Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 2 2/3 C. flour
• 3 Tbsp espresso powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 C. granulated sugar
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1 C. vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs

Frosting

• 2 1/4 C. heavy whipping cream, chilled
• 1/4 C. powdered sugar

Caramel sauce filling/topping

• caramel sauce
• cinnamon

Instructions:

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-hole cupcakes tins with cupcake papers.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Stir together and set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, mix together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing until just incorporated.
5. Fill the cupcake papers ~3/4 full. Bake until cupcakes are golden and a toothpick comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.
6. Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan. Let cool completely.

Caramel Sauce

1. Follow recipe, here.
2. Pour into a squeeze bottle. Insert tip of squeeze bottle into cupcake and squeeze some caramel sauce into the cupcake.

Frosting

1. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream on medium-low speed at first, gradually increasing to high speed.
2. Blend in powdered sugar, gradually.
3. Whip until stiff peaks form, careful not to over-beat.
4. Using a pastry bag with a decorative tip, frost the cooled cupcakes.
5. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and caramel sauce.

*Store in an air tight container.
*Refrigeration recommended.

DIY: Glittery Leaf Garland

It's finally autumn which means it's finally almost winter, my favorite time of the year. To celebrate, I took on a DIY project that took me way longer to get done than I thought it would. But it was super easy and super cheap and anyone can do it! 

All you need is:

• Artificial leaves
• PVA glue (e.g. Elmer's)
• Glitter in autumnal colors 
• Ribbon
• Hole punch
• Paintbrush 

I got my leaves from Dollar Tree and I used about a bag and a half ($1.00/bag), hole punch from Dollar Tree and I don't recommend getting it from there, it broke a couple of leaves in ($1.00), Elmer's Glue came from Target ($0.99), glitter came from Hobby Lobby and I used two packaged ($1.50/package), ribbon from Hobby Lobby and I used two ($1.99/roll), and the paintbrush was one that I confiscated from my son's arts & crafts supplies but I'm pretty sure it came from Target in a package of five or six for a few bucks. Bringing my grand total to only about $11.00 + tax. (Not including the brush 'cause I already had that.)

All you have to do is brush the glue onto the leaves, sprinkle the glitter on, shake off the excess, and then set aside to dry. Also, you should be warned that the bottoms of your leaves are probably going to get gluey so I used aluminum foil to set my drying leaves on, so they didn't stick to my table or something. 

After your leaves have dried, punch holes into the bottoms of them, then, with the ribbon, just tie the leaves to whatever your want--a longer piece of ribbon, a string of twinkle lights, the ceiling, anything. I tied them to some string (seen in the photo above) and then strung them up with a string of twinkle lights.

It was only supposed to take an hour or so but it ended up taking me three days because I'm so stinkin' lazy and procrastination is my forte. However, I'm glad I didn't give up and that I finally finished it because I'm so in love with these leaves and I can't wait until night falls so I can see them in action! I hope that some of you take a stab at this, I wanna see what you can do with them!