Salted Caramel Poked Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

One of my favorite parts about fall is the return of two of my very favorite coffee drinks: salted caramel lattes and pumpkin spice lattes. Salted caramel has become all the rage these days, and for good reason. It's a perfectly sweet and salty combo that I love in my coffee and desserts alike. In trying to decide what on earth to concoct for a foodie friend who is an incredibly accomplished baker, cook, cookbook author, food stylist, etc. herself (intimidating, right?!), I landed on combining my love for two great fall flavors to create a lovely fall dessert that is absolutely to die for. Not only are these delightfully spiced cupcakes balanced with a tasty salted caramel buttercream on top, they're drenched from the insides with salty caramel goodness. So good, they deserve a spot right next to (or maybe even in place of?) the traditional pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving table. Give em a whirl!

Salted Caramel Poked Cupcakes

Makes 1 dozen standard cupcakes

Homemade Salted Caramel

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. salted butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

Directions:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add brown sugar, heavy whipping cream and salt, stirring constantly. Allow mixture to boil for 1 minute and remove from heat. Cool completely.

Note: Reserve half of caramel for pouring into pokes and drizzling over the top of the cupcakes. I re-heated that portion for about 10 seconds in the microwave just to make it a little easier to work with. The remaining cool caramel was mixed into the frosting (see recipe below).

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 (3.4 oz) pkg. instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) salted sweet cream butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 8 oz. pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin tin or prepare with paper liners.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, pudding mix, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing in vanilla and pumpkin with last egg. Stir in flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20-22 minutes or until tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan 10 minutes and transfer to rack to cool completely before filling and frosting.

To fill cupcakes, poke three 1-inch deep holes into each cupcake and spoon cooled salted caramel on top, allowing it to seep into cupcakes. 

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter, room temperature
• 4-6 c. powdered sugar
• remaining salted caramel (from recipe above)

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and salted caramel. Add powdered sugar slowly to desired thickness. Spread or pipe frosting on cupcakes and drizzle with reserved salted caramel. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt if desired.

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