Pumpkin is one of my favorite flavors. The following is a recipe I developed; one of my favorites, and the one I’m most proud of. The story (and the above photo that I took) ran in The Orange County Register this month. it can’t be found on the newspaper’s site, so I’ve posted it here. Enjoy!

Food 101: Pumpkin muffins, or cupcakes?
With this recipe, you can choose between the two, or make them both.

By CYNTHIA FUREY
Special to the Register

It’s a question for the ages: What’s the difference between a muffin and a cupcake? If you slather some frosting on a muffin, would that make it a cupcake, or does the difference lie in the general makeup of the baked good? To help answer this plaguing question, I asked Chef Melissa Simpson, baking guru and culinary instructor at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, what her opinion was on the matter.

“Generally, I would say there is little difference between cupcakes and muffins,” said Simpson. “Muffins generally use fruit, vegetables or nuts baked inside the batter. Cupcakes are iced and if filled may use ganache, mousse, or creams. Fruits and nuts may be used inside the filling or garnishes on the tops.”

It seems you can often interchange muffin and cupcake recipes as well. For example, coffee cake has a lighter texture than most cakes, and can double as a muffin if it goes sans frosting or icing. “Instead of icing, it might be topped by a crumble or swirled throughout with cinnamon sugar,” Simpson said. “Carrot cake is another prime example. It can be a muffin or cake, topped with nuts (for muffins) or cream cheese icing (for cakes).”

With these clarifications in mind, I went to work on developing a basic muffin recipe that is slightly less sweeter than most recipes, so if you decide to add frosting it won’t be a sugar overload in every bite. Pumpkin, in addition to fitting into the holiday season, has a subdued sweet flavor as well. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting adds enough sugar and spice to transform the mild muffin into a decadent dessert, and the addition of a small amount of brown sugar gives it a slight hint of caramel.

If you’re going the muffin route, you can add nuts or chocolate chips to the batter to make them heartier for a breakfast meal, or to serve with coffee or tea. Eat them right out of the oven, or give them a short stint in the microwave to warm them up.

If going the cupcake route, you can pipe frosting on with a pastry bag or spread it on with a knife. These cupcakes will be lovely either way as long as you make sure to use at least two tablespoons of frosting for each cupcake (this will give you the professional-looking rounded top that you see in bakeries). I like to sprinkle a small amount of ground nutmeg over the frosting as an elegant finishing touch.

And for those who want to use minimal effort in frosting cupcakes, you can also use a regular spoon. Scoop frosting out of the bowl and add a dollop to each cupcake. This method will require the frosting to be at room temperature so that it’s soft enough to fall from the spoon. But any way you do it, you really can’t go wrong. (Click on link below for recipe)

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES (OR MUFFINS) WITH CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Yield: 16 to 18 muffins

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 1/2 cups light brown or golden brown sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup (or more) walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

For frosting:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch cloves
5 cups powdered sugar

Optional garnish for cupcakes: ground nutmeg

Procedure:
NOTE: If making cupcakes, start with frosting. If making muffins, skip to step 3.

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, unsalted butter and brown sugar until mixture is light and fluffy, about three to five minutes.
2. Add vanilla, cinnamon and cloves, and slowly beat in powdered sugar one cup at a time, until incorporated. Cover and chill while you make and cool cupcakes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin cups in muffin tins and set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, combine or sift dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger and cloves.
5. In a large mixing bowl, mix together brown sugar and eggs. Add vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, sour cream, vanilla and zest. Mix until all ingredients are combined.
6. Add half of flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Repeat with second half of flour mixture. Mix in nuts or chocolate chips if using.
7. Spoon or pour batter into prepared muffin cups, a little over 3/4 full. Bake muffins for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in muffins comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
8. Using a spoon or knife, spread frosting on the top of each muffin to make cupcakes (You can also use a pastry bag to pipe frosting). Sprinkle tops of cupcakes lightly with nutmeg. Serve.

– Cynthia Furey

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Baking/desserts, Cake, In the kitchen, Muffins/quickbreads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.