Pumpkin Banana Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting feature a delicately spiced cupcake topped with a nutty brown butter frosting. They're a simple, comforting dessert that is welcome on a chilly Autumn day.
When I have the urge to bake a banana dessert, I often find myself short on bananas. The recipe will call for two or three overripe bananas, and I'll only have one on hand. And since bananas have to ripen for quite a few days before getting to that spotty state when they're perfect for baking, it's not as though I can simply swing by the grocery store, pick up a bunch of bananas, and get baking. What if I impatiently want to bake a banana dessert right now? What's a girl to do?
How about substituting pumpkin?
This recipe from Janice Cole's Chicken and Egg cookbook originally called for 1 cup of mashed bananas. I only had 1/3 of a cup, so I replaced 2/3 cup of bananas with pumpkin puree. The flavors worked together quite nicely. Additionally, mashed bananas and pumpkin puree have similar moisture contents and similar textures. As a result, the crumb of these cupcakes was only marginally different than if I had followed the original recipe.
And how could I not talk about the browned butter cream cheese frosting? I don't think there could be any frosting that seems more quintessentially autumnal than brown butter frosting. The brown butter adds a hint of nuttiness, as does the graham flour that I used in the cupcake batter. If you don't have graham flour, you can certainly substitute whole wheat flour or even regular all-purpose flour. But I think the graham flour really enhances these cupcakes -- so give it a try, if you can!
Pumpkin Banana Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting
(adapted from Janice Cole's Chicken and Egg cookbook)
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Banana Cupcakes:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup graham flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. allspice
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 very ripe banana, mashed (about 1/3 cup)
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
For the Brown Butter Frosting:
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup) cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
For the Pumpkin Banana Cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Continue beating for approximately 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low, and add eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating after each addition. To the same bowl, mix in flour and milk as such: beat in first 1/3 of flour mixture, then 1/2 of milk, then next 1/3 of flour mixture, then remainder of milk, then remainder of flour. Fold in bananas and pumpkin puree.
4. Fill each muffin tin with a scant 1/4 cup batter. Bake cupcakes for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan and cool on wire rack until completely cool.
For the Brown Butter Frosting:
1. While the cupcakes are baking, melt the butter in a small, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the milk solids begin to brown. If the butter is browning too quickly, reduce the heat to low. Pour butter into a medium mixing bowl (be sure to scrape up all the browned milk solids) and chill for 20-30 minutes. Chilled brown butter should have the consistency of softened butter.
2. With an electric mixer, beat browned butter at medium speed until smoothly. Beat in cream cheese and vanilla until well incorporated. Add powdered sugar in two separate portions and beat until light and fluffy. Decorate cupcakes as desired.
3. If not eating immediately, cupcakes should be stored in refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Yield: 12 cupcakes
(click here for printable recipe)
Thanks for reading, friends!
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