Pecan Shortbread Crusted Browned Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I’m doing it. I’m getting one more pumpkin recipe in before it’s officially December, and therefore, officially wintertime.

I don’t know why there’s some kind of weird cultural taboo on pumpkin desserts after Thanksgiving, but I’m totally against it. I barely bake enough with pumpkin during autumn, to heck if I’m going to miss prime opportunities for treats that are warm and spicy and flavored with pumpkin.

I made these cupcakes a little more acceptable for this time of year. The “not quite winter but no longer fall” time. The “do I get a pumpkin spice or gingerbread latte?” time. The “my hands are too cold without gloves but too sweaty with them” time. You guys know what I’m talking about right? Anyone? Anyone? (“Bueller? Bueller?”)

Chocolate Barbecue Sauce Cupcakes with Browned Butter Brown Sugar Frosting...and Honey Cream Cheese Frosting...and Barbecue Chocolate Ganache

I was shopping the other day. As I am prone to do. I was just browsing, looking for a few things for my apartment for next year. Walking into the briskly air-conditioned store, seeking a soap dish and refuge from the 90+ degree heat and the inevitable thigh sweat it brings (there’s a mental image no one needed), I was flabbergasted by the sight of fall and even winter décor lining the aisles.

I stood there, upper lip glistening with sweat, wondering how people could be preparing for the winter months already. Wasn’t it just the 4^th of July a few weeks ago? Aren’t we in the throes of our umpteenth heat wave this year? Aren’t there still beaches to go to and tan lines to acquire?

And the kicker? Majority of the summer items were marked down by 50%, if not 75% or more! While that enabled me to nab an adorable plate for mere pennies, it did leave me with a sinking feeling that the seasons will change, no matter how hard I will them not too. August will follow July and leaves will change from green to gold. The thermometer will plummet from 97 to -17 and we will all be complaining about how cold it is instead of how hot it is (part of the human condition, I suppose).