Welcome to the November edition of the Lady Behind The Curtain Dessert Challenge where we are using pears and maple as our spotlight ingredients. Since I made muffins last month, I decided to stay on the handheld dessert theme and make cupcakes this time. These are so moist and flavorful! The texture is more like a muffin than a cupcake, but the maple buttercream just puts it over the edge from snack/breakfast food to a true dessert! I started with this cupcake recipe from Sugar Hero and this frosting recipe from Chow and tweaked it as you see below. This is definitely a keeper!
For the cupcakes:
1 1/8 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Chinese five spice
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups finely diced pears
1/2 cup chopped & toasted pecans
For the frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. This is a perfect time to toast the pecan pieces. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt & Chinese 5 spice.
With an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Then add the egg and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the pears and pecans gently by hand.
Fill the cupcake liners no more than 2/3 full because the cupcake will spread instead of rise and you don’t want ugly cupcakes. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with few or no crumbs. Cool completely and frost with the maple buttercream.
For the frosting, beat the butter, salt, and maple syrup together with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Don’t worry if it still looks separated because the sugar will make it come together. Add the sugar about 1/2 cup at a time and mix thoroughly. You may need to adjust the sugar amount to make it the consistency that you want.
I decided to use a 2D piping tip to frost the cupcakes. It almost looks like a rose when you are done. This recipe makes 12- 14 cupcakes.
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Picture Perfect Cooking 
Tammi the look pretty perfect to me 🙂
Thanks!!!
Oh cupcakes are my favorite! I have never baked with 5 spice before and love that you used it to spice up the pears! Following on Twitter 🙂
Thanks so much for the follow! I returned the favor.
You had me at 5-spice. It is one of my favorite flavors. I actually thought about using it, but decided I have used it in quite a few recipes on my blog so stayed with cinnamon. Glad that you tried it. The cupcakes look delicious.
Thanks so much! I really enjoy the flavor of 5 spice. It has such a wonderful depth of flavor.
I am not a fan of the Chinese 5 spice. I love chinese food but not that mix. Not sure how it would be in a cupcake.
Sometimes the unexpected or out of the ordinary turns out to be the best tasting.
That is so funny, because I hate Chinese food in general, but I like the 5 spice flavor in baked goods. To each his own. 🙂
These look delicious! I love the addition of the maple and the 5 spice!
Thanks! We really like them.
I ❤ cupcakes! I would have never thought to put chinese five spice in them! (then again, I don't know much about chinese five spice). They look delicious. HUGS!
I don’t use the 5 spice very much but when I was trying to come up with this recipe, I decided to use that instead of just cinnamon. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
I love the fact that you added the Chinese Five spice in a dessert. The cupcake looks scrumptious.
Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comment!
First off, your frosting looks amazing, little perfect roses 🙂 I am intrigued by the chinese five spice. I haven’t seen that used in a cupcake before… Very interesting!
Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting! I was looking for a little something different for this recipe and the 5 spice really worked well with the pears.
What a wonderful recipe! Looks delicious~ Thanks for sharing at Four Seasons Blog Hop~ Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
Oh my this looks so good. Thanks tons for the recipe. I would love to have you link up to my ongoing Holiday Baking Party @ http://www.astrollthrulife.net/2013/11/holiday-baking-party.html. Hope to see you there. Hugs, Marty
Thanks so much for commenting and for the invitation! I will try to link up with you as soon as possible. Happy Thanksgiving!
Your Cupcakes look fabulous! Thanks so much for sharing your great recipe with Full Plate Thursday and enjoy your Thanksgiving week!
Come Back Soon
Miz Helen
Oh I know I am going to love these. Thanks for linking to the Baking Party. Hugs, Marty
I love maple buttercream! These cupcakes would be a great way to use all the pears I have around. Thanks for linking up to What’d You Do This Weekend and I just wanted to let you know I’ll be featuring this recipe for tomorrow’s linkup! Followed and pinned, have a great night!
–Ashley
Thanks so much for featuring my recipe! Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks so much for sharing with Wednesday’s Adorned Link Party. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com
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