Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins (With Cream Cheese Frosting)

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 25 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 12

Ingredients
Muffin Ingredients:
1 cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces
1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree
½ cups Evaporated Milk
1 whole Egg
1-½ teaspoon Vanilla
½ cups Golden Raisins (optional!)
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Topping
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoons Nutmeg
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FOR FROSTING:
¼ cups Softened Butter
4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
½ pounds Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 12 muffin tins.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until it is fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold gently until mixture is just combined.
Pour into a greased muffin pan—batter hardly ever fills all twelve unless you keep it down to 1/2 full. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar-nutmeg mixture over the top of each unbaked muffin.
Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool. Ice with cream cheese frosting.
To make the frosting, mix all ingredients on high until soft and whipped. Spread onto completely cooled muffins, or place into a large pastry bag with a large star tip and go crazy! Store in the fridge, as icing will soften at room temperature.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/moist-pumpkin-spice-muffins-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

Spicy Molasses Cookies!

Makes 18 cookies
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sugar, shortening, molasses, and egg together until well combined.
Dump in dry ingredients, stirring dry ingredients together lightly. Mix together until dough is combined.
Roll dough into walnut-sized balls, then generously coat each ball with sugar.
Place balls on a baking sheet and bake for 9 to 11 minutes, allowing to bake for about a minute after cookies begin to crack.
Remove cookies from baking sheet and allow to cool….though these are delicious while still warm.
Fun variation: drizzle melted white chocolate in decorative stripes over the top of each cookie. Allow to harden before serving. Or: dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate. Yum.
Another fun variation: make sandwiches using two cookies and a scoop of cinnamon ice cream. Yikes.
Another really fun variation: eat all the cookies yourself, then hide all the evidence.
See you tomorrow for Day Two of Cookie Week. Unless I wake up tomorrow and decide to cancel Cookie Week, which I promise I won’t do. Unless I do.
Love,
Pioneer Woman