Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cupcakes

First, turn the butter for the cupcakes into liquid gold brown butter. Put the stick of butter in a sauce pan and heat it over medium high heat. Let it bubble and cook just until it starts to get brown and nutty smelling. Take it off of the heat immediately to set it aside and let it cool. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 12-well cupcake pan with paper liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt together in a bowl to aerate the dry ingredients and set the bowl aside. Combine the brown sugar and cooled brown butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream them together until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla extract. Once they are mixed in, turn the speed to low and slowly add 1/3 of the dry ingredients followed by 1/2 of the pumpkin puree. Then add the next 1/3 of the dry ingredients followed by the last of the pumpkin puree. Finish with the last of the dry ingredients until it is a smooth batter.

Use a 1/3 cup measure to scoop even amounts of the batter into each lined cupcake well. Bake the cupcakes for about 15–20 minutes, until puffed up and completely baked through. Insert a toothpick in the center of a few of them to see if they are done. It should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes or so in the pan, then remove them to a rack to finish cooling completely.

While the cupcakes bake and cool, prepare the luscious salted caramel buttercream. You will need to wash out the stand mixer bowl and paddle attachment. Add the softened butter to the bowl and beat it until fluffy and smooth. Add in the salted caramel sauce, pumpkin pie spice and salt and let it all get well combined. Turn the speed to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar until it becomes a fluffy, smooth frosting. Cover the stand mixer bowl and let the frosting firm up and set a bit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

The cupcakes should be completely cool about the same time as the frosting is set. Frost each cupcake using either an offset spatula or a pastry bag. Drizzle a little additional salted caramel on top of the cupcakes and serve immediately! These