Natty & Adrie bake Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Exit the photo booth & enter the Ade-Paul pad. Enjoy the non-pixelated pictures, people!

I can’t blab on and on as usual because it’s a pretty busy time right now. Don’t fret though- Chatty Natty may be on a slight hiatus but Fatty Natty is getting ready to hog the spotlight. You see, as busy as things may get, I will always make time for my stomach. After fall comes winter (in case you forgot) and hibernation dictates that I cook and bake more, despite whatever else I may have going on in my life.

The recipe that I will be posting today is something that Adrianna and I baked for our respective thanksgiving gatherings. I got to know the awesome Adrie because her man Paul and I have some common buds (despite what my baking persona may convey, I am typically an Elaine and not a Martha) and since then we have bonded over many common interests- she’s even been the impetus to get the book group going! I am extremely proud to admit that over the last couple of years, between the two of us, Devo and I have probably started 5001 novels and finished 14… Whatever man, at the moment we’re tied up reading how social and cultural factors intersect with health disparities and we’re busy developing, implementing and measuring the impact of different interventions. Internetting has absolutely nothing to do with this lack of finishing. Absolutely nothing.

Anyways, thanks to Ade we are rediscovering our love for Frantz Fanon and she is sharing in the love of creating culinary delights! She suggested a Williams-Sonoma recipe for pumpkin spice cupcakes and we stuck to it quite closely. The variations we made were: omitting the raisins, using pecans instead of walnuts, adding in ginger (as well as adding in a bit more of every spice), making our own frosting and making the cupcakes bigger than suggested: the recipe is supposed to make 36 cupcakes but we had more like 24 (we like ‘em big). The cupcakes were positively wonderFALL. Yes, I’m bringing that one back again. I am too punny for words huh?

…Hey, where’s all that groaning and booing coming from?

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg- we also added in some ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans (and reserve a handful more for garnish!)
• 1 3/4 cups solid-packed pure pumpkin
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup  brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs

Frosting

• 1 package of Philadelphia cream cheese
• A few cups of icing sugar (it depends on what you want the consistency & taste to be like, we made the frosting like a true team-  one of us stirred while the other poured and we both tasted every so often until we achieved perfection!)
• Pinch of cinnamon

Directions

• Preheat an oven to 350°F.
• Line muffin tins with holders.
• To make the cupcakes, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a bowl. Then toss in the nuts.
• In a bigger bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time and  whisk after each addition.
• Add the flour mixture in three additions, stirring with a large wooden spoon until just combined.
• Fill each muffin holder about 3/4 full.
• Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the tins to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the tins and let cool completely.
• To make the frosting beat cream cheese and add icing sugar until the frosting is at your preferred consistency
• We iced the cakes with a piping bag and added a sprinkle of cinnamon & pecan piece on top of each one.
  

  Baking chills, funkified

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