Well, get ready for some pumpkin spice cupcakes. I have switched gears from pumpkin (ok, right.. besides this recipe) into cranberry sauce. My problem is that I feel like every recipe needs to be tested out before gracing the Thanksgiving table. Although I have used this cranberry sauce recipe for a few years now, I’ve found that it can always use a little tweaking. The problem with said cranberry sauce is that it makes a ton- and then your little “test the recipe” experiment turns into, “what the h do I do with all of this sauce?” So you put it into everything you can think of, naturally.
Can we also just talk about the fact that for years I have been staunchly against the whole, “add a can of pumpkin to a box of cake mix and call it a cupcake” mixture. A lady has to have morals after all…Until this weekend.
I was hunting around for “healthy pumpkin recipes” which is shocking I know, and I stumbled across these Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting. I was all like, “I MUST MAKE THESE NOW!! HOW DO I MAKE THESE??” When I scrolled down the recipe I realized that, le sigh, it involved pumpkin and cake mix. Oh hell, I threw in the towel and I threw it in hard. They are frigging delicious.
You can find that recipe on Skinnytaste here and my recipe for cranberry sauce below. The only change up to the cupcake recipes was to stuff the cupcakes (using an apple core-er) with the cranberry sauce- which was pretty darn delicious. I put the cranberry stuffing inside of the cupcakes after they were baked and cooled, however I bet they would be really good with a dollop of cranberry sauce baked into the batter too.
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes Ingredients
- 12oz fresh cranberries
- 1/2 cup of white sugar
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 tbsp of orange zest
- 1/4 cup of finely chopped pecans
- dash of nutmeg
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes Instructions
- In a medium sized pot over low heat dissolve the sugar into the water and orange juice
- Pour in the cranberries and bring to a low boil, being careful as the berries will pop
- Boil sauce down until it thickens, around 8-10 minutes
- Stir in the orange zest, pecans, and nutmeg
- Remove from heat, the sauce will thicken as it cools down
Notes
- The nuts are optional, I just love the texture they give to the sauce. Feel free to add more or less sugar, depending on how sweet you like it.
Kris Drewry is a freelance host on several nationally broadcast networks. Her first book, Breakup Positive, was published in February 2018.