Orange Spice Cupcakes with Orange Coconut Cream Cheese Icing

Celebrating My Birthday Together
12/16/2010

I can tell you where the months went since the last recipe post. They were swallowed up by time. Time spent preparing for a working cruise in Hawaii. Time spent being with my mother as much as I possibly could, and then time spent flying my mother to her final resting place in Pennsylvania on July 15, 2011. Time spent with the most profound grieving I never could have imagined. Time spent in Hawaii working. I'm back now. My thoughts and sadness still gravitate to my mother daily and how I am missing my best friend. And I realize that life does go on, and each day there is perhaps a little less sadness and a little more peace of mind. So, here I am with the newest offering on the blog since this past April, something spicy, perky, sweet and perfect for the fall season.  My mother would have thought these cupcakes were gorgeous.

ORANGE SPICE CUPCAKES

2 1/2 cups of flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cardamom

1/4 tsp. salt

Stir these dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.  Now, as many of you know, I have a jar of cardamom that I've been trying to utilize and justify the cost ;-)  Yes, it was expensive, but amazingly I am nearly finished with the jar!!! (I've used the better part of it sprinkled into my coffee grounds before brewing, excellent.)  If you do not have cardamom and don't want to invest, then don't add it.  Replace it with cloves, or nothing at all.

1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. orange extract (buy it where you buy vanilla)

1 1/4 cups of milk

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla and orange extracts.  Stir in the flour mixture and the milk alternately into the butter/sugar mixture, stirring only well enough to combine, ending with the milk.  You don't have to use a mixer for this.  Divide the batter between approximately 16-18 paper-lined muffin tins, filling about three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes or less in a preheated 350 degree oven or until a cake tester comes out clean, or when the cakes spring back when you touch them.  Makes around 1 1/2 dozen.

ORANGE COCONUT CREAM CHEESE ICING

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (you can use light)

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups of powdered sugar, sifted to get the lumps out

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. orange extract

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1 Tbs. milk

Beat together the softened cream cheese and butter.  Stir in the salt and the extract.  Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time, adding a drop or two of milk each time.  It's amazing how little milk you actually need to make an icing consistency.  Don't overdo it, or you'll be adding more powdered sugar to compensate for your soupy icing.  Stir the coconut in last.

If you like toasted coconut as a garnish, spread a nice handful on a piece of tin foil and stick it in your toaster oven on, what else... toast.  Watch it so it doesn't burn, and stir it every couple of minutes until it is a nice toasty color!

I brought these to my hair salon today and gave them to my awesome son, Evan, for beautiful hair color, and to Melrose, for the greatest cut.  They shared!  

Make these and let me know in the comment section how you loved them.

Chocolate Crusted Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Whew... that's a big name for this little pie.  But I couldn't just call it a pumpkin pie.  One member of my household called it a Hybrid Special. I thought that was pretty funny. But who would find my pie searching for Hybrid Special?  If you own my cookbook, you know that I feature this pie in the dessert section, except that in that recipe I use a regular pie crust and glaze the top of the cooled pie with a maple syrup concoction.  Sounds pretty good, right?  It is.  But not being able to leave well enough alone, I decided that these four things, chocolate, pumpkin, orange and cream cheese would taste pretty good together.  And they do.  Try this one of these days before the holidays and decide for yourself if offering a variation on a theme would be a good idea.  I offered a choice last Thanksgiving, and everyone loved both the traditional pie and the Hybrid!  Here's the recipe.

CHOCOLATE CRUSTED PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE PIE
1 chocolate pie crust (such as Oreo brand)
1 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese, softened (I used the Neufchatel 1/3 less fat)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. freshly grated orange peel
1 egg

1 1/4 cups of canned pumpkin (don't stress over the little bit that's left in the can)
1 cup evaporated milk (use the rest for your coffee or cooking)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
Dash of salt
Whipped cream for garnish

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the pie crust on a cookie sheet and set aside.
• Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, orange peel and egg. Beat on low speed with a mixer until smooth. Spread onto the bottom only of the pie crust and even it out with the bottom of your spoon.
• Combine remaining pie ingredients and mix very well until nice and smooth. 
• Carefully pour this mixture over the cream cheese mixture. You might have a little bit left that just won't fit.
• Place pie in the oven on the cookie sheet to prevent a spill and bake for around 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
• Remove pie from oven and cool on a rack completely.
• Chill and garnish with whipped cream. A few chocolate sprinkles on top of the whipped cream, or a couple of candy corn arranged nicely would look great!  Enjoy!!!

Note ~ you can substitute 1 3/4 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice for the individual spices above.