Sunday, October 20, 2013

Pumpkin-Banana-Orange Cupcakes and KitchenAid's #SavorTheSavings (#sponsored)

There's a joke in my house that if my husband comes home and I'm not there, if the KitchenAid stand mixer is still on the kitchen counter, it means I'm coming back.

It's a joke, but ... yeah, if I was running away with the circus, that stand mixer would be dressed up in a clown costume with me.

And let me tell you a secret. I'm cheap frugal (sigh) cheap. When I need to buy something, I always shop around. I want the best thing for the best price. And then I shop some more. Can I buy it locally? How much is shipping? Are the coupons? Rebates? Color choices? Bargains???

But the KitchenAid stand mixer is probably the only countertop appliance that I would immediately buy a replacement for, without shopping around. I'd have the new one unboxed and ready to go before the old one gasped its last breath.

Because I use it every single day. Sometimes for multiple projects.

Okay, yes, I'm writing a bread book so I use it for kneading a lot of bread. But I also use it for other things. Whipping cream, beating eggs, mixing batter, making pasta, grinding meat, making ice cream, stuffing sausages ...

Yes, I have pretty much every attachment for it. So it gets a lot of use. And even more use, because of the book.

So when I got an opportunity to do a little promotion for KitchenAid, I figured it would be a no-brainer. When I found out that it was for a sweet deal on KitchenAid appliances, it was even better. I mean, I love bargains, and with the KitchenAid #SavorTheSavings event, you can get a prepaid $1000 gift card when you buy selected appliances. You could buy a couple of stand mixers with that.

Here's the blurb that was provided. It makes me want pumpkin ... so there's a recipe to follow. Because I know that's what you come here for.
With fall comes cooler weather, changing leaves and some crave-worthy pumpkin recipes. If you’re like the majority of us, you crave these pumpkin spice delights all year round. Whether it’s in the form of spice lattes, seeds, pie or a muffin, most of us could eat these treats for every meal. This year, fall is bringing a new treat to savor. It’s sweet, crave worthy and doesn’t involve calories. Can you guess what it is? It’s the KitchenAid® Savor the Savings Event. You’ll get up to a $1000 prepaid card via mail when you purchase select KitchenAid® major appliances. This savory deal couldn’t come at a better time. Just before the holidays and the season for pumpkin desserts, your kitchen is going to need an upgrade. The sweetest part is that you’ll earn up to $1000 to spend on your grocery list, more kitchen gadgets or your holiday gift list! Shop KitchenAid®: http://bit.ly/1bk0aqp 
Okay, I didn't really have to post all that, but it was amusing, in a pumpkin-like way. And I wanted to drool over the idea of remaking my kitchen to look like that.

Speaking of pumpkin ... one of my favorite flavor combinations is banana and pumpkin. This time I decided to up the ante by adding some orange as well. All those flavors remind me of fall and winter.

Well, banana isn't really a seasonal fruit in today's world, but I buy more bananas in late fall and winter than other times of the year. When there's local fruit, I buy that and ignore bananas. But when there's nothing local, the bananas make their appearance in my shopping cart.

Pumpkin-Banana Orange Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 stick (8 tablespoons, 1/4 pound) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 large over-ripe banana, mashed
Plus enough canned pumpkin to equal 1 cup
3/4 cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two 12-cup cupcake pans with cupcake papers.

Combine the flour and baking powder and whisk to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy. You'd normally start with room temperature butter, but if you're using a stand mixer you can start with cool butter and just beat the heck out of it until it's fluffy.

Add the salt and sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Add the banana and pumpkin and continue beating until combined. It might look a little curdled at this point - that's because of the water content in the banana and pumpkin. Don't worry about it.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat well - give it a minute. Add 1/2 of the orange juice and beat until combined. Add another 1/3 of the flour, followed by the rest of the orange juice, beating until combined after each addition and scraping down the bowl, as needed. Add the final third of the flour and beat until combined.

Fill the cupcake papers 2/3 to 3/4 full. You might not have enough for all 24 cupcakes - I baked 12 cupcakes plus a few other items, so I'm not sure exactly how many you'll get. I'd guess it's 16-18, total.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cupcakes are lightly browned, they bounce back when lightly touched on the top, and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Remove from the pans and let them cool completely before frosting.

The brown sugar frosting I used is right here.

Note: These have only been tested at high altitude. At sea level, consider using 1 3/4 to 2 teaspoons of baking powder and/or add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. If you try this, let me know how they work out.


Presented by Mami Innovative Media, this is a sponsored post on behalf of Sears and KitchenAid. All opinions expressed here are my own.
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