pumpkin spice cupcakes + hello fall

In the past I've read about Seasonal Affective Disorder which is a type of depression that happens at the same time every year and typically lasts through a specific season. For most people, their depression will set in at the beginning of fall and last through the cold winter, only finding relief when the spring brings new life & the temperature warms up. I find the opposite happens for me. Yesterday we welcomed the first day of fall with the most beautiful September weather. I stepped outside just as the sun was setting and my mood immediately shifted. The cool air embraced me & the smell of fall reminded me that life was brilliant again.

So naturally, we needed to celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than cupcakes? I don't intend to always write about food and recipes but I'm still on my Kitchenaid Mixer high and I make no apologies. I found this amazing recipe for pumpkin spice cupcakes yesterday and since I already had all the ingredients, they became my First Day of Fall Celebration Cupcake. I topped them off with this homemade icing & oh my gosh -run, don't walk, to your kitchen and make these. 

During the baking process I only made a few changes. First, for the cupcakes, I didn't have all the separate spices that it called for (i.e. I don't have clove in my pantry) so instead of using individual spices, I totaled how many teaspoons of spices the recipe called for and just used that many teaspoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice that I did have.  I also didn't have any extra pumpkin left over the for frosting recipe so I simply left that out, added a touch more spice & 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and it was still amazing. Since this recipe makes 2 dozen cupcakes, I also made 1/2 the batch normally and then the second 1/2 with chocolate chips. In retrospect, I should have left the chocolate chips out because the original was so good on its own. If you love chocolate, you may really enjoy the addition, though!

I'm continuing to grow more and more obsessed with my Kitchenaid Mixer, but I promise to shut up about it eventually. In addition to finding & trying fall recipes, I'm slowly finishing up my fall bucket list and I'm incredibly excited about it! There are so many activities that are only magical during fall & I can't wait to do as many of them as possible.

What are your favorite things to do during the fall?