7 Days of Pumpkin: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Another score from Annie's Eats. This girl loves pumpkin as much as I do and her blog is chock full of yummy pumpkin recipes to try. If you are a fan of the Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins, these are very close to that, with the added bonus of a crunchy streusel topping.
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Makes 24 muffins ( I found this to be exact!)
as seen on Annie's Eats, adapted from BakeSpace

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tbsp. and 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

½ cup sugar

¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour

4 tbsp. butter, cubed

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours.

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

7 Days of Pumpkin: Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Apparently I not only love pancakes, but syrup as well.

Hello, lover.


These were wonderfully delicious. No one else in my household is a huge pumpkin fan, but C did try one. They were a fairly dense pancake and I think are the perfect autumn breakfast.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
courtesy of Annie's Eats

Ingredients
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
Dash of ground ginger
Dash of ground cloves
1 cup milk
½ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tbsp. vegetable oil or melted butter

Directions:
-In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and spices and stir with a fork to combine. Mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, egg and oil or butter in a liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combine. The batter will be lumpy which is a-okay. I think I over-mixed a tad which is why mine were so dense.
-Preheat the oven to 200° F. Have a dish ready for the pancakes as they come off the griddle/skillet to go into the oven to keep toasty.
- Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add a 1/3 cup scoop of batter to the pan. Let cool until bubbles begin to form on the top surface. Carefully flip with a spatula and cook the second side until golden brown, a couple minutes more.
-Transfer the cooked pancake to the oven safe dish, and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the batter until it has all been cooked, regreasing the pan as needed. Serve with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, and/or whipped cream.

7 Days of Pumpkin: Pumpkin Crunch

In honor of my favorite baking season, FALL!, I decided to dedicate the entire first week of October to all things pumpkin! My first recipe came from my mother-in-law, who knows I adore pumpkin. I have no clue where she originally got the recipe, but it was certainly yummy. The texture of the middle layer is very much like pumpkin pie! How can you go wrong??




Pumpkin Crunch

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (I would like to try with spice cake mix)
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 C chopped pecans or walnuts
1 C butter, melted

Directions:
-Grease bottom of 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl with a mixer until well-blended.
-Mix well, pour into pan, and sprinkle dry cake mix on top. Top with nuts and drizzle melted butter on top.
-Bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm and would be delish with a whipped topping or vanilla ice cream!

Pumpkin Blondies

So, in the whirlwind that is fall and winter baking, I stocked up on two things: cans of pumpkin and cranberries.  The cranberries are frozen, just waiting for a random spring or summer day when I am longing for that tangy treat.  And this week, I have been craving something pumpkin.  I have had this recipe saved for AGES and saw someone else make pumpkin blondies on another random blog, so decided now was the time to try them.

Per Annie's directions, I used white chocolate and butterscotch chips and she was correct; it is the perfect combination.  It cheered me up on a very dreary Cleveland February day!

Pumpkin Blondies

courtesy of Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped, toasted nuts (optional)

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350

-Line a 9x13 pan with foil

-In a medium bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk and set aside.

-In bowl of electric mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

-Beat in egg and vanilla until well-combined.

-Mix in the pumpkin puree.

-Turn mixer to low and slowly add dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated.

-Fold in white chocolate and butterscotch chips (and nuts) with rubber spatula

-Spread batter evenly in a prepared pan.  Bake until the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 35-40 minutes.

-Transfer pan to wire rack and cool completely before serving.  To serve, lift the cake in the foil from the pan, remove the foil, and cut into 24 squares.

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin roll. YUM. A delightful Thanksgiving recipe, but something I found intimidating.

That is, until this year.

Now? In all honesty, this is a super easy dessert to make and is always a hit with a crowd! And anyone I talk to has said that Libby's recipe (as in, the canned pumpkin people) is the best recipe. Ina Garten even used the cake recipe on her Food Network Thanksgiving special!

Libby's Pumpkin Roll and Cream Cheese Filling

Courtesy of Libby's

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1/4 C powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 2/3 C pure pumpkin puree
• 1 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Filling:

• 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1 C powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

Bake cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Fall Harvest Bread: Cranberry Edition

Just after finding this recipe, Katie updated it with new ingredients! And because I have been stocking up on cranberries for the upcoming season, I just HAD to make it! Instead of pecans, I used walnuts because I had them. It is a wonderfully moist and dense bread, so definitely have a cup of coffee or glass of milk handy! I doubled the recipe and packaged up a loaf for someone that C works with who had given him a non-working riding lawnmower, which C then rebuilt and it now works like a charm!

Fall Harvest Bread
Courtesy of Good Things Catered (an updated version of this recipe, with cranberries...YUM!)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium apple (I like granny smith) peeled, cored, and diced
1 c. fresh cranberries
1 c. chopped pecans (I used walnuts)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Prepare 9x5 loaf pan or 5 mini loaf pans(or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan).
-In large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.
-In another large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla and stir to combine well.
-Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just barely blended..
-Fold in apples, cranberries and pecans.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be all lumpy - don't worry).
-Bake for 60-70 minutes (35-40 minutes for mini loaves) or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
-Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack completely (makes the slices much more clean.

Fall Harvest Bread

Pumpkin and apples. Perfect! Katie recently posted an updated version of this on her blog with fresh cranberries and pecans and I think I am going to give it a whirl this weekend! I still have some granny smiths in the fridge so why not? And seriously. The lighting in my kitchen SUCKS.

Fall Harvest Bread
adapted from RecipeZaar, discovered on Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. apple juice (I did not have any, but used apple cider!)
1 small apple (I like granny smith) peeled, cored, and diced

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray 9x5 loaf pan (or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan) with pam with flour for baking -- or grease and flour.
-Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in bowl.
-Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, and juice in large bowl.
-Mix until just blended.
-Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
-Fold in apples.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be all lumpy - don't worry).
-Bake for 60-70 minutes or until wooken pick inserted into center comes out clean.

Classic Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite things about fall: pumpkin. I love all things pumpkin. Apple runs a close second, with coconut as a third favorite flavor. And since today was the start of the football season here in Cleveland and the weather is cooling off, I wanted to bake something quick and easy to eat as dessert after a pot of yummy homemade soup. I was perusing Katie's cooking blog and stumbled across her adaptation of pumpkin bread, taken from Joy of Cooking. I kept her changes, since I wanted more spice in my loaf as well.

Classic Pumpkin Bread
From Good Things Catered, adaptation of Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:
1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 c. milk
½ tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp butter, at room temp
1 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 c. pumpkin puree

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Have all ingredients at room temp and prepare 9x5 loaf pan.
-Whisk together flour, soda, powder, salt and spices thoroughly.
-In another bowl combine milk and vanilla.
-In large bowl of mixer beat butter until creamy (about 30 sec).
-Gradually add sugars and beat on high speed until lightened in texture (3-4 min).
-Beat in eggs one at a time.
-Add pumpkin puree on low speed until just blended.
-Add flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts beating on low or stirring with spatula until just combined.
-Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.
-Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.