Apples and Pumpkins make the perfect fall deserts. This Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe and Philly Apple Crumble recipe are two easy and delicious options!
Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe and Philly Apple Crumble
I have a problem. I have had this same problem for many years and can’t seem to get over it. I know many of you have the same problem. What is it? I love clipping recipes. I can’t stop myself. If I see a good recipe I have to write it down or tear it out because I am convinced I will try it some day. My problem is worse than most because I have the excuse that my readers would love this recipe so I will tear and write guilt free.
Here are two of the latest delicious recipes I have added to my collection. I wanted to share them with you because if I don’t get to make them, maybe some of you will. My timing is perfect because this week cream cheese is on sale and either of these would be nice for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Tip: If you use a lot of cream cheese, you might want to stock up. Like cheese, cream cheese has a very long shelf life and will last you into next year.
This creamy pumpkin cupcakes recipe reminds me a little of those yummy pumpkin rolls but without as much work. I would add nuts to this recipe but you don’t have to. You could add a little cinnamon or nutmeg to some Cool Whip and top each cupcake when it is cool or just sprinkle with powdered sugar. You can also add cinnamon to your Cool Whip for your pumpkin or apple pies.
Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe
1 pkg. spice cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Mix cake mix as directed on package. Add dry pudding and pumpkin. Mix well. Pour into 24 paper lined muffin cups. Beat cream cheese, sugar and egg together and drop a spoonful into the center of each cupcake. Swirl gently with a spoon. Bake at 350° for 18-21 minutes.
Spiced Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix all ingredients together and spread on the pumpkin cupcakes.
Philly Apple Crumble Recipe
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 2/3 cup vanilla wafers, crushed
4 cups baking apples, chopped and peeled
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Heat oven to 400°. Mix cream cheese and vanilla wafers. Do not over mix. In a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish, mix other ingredients. Sprinkle with cream cheese mix. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and apples are tender. Serve warm. Store leftovers in fridge.
Do you know how yummy these would be with a cup of coffee or tea when shared with a friend on a snowy afternoon or what they would smell like when the kids come in from school? Do any of you have a recipe like this? One you would love to share with a friend or to have with a cup of tea on a winter afternoon? If so, pop in and share it with us!
-Jill (who is gaining weight just thinking about these) : )
I have the same weakness. I love recipes. Clipping them and looking through cookbooks. Theses recipes look so good and easy, which is why I will probably end up making them. Just in time for the holidays too. Jill and Tawra I read this blog EVERY day. Keep up the good work. You are inspiring. Did you know you can make gingerbread cookies with spice cake mix too?
I buy cream cheese in the 3# block at Costco. If you are using it in baking you can freeze it and it will be fine when you thaw it. I freeze 8oz. sections and pull them out as I need them. The only thing different is the texture which is fine for baking but not so enticing for your bagel.
I made these last week, and they are wonderful. The neat thing is they actually are better the day after and you can freeze or store in the refrigerator. I used the recipe as directed, but instead of the vanilla pudding, I used the instant pumpkin spice that is seasonally stocked. I buy plenty and keep on hand. Great call on this one–it’s a winner!
omg jill i make these same cupcakes! … i take a box of spice cake and add 1 can of the pureed pumpkin (not pie mix just the regular pureed pumpkin) … bake at the degree recommended on the box … and voila! .. the most moist tastiest cupcakes ever… adn the house smells divine! … add some cream cheese frosting and oh my! heaven!!!!… heheheheh :D (this is a 2 ingredient recipe i found online, the original recipe said to use chocolate cake mix but when i scrolled down to read the reviews, many had used the spice cake so that is why i decided to use the spice cake mix instead)…
if you could ask bea for that recipe on how to make gingerbread with spice cake that would be awesome…
by the way, speaking of gingerbread, how big are those cookies you make and do you sell them? … just curious … :D
rose
Rose, I make a couple of sizes. I make my little ones which are 2-3 inches tall and sell them by the dozen and then I make some large ones which are 12 inches tall and I really decorate them up. I sell about 1/2 and give away 1/2.
Jill
oh wow jill that sounds like fun! … and alot of work but fun! :D :D …
i hate to ask but do you think you can ask bea to share that recipe how to make gingerbread out of spice cake? … i was telling my daughter about it and her fiance is like “becky! we need that!”… he loves cake! … any kind of cake …. and gingerbread cookies… :D :D
thanks jill :D
Rose, Here is the recipe for Gingerbread Cookies using spice cake mix.
1 box spice cake mix
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup molasses
2 tsp ground ginger
raisins and small candies for embellishments
Combine cake mix, flour, eggs, oil, molasses, and ginger in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Refrigerate 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness, cut with cookie cutters. Place cut out cookies on UNGREASED cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Remove to cooking racks until cool.
For the apple crumble – is it 2 2/3 cups of vanilla wafers, and then you crush them OR, do you crush the vanilla wafers first and measure 2 2/3 cups?
Thanks. I love these recipes. Simple, easy, and great tasting.
Crush them then measure them although this recipe is forgiving enough it really wouldn’t matter either way.
Just wanted to let you know that the Creamy Pumpkin Cupcakes were amazing!!! With a texture very close to cheesecake, these were gobbled up by everyone that walked in the house!! Thanks again!! This is a keeper for Christmas!!
I smiled when you said how you love to clip recipes.
I am now wading through boxes of recipes here at home; glad to know I’m in good company!
The pumpkin Cupcakes look yummy- is there a recipe for the icing?
If you want what is similar to the picture it is just the Cool Whip sprinkled with a little cinnamon and/or nutmeg in it. Cool whip like this is good for your pumpkin pie too.
I love collecting them silly things too!
A few thoughts on how to keep track of them.
One of the things you might try to keep track of them is an excel spreadsheet so you know where to go find them when you want them. then you can have an index set up with a common item and assign each cook book or collection book an id code and put it right on the edge of your cookbook. like at the library.
If that is too much for you then a central book that contains copies of all of your central indexes of the books which is typically only a few pages. with a reference as to what book they are from.
This way when you want something to do with pumkin you can quickly see what books have punkins in them… etc. also put a key as to what type it is a meal; a side; or a sugar treat.. yum. Same works if you want it to find all of your recipies that are soups or all those that are sides., etc.
then when you do the find option put in the key word you are looking for and it will go find them. and if it is a e-book what directory you find it in, or where the CD is located, and you might put a label on the CD’S.
as you get new ones you can go down and put it in your central listing. every so often save your listing off on to a CD so that if your computer crashes you wont have to start from scratch.
then you can run thru your listing if you dont have time to sit down and flip flip flip….thru each book. now you know which ones you can go to first and put a rating system with it. like kids like or dad likes. and the fact that it is a favorite.
makes those trails easier to find…cause when ya hit a good one it is always the one that eludes you and goes missing or hiding somewhere.
I haven’t been able to find a spice cake box mix. What kind of spices would you add to a white or yellow cake mix? Thanks,
Mary Engstli
You could try pumpkin pie spice. We have the recipe for it in Dining. It is 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. ginger, 1/8 tsp. cloves. This makes about 1 tsp. of seasoning. We have a ton more of these homemade seasonings (Taco, seasoned salt, Italian, shake and bake etc) in Dining on a Dime if you need more.
Hi Jill!
I was just thinking about you and your Gingerbread men! Have you started making them yet? I know it’s quite a big project!! Please share some pics for those who have never seen them. BTW-could you give us a couple of tips on how to sell baked goods for a bit of extra money?? How do you start that kind of business?
I sure hope you are feeling well-how do you feel? I am having to go on disability now, and I’m working hard to keep my spirits high:)!!
Many blessings, Barb~
Thanks for asking Barb. I am doing pretty good. If I over do I crash and burn the next day but I have gotten pretty good at controlling my CFS. Hang in there. I know so many people think it is so great to go on disability or not have to work but it really isn’t a bed of roses in so many ways. If you start getting down just holler and we don’t mind yakking at you. : )
I have started my gingerbread men. I spent most of yesterday mixing all the dough up and vacuum sealing it. Last week I spent a whole day just measuring the dry ingredients out. 75 cups of flour, 50 cups of sugar and tons of spices. The main trick is not losing count of how many you have already got measured into the bag. I will try to take pictures if I can. I don’t have a cell phone that takes pictures or a camera but I will see what I can do.
How to start selling your own baked goods. Well I can only tell you what seemed to work for me. I first found 1 thing that I made that was really good and different from what other people were doing. Believe it or not there really aren’t that many people doing g. men and most of those don’t have a really good recipe for them. So find something that is a little different but yet familiar if you know what I mean. I say find one thing because it is usually best in any business to have 1 product that does really good then several that are semi good. It takes less time to buy ingredients for one thing then ingredients for several and to keep track of it all so don’t spread yourself too thin.
Then I gave them away to all my friends,family and any one else I could think of and let them know I was going to start selling them. I did things like take a couple of bags to the receptionists at my dr.’s office. I get orders of about 60 doz. a year from them. We took the kids to see Santa at Ace hardware and I noticed that they served cookies so the next year a couple of months before Christmas I took of bags to them and they now order a ton from me for Santa Day and people who came to that and tasted them called and asked to order too. I gave a bag to the mailman for a gift and his wive started ordering a ton. So the main thing is to give out samples to everyone. I gave to a gal who works at the thrift store I go to, my bank clerk, and the clerk who asked at my spice store who wanted to know what all the spices were for. They all started ordering and it just kept snow balling. If someone asks me at the grocery store why I am buying so much flour I tell them and give them a card.
You can’t be shy. If you have a good product, service and something a little different the word will spread like crazy. It takes time though. Everyone sees the huge amount I sell and sometimes think the first year or 2 they will sell that many but I have been doing this for over 20 years. The first couple of years it was just a few dozen.
Oh another thing too I did sell and take orders at a craft show. I only did that twice because I had so many orders at that point I didn’t need to really do them. I sold out of all I had, about 200 doz. in 2 hours time at one craft show. They loved the samples. Another thing I did at the craft show was I saw others who had booths there that maybe had a candy shop or something like that and talked to them about putting my things on consignment. I could go to tea rooms or many stores who have Christmas open houses for them to buy to serve to their customers. I don’t do that because I have so many of my own individual customers that I can’t do any more.
Hopes that gives you some ideas. Like I said hang in there. :)