Autumn!!

My favorite season, autumn, has started and I love it!  The girls were "baking" with play-doh in the kitchen today, and I got to do a little creating of my own, rolling Starbursts and Laffy Taffy into pumpkins.  I put the unwrapped candy in the microwave for 5 seconds and the shaping went a lot easier.  The pumpkin muffins are just great on their own and freeze really well, or you can frost them and turn them into cupcakes. With the recipe, feel free to mess around with the flour types and amounts, just keeping the total flour equal.

Dairy and Egg-Free Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 15 ounce can packed pumpkin
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soymilk with 1t. cider vinegar, set aside to thicken
1/2 cup canola oil
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 t. salt

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
1/4 cup wheat germ (or oat bran)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder

Pre-heat oven to 350. Whisk top ingredients together in a medium bowl. Whisk bottom ingredients together in a large bowl. Dump wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix carefully with a spoon until just blended. Spoon into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until tops are dry and springy.
Remove from pan and allow to cool completely before frosting. Makes about 18.


Maple Syrup Frosting
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup dairy free margarine
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 T. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla
2-4 T. soymilk

With a hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle blade, whip the shortening together until creamy. Add the sugar in and beat until incorporated. Add maple syrup and enough soymilk to make a thick spreadable consistency. This makes enough for piping on, you'll have leftovers if you spread it on with a knife.