Happy belated Thanksgiving! I spent the holiday at home with my family eating mass amounts of food and drinking copious amounts of wine. We typically celebrate Thanksgiving at a family friend’s home, but since they were out of town this year, we gobbled up the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes at my house. I made this decadent pumpkin pie for dessert and it was a huge hit. Although time-consuming, the pie was absolutely worth all the effort!
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Since I’m fully embracing the Christmas season, I wanted to experiment with the holiday’s most popular and traditional flavors. My mom purchased a variety of Christmas themed cupcake liners a month ago—a small gift that wouldn’t excite many people. But I, of course, was ecstatic over her purchase. I wanted to use some of these liners before Saturday, so I decided to bake some cupcakes for my friend, Dana’s, ugly Christmas-sweater party.
I baked gingerbread cupcakes and chose to pipe them with a cream cheese frosting. Although moist and delicious, the cupcakes did not have a strong gingerbread flavor. I decided to add cinnamon and imitation maple extract to the frosting to give the cupcakes a more prominent taste. The frosting turned out absolutely delectable and paired wonderfully with the cupcakes.
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Pumpkin has always been one of my all-time favorite flavors. I look forward to the fall season primarily so I can bake and cook just about everything pumpkin—from muffins to soup to pasta. I absolutely love baking these light, moist and delectable bite-sized pumpkin muffins/cupcakes.
I typically ice the muffins with plain cream cheese frosting, however, I wanted to try something different. I decided to add a few spices to the frosting and ended up with a maple cinnamon (with a touch of pumpkin pie spice) cream cheese frosting. The rich and sweet taste of the maple in the frosting was the perfect addition to the muffins—it did not overpower the pumpkin, but its flavor was immediately recognized upon the first bite.
These mini muffins are ideal for an on-the-go breakfast with a cup of freshly brewed coffee or for dessert while snuggling up on the couch by the fireplace.
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