What a weekend! Things have been pretty interesting around the gourmet foodie blog household lately. Not only did we throw a wedding shower for Jessica’s sister, it was also their birthdays! Yes, Jess is a twin! While we love to host parties at our house it definitely takes a ton of planning and time to get things set up, especially when you are planning two events put into one, which would explain the absence in my posts lately.

Things started out a little shaky on Friday. As we were setting things up for the following day I decided to open a window because the ovens had been running full steam ahead and heated the house to the point where we were about to pass out. I slow opened the window (which had a screen by the way) and was promptly stung by a wasp! WTF how did that get there!?!?! He must have been planning his attack for hours just lying there in wait, knowing we would have to open a window sooner or later! After a few choice words I decided to re-think this whole “Save the Bees” campaign I’ve been supporting lately….

Here is what I think it looked like when he attacked.

It has probably been 20 some years since I was last stung. I can remember this event as if it was yesterday… My brother and I were doing what children with loads of curiosity and time do. We had found a bee’s hive earlier in the week and wondered what you would expect any kid of this age to wonder… What would happen if you were to hit it with a water balloon? This was a completely legitimate question…. right? Well needless to say a couple of direct water balloon hits later we found out. I’m pretty sure you can guess that was the last time we did that.

Not only was I busy with planning and preparing our party this week, I have also been going crazy with raking leaves! For some reason this year our tree decided to produced extra leaves just to make things difficult. As soon as I have finished raking the yard the wind blows and the yard is completely covered again! Is there no end to the madness?!?

Since raking leaves is normally a really mundane task I decided to make it fun this year by enlisting two little helpers. They had a blast chasing the rake and running through recently stack piles of leaves!

Seeing as how this weekend was a two event party I wanted to make sure we did something special for the occasion. I wanted to make something that was representative of the season and perfect for a celebration of this kind which is what lead me to make one of my all time favorite cupcake recipes. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

A Pumpkin spice cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting is basically a pumpkin spice pie baked in cupcake form. What I love most about these cupcakes is the unbelievable amount of moistness that is the direct product of the pumpkin pie filling. Many of my favorite cupcake recipes add pudding or extra milk to create a cake that is moist and delicious. Another great benefit of the pie filling is it makes them extremely hard to overcook.

Everyone at the party loved them!

With the end of the weekend finally here a day of rest was definitely needed. We did a quick lunch time meeting at Twisted Root (our all time favorite burger joint) and caught an afternoon movie with my parents and brothers girlfriend. We then went home and promptly fell asleep. What a week!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups pumpkin pie filling (I use Libby’s)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together flour, baking powders, salt and spices. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, melted butter and pumpkin puree with an electric mixer on med-low until well combined.
Pour in half of the flour mixture and slowly combine into the liquid mixture. Add the rest of the flour on low until everything is well combine and smooth.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
Cool completely (about 10-20 min) before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cinnamon

Beat cream cheese and butter together until creamy.
Mix in (one cup at a time) powdered sugar until smooth.
Add vanilla and cinnamon, beat on med-high until light and fluffy.