Pumpkin spice muffins with cream cheese frosting - Dairy Foods

I had a lovely Sunday morning baking these pumpkin spice muffins, sipping coffee, and catching up on some blog reading while the sun streamed through my kitchen windows.  We had a spectacular fall day in MN, the kind of day that when you are outside you just want to stand still with your eyes closed, face toward the sun.  I'm not exaggerating, it was really that great of a day.

The muffins filled my kitchen with a warm, cozy smells and I was thrilled to be baking and not be rushed for time.  It's been so long since I've had a weekend day thad didn't consist of running from place to place, you know how it is...

These muffins are lovely, plain and simple.  They become amazing when topped with cream cheese frosting.  The muffins themselves are not that sweet but one important lesson I have learned from baking a lot of muffins is that you will never regret sprinkling sugar on top before placing them into the oven.
I found these adorable orange heart toppers at Target, they came mixed with brown spinkles for only $1.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins (recipe adapted from Fine Cooking)

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
3 cups pumpkin purée (canned is fine)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 lb. (16 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted
1-1/4 lb. (4-1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. ground cinnamon
3 Tbs. ground ginger
Pinch cloves

Preparation

Heat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, pumpkin purée, brown sugar, sugar, and butter. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pepper.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring until just mixed. Gently fold in the raisins. Grease and flour a muffin tin (or line it with muffin papers, preferably foil). Scoop about 1/2 cup batter into each tin so that the curve of the batter is even with the rim of the cup. (Refrigerate any extra batter in an airtight container for up to a week.)

Bake the muffins in the middle of the oven until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into them comes out clean, 30 to 35 min. Remove the muffins from the tin when they're cool enough to handle.  Frost with cream cheese frosting (I piped using a large star tip)

Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients

¼ cups Softened Butter
4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
½ pounds Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla

Mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

It's hard to tell but these muffins were topped with a small piece of crystalized ginger.  There is ground ginger in the muffins so I thought it would be a nice play on ingredients. 


I am going to make more of an effort to cook/bake and post more recipes on Eat Drink Pretty.  If you have favorite recipes to share (especially anything fall-inspired) I would love for you to email the recipe, eatdrinkpretty {at} gmail {dot} com.

Thanks so much for stopping by Eat Drink Pretty today!!!