Pumpkin Butterscotch Chip Cupcakes

Every time I opened the refrigerator this week I had leftover pumpkin puree staring me in the face. It wasn’t enough to make a pie, and it was too much for another round of these. When you take the time to roast your own pumpkin for puree you hate to see it wasted. Something had to happen, and soon.

Happily, I discovered these pumpkin cupcakes. They take exactly 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree to make, which was exactly the amount I had left over –yes! I decided to add butterscotch chips to the batter because, well, I am so (inexplicably) into butterscotch these days. I looked around for a good butterscotch frosting recipe but they all used brown sugar and a long list of various and sundry. I cheated a little and made the frosting with melted butterscotch chips. It worked! And it’s mighty tasty, too.

How cute are these little antler Dresden trims? I found them on Etsy. I was saving them for a Christmas post, but the warm gold foil convinced me that they belong to autumn and pumpkin butterscotch cupcakes.

I’m totally smitten with this flavor combination. There’s something so cozy about pumpkin spice cake with butterscotch chips floating around inside. And the butterscotch frosting – it’s too easy. It’s cheating in the best way possible!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Chip Cupcakes

[click for printable version]

Source: Joy of Baking cake recipe, Sprinkle Bakes original frosting

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Prep: 20 minutes, total time 45 minutes

Cake

1/2 cup/ 113g unsalted butter

1 cup/ 200g granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon/ 5g vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups/ 195g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon/ 1.5g baking soda

1/2/ 2g teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons/ 8g pumpkin pie spice

3/4 cup (180ml) pumpkin puree (canned is fine)

1/2 cup/ 100g butterscotch baking chips roughly chopped

Frosting

1 cup/200g butterscotch chips

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 140g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups/ 175g confectioners sugar

Pinch salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. With the mixer on low speed add the flour  mixture and pumpkin puree to the butter mixture, alternating in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix in chopped butterscotch chips on low speed. Scrape down bowl and mix again. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full and bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cakes bounce back when pressed in the center.
3. For the frosting, melt butterscotch chips with 2 tablespoons (27g) butter at 30 second intervals in the microwave. Stir well between heating. Butterscotch chips will be thicker than semisweet chips when melted (even with the addition of butter), so don’t overheat or chips will scorch; just stir and mash chips together with the butter until no lumps remain. 
4. Combine melted butterscotch mixture and 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter in a large bowl. Mix on high speed with an electric hand mixer. Add confectioners sugar in two additions. Add pinch of salt. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy. If mixture is too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it’s piping consistency. Transfer frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.