BOO! It's Halloween!

Ahh... Halloween.  The time for kids to go on an endless sugar high, for parents to drag their kids around at night, and for those in-between to assume another identity and let their "other" personalities come out!  I've always enjoyed Halloween and this year is no different.

My department is holding a Halloween party this year and I'm pretty darn excited because of all the activities!  There will be three contests for everyone - costume contest, pumpkin carving contest, and a cupcake contest!  I immediately signed up for the cupcake contest and later signed up for the pumpkin carving contest after my coworker convinced me.  Good thing she did because I had a lot of fun carving different jack 'o lanterns on the pumpkin.  Three hours of hard and laborious work, but it was well worth it...

As you know, I've been trying hard to become a better baker, so this cupcake contest provided more of a motivation to do well (competitive much?).  In the days leading up to it, I have been researching cupcake flavors, frosting ideas, and Halloween-themed designs.  I also knew I had to do a test batch to make sure it will turn out edible and presentable because I did not want to start on the Sunday before and end up with disastrous results and no cupcakes to offer the next day.  The practice run was a great idea because for the second time around, I knew exactly what I was doing and the cupcakes turned out refreshingly moist and delicious!  The cream cheese frosting was just sweet enough and paired well with the pumpkin-flavor cake, and the finely chopped chocolate chips were a wonderful final touch to the cupcakes.  I hope the judges will like it.  Wish me luck everyone!

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin cupcakes from Ina Garden for HouseBeautiful
...I doubled the recipe to make bigger and plumper cupcakes.  It yielded 20 cupcakes.

Gently fold the flour mixture in the wet mixture until just combined.  The final batter should be thick and lumpy.

Use a cookie scooper to fill the pan, and use the back of the scooper to "round out" the batter so that you can get a good-lookin' cupcake!

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting adapted from Ina Garden for HouseBeautiful
Ingredients
- 9 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup

Decoration:
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, finely chopped
- 18 ghost marshmallow peeps

Tools
- electric mixer
- food processor

Steps
1. Cream the cream cheese and butter on low until softened.

2. Pour in maple syrup and vanilla extract.  Slowly stir in powdered sugar until softened.

3. Chop the chocolate chips in the food processor until fine.  Lay chocolate on a plate for dipping.

4. Take the ghost marshmallow peeps and cut about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of marshmallow from the bottom of the ghost.

5. Frost your cupcakes!  Once frosted, turn the cupcake upside down and dip the frosted cupcake in the chocolate.  Make sure the chocolate is abundant across the surface area of the cupcake (for mimicking dirt) and place a ghost peep on top of the cupcake.  If the ghost peep is not stable, spread a little bit of frosting on the bottom to ensure it stays on top of cupcake.  

The ghost peeps say, "BOO! I dare you to eat me!"