Mini Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

These are quite possibly one of my favorite cupcakes I've ever made. Ever. You can taste both the pumpkin and the coffee. I love the whipped cream frosting and the vanilla bean caramel is super impressive and delicious. These cupcakes look great and they taste incredible.

 

Pumpkin Brownie Bites

I tried to make these last year, and even though I messed them up and they burnt to the pan, the salvageable parts were still good! So I thought they deserved a second try.

 

This year I made the pumpkin cheesecake batter first, then the brownie batter. Since as the brownie batter cools, it gets thicker and then harder to swirl. It still only turned out okay. Am I the only one with this problem? My espresso cheesecake brownies also advised to make the brownie portion first, how does any swirling get accomplished this way?

Anyway, I also baked them in wrappers, as I had issues with the outsides of them burning last year. Gggrrrrr... Also I had a ton of cheesecake batter left over, both this time and last. I think they looked pretty evenly split, but who knows, I just made a bunch of mini pumpkin cheesecakes, also delicious.

Brown Sugar Maple Glazed Baked Mini Donuts

I love brown sugar. When I can, I've been sneaking it into things to make them extra tasty, like my brown sugar snickerdoodles. I did the same here for these brown sugar, maple glazed baked mini donuts! I brought them to a brunch and they went over very well!



This made about 30 mini donuts. Also the glaze came out a little thin and I had to re-dip them. Although it's possible they could not have been cooled all the way, so just in case, don't add all the milk to the glaze at once! Add it little by little to make sure you get the right consistency!

Also I always use a piping bag to fill the pan with mini donuts. A spoon just won't cut it, so if you don't have real piping bags do the trick with a zip lock bag instead. I pipe in a somewhat thick "layer" of batter into the bottom of each cavity. If filled too much they won't look like donuts after they rise!


Brown Sugar Maple Glazed Baked Mini Donuts
Adapted from Glorious Treats

For the donuts

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.  Spray mini doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Add buttermilk, egg, and butter and stir until just combined.
4. Pipe the batter into your donut pan with a piping bag or zip lock bag with the end snipped off.
5. Bake 4-6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. 
6. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. 

For the maple glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons pure maple extract

1. In a small bowl, stir together sugar, milk and extract until sugar is completely dissolved.  
2. Make sure donuts are completely cooled, then use glaze immediately to dip the donuts.
3. Place on baking sheet until glaze is set

Zucchini Bread - Two for One

I don't think it went over 60 today. Burrr...for awhile fall couldn't seem to make up it's mind if it was staying or going but this past weekend felt like fall! I've started baking my fall themed treats for occasions, but right up until and after Labor Day I still had zucchini! Not from my own garden sadly, but the point is I had zucchini bread so today I have for you, a zucchini bread post!

 

I don't think I've ever seen a zucchini bread recipe that makes just one loaf, which is just as well because with the way zucchini grows you need to be creative to make sure none goes to waste. So I also have TWO zucchini bread recipes for you! They're both delicious, and they both make two loaves. The zucchini spice bread is a darker loaf with more complex flavors.



And the Mom's recipe is mostly cinnamon, and really moist and fully. :oD



In case you were wondering before you start, don't drain or squeeze the juice out of the zucchini after you shred it. That's how the bread gets all its moisture. And grease and flour your pans really well! I baked mine in disposable tin foil pans. In case you can't free the bread from the pan after baking, it's not a crumbled loss since you can just take the whole pan with you, and not worry about scratching the pan when cutting.

So here it goes, two for one zucchini bread!