Key Lime Pie Cupcakes - Upside-Down Key Lime Pies

These key lime pie cupcakes are like upside-down key lime pies.  The cake (the bottom part) is moist and intensely key lime-flavored (prepare to pucker your lips) and the frosting (the top part) is packed with crushed graham crackers so you feel like you're eating a graham cracker crust on top of the cake.  

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting

Pumpkin cupcakes are so overdone. Pumpkin cupcakes are everywhere and if it's not pumpkin cupcakes, it's pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, or pumpkin cookies. If it's Fall, you'd better like pumpkin!

The good news is that most people do love pumpkin. We love it so much that we end up using it as a term of endearment. I regularly call Myles "pumpkin". Jonathan points out that I used to call our poodle "pumpkin" as well. I'm sure if we had a pet pot bellied pig, he'd be "pumpkin", too.

(I couldn't resist another Myles photo.
He's sucking the pacifier because
he's too young to eat the pumpkin cupcakes.)

Bride and Groom 3.0 are no exception to the plethora of pumpkin people. They listed pumpkin as one of the flavors they might want for their wedding.

Why Pick This Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe Over Any Other One?

We know from pumpkin pie that pumpkin and graham go well together. These pumpkin cupcakes capitalize on that. They contain graham flour and graham cracker bits. The graham cracker bits soften during the baking process. Rather than adding a crunch, they add a richer, grahamy flavor to the cupcake. The graham flavor does, however, make these treats seem a bit more muffiny than cupcakey (if you don't like the earthy, graham flavor, you might consider trying my pumpkin cupcakes with rum and maple instead).

My favorite part about these pumpkin cupcakes was the pumpkin cheesecake frosting. Use it to top any Fall dessert and you won't go wrong.

Bride and Groom 3.0 Review

Bride 3.0 warned me that she wasn't a big fan of frosting. I thought that perhaps I'd win her over with a cream cheese-based frosting. But, it turns out that she doesn't like cream cheese frostings (back to the baking board). Groom 3.0 and their roomate, Davin, loved the frosting.

Although Bride 3.0 didn't like the frosting, she did let me know that she loves sprinkles. She calls them sparkles! How fun! Expect to see more sparkly cupcakes coming soon.

Both Bride and Groom 3.0 found the cupcakes to be a bit too muffiny/breakfasty to be a wedding choice. They also thought that the cupcakes could be somewhat more pumpkiny. This was in contrast to other tasters. One of my tasters, Christina, even said, "Wow... this is so pumpkiny!"

They rated this cupcake three out of five fireworks. They made up the firework system and I dig it!

The Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

The cupcake recipe contains graham crackers. You can use any store-bought graham crackers or make homemade pumpkin graham crackers.

Makes about 17 cupcakes

• 3/4 C graham flour or whole wheat flour
  
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour
  
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ginger
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/2 t allspice
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 3/4 C pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1/2 C cream soda
• 1 T vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 2 C smashed graham crackers (pea-sized bits)
  

1. Whisk together flours, spices, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
3. Mix the oil, cream soda, and vanilla into the wet ingredients.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until fully incorporated.
5. Stir in the graham crackers.
   
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.
   
7. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Frosting Recipe

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 C pumpkin puree
• 3 C powdered sugar, sifted

1. Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Mix in pumpkin puree.
3. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. You can add more sugar to make the frosting stiffer, but I think that makes it too sweet.

Top each cupcake with a pumpkin graham cracker.

Pumpkin Graham Crackers

These homemade pumpkin graham crackers are not only pumpkin shaped, but also contain pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices, giving them a subtle pumpkin flavor.

I made these pumpkin graham crackers in multiple sizes and added some orange sugar to the tiny ones (they were too small for me to give them good faces). Bride 3.0 said that she could "eat 100 of them!" But, she noted that they were a bit Halloweeny for a wedding. Come on - who doesn't want Jack-O-Lanterns at their Spring wedding? :)

The good news is that pumpkin graham crackers can be made in any shape you can cut out. Bride 3.0 suggested hearts.

What to Do With Your Pumpkin Graham Crackers

Aside from simply eating them all up, I have several usage ideas for these pumpkin graham crackers:

• Crumble them to use in the crust for a homemade pumpkin pie.
• Slather them with pumpkin butter or apple butter.
• Put pumpkin ice cream between two of them and freeze for a pumpkin ice cream sandwich.
• Use them to decorate your pumpkin cupcakes.
  

Pumpkin Graham Cracker Recipe

To make these pumpkin graham crackers, I modified my regular graham cracker recipe. I originally got that graham cracker recipe from Free Range Living. She got the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.

My modified recipe is below. It makes 36 2 1/2 inch squares. You can do your own math on how many pumpkins that will get you. It obviously depends on the size of your cookie cutters.

• 2 T (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 T pumpkin puree
  
• 1 egg
• 6 T sugar
• 4 T honey (Some graham crackers use half honey and half molasses. You might consider trying that as a variation.)
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t ginger
• 1 t nutmeg
• 1 t cinnamon
• 3/4 t allspice
  
• 2 t water
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 C graham flour (If you can't get ahold of graham flour, there are plenty of graham cracker recipes that use regular whole wheat flour such as this graham cracker recipe from Baking Bites. You may also be able to directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I haven't tested it and I make no promises.)
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour

1. Combine the butter, pumpkin, egg, and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
2. Stir in the honey.
3. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
4. Add the salt, graham flour, all-purpose flour, and spices to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too tacky, add a little more graham flour.
5. Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch.
   
6. Use your cookie cutters to cut out pumpkins or any other shape.
   
7. Use the tines of a fork to make Jack O' Lantern faces on the pumpkins.
8. Using a spatula, place the pumpkin graham crackers on an ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.
   
10. Remove from the oven and cool on racks. They won't be hard when you first take them out of the oven, but they will harden as they cool.

Beach Cupcakes: Key Lime Pie Cupcakes Decked Out For Summer

My cupcakes are getting ready for summer! These key lime pie cupcakes were a huge hit. They were moist and sweet, just the way my tasters like them.

One small confession - these cupcakes are actually made with lime and not key lime. My cupcakes considered blushing, but they were too busy trying to catch a tan.

Is There a Difference Between Key Lime and Lime?

There is a difference between key lime and regular (Persian) limes. According to the Wikipedia article on key limes, key limes are "smaller, seedier, have a higher acidity, a stronger aroma, and a thinner rind."

Key Limes and the Florida Keys

Key limes are called key limes because of their association with the Florida Keys. According to the Wikipedia article on key lime pie (oh how I love Wikipedia), "Key lime pie is made with canned sweetened condensed milk, since fresh milk was not a common commodity in the Florida Keys before modern refrigerated distribution methods."

The photo above is of my aunt and mom in the Florida Keys in front of a key lime pie shop. The man in the middle is a real person - in case you doubted this as I did.

I'm not sure who took the photo so I can't properly credit them, but I can only assume that it was my grandma or grandpa. I also did not ask for the permission of anyone in the photo before posting it. Here are my guesses at their responses:

My aunt: I'm famous, but did it have to be in that visor? (Or maybe she loves the visor and I've just publicly insulted it. Time will tell.)

The pie man: Hooray! Free press for keylimeshop.com and don't I look dapper in my pie man outfit. I should send that woman some key lime stuff. (That last comment was just wishful thinking.)

My mom: Next time, could you maybe pick a picture where I'm looking at the camera?

The Key Lime Pie Cupcake Recipe

I got the cupcake recipe from Garrett of Vanilla Garlic. He actually made the cupcakes one year and one day ago so it's almost like an anniversary celebration for them! Garrett made a graham cupcake and then filled it with a key lime filling. I made the same graham cupcake, but baked the key lime filling right into the cake. I am reprinting the recipe with my notes below.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

• 1/2 C butter (room temperature)
• 1 C sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 C milk
• 1 C flour
• 1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (I used my homemade graham crackers.)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/8 t salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 C lime or key lime juice

1. Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until creamed.
2. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, being sure to beat for 30 seconds for each egg.
4. Use food processor or a potato masher or whatever you have on hand to grind the graham crackers into tiny crumbs and powder.
5. Sift the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and powder, and salt. (I didn't actually sift the graham cracker crumbs. While mine were small, I don't think they would have fit through the sifter.)
6. Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture.
7. Add some of the milk.
8. Continue to add the ingredients in a dry - wet - dry method, ending with the dry.
9. Mix until just combined.
10. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. (FYI - If you want to make an amazing key lime pie, just mix the ingredients in this step, dump it into a pie shell and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. It's the easiest recipe ever! The pie won't be green and it shouldn't be. Lime juice isn't green.)
11. Dump the key lime mixture into the graham batter and lightly stir. Do NOT fully integrate the key lime and graham batter. You should have clumps of batter in a key lime soup.
12. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Make sure each liner has a nice distribution of key lime liquid and graham clumps.
13. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.

The Lime Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

I used the same lime cream cheese frosting on these that I used on my avocado lime cupcakes. I am reprinting the recipe here.

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/4 C butter (room temperature)
• 4 C powdered sugar (I recommend that you sift it.)
• 1 t lime extract (I couldn't fine lime extract at Whole Foods so I bought it here.)

1. Mix the cream cheese and butter.
2. Add the powdered sugar and lime extract.

Graham Cracker Sand and Chocolate Shells

To make the key lime pie cupcakes even more beachy, I topped them with crushed graham cracker sand and chocolate from the Nautical Collection 60 Piece Gift Assortment. Thanks again to chocolate.com for the free chocolate and the inspiration.

Graham Crackers Recipe: Graham Crackers Don't Have to Be Square

In the US, we use graham crackers in the ever popular s'mores and graham crackers are the main ingredient in many pie crusts, but very few of us reach for a graham cracker for a snack after the age of 8. My friend who is a nurse says that they are a popular snack in hospitals. I'm not sure that counts as a culinary achievement.

People inherently understand the value of a homemade chocolate chip cookie or brownies made from scratch. However, even seasoned bakers seem to turn to a box when it comes time for graham crackers.

I decided to give the graham cracker the status it deserves as a treat unto itself for all ages and to make graham crackers from scratch.

I'll give you the recipe first this time, but read on for some graham cracker facts and random tales of graham.

Homemade Graham Cracker Recipe

I got the graham cracker recipe from Free Range Living. She got the recipe from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.
I am reprinting the recipe below along with all of my baking notes. It makes 36 2 1/2 inch squares.

• 4 T (1/2 stick) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 6 T sugar
• 4 T honey (Some graham crackers use half honey and half molasses. You might consider trying that as a variation.)
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 2 t water
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 1/2 C graham flour (If you can't get ahold of graham flour, there are plenty of graham cracker recipes that use regular whole wheat flour such as this graham cracker recipe from Baking Bites. You may also be able to directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe, but I haven't tested it and I make no promises.)
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Combine the butter, egg and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
3. Stir in the honey and blend.
4. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture.
5. Add the salt, graham flour, and all-purpose flour to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too "tacky" add a little more graham flour.
6. Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. For convenience in handling, cut the rolled dough into three or four sections that will fit on your cookie sheet. (I am not good at rolling things out. It doesn't come up too often since I mostly make cupcakes. To make my life easier, I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper and rolled the dough directly on the cookie sheets. That way I didn't need to worry about the dough breaking when I lifted it onto a cookie sheet.)
7. With a knife, score the dough, without cutting through, into 2 1/2 inch squares. (Boring! Since your graham crackers are not store-bought, they don't have to be square. Use your cookie cutters to make them any shape you want!)
8. Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork. (I did this because those little pricks do make them look like graham crackers, whatever shape they are.)
9. Using a spatula, place the sections of scored cracker dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I didn't have to do this since I rolled right on the cookie sheet.)
10. Bake on the first side for 8 minutes, then turn the cracker over and bake for another 6 or 7 minutes. (Cheryl of Free Range Living said that she found that flipping wasn't necessary. I agree. I left out the flip step.)
11. Remove from the oven and cool on racks. (They weren't quite crispy when I removed them. However, they hardened up as soon as they cooled.)

Will I Make From Scratch Graham Crackers Again?

Homemade graham crackers taste very similar to the store-bought kind. However, they were fresher and slightly less sweet. I buy my graham crackers at Whole Foods and they contain basically the same ingredients that I used in my from scratch ones. However, mine were so easy to make and were such a hit with my friends that I'd definitely try it again.

Graham Crackers Destroy Your Sex Drive?

Maybe graham crackers are typically served to kids because somewhere in our collective memory we know that graham crackers are wholesome and we worry that graham isn't good for sex?

Graham flour and later graham crackers were created by the Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham.

He had some great ideas...

• We should eat foods high in fiber and with whole grains.
• Eating pure foods on a regular basis results in a long, healthy life.

and some less great ones...

• If food sits in the stomach for too long, it overstimulates the organs and causes sexual arousal.
• Rich, fatty foods only increase sexual urges.

Graham invented graham flour in the 1830s. It's a form of whole wheat flour that has a slightly coarser grind. It's higher in fiber than white flour and according to Graham, digests faster so as not to subject people to the desires of the flesh. This flour led to to the graham cracker: The Anti-Sex cracker. Now there's a marketing campaign slogan if I ever heard one.

Graham crackers were originally made with 100% graham flour. Nowadays as you saw in the recipe in this post, they are typically a mix of graham or regular whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour.

I wonder what Graham would think of my Better than Sex Chocolate cupcakes?

Graham Crackers and Dieting

As far as dessert snacks go, graham crackers are not that bad for you. According to calorie-count.com, two squares of graham crackers are 59 calories.

When I was a kid, I used to put graham crackers in my cereal bowl every morning. I loved eating them all soggy with milk. (FYI - I strongly recommend dunking graham crackers in milk. Mmmmm.)

Anyway, one day I decided I needed to lose weight and I decided the way to diet was to stop putting graham crackers in my cereal. I don't recall if that 59 calories a day reduction in food intake caused any weight loss, but I do wonder if I am the only one to ever go on a diet that only involved refraining from graham crackers.

And This Relates to Cupcakes How?

To make beach cupcakes, you need shells and sand. I got the shells from chocolate.com. Crushed graham crackers made up the sand.