cookie butter and pumpkin cupcakes

there is only thing i can say about these cupcakes... they are EFFING awesome!! every bite is like eating the very best flavors of fall and winter... pumpkin, cinnamon,  and gingerbread... mmm....

 

now... before i get started i have to thank trader joes for bringing so many good things into my life... like chile lime chicken burgers, my chocolate/coffee bean and sugar grinder, dark chocolate caramels, veggie pot stickers, almond and apple butter... and now... this... this delicious gift... cookie butter... many of you have probably heard of biscoff spread... this is basically the same thing... and it is utterly amazing... whether you eat it by the spoonful, on pretzels, or my style... faceplanting right into the jar :)

i figured it would make a delicious topping for a pumpkin cupcake... and as always, i was right...

 

pumpkin cupcake recipe (yields 12 cupcakes):

ingredients:

1 cup cake flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

2 eggs at room temp

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

7.5 ozs. pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp. pure maple syrup

 

directions:

1.preheat the oven to 350 and prepare the cupcake tins

2. in a medium saucepan, melt and brown the butter, set aside to cool

3. in a small bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together

4. in mixer, beat the eggs and the sugars together, when combined add the cooled melted butter

5. gently fold in the dry ingredients, and don't over mix

6. whisk in pumpkin and maple syrup until combined

7. bake about 17-20 minutes, cool on wire rack before frosting

 

speculoos "cookie butter" cream cheese frosting

ingredients:

4 ozs. softened cream cheese

1/2 cup of trader joe's speculoos cookie butter spread

confectioners sugar

heavy cream

 

directions:

1. in a mixer, blend the cream cheese and the cookie butter until smooth

2. gradually add the confectioners sugar until you reach your desired sweetness, and the heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency

3. try not to eat it right out of the bowl, and frost your cupcakes!!

now the hubby doesn't share my enthusiams for eating the cookie butter straight from the jar... but he could not get enough of these cupcakes... and he actually said these are probably one of his top 5 favorite cupcakes i've ever made... sweet!

 have a great weekend everyone... and as always happy baking!!