Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

For Thanksgiving this year, my mom requested pumpkin cupcakes, because when she came down to visit me one weekend, they were serving some in the cafeteria.

And because they were so amazingly delicious, I decided to try my hand at making my own.

But what no one told me is that due to the crazy, abnormal amounts of rain 'round these here parts, pumpkin puree (the, shall I say, most important ingredient) is pretty much impossible to come by.

So Mom bought me some pumpkin pie filling instead.

OK. Well, I guess that can work too. It's like puree, right? Except they already threw in all the other ingredients: sugar, spices, stuff like that.

(It's This versus This, basically.)

Then Grandma told me that sweet potato has the same consistency and color, and no one would know the difference, but my dad hates sweet potatoes, and I couldn't do that to him. After all, he's the one making the turkey so I gotta be nice after all that hard work he put into making dinner.

So we substituted the puree for the pie filling, and decreased the amount of spices in half (because they already put spice in the filling, but I already said that, so anyway) but we kept the amount of sugar the same... mostly because I didn't know how much sugar was already in there, and I didn't want to risk not having enough, and I figure, hey, they're cupcakes, they can be super sweet, right?

But it turns out I worried for nothing, because the cupcakes turned out beautiful and moist. I was so, so happy that my ingredient substitution didn't go awry. The only problem we had was that one batch was slightly burned on the bottom.

Oh, and all I could find for cupcake liners were the July 4th ones and some NASCAR ones I picked up at Big Lots for my mom. But no biggy, they were still awesome and yummy and amazing.

And even though Christmas isn't a huge pumpkiny season, I bet these would taste great at your next party or family gathering as well. And if you don't like pumpkin pie (honestly, I don't), give these little guys a chance... some cream cheese icing and dash of cinnamon sugar on top and you'll find that pumpkin has become one of your very best friends. :)