Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

With the random blizzard, this Halloween looks like the concluding scene from the Nightmare Before Christmas: jack o' lanterns packed in mounds of snow. Guess that means I have to pull out my giant plush Donald Duck costume for the snow. Yes my parents gave me one as a joke. They thought it was hysterical. I was jibbed on a b'day gift.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

What you need for the cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

2 1/4 sticks butter, at room temp

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

What you need for the frosting:

2 sticks butter, at room temperature

2 8 oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon vanilla

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In a bowl attached to an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars. Add each egg one at a time until fully combined. In another medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, buttermilk and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, 1/2 of the wet ingredients, another third of the dry, the remaining of the wet and the remaining of the dry. In that order. Divid! ed among cupcake liners and bake for 22 minutes.

Once the cupcakes have cooled make the frosting. In a bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butters and cream cheese. Add the confectioner's sugar on medium speed then add the pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Frost the cupcakes.