Halloween Feed: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Spiced Pumpkin Buttercream

These cupcakes are perfect Halloween treat for adults - and kids, if you must. Besides being the right colors, the overall flavor is deliciously warm and very fall. I'm going to take a risk and share my absolute *favorite* go-to chocolate cupcake recipe, the ingredients of which might surprise you just a little (no eggs, no butter)! In the past, I have also added mini chocolate chips to the batter with lots of approvals. 


The recipe makes about 32 minis or 15 regular cupcakes, depending on your pans or size of cups, and I suggest making a double batch in order to use up all of the frosting (unless you find yourself eating it along the way for breakfast, like me).

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda (1/2 tsp if at altitude)
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar


Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Fill liners 3/4 full (trust me, you'll get the nice dome) and bake for 14 minutes for minis or 24 minutes for regular size. Cool on racks.

Spiced Pumpkin Buttercream
modified from Loves to Eat


2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup pumpkin puree, or more to taste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.25 lbs powdered sugar, or more to taste


Cream together butter, pumpkin and spices until combined. Slowly add powdered sugar until you reach a desired consistency and sweetness. I prefer this frosting to be on the less-sweet side to let the pumpkin shine through. Less sugar will also help the frosting retain the pumpkin color.


Happy Halloween! Let all goblins, ghosts and ghouls enjoy a tasty night. 

*Original* Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins by Pie Bird

The perfect autumn Sunday treat... 
that you can pawn off on coworkers on Monday.


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 24 full-size muffins


1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder (or 1 tsp for high altitude)
1/2 tsp baking soda (or 1/4 for high altitude)
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin *NOT FILLING
1-1/2 cups quick oats (can also be used)
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 


Beat together butter and sugar until well-blended. Add in eggs and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, powder, soda and salt. Add half of the dry mix to the butter/sugar/egg combo and stir. Add half of the pumpkin and stir. Repeat until all dry mix and pumpkin is combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.


I use unlined paper souffle cups for muffins and cupcakes (freestanding) so if you're using tins be sure to grease them or use paper liners. I filled mine with a regular size ice cream scoop and they were perfect. Otherwise fill about 3/4 full. Bake for 22-26 minutes or until browned. 

Maple Shortbread Alfajores for Thanksgiving

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

In your honour, I whipped up possibly my 2nd favourite cookie EVER (after ginger molasses, of course). Wanting to use some of the maple syrup my family sent down from Ontario, I found inspiration in the traditional alfajor cookie - what about maple and dulce de leche doesn't sound incredible?! That's right - maple shortbread alfajor cookies sandwiched with creamy milk caramel and topped with maple sugar. Ooooooh Canada.

As more time passes, the more I miss the Great North. Luckily, I've been working with Parks Canada on a media project and get a little Canuck-love once a week via conference call. It doesn't nearly suffice, to say the least. In the meantime, we've come up with a Tim Hortons action plan and I keep baking things with maple in them. 

I found this recipe online - although I can only speak to how awesome the cookies are since I stumbled upon a jar of Dulce de Leche a couple of weeks ago and didn't try making it from scratch. 

Maple Shortbread Alfajor Cookies

from SouthAmericanFood.About.com

1 cup of butter, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 egg yolk

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup corn starch

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp maple sugar

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter with brown sugar and maple syrup. Add the flour, corn starch, salt, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until smooth (use your hands if easier). 

Divide the dough into 2 halves. Roll out the first half on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters and re-roll to cut out more cookies. My batch made a total of 30 cookie sandwiches (60 cutouts). 

On one half of the cutouts, brush the tops with the beaten egg and sprinkle a little maple sugar. Leave the other half of the cutouts plain. These will be the bottom of the alfajor. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are light brown. Mine took 9 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then place on cooling racks. 

Spread the plain cookies with dulce de leche and then top with the maple sugar-topped cookie. Done! These are perfect for the holidays - or just because you keep a secret stash of pure Canadian maple syrup in the back of your pantry... like me. 

Cookies for my co-workers!