Pumpkin Chai Spice Cupcakes

October wouldn’t be October without pumpkins! We’ve paired this much-loved seasonal veggie with Chai Spice to create an absolutely delicious mouthful. It’s the perfect blend of ingredients all topped off with a luscious Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. As one of our ‘tea friends’ said “these cupcakes are beyond amazing!” Need we say more?

Pumpkin Chai Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 12 Medium-size Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Ground Chai Spice  (Substitute ground pumpkin spice)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup coconut oil, melted
• 2 large eggs (room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ – 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 ¼ cups of pure pumpkin puree (not pie filling) or make your own using sugar pumpkins
• Additional Ground Chai Spice for dusting iced cupcakes

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
• 8 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (optional but highly recommended)
• 3+ cups sifted confectioners sugar

CUPCAKE DIRECTIONS
• With oven rack in the middle position, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Next – line a medium-size muffin tin with paper liners
NOW:
1. In a medium-size bowl whisk flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, melted coconut oil, vanilla extract and orange zest.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together just until incorporated and no lumps remain. Do not over mix as over mixing will result in tough cupcakes and you want light and fluffy ones.
4. Scoop batter evenly between the 12 muffin holes. I use an ice cream scoop or large cookie scoop to evenly portion out the batter.
5. Bake 17-20 minutes (in my oven they were ready in 18 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Don’t overbake.
6. Cool 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes and move to a rack to finish cooling

FROSTING DIRECTIONS
1. In a stand mixer or with a hand-held mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and maple syrup if using until smooth and fluffy.
2. Add confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time until the frosting is the desired consistency

TO SERVE
• Frost cooled cupcakes and dust with Ground Chai Spice

OPTIONAL TOPPING:
• Salted Caramel Topping – Add a pinch of salt to store-bought caramel sauce (or make your own) and spoon over cupcakes. Top with a pecan half (or nuts of choice) OR salted pepita (pumpkin seeds.) Delicious!