Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting, Half-Batch

Directions

1. Pumpkin Cupcakes, Half-Batch
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 6-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
3. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk the egg and sugar together until creamy. Add vegetable oil, Greek yogurt, pumpkin, and vanilla extract, and whisk again until smooth.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. (Note: You can use 1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin spice instead of the ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.) Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until incorporated, taking care not to overmix.
5. Fill liners to 2/3 full or less for these. I filled mine about 3 tablespoons of batter each, using a 1/4 cup measuring cup. You will have a little bit of extra batter left. Bake for 18 minutes, or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, and tops spring back when touched.

1. Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (based on Smitten Kitchen)
2. If using an electric mixer, simply combine everything and beat on high speed until smooth and fluffy.
3. If mixing by hand, whisk together cream cheese and butter first until very smooth. If you’re mixing by hand, it will greatly help if the cream cheese and butter are quite soft beforehand.
4. Add in the confectioners' sugar in batches, beating after each addition until smooth. Last, add the maple syrup and whisk again until incorporated. If frosting is too runny after the syrup, add another few teaspoons of confectioners' sugar.