Most people marked September 22, 2017 as the first day of fall this year. For others, the start of fall is when Starbucks releases their most popular and most lucrative beverage: the Pumpkin Spice Latte. In 2003, Starbucks introduced the world to this seasonal beverage, only offering it during fall. Fast forward fourteen years to 2017, where the prominent Pumpkin Spice Latte has dominated not only the world of coffee beverages, but has also the entire season of fall. The PSL has generated Starbucks more than 70 million dollars in profits, and even has its own verified Twitter account, which has about 115,000 followers. Also, this beverage has inspired many other companies to introduce pumpkin spice flavored products. Examples include Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, Pumpkin Spice Oreos, Pumpkin Spice greek yogurt, Pumpkin Spice Jell-O, Pumpkin Spice cream cheese, and much more. Why is any of this information relevant?  Watch the video below as I make Javaru’s PSL cupcake (recipe below).

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes (yield: 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

1. 1 cup and 1 tablespoon of flour
2. ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
3. ¼ teaspoon of ginger
4. ¼ teaspoon of allspice
5. ¼ teaspoon of salt
6. 1½ teaspoons of baking powder
7. ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
8. ¼ cup (half a stick) of melted butter
9. ½ cup of sugar
10. 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
11. 1 egg
12. ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons of milk
13. ½ cup of pumpkin puree

Vanilla Frosting

1. 3 cups of powdered sugar
2. ⅓ cup of softened butter
3. 1½ teaspoons of vanilla
4. 1½ tablespoons of milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven 375°F and either spray muffin pan with cooking spray, or put a cupcake liner into each of the muffin cups
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, then set aside.
3. In a larger bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar; once completely mixed, then add the egg, milk, and pumpkin puree and mix
4. Pour the dry ingredients mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients, then mix
5. Pour the batter into the muffin cups
6. Bake for 25 minutes, then let cool for 5 minutes
7. Decorate with frosting (I used storebought frosting but I included a homemade frosting recipe above – just mix the listed ingredients in an electric mixer on low speed)
8. Enjoy!

Sources: Starbucks, Investopedia, Twitter, Forbes, Eater, All Recipes