Pumpkin Spice "Turkey" Cupcakes

WARNING: These cupcakes contain milk, eggs, wheat, and peanuts. If you are allergic, do NOT eat these cupcakes.

The Ingredients You Will Need Are:

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup(from a 15-oz can) pure pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk

You will need to gather the ingredients listed above and allow them to come to room temperature. The butter should be softened.

Preheat oven to 350°F(177°C). Place paper baking cups into each of 24 regular-size cupcake cups.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a medium-size bowl.

Cream the butter, with an electric mixer, which can either be a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer, on medium speed or until light and fluffy.

Add the sugar in, about a 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the side of the bowl occasionally.

Add the eggs, *one at a time, beating for 20 seconds, after each addition.

*The reason you add the eggs one at a time is that you need to create a water-in-fat emulsion. This also prevents the butter and eggs from curdling.

Beat in the pumpkin and vanilla(basically the flavor!!!! Yum!)

On *low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture, about 1/3 at a time, and milk, about 1/2 at a time, beating after each addition, until **just blended.

* If you beat on high speed, the flour will end up erupting from the bowl in a big floury mess.

** Just blended means just until ingredients are mixed and there are no streaks of flour or milk throughout the batter. Over mixing will result in a dense, almost rubbery cake.

*** The picture above shows what the batter will look like when it is done.

Divide the cupcake batter into each of the muffin cups in the muffin tin.

Place the cupcakes in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick(I used a cake tester) inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.

Take the cupcakes out of the oven. They should look like the photo.

Gather the frosting ingredients.

You will need:

1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese

1/4 cup *butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

**2 to 3 teaspoons of milk

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

4 cups ***powdered sugar

* You can use margarine but butter has a better taste in my opinion but go ahead and try both to see which one you prefer

**You will most definitely need 2 teaspoons of milk, the extra is added at the end if the frosting is too thick

***Powdered sugar is also referred to as confectioner's sugar and icing sugar

Note: The butter and cream cheese need to be softened and at room temperature.

Beat together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and 2 teaspoons of milk on low speed until smooth.

Add the pumpkin pie spice to the butter and cream cheese mixture, and continue beating.

Beat in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, on low speed. You may need to add a few drops of milk to make it smooth and spreadable, but it should look like the photo.

Frost the cupcakes with the frosting you just made. If you use a piping bag, use a round tip and pipe the spiral flat onto the cupcakes.

For the decorations, you will need:

216 regular candy corn

24 Indian corn candy

24 mini peanut butter cups

48 mini candy eyeballs

To make the turkey head, press the peanut butter cup, upside down, into the frosting near the front of the cupcakes.

To make the turkey's tail feathers, put a curved row of 5 candy corn following the edge, opposite of the edge you put the peanut butter cup. Next, put a curved row of 4 candy corn right in front of the row of 5 candy corn.

To make the turkey face, use the remaining frosting to attach two candy eyes to the top of the peanut butter cup, and an Indian corn to the bottom of the peanut butter cup, as in the photo.