Happy Thanksgiving!!! Celebrate with these pumpkin spice cupcakes!

Hopefully, you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with you and yours.  I know I did.  Kicked off the day running a 5K with my hubby and his siblings!  A fun-filled family event, which made me feel less guilty come dessert time!

 To make these delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes, you will need the following ingredients (most of which were at the front of the grocery store leading up to Turkey day!):

• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 sticks and 6 Tbsp of softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 15 oz can of pure pumpkin
• 1/2 cup of molasses
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup of sour cream at room temperature
• 1 tsp grated orange zest - finally got to use my zester!!

I'm definitely not ready to be on Cupcake Wars or any of those shows, but these came out pretty good!

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line muffin tins with liners.  I used a mini-muffin pan....whole cupcakes can be intimidating at Thanksgiving when there are 20 other desserts on the table!

In a bowl, mix together the flour, ginger, cloves, baking power, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer and mix the 2 sticks of butter and granulated sugar.  The mixture will become fluffy.  Then, beat the eggs in, one at a time.  Add the pure pumpkin, and molasses, and then slowly mix in the flour mixture.  Your batter is complete!

Place a generous amount of batter into each muffin liner, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes if you are making little guys, and about 20-25 minutes if you were brave enough to make full size cupcakes.  If you aren't sure if they are ready, use the old wooden toothpick trick.  Stick in the middle and if it comes out clean, they are ready to rock!

While the "muffins" are cooking, you can prep the frosting.  Grab that electric mixer again, and yes, clean off the pumpkin batter!  Mix the confectioners' sugar, sour cream and remaining butter until its creamy.  Stir in the orange zest and let it sit in the fridge for an hour before frosting!  You can always hold off on frosting until right before serving!

If your family is anything like mine, you had WAY TOO much food at Thanksgiving, and took home lots of leftovers.  These cupcakes make for a great dessert....but they are also good with your morning coffee :-)

I am thankful for my husband, my families, and my amazing friends.  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.