Pumpkin Caramel Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I have declared that it's dessert before dinner day!  After all, it's Saturday!  And after something so decadent and rich, you probably won't want to do dessert for awhile.  Wait...who am I kidding?  I'm sure you will find yourself wanting dessert at some point. 

Anyways, I found myself wanting to marry a lot of ingredients today!  I mean, there were some serious nuptials goin' on in here.  This was, after all, the experimental recipe!  Anyways, "the hubs" has enjoyed being the guinea pig today, but said he would marry different ingredients next time.  Okay, he's on to something there, but we will get to that in a minute.  

So, we had a little bit of this...

And this...

And there were nuptials...



And then a few became one...

It was a lovely ceremony...you should've attended.  Now, I'm in agreement with "the hubs" on the marrying-different-ingredients-factor.  With that being said, I still decided on adding jumbo-sized chocolate chips because...well...I'm a woman.  But I think that pecans would've worked nicely especially with the caramel cream cheese frosting.  Nice pair.  And for some this might be too pumpkin-y.  To each his/her own.  The mix of pumpkin, caramel and chocolate chip might be too all over the charts for some and I get that. 

Pumpkin Caramel jumbo Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (you could also add the same measurement of allspice and nutmeg!)
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup canned pumpkin (you could go a little less pumpkin, maybe 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips (you could add walnuts or chopped pecans instead)
1/4 cup caramel syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper baking cups.  Set aside. 

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in one bowl.  Set aside.

In another bowl mix the eggs, canned pumpkin, vegetable oil and caramel syrup.  Fold in chocolate chips, walnuts or pecans.  Then add this mixture to the flour mixture.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full.  I used a jumbo cupcake pan which was 6 cupcakes.  You could use a regular muffin pan for approximately 12-15 cupcakes.  If you are using a jumbo cupcake pan, allow cupcakes to bake for approximately 45-50 minutes.  If you use a regular muffin pan, you should probably allow 30-35 minutes to bake completely.   

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A nice splash of milk
Drizzle caramel syrup (I didn't measure, but I would guess this is about 1/4 cup)

Blend well with a hand-held mixer.

Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting them.  Once cooled, frost to your liking and drizzle caramel syrup on top. 

You will be in love with this frosting!  I have to admit that next time I will be putting pecans in my cupcakes instead of chocolate chips.  Nice pair.  

    Now...what's for dinner!