn't add too much liquid. (If you enjoy the cream cheese butter frostings, go right ahead and use the one in Bon Appetit)

Once the cupcakes have cooled, gently spread on the frosting.