Pumpkin PUPcakes

Let me first start by saying that these are for dogs. I mean, of course they're edible to humans, but they won't taste too great. In fact, I have tasted them, and they're pretty dense and bland, even though they smell amazing. Remember, dogs have a sense of smell and taste almost 1000 times better than ours, so to them, these Pupcakes are delicious.

There are a lot of dogs in our house. Seven, to be exact. Roommate has four pugs, a beagle, and a collie. I have a rescued pit bull/greyhound mix (We think...). Although most of the pups aren't mine, I still consider them my weird little furry family, and I love spoiling them (Especially my Toby!).

I actually first heard of Pupcakes from the Sprinkles Cupcakes website, while I was getting ideas for unique cupcake recipes. I did a little research on Pupcake recipes, and on what was and wasn't safe for puppies to eat, and I found that the top three treats for Pupcakes are meat, peanut butter, and pumpkin.

Now, I definitely didn't want to make a meat flavored Pupcake, because that's weird...and gross...and with my luck, Boyfriend would end up loving them, devour a bunch, and then smell like Beggin' Strips for a week and a half. Not attractive.

I also vetoed peanut butter-- actually, my pup, Toby, vetoed peanut butter. I happen to own the single dog in the world that hates peanut butter. This is inconvenient, not only because a lot of dog treats are peanut butter flavored, but because I will never, ever experience the joy and entertainment of seeing my dog try to eat a spoonful of peanut butter. This is a sad and depressing fact that I have yet to come to terms with.

Anyway, I decided on pumpkin, even though I wasn't sure if Toby or the rest of the dogs even liked it.

When my first batch was finished, I gave some to the pups, and they were promptly devoured.

This was when I realized that I may have done a terrible, terrible thing.

The dogs may not ever want to eat their normal dog food again...

Ingredients

Pupcakes

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (Make sure it's whole wheat and NOT unbleached. They are not the same!)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 (16) oz can of pumpkin
• 2 (5 oz.) cups of plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line cupcake pans with 24 lightly greased cupcake liners
3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger in a large bowl
4. In a separate, medium bowl, combine pumpkin, yogurt, honey, vegetable oil, and vanilla.
5. Fold wet ingredient mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredient mixture. (Final mixture will be very thick and sticky)
6. Spoon mixture into liners, about 3/4 full. (Pupcakes will rise a little, but not too much.)
7. Bake for 18 minutes
8. While Pupcakes are baking, mix cream cheese and honey until smooth 
9. Cool cupcakes completely.
10. You can put the frosting into a piping bag and pipe it on, or you can just frost by hand with a butter knife!
11. Watch your furry friend(s) devour (or inhale!) their delicious treat!!