Mmm! Toasted and sugared nuts top cream cheese frosting on sweet and spicy pumpkin cupcakes.
Ingredients
Baking Cups
1/2
cup finely chopped pecans
3
tablespoons sugar
1
box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ yellow cake mix
1
cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2
cup water
1/3
cup vegetable oil
4
eggs
1 1/2
teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1
container Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy cream cheese frosting
Steps
Prevent your screen from going dark while you cook.
1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Place Reynolds Baking Cups in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2 In a heavy 8-inch nonstick skillet, cook pecans and 2 tablespoons of the sugar over low heat about 8 minutes, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted. Spoon and spread pecans onto a sheet of waxed paper. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar; toss.
3 In a large bowl, beat cake mix, pumpkin, water, oil, eggs and pumpkin pie spice with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (about two-thirds full).
4 Bake 19 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to a cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
5 Frost cupcakes with frosting. Sprinkle edge of frosted cupcakes with pecans; press lightly into frosting. Store loosely covered.
Expert Tips
Baking Cups are fashion-inspired designs that won’t fade during baking.
Use a heavy skillet, low heat and a constant eye to cook the sugar and nuts to ensure no burning.
If you have only one pan and a recipe calls for more cupcakes than your pan will make, cover and refrigerate the rest of the batter while baking the first batch. Cool the pan about 15 minutes, then bake the rest of the batter, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.
