Pumpkin Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting

(Jean’s Post)

Another one of my holiday delights from Halloween 2011 were these amazing pumpkin cupcakes with brown-sugar cream-cheese frosting. The cupcakes lie somewhere between a muffin and cupcake. The cupcakes alone are rich and flavorful but with the frosting they became a bit decadent and sweet. Trick to the cupcake is the brown-butter. That’s what makes it special and show stopper for my household. They never last very long here or anywhere I take them.

It’s another Martha Stewart Recipe but this one is from the 2010 Halloween Special Edition.

Make 16 cupcakes and 2 ½ cups of frosting.

What you need…for cupcakes

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flor
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

How to…for cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 325^o F. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Cook and stir occasionally until the butter turns golden brown.
Skim the foam from the top and remove brown-butter from heat.
Carefully pour the brown-butter in to a bowl and leave any burned sediment behind. Let cool.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs and brown-butter. Slowly add the flour mixture to the second bowl and mix till combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating tins halfway through. Transfer to a wire to cool.