Cupcakes, Egg Nog, and Extra Weight

And once again I prove how completely inept I am at staying up-to-date on the little things...such as a blog. What the hell kind of lawyer am I going to make? On the plus side, I did get to talk to Heath, eat fast food Chinese, and do hours of work for the PRACTICE mid-terms I have. When did something that didn't count take up so much of my stinking time? Ah, well, c'est la vie. On the plus side though, I get to see Heath in a little over two weeks which I am so freaking excited about I just can't stand it. Until that glorious day gets here though, I have classes, make-believe midterms, and outlines to do.

However, I do have fun things and they are called cupcakes. These are pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that are just everything that is good about fall. And for those of you who say Halloween is the greatest thing about fall, I agree with you. However, as a popular (to me) meme says, 'Halloween is a lifestyle, not a holiday.' This is a true statement. A true Halloween-ite has Halloween decorations hanging every single day of the year. I usually do this except when I can't figure out how to hang my Halloween lanterns because the apartment is conspicuously missing outlets in convenient places. That's not to say there are no outlets (there are plenty) but that the outlets that are around are really inconveniently placed.

Back to cupcakes though. These cupcakes are incredibly yummy and the frosting is worth just eating out of the bowl (even though I don't do that anymore because otherwise a certain person takes away my frosting and cupcakes without frosting are just no bueno). They're incredibly moist and slightly light but not like you're eating angel food cake moist. I lifted this recipe from somewhere, I have no idea where, but whoever it is, if you know them, then they totally get all the credit. If I had thought this through when I was baking them, I would've taken photos of the steps but...yeah, fail on my part.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
· 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sift before measuring

· 1 tablespoon baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

· 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

· 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

· 1/2 cup butter, softened

· 1 1/3 cups sugar

· 2 eggs, beaten until frothy

· 1 cup mashed cooked or canned pumpkin

· 3/4 cup milk

· 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation:

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a bowl. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs. Blend in mashed pumpkin. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, blending until batter is smooth after each addition; stir in chopped walnuts or pecans. Spoon batter into well-greased and floured or paper-lined muffin pan cups. Fill about 2/3 full. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

They're delicious, I promise. And then once you add the cream cheese, it's just kind of an out of body experience. For those of you who are super sweet cream cheese frosting people, this may not be the right one for you...or if you don't like cream cheese or are lactose intolerant. Although it does have two cups of powdered sugar, you can still very much taste the cream cheese. It also has a really unusual look to it once you get it on the cupcake. It does not look delicate or pretty- it just looks stinking delicious is all.

Cream Cheese frosting

1- 8 oz cream cheese

¼- cup butter

2- cups powdered suger

1- tsp vanilla extract (may use almond instead)

Cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and then gradually stir in the powdered sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.













If you decide to use the almond, that tastes delicious as well. It's just extremely yummy in general. I tend to make these for parties or when I decide to eat my feelings or get bullied into it by my friends. Really, these're good just any time at all. Especially if you have one with egg nog. That does not need to be homemade though- I just do the lazy thing and buy a half gallon of it. Although there is something completely wondrous about an apartment or home filled with the smell of baking pumpkin and cinnamon. I don't know what it is about those two smells but when you do smell them it's just like everything else goes away and you think, 'opening a bakery...yeah, that sounds like a good idea.' Or maybe it's just me that does that? I sound like a future Maggie Gyllenhall Stranger Than Fiction law school dropout minus the sleeve tattoos and the height.

Either way, y'all should try these because, well, they're delicious. But don't take my word on it, just make them yourself. They're really simple and typically a hit with people who love pumpkin, cream cheese, or both. And now, at the end of this extraordinarily unhealthy post, signing off with a Julia Child aphorism (that really she just inherited from the French, the food extraordinaires)- Bon appétit!