The 13 Days of Pumpkin: In Which I Discover My Piping Skills are Terrible

Hello again!  Tonight we continue on the birthday theme from Friday, celebrating with pumpkin cupcakes!  And this recipe comes with a bonus recipe for applesauce, which is a delicious and easy and seasonally appropriate thing to make this time of year (and let's be honest, a nice break from pumpkins at this point).

This picture is getting quite the workout.

Let's start with the applesauce.  I prefer making applesauce with McIntosh apples, but there weren't any last time I went to Trader Joe's (apparently the weird weather this spring was rough on this year's apple crops; they're already predicting higher prices for apples, so I suppose it follows that there may be a shortage of certain varieties--though I certainly hope I won't be entirely without my Mackies!) so I had to settle for honeycrisps, which have a bit of tartness like a McIntosh but are much tinier.  If you've got tiny apples, use about 8 of them; about 6 if you've got bigger ones.  You can peel your apples at the start or, if you're feeling particularly adventuresome, you can fish them out after the sauce is done.  Slice and core your apples and toss them in a large pot.  Throw in about 3/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup brown sugar and a pinch or two of ground cinnamon.  Set it on the stove over medium heat to simmer 15-20 minutes, then mash the apples and voila!  Throw the sauce in a mason jar while it's still warm and store in the fridge.

A recipe for delicious!

Hokay.  So.  CUPCAKES.  Start by throwing 24 paper liners into your cupcake tins.  Toss half a Golden Oreo (the creamed side) into each liner.  In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup applesauce, 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla with a whisk.  Add 1 1/2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar and stir a few minutes till well blended.  Then add 1 can pumpkin.  In a separate bowl, stir together 2 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Add your dry ingredients to your wet and stir till just blended.  Fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way full (I found the 1/2 cup measuring cup worked nicely for this) and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow the cupcakes to cool completely, then you can frost them. 

To make the frosting, whip 1 pint heavy whipping cream till stiff peaks form (if you're doing this by hand, I recommend doing this in halvsies, or you'll likely end up with carpal tunnel).  Then blend in 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1 cup confectioner's sugar.  If you don't have the swanky proper icing bag and fancy pants tips, just spoon the frosting into a gallon Ziploc bag and give a corner a snip and it does the job just fine.  Dress up your tastycakes with a little sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon.  Aren't they pretty!  (They are, trust me.  I sent a picture to my parents today, they'll corroborate.  And once I fix the scanner, you'll see too!)

The icing is white in real life.  White crayon sadly doesn't show up real well on white paper.