How to Make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Fall is here and so is pumpkin everything!  My husband began experimenting with pumpkin desserts last fall.  These Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with were a huge hit!  Whip up a batch of our cream cheese frosting to top them off!

If I could bottle up the scent of these while they were baking, I’d be a millionaire.

Ingredients for Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 1-1/3 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp coarse grain salt
• ¾ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp ground clove
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter melted
• 2 eggs
• 15 ounces pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
3. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Add in pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and beat some more.  Add the eggs one at a time while beating.
4. Thoroughly combine the dry and wet ingredients.
5. Fill cupcake liners three quarters of the way up.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
7. Allow cupcakes to cool completely then apply frosting using recipe below.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

• 4 ounces softened butter
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

How to Make Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Beat together butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth.
2. Add vanilla extract and beat a little more.
3. Slowly add sugar while beating and then beat until desired consistency.
4. Optional:  Add ½ cup of real maple syrup (not the maple flavored corn syrup varieties) for an added fall twist! 

Now you can eat your pumpkin spice cupcake with your pumpkin spice latte and all will be right with the world. Enjoy!
Make sure to check out more of our favorite fall recipes here:

• Cranberry Turnovers
• Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins
• Easy Fall Cake Mix Cookies
• Best Fall Soup Recipes
• Apricot Pecan Yams

Print

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Everyone’s favorite fall flavor paired with a creamy, rich cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1-1/3 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp coarse grain salt
• ¾ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp ground clove
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter melted
• 2 eggs
• 15 ounces pumpkin puree – see note**
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 ounces softened butter
• 8 ounces softened cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place liners in a cupcake pan
• In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
• In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy. Add in pumpkin puree, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and beat some more. Add the eggs one at a time while beating.
• Thoroughly combine the dry and wet ingredients.
• Fill cupcake liners ¾ way up.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
• Allow cupcakes to cool then apply frosting (see cream cheese frosting recipe below)

Cream Cheese Frosting

• Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth.
• Add vanilla extract and beat a little more.
• Slowly add sugar while beating and beat until desired consistency

The post Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

My favorite candy is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!  They are chocolate-y, peanut buttery morsels of heaven.  And I have no idea why they test better in the egg or pumpkin form.  When challenged to make a recipe using left over Halloween candy, I knew I had to incorporate these yummy little nougats.  

These brownies consist of 3 layers. The bottom layer is brownie mix, middle layer is pretzels and peanut butter cups and finally the top crunchy layer. They are so easy to make!

I loved the idea of using pretzels to change these into Take Five tasting brownies!

Use your favorite brownie box mix to create the bottom layer of these brownies.

While they are baking, cut up your Reese’s pumpkins.  I used 14 of them.  Place them in a bowl and set aside. Break up about a cup of pretzel sticks and added them to the peanut butter cup dish.

Take the brownies out of the oven about 5 minutes early and sprinkle the peanut butter and pretzel mixture on top to create the middle layer.  Return to the oven for the remaining 5 minutes.

Once they get all melty, spread the mixture out on top.

Then melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter together. Finally add the rice krispies to create a crunchie topping. Spread the chocolate/peanut butter/rice krispie mixture on top.  

Chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Yummy, deliciousness!

Am I the only one who raids the kiddo’s candy for Reese’s PB cups?

Print

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

Course Dessert

Keyword brownies

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1 box brownie mix
• 14 reeses peanut butter cups
• 1 cup pretzel sticks broken into pieces
• 1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1¼ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup butter
• 1½ cup rice krispies

Instructions

• Use your favorite brownie box mix to create the bottom layer of these brownies.
• While they are baking, cut up your Reese's pumpkins. lace them in a bowl and set aside. Break up about a cup of pretzel sticks and added them to the peanut butter cup dish.
• Take the brownies out of the oven about 5 minutes early and sprinkle the peanut butter and pretzel mixture on top to create the middle layer.  Return to the oven for the remaining 5 minutes.
• Once they get all melty, spread the mixture out on top.
• Melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter together in the microwave. Finally add the rice krispies to create a crunchie topping.
• Spread the chocolate/peanut butter/rice krispie mixture on top.  
• Chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Stop by and check out these other AMAZING recipes using leftover Halloween Candy!

More amazing dessert recipes:

• Jell-o Pie Recipe
• Lemon Cake Mix Sweet Rolls
• No Bake Banana Pudding
• Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

The post Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Halloween Owl Wreath

I saw a super cute fall owl wreath in the Pier One catalog and knew I had to make him for Halloween!

Materials needed for Halloween Owl Wreath

• 2 foam wreath forms (6 inch and 9 inch in diameter)
• Knife
• Toothpicks
• 2-3 black feather boas
• Hot glue gun
• 2 black twig floral picks
• 2 wooden circles
• White acrylic paint
• 2 black buttons
• 1 tear drop shaped piece of wood
• Orange acrylic paint
• Black pipe cleaner
• Halloween ribbon

How to Make an Owl Wreath for Halloween

The two wreath forms will create the owl head and body. Begin by overlapping the little one with the larger one and trim off excess.

Add toothpicks to the small wreath where you cut. The toothpicks will secure the two wreaths together to form one piece.

Attach the smaller wreath to the larger wreath.

Hot glue the end of the black feather boa to the back of the wreath and begin wrapping.  You will need 2-3 boas for this project.  Once you reach the end of one boa, hot glue in place and begin process again.  Repeat until entire “owl” is wrapped.

For his eyes, I used these baseball wooden circles!  I just painted over the black stamp on the back.

Set aside and allow to dry.  Use the orange acrylic paint to paint the tear drop shaped wood piece that will form his beak.

Once his eyeballs are dry, hot glue the black buttons to create his pupils.

Here’s where I had to get creative. The boa does not allow for easy hot gluing of embellishments. I hot glued a black piper cleaner to the back of each eyeball and then wrapped the pipe cleaner around the wreath form. Once I had the eyes in place, I hot glued the beak to the bottom of his eyes.

To finish him off, I added the black twig floral pieces to look like wings. I completed the look with his Halloween ribbon bow tie!

OMG!  I love him!  He is so cute and friendly looking!

Do you love making Halloween wreaths too?

The post Halloween Owl Wreath appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Simple Halloween Centerpiece

When I made the Red, White and Blue Centerpieces for the 4th of July, I knew I could easily substitute out ribbon and flowers for any holiday or occasion!  My Halloween motif centers around the classic orange and black.  This simple Halloween Centerpiece can be adapted for any style and take less than 5 minutes to make!  That’s a win win in my book!

It really is as easy as 1-2-3!

Materials needed to make Halloween centerpiece

• Mason jars
• Halloween ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Satin ribbon
• Black silk flowers

How to make an easy and simpmle Halloween centerpiece

1. Wrap your favorite 2 inch Halloween ribbon around an empty mason jar.  Trim away any excess ribbon and hot glue into place. By using hot glue, you can easily recycle the jar and decorate for the next holiday or special occasion.
2. Add a coordinating ribbon and tie into a pretty bow.
3. Add black silk flowers to the mason jar.

Voila!  Quick and easy!  These make great centerpieces for Halloween parties or can be scattered around the house as day to day Halloween decor!  Whatever your preference!

What is even cooler is it totally looks like it’s floating!  (No – I didn’t plan that!)

Make a set of three and place on a tray in the middle of your dining room table with a festive Halloween table runner. Or you can use singular ones to display around the house in spots like your bathroom, entry way or end tables. How pretty would these be for spring with some burlap and lace and fresh flowers?

What do you think? I kinda love the black lace overlay on that ribbon!  It looks so vintage and macabre.

More Halloween Craft Ideas

 Maybe I’ll make another wreath….or two. Or five more Halloween crafts 🙂 Here are a few of my favorites:

• Halloween Burlap Garland
• Halloween Window Decoration
• Halloween Hoop Wreath
• Mini Knitted Pumpkin Pattern
• Halloween Subway Art

The post Simple Halloween Centerpiece appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Materials needed to make your own Halloween Burlap Garland

Every year around this time, our Lighted Burlap Garland post goes crazy. Ya’ll love some burlap and lights! (I even have a 4th of July version.) We bought new outdoor decorations this year from Kirklands but it needed something else. So we whipped up a new batch of burlap lights to place around our front door! And I’m obsessed!!

Supplies to Make Lighted Burlap Garland

• Clear 100 white mini lights
• Burlap ribbon in natural, orange and black – 2 rolls of each color (roughly 30 feet of each color needed)
• Paper cutter

When we originally created the Christmas garland, we used scissors to cut all of the burlap. For the Halloween burlap garland we had the idea to use the paper cutter. It worked like a charm!

This little trick cut down (pardon the pun) our crafting time by 50%!

We found this burlap ribbon rolls at Hobby Lobby, but I was also excited to find it on Amazon (links above) They have every color under the sun plus some patterned ones.

How to Make Halloween Lighted Burlap Garland

1. Begin by measuring your burlap ribbon roll to 10 inches on your paper cutter.
2. Cut the ribbon. Keep repeating this process until the entire roll has been cut. See how cleanly it cuts the burlap? Life changing.
3. Once you have cut the sections you need, turn the burlap piece 90 degrees and cut into thirds. Each piece will yield three cut pieces.
4. Repeat the above process for all of the burlap.
5. Once you have all of your pieces cut, it’s time to tie them onto the light strand. To simplify this process, I used grocery bags to divide out my colors. I sat down next to my colors, decided on my pattern and began tying them around the light strand.

This is a super easy project but the tying takes some time. I suggest putting on a movie or tying them during a football game. The whole process took me about two hours.

The other two times we made this project, we used it indoors. This time we hung the Halloween garland around my front door and it looks amazing!! Looks cute during the day too!

I love it! This year I’m hanging my Christmas one around the front door too! I love fun Halloween crafts and if you do too then make sure to check out these other favorite DIY Halloween ideas:

• Mason Jar Fall Luminary
• Mini Mod Podge Fabric Pumpkins
• Tootsie Pop Spiders
• Beaded Halloween Wreath
• Pumpkin Lollipop Pull

The post Halloween Burlap Garland appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Vintage Window Repurpose: Halloween Window Decoration

 

To center it, I had to use my mad math skillz.  =)  31.5 inches in half is approximately 15.5 inches.  I measured 15.5 inches in.  The total height of the birdcage is 25 inches (subtract from 37.5 inches) and you are left with 12.5 inches.  Divide 12.5 inches in half which is 6 (and something) inches.  I measured 6 inches down from the halfway point.  Make sense?

• Farmhouse Ghost Topiary

• Halloween Silhouette Lanterns

• Halloween Owl Wreath | How To

• Halloween Mummy Candle Holder

• How to Make a Candy Wreath

The post Vintage Window Repurpose: Halloween Window Decoration appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Apple Cider Cups

Ingredients for Apple Cider

• 1 cup apple juice

• 1 Tablespoon Torani Caramel Syrup

• Dash of cinnamon

• 1 cinnamon stick

• Shark Bite Drink Recipe

• Mai Tai Mocktail Recipe

• Caramel Apple Sangria

• Fizzy Strawberry Lemonade

• Mint Chocolate Affogato

The post How to Make Delicious Apple Cider Cups appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Mason Jar Fall Luminary

We have been so inspired by all of the beautiful fall decor that has been popping up in stores lately!  The crisp, warm colors of fall are so inviting.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money on fancy fall decor when you can make your own, and this year I am bound and determined to change that.  

We whipped up this cute Mason Jar Fall Luminary in no time at all. This would also make a wonderful classroom or craft activity. The supplies for this fall craft activity as so simple. With just a few supplies needed, this is an affordable fall or Halloween craft, and the process of making these homemade mason jar luminaries is enjoyable and fun!

Materials needed to create Mason Jar Fall Luminary

• Cricut Maker or Explore
• Adhesive vinyl
• Mason jar
• Acrylic craft paint
• Foam brush
• Twine
• Votive candles and filler

How to Make Fall Luminary Jars

1. I began by cutting out a maple leaf of adhesive vinyl with my Cricut Explore.  If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can trace and cut out a leaf design on adhesive vinyl.
2. Apply the cut vinyl maple leaf to the smooth side of the mason jar.
3. Pick an acrylic paint color that you want to use.  I chose persimmon for fall.
4. Begin painting a thin coat of paint on the mason jar. Pro tip:  I use a foil cupcake liner for my paint!  It makes clean up a breeze!
5. Be sure you allow the paint to dry completely between each coat.  Otherwise, it will clump and pull away from the glass.  It took about 3 coats for it to be completely covered.
6. Once the mason jar is dry, gently peel away the vinyl leaf decal.  Touch up any rough edges with a small paintbrush.

I added some corn kernels to the bottom and placed the votive candle inside like I did for my Thanksgiving mantel.  Add some twine or ribbon around the top of the jar to finish it off!

Super cute and adds just a hint of fall color and decor to any home! Plus it looks beautiful lit up in the evenings!

More Fall Crafting and Recipe Ideas

Don’t you just love fall crafting? It’s such a wonderful way to welcome in the new season. Here are more of our favorite fall craft and recipe ideas:

• Mini Mod Podge Fabric Pumpkins
• Wooden Pumpkin Lantern for Fall
• Fall Craft: Easy Paper Pumpkin Craft
• Easy Fall Snack for Kids: Scarecrow Pudding Cups
• Mini Pecan Pies Recipe

The post Mason Jar Fall Luminary appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Mini Mod Podge Fabric Pumpkins

As a kid, did you like pouring glue on your hand, letting it dry and peel off?  Well, if you answered yes, this is the craft project for you!  In other words, things are about to get messy.  You’ve been warned.

Materials needed to make Mini Mod Podge Fabric Pumpkins

• Fabric strips
  (Wal-mart had packs of these in the fabric section.  I grabbed some that had lots of fall colors.)
• Scissors
• Mod podge
• Mini pumpkins
• Foam brush
• Twine

How to Make Fabric Pumpkins

I used the antique matte Mod Podge because it was all I had laying around the house.

1. Pick which fabric strips you want to use.  I cut five 4 inch sections from each strip.  Then, I cut those length wise four times.
2. Lay out a paper plate and pour the Mod Podge on the plate.  Now here’s where things get messy.  You want to coat each strip of fabric in the Mod Podge.  I made sure that each strip was slimy and full of glue.
3. Once your strip of fabric is sufficiently “goo-ed”, add to the pumpkin.  Place the end next to the stem and wrap it around to the bottom.  Use your fingers to press the fabric into all of the groves of the pumpkin.  You want to maintain the integrity and shape of the pumpkin.
4. Continue this process until the pumpkin is covered in fabric.  See how you can still see the pumpkin’s shape?
5. Set aside and allow to dry.  It took about an hour before it was completely dry.
6. You may have to turn it over and let the bottom get some air to dry.
7. Once the pumpkin is dry, add some twine at the base of the stem and tie into a bow.

Aren’t these adorable?!

They go well with our Mason Jar Fall Luminary!  Don’t you just love fall themed crafts? It’s the perfect way to bring in the season. Here are some more of our fall craft favorites:

• Wooden Pumpkin Lantern for Fall
• Pumpkin Spice Fall Shirt
• Autumn Leaves Fall Sign
• Gold Leaf Stenciled Pumpkins
• Gold Pumpkin Votives

What will you be crafting up this fall?

The post Mini Mod Podge Fabric Pumpkins appeared first on Create Craft Love.

Cardboard Box Halloween Costumes

Have you started thinking about Halloween costumes yet?

So many choices and as you know, kids usually have a hard time deciding! What I love about these homemade costumes is that you’ll enjoy time creating them together.

You always hear people say that their kids always love playing with boxes more than the toys inside. Maybe they are on to something, boxes have to much potential when it comes to using your imagination! Added bonus: they are no sew which is a mom win!

To access the specific blog post for instructions, click on the title link below each picture in the gallery! This will take you to the original post with complete tutorial! 

As always, please pin from the original source!

Hopefully these Cardboard Box Halloween Costumes got you thinking outside of the box!  Or maybe inside the box – depending on how you look at it! If you have a unique Cardboard Box Halloween Costume idea or a homemade costume that you’ve made, please share with us on the Create Craft Love Facebook page! We’d love to see your creativity!

Looking for more Halloween Costume Ideas?  Check out my Shark Costume!

Or what about these Pool Noodle Halloween Costumes!

Here are more of our favorite Halloween crafts, decoration and recipe ideas:

• Halloween Burlap Garland
• Beaded Halloween Wreath
• Not So Spooky No Bake Halloween Cookies
• Spooky Spider Cookies
• How to Style a Pumpkin Diorama

The post Cardboard Box Halloween Costumes appeared first on Create Craft Love.