Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cupcakes (Bourbon Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting)

A soft, moist pumpkin cake is lightly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace and ginger; topped with a brown sugar toasted pecan crumble prior to baking; filled with a pecan pie filling; and frosted with a brown sugar bourbon cream cheese frosting!

Yield: 14 Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon (slightly rounded)
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/8 teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, melted*
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
2/3 cup buttermilk

For the Crumble:
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
¼ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup toasted pecans, chopped

For the Pecan Pie Filling:
1 egg
¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon salted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans

For the Bourbon Brown Sugar Frosting:
½ cup unsalted butter, cold
8 ounces cream cheese (not whipped, not light, and the best you can find)
1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 teaspoons Bourbon (to taste)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Notes:
*Melting Butter: I melt my butter in the microwave in 10 second intervals on 50% power until almost all the butter has melted. At this point I remove it from the microwave and stir or swirl the bowl until all the butter has melted. I do not like when the cream separates from the butter.

Instructions

Make the Crumble:

1. Stir the vanilla into the melted butter. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir with a fork until all the ingredients are equally moistened. They should hold together and then break into crumbles when squeezed in your hand. If it is still too dry you can add melted butter 1 teaspoon at a time, but be careful not to make it too moist or it will be greasy and not crunchy/soft like it should be.
2. Also note that if you chop your pecans too big, they will impede the crumbles from forming.

Make the Cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line 14 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners. I use two standard paper liners per cupcake.
2. Visit Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cupcakes (Bourbon Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting) @ americanheritagecooking.com for full instructions.

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