Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcake-in!

Hello friends! My Thanksgiving was wonderful and I hope yours did too. I am still new in my boyfriend's family so, in order to not look like some crazed paparazzi, I wasn't able to whip out my camera and take pictures of some of their amazing food options (including something called Hot Corn which is corn with sour cream/cream cheese, cayenne, green chilies, and maybe even other things I don't even know about!). Just trust me that I had my share!

(the desserts where phenomenal!)

It was super rainy here, for my first Thanksgiving in Southern Illinois.

But then, as we were eating a late Thanksgiving lunch, it started to snow!

Matt's grandpa pointed the snow out as we finished our turkey, mashed potatoes, and hot corn. It was the perfect midday gift!

I brought Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes and, as promised, I am showing you these beautiful treats. I discovered this morning that they work just as well as muffins, minus the frosting. Seriously, they were so moist and rich, I didn't need butter or anything!

(that's why I called them cupcake-ins in the title!)

The recipe is from Eat, Live, Run (an amazing blog!) and actually includes hazelnuts, but since I'm not a huge "nut-person," I just didn't add them.

Also, I decided to use the Honey Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting from my original Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes. I'm not huge on chocolate frosting and that one was so easy and delish that I decided to use it.


I liked these a lot better than the Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes. I think the chocolate added the sweetness it needed to balance out all the spice. 


1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 XL eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (8 oz) canned pumpkin
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (omitted from mine)

I used 2.5 lg eggs instead of 2 xl, and used pumpkin pie spice instead of ginger & nutmeg!

With the oven at 350, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, pumpkin, and vegetable oil. Then, mix the two bowls!

Then come your chocolate chips (the best part, obviously). I used Ghiradelli and they were delish!

Fill your cups about 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes, using the toothpick test. I whipped up the frosting while the cupcake-ins were baking! I didn't use as much sugar this time (only 1 cup!). It turned out thicker and I actually used a knife to spread it, but I think it tasted better!

Seriously, if you left these without frosting, they would make the most delicious muffins! I ate one for breakfast this morning (lopped the frosting off!) and it was so good. 

Add your frosting and a few leftover chips for garnish. Everyone that tried them fell in love yesterday!

I brought them on my wire tray because I didn't have anything better to carry them in (as a cupcake novice, I don't have any fancy baking supplies!). Worked perfectly though, and the extras stayed nice and cool in the car for our second stop.


After Thanksgiving lunch, Thanksgiving dinner, plenty of pie and cupcake-ins, and about 6 rousing rounds of Taboo, we were ready for bed!


I'll update tonight or tomorrow about our day today. We were so looking forward to a day to ourselves and so far, it hasn't disappointed! I'm about to start the beer cheese soup, so enjoy your Fridays!


P.S. What was the most unique thing you ate yesterday?