Pummple Pie Cupcakes

Sorry if people are getting tired of all of the recipes lately. Right now I'm in limbo with my projects since we're moving this weekend. To make up for it, that and in fall all I want to do is bake and warm up the house, I've been experimenting with some baking ideas. One of them is this pummple pie recipe.

You might be asking yourself "what the heck is pummple?" Well, it's pumpkin and apple together. I thought of this last year and have been obsessed with the concept since then. I really wanted to make it for Thanksgiving last year but everyone was a little hesitant about it so I stuck with our traditional pumpkin pie. I do love the pumpkin pie because it's all fresh ingredients and it calls for fresh pumpkin puree. It's takes a little bit more time but it really is worth it, especially if you like pumpkin pie. You'll be getting that recipe down below so don't worry :) Last year I made up a recipe for a caramel apple pie with a sugar cookie pie crust and it was also one of my favorite new recipes. So for this pummple pie recipe I just combined both pies. Of course I'm not the only person that genius struck with this pie combo, and I'll be experimenting with it in some other ways, but this might be my favorite pie. Obviously, you don't have to make these into cupcakes (okay cupcake shaped since, as Jed points out, there is no cake in this), it's just what I did.

Sorry, there aren't any pictures, I wasn't planning on sharing this yet but since I've had requests for the recipe I thought I would, plus these went fast and the last one was eaten before I had the thought to actually take a picture of it. I'll just have to make these again to later update this with a picture :) This was also just me experimenting, so I want everyone to know this is my rough draft and I might not have exact amounts for everything. I'm a little in love with these right now though and everyone I had sample them gave positive reviews for them. Jed even took some to work and one of the guys said he doesn't normally like pumpkin pie or apple pie but he couldn't stop eating this. Another guy said that he really liked it and liked that it tasted really fresh. Jed, of course, said this is now one of his favorites too. So I hope you like these as well. If you do make these leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Makes 24 cupcakes:

Line cupcake pan with liners. Spray inside of cupcake liners with baking spray so these won't stick. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

If you do choose to go all out and make the pumpkin puree yourself, do that first (see instructions below)

Crust: (found on allrecipes)

1/2 egg

3 tablespoons white sugar

1 pinch salt

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

In a small bowl, mix egg and sugar together. In a separate bowl, combine salt and flour. Cut in butter. Stir in egg mixture, then knead dough into a smooth ball. Keep refrigerated for 15 minutes. (during the 15 minutes start on apple filling) Roll dough to 1/8 " thickness. (best way to do this is roll it out between sheets of wax paper)

For cupcakes: cut out 24 circles to match the bottom of cupcake liners. This is optional but I think it was good, I used small decorative cookie cutters to cut out 24 shapes for the tops too and sprinkled them with sugar.

For pie: roll out and place in pie pan; prick edges with a fork and cover edges with foil so they don't burn

set aside

Caramel Apple Filling:

caramel sauce: (my mother in law's recipe)

1 c brown sugar

2/3 c light corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter

2/3 c evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan boil together the sugar, corn syrup, and butter until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add milk and vanilla. Stir well.

5 large granny smith apples; peeled, cored and chopped

1 oz. water

2 teaspoons corn starch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

caramel sauce to coat

In a small cup dissolve cornstarch in water. In a pan over medium heat, saute apples with caramel sauce (not all the sauce just enough to coat apples with), cinnamon and cornstarch mixture until the apples are tender. Take off heat. Let cool for 10 minutes. Spoon apple filling into prepared cupcake/pie pans until about 1/2 full. Set aside.

Pumpkin Pie Filling: (adapted from Busy Cooks/About.com)

(This is my fresh pumpkin pie recipe, for the cupcakes I cheated and just used canned pumpkin puree)

1 medium sugar pumpkin (or 2 cups canned pumpkin puree)

1 tablespoon veg. oil

1/2 teaspoon each ground ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

4 eggs, beaten

1 c honey, warmed

1/2 c milk (I used eggnog this time)

1/2 c whipping cream

To make the fresh pumpkin puree: preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Lightly oil the cut surface of the pumpkin halves, and place cut side down on a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil and lightly oiled. Bake until the flesh is tender when pierced with a fork. Let stand until cook enough to be handled. Scrape pumpkin flesh from the peel and puree in a blender or food processor

In a large bowl, blend together 2 cups pumpkin puree, spices and salt. Beat in eggs, honey, milk and cream.

Pour filling over the top of apple filling until almost to the top of cupcake liner/pie pan. 

Okay, here's what I'm not exactly sure about... the bake time. I started at 20 minutes but they still weren't done so I think I put on another 10 minutes. Bake until toothpick inserted comes clean or until the pie springs back. If you do add the pie crust cutouts on top add those half way through baking (about 15 minutes). If you're doing this in good old fashion pie form this is the time to take off the foil from around the edges too. 

Now, here's the hard part: You HAVE to let them cool! If you're like me and really excited to try it-you must stop yourself! Let them cool before taking them out of the cupcake pans otherwise the sides get smashed and they won't be as pretty and the paper will come off of them. But after you let them cool, add a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

You should by now know I'm obsessed with pumpkin, right? I was really excited to find out this year that so is Elijah. It all started with our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and he got to pick out one small pumpkin to take home. He LOVED that little pumpkin! It turned into his pet pumpkin that he would take everywhere and do everything with. Sadly because of being carried (and dropped a few times) everywhere it wasn't a young fresh pumpkin for very long and he had to leave it behind in California.

Elijah and his "pet" pumpkin

Shortly after returning to Utah I decided it was time to make my pumpkin cranberry bread. This is something that I look forward to every year and have to force myself to wait to make until October (that and for fresh cranberries to come into season). When Elijah heard that I was making pumpkin bread he told me flat out he didn't want it. Since I knew of his love of pumpkins and since he never really refuses food of any sort, I was a little confused by his exclaim. I later figured out that he didn't think pumpkins should be turned into food since they were pets. We don't eat our pets! Well, as soon as I took the loaves out of the oven, he already changed his mind. After eating this bread it completely changed his mind about pumpkins being food. In fact, both him and Chloe demolished an entire loaf on their own and for the rest of the week I was woken up by Elijah asking for pumpkin bread for breakfast. He now loves anything pumpkin!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do. This is my own recipe and one of our fall favorites!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
1 c pumpkin puree
1 c oil
1 c water
4 eggs
2 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
3 c flour
1 teaspoon each cinnomon, cloves and nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
zest from one orange
1 1/2-2 c fresh cranberries
2 c pecans (or walnuts) optional too

1 tablespoon each brown sugar and sugar for tops of loaves

Preheat oven to 350. Prep 3, 8x4x2 1/2" loaf pans by greasing the sides with butter.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Add sugars. Mix well. Add 1 cup of flour, spices and zest to pumpkin mixture. Mix well. Add remaining flour one cup at a time. Mix the batter until smooth. Fold in cranberries and pecans.

Pour batter into greased loaf pans. Sprinkle remaining sugars over the tops of the loaves. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes clean.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 One of my favorite fall treats is pumpkin cupcakes. My mother-in-law bought really cute witch picks for a  a Witches Tea Party and asked me if I would make cupcakes to go along with them, and with my obsession of pumpkin I was already planning on making these cupcakes, but this gave me an excuse to actually do it. Unfortunately, my recipes are still packed away in boxes so I had to hunt out another recipe for pumpkin cake to use this year. I whipped up some new recipes for frostings as well and all in all it turned out one wickedly delicious cupcake.

I found this recipe from Annie's Eats and was pretty happy with it. I did make a few changes so I'll post my adapted recipe if you want to use it.

2 2/3 c flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1/2 c oil
1/2 c applesauce
4 large eggs

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices.  Set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, applesauce and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  With the mixture on low speed, add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing just until incorporated.

Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full.  Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.  Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pans and let cool completely.

This time I decided to fill my cupcakes with a white chocolate, cream cheese, peach, whipped cream. (That's a mouthful, but a yummy one) You'll also have left overs of this to enjoy later.

4 oz white chocolate, melted
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c whipping cream, chilled
3/4 c powdered sugar
2 (15 oz) can of peaches, chunks (fresh and frozen works well too) and drained completely

In a large mixing bowl, whip cream cheese then add melted white chocolate and continue to beat until fully incorporated and creamy. In a separate bowl, beat whipping cream until soft peaks form add sugar and continue to beat. Combine whipped cream in with cream cheese mixture, and beat until fully incorporated. Stir in peaches.

To fill cupcakes, I cut a circle (or you can use a small circle cutter) in the center of the cupcake. Spoon in filling and replace the tops of the cupcakes.

I should say that I really do enjoy cream cheese, but haven't been a big fan of cream cheese frosting so I always alter it to suit my own preferences. So for the frosting I made a white chocolate cream cheese frosting and made ruffles to look like the pettiskirt of the witch.

5 oz. white chocolate, melted
12 oz. cream cheese
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
zest of orange

Whip the cream cheese and butter in a large mixer until creamy, add white chocolate and continue to cream together. Add cinnamon and orange zest and beat until fully incorporated.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!