Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

The calendar may not be ready for Fall, but I sure am. This weekend's weather was so nice - temperatures in the 70s, sunny with a cool breeze - just what I like. I don't want the hot and humid summer days anymore. Plus, Fall means we are closer to Thanksgiving Break. To get myself in the Fall mood, I decided to make something with pumpkin. I bought 2 cans last year just to have in my pantry, but these would be great with fresh pumpkin puree too. I'm lazy - making fresh pumpkin puree was too much work for me when I tried it last year so I stick to the canned stuff.



I've said before that I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but pumpkin baked into bread or muffins or cakes sure is yummy. These muffins are exactly that - yummy! The cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top of the muffins before baking add a sweet crunch to the top, the insides are super moist, and the chocolate chips add a surprising sweetness in every bite. I ate these warm while the chocolate chips were still soft and I melted.



Have this recipe ready to make on a nice Fall day. It's coming soon - the Autumnal Equinox is this Sunday, September 22!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
From Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (made my own mix using this)
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tbsp sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Biscotti

I can't believe Thanksgiving Break is already next week! No students for a week and no work for half the week. We still have professional development and such on Monday and Tuesday, but again, no students, so it's not too terrible. I'm also excited about my family visiting. I haven't seen my dad since the end of summer and I haven't seen my mom and my sister since their visit in October. They're even bringing our two dogs, so I can't wait to see them! I've already got the menu for our dinner planned out and I'll be sharing those recipes soon enough.

Even though Thanksgiving hasn't gone by yet, there are already gingerbread house kits and Christmas decorations for sale at Walmart. It always bothers me when this happens because I'm not ready to think about one holiday when the first one hasn't happened yet. So tonight, I went to another cooking group gathering for a Thanksgiving cookie/candy exchange. We each had to make enough to sample them tonight and take some home to share with whomever.



I went for biscotti. I like biscotti and I haven't made it in a couple years. I still had some homemade pumpkin puree left from when I went pumpkin picking and it's an appropriate ingredient for Thanksgiving. Maybe because it's been a couple years since I've made biscotti, I can't remember how the dough is supposed to be, but I really don't remember it being as sticky as this recipe's dough was. Quite a bit stuck to my hands and I had a difficult time shaping it to look nice. At least the logs got cut into slices so you can't see the bumps on the top of the logs. Still, the biscotti is delicious. A light pumpkin flavor with spices. The white chocolate adds a bit of sweetness and the walnuts add even more crunch to these twice-baked cookies. It was a hit with the ladies in the cooking group!



Some of the cookies that others brought tonight were macarons, cream cheese cherry cookies, molasses cookies, oreo truffles, potato chip toffee bark, chocolate bourbon balls, gingerbread snowflake cookies (so pretty!), and so much more! The organizer of the event provided treat bags so I filled mine up to the top. There were so many leftovers that it was totally acceptable and encouraged.



Pumpkin Gingerbread Biscotti
From The Comfort of Cooking

1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
4 oz real white chocolate, chopped, or white candy melts
3 tbsp chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, sugar and baking powder. Whisk vigorously until the mixture turns pale yellow and falls back in ribbons on itself when you lift out the whisk.

Next, add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt and vanilla. Continue whisking, aerating the mixture.

Finally, sift in the flour and fold it in with a spatula.

Shape the dough into a flat log about 3″ wide by 8″ long using wet fingertips. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, turn the oven down to 300 and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice into 1/2″ slices, place them back on the baking sheet and bake another 30 minutes, flipping them half-way through. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

When ready to serve, prepare chopped walnuts and melt the white chocolate or candy melts. Dip half of each biscotti into the white chocolate, sprinkle with a pinch of walnuts, and let set before serving.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Sometimes I really don't like the hours of a teaching job. It doesn't help that I work at a school that is a 40-minute commute from my apartment. I can't get normal errands done. Such as going to the post office to mail a birthday package to my friend. My friend's birthday was the first of October and do you know when I found the time to mail her package? Two weeks later, on the 16th. I couldn't even find the time to make them earlier, or else I would have sent them late September. But I'm glad I was able to get them to her anyway.

What did I send her, you ask? Well, I tend to mail baked goods to people for their birthdays instead of actual gifts unless I know there's something they absolutely want and specifically asked for. So I was thinking about what my friend really likes. I've already made her Homemade Reese's Cups, which is her favorite chocolate candy. Since it was fall, I kept thinking of something with pumpkin and then these whoopie pies popped into my head!



Back when we were in college, a group of us went to Staunton a lot to watch plays at the American Shakespeare Center. Before or after the play, we always stopped by the cafe right next door. This cafe sold Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and my friend always got one. I never tasted these before I made them myself so I don't know how they compare, but she very much enjoyed them and one of her classmates in grad school said it was the best thing he had eaten in a while! I will take that as a success. I'm also glad they got to her in good condition. To send these pies, I froze them individually by wrapping in plastic wrap. Then I made sure to place them in a ziploc bag when shipping them to help keep them fresh while traveling.



There's been a lot of pumpkin in my life this year more than ever, especially this past weekend. My boyfriend and I went to a farm, which had hayrides, a corn maze, a pumpkin patch where we could pick one pie pumpkin for free, and a pile of huge carving pumpkins. With the pie pumpkins, we made homemade pumpkin puree to make pumpkin mac and cheese with bacon for dinner one night and then pumpkin pie french toast for breakfast one morning. The only difference the pumpkin made in the mac and cheese was the texture, but the french toast was delicious! I used the recipe from Closet Cooking but it looks like you can just add 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree to your standard french toast batter with a small amount of pumpkin pie spice. Add a side of fried apples and you've got a great fall brunch!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
From Kitchen Konfidence

For the pies
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp fine grain sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cloves
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin purée
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
12 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two to three baking sheets with parchment paper or a slipat. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add flour, sea salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger and ground clove, whisking to combine. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together dark brown sugar and vegetable oil until well combined. Add chilled pumpkin puree, whisking again until combined. Add eggs and vanilla then whisk until well combined. Sprinkle dry mixture (flour and spices) over the wet mixture (pumpkin and oil). Whisk until fully incorporated.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop 1 – 2 tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets (about 1 inch apart, the cookies will spread a bit). One at a time, transfer the baking sheets to the oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on the top. You can also use a toothpick to test doneness. Insert a toothpick into the center of the largest cookie on the sheet. If it comes out clean, the cookies are done (12 – 14 minutes). Let the cookies cool completely on the pan.

While the cookies are cooling, prepare the frosting. Sift confectioners’ sugar into a medium sized bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until very smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add vanilla and mix for a few seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and beat just until smooth (be careful not to overmix the frosting).

To assemble, start by lining a baking sheet or serving platter with parchment paper. (the cake is very moist and can stick to regular surfaces). When the cookies have completely cooled, place half of them cut side up on the prepared baking sheet. One at a time, spoon a heaping tablespoon of frosting on the flat side of a cookie (the measurements above make a lot of frosting, so you can be generous here). Sandwich another cookie on top of the frosting, pressing down slightly to spread the filling to the edges. Repeat with remaining cookies and frosting. Cover finished whoopie pies with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Now that fall has started, it's time to make ALL the pumpkin recipes! Here's my first pumpkin recipe of the season. I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie. Le gasp! I know. Everybody I have told this has said that I'm weird. My boyfriend joked that we couldn't be together anymore. But in small doses, I can handle it. Which is why I love this recipe.



The shortbread cookie is a great base for the filling in the middle. It's a little soft, but it holds its shape long enough to make it into your mouth. The filling definitely has enough pumpkin taste for me. Whenever you don't feel like making a whole pie, just make these cookies. It's a cute and fresh way to eat pumpkin pie. Plus, eating one small cookie makes me feel less guilty than eating a whole slice of pie!



For just the two pictures I'm posting in this entry, I sure took a lot. My sister and my mom visited me last weekend for less than 24 hours (including sleep time), mostly to drop off stuff that I wanted from home and to see my face since we hadn't seen each other since the summer. Ever since the battery to my little point-and-shoot Samsung camera died, I haven't been able to take pictures of anything I've baked or cooked. But now that I have access to a working camera that takes better pictures, too, I went crazy with the trigger. I also need to learn how to use it so I've just been playing around with it, so I hope the pictures improve as I go!

Pumpkin Pie Cookies
From Heather Likes Food

For the cookie
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the filling
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk

White chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and combine. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt and beat until no dry spots remain. The dough will be stiff and possibly crumbly.

Scoop dough by the tablespoon and roll into smooth balls. Place on lined cookie sheets a few inches apart. Using a few fingers, press lightly on the top of each ball to flatten slightly. With the back of a teaspoon measuring spoon, make an indentation in the top of each ball.
Place unbaked cookies into the fridge and let chill for 15 minutes.

Make filling by combining all of the filling ingredients and mixing until smooth.

Remove chilled dough from fridge and spoon heaping 1/2 teaspoonfuls of the filling into each cookie.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The bottom of the cookie will be lightly browned and the filling set.
Let cool and drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes

I love the Holidays as much as the next person. Seeing Christmas lights hanging around town fills me with joy. Watching Christmas specials of my favorite TV shows makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Praying for snow (or maybe even a White Christmas) becomes a daily routine. But we are still in early November and Thanksgiving has not even passed yet. So I don't understand why, when I walked into Target yesterday, I saw Christmas decorations and Christmas wrapping paper and Christmas everything. It's just way too early. I think this comic pretty much sums up how I feel.



Even on Foodgawker, I'm seeing Christmas cookie recipes. I'm not ready for that just yet, so I'm sharing a fall recipe today. Another one with pumpkin! But seriously, pumpkin is such a hit with everyone that you've got to make this one, too. Again, just like the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, the pumpkin flavor is subtle. Making these donuts does take more effort, but it's definitely worth it. And you get a lot out of one batch.



When is it acceptable to start listening to Christmas music and putting up Christmas decorations? I would probably say the day after Thanksgiving... What about you?

Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes [Makes 24 donut holes]
From Two Peas and Their Pod

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup milk

4 tbps unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven 350F. Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with baking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. In a separate, large bowl whisk together oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the muffins bake, melt butter in one bowl and combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.

Remove muffins from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Dip each muffin in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar to coat. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall is upon us. Or, is it? Oh, wait, it is. Sorry, the weather is confusing me. I got sick a couple weekends ago from it being 50 degrees and windy outside. Then this past weekend, it was 75 degrees and sunny, no wind. And now, the temperatures are in the 60s and it's raining and windy again. Seriously?

Whatever temperature it may be, it is officially Fall according to the calendar. I don't have any trees around my apartment, but I was in Lexington this past weekend and all the trees had changed colors. Halloween costumes and candy have been out since the beginning of October. Pumpkins are now making their appearances in the stores for carving. Canned pumpkin puree is low in stock.

Pumpkin is not a flavor that I particularly enjoy on its own, but when mixed with other flavors, I don't mind so much. That's why I went for these cookies because chocolate makes everything better. I had actually thought about making muffins, but cookies give me more servings. The weird thing is that I was a bit disappointed by how little it tasted like pumpkin. Maybe it's because I was expecting an overpowering flavor. But I love that it's so cakey and soft, definitely not your normal cookie texture. These were probably one of the most well-received goodies I've brought into school!



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies [Makes 24 cookies]
From Kirbie Cravings

1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla and egg in a large bowl . In a separate bowl, whisk together together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt. Add the flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Take large tablespoons full of dough and drop onto cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. When finished, try to shape the dough to resemble a cookie. The cookies dough should be round and flat and smooth, resembling close to the finished baked product because the cookies don't spread much during baking and will rise up. It helps to work with the dough if your hands are freshly washed and slightly damp.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. The cookie dough will be almost the same size and shape as the finished cookies as the batter does not spread much.

Pumpkin Pie

Can I just say, I have always wanted a picture like this? My hands working on something and in this sort of warm lighting. I thank my sister for taking it for me as I worked on the pie crust.

When I was deciding on the dessert for Thanksgiving dinner, I chose to make something healthy as I thought my parents didn't need more unhealthy food than the rest of the dinner already included. It was sweet potato versus pumpkin for dessert flavors and since I found a recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits, I settled on Pumpkin Pie. I've never actually had pumpkin pie before so I don't know what it's really supposed to taste like, but I didn't think this was too bad. I would keep the filling as it is. It has a clean pumpkin flavor with a light texture. But I would go for a different crust. It's quite weird to work with and while it is flaky, the taste that crusts should have was not there. If you do decide to use this crust, pre-bake it. The directions did not say so and so I didn't, but it'd be better if you did.

  

Healthified Pumpkin Pie
From Eat Better America

- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 to 4 tbsp skim milk

- 3 egg whites or 1/2 cup fat-free egg product
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 15 oz pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
- 12 oz evaporated fat-free milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Heat oven to 425F. In medium bowl, mix flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the oil with fork until well mixed. Stir in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl. Shape pastry into a ball, using your hands. Press pastry in bottom and up side of 9-inch glass pie plate; flute as desired or press pastry to top edge of pie plate with fingers or fork.
2. In medium bowl, beat egg whites slightly with wire whisk or egg beater. Beat in 1/2 cup sugar, pumpkin pie spice, 1/8 tsp salt, pumpkin, evaporated fat-free milk, and vanilla. Pour filling into pastry-lined pie plate; carefully place on oven rack. Bake 15 minutes.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Cover edge of pie crust with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake about 45 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Cool on cooling rack at least 1 hour before serving. After cooling, pie can remain at room temperature up to an additional 5 hours, then should be covered and refrigerated.

*If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, you probably already have most of the spices in your pantry, so just mix together the following: 4 tbsp ground cinnamon, 4 tsp ground nutmeg, 4 tsp ground ginger, 3 tsp ground allspice. Yields 8 tbsp.



This is also proof that our oven is crooked because one side had more filling than the other. I also didn't put foil around the edges so the filling caramelized.

Pumpkin Butter

I am finally on Thanksgiving break! It feels so nice not to go to class... I'm ignoring the pile of work in front of me and am instead taking time off to knit, cook, and play piano for hours and hours. I came back home yesterday afternoon after a 5.5-hour drive. I met my dad halfway because it's my first time driving such a long distance by myself that my parents thought it'd be best. I survived!

The first thing that one of my housemates did as soon as break started was make Pumpkin Pie. The house smelled fantastic that day. She had a bit of pumpkin puree left and I thought of making pasta sauce with it, but then my housemate suggested pumpkin butter, which is a great idea, so I instantly went to the one recipe I have bookmarked. I've never had "properly made" Pumpkin Butter, so I don't know what it's really supposed to taste like, but what resulted was still tasty. Not a big fan of pumpkin by itself, but with all the spices and sugar, I didn't mind it so much. I love the darkness that the brown sugar adds as soon as it touches the pumpkin puree and the smell that the spices add. Mmm.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I still haven't finalized the dinner menu. I think I definitely want to try brining a turkey this year. I definitely know what stuffing I'm making and that we are going to have sweet potatoes. Now, green beans, yes or no? And this is crazy but I haven't even thought about the dessert! Okay, obviously, I've got lots of work to do here. Anyway, can't wait to share the recipes with you. What are you planning to make for Thanksgiving dinner?

Pumpkin Butter
From Smitten Kitchen

- 29-oz can pumpkin puree [approx. 3 1/2 cups]
- 3/4 cup apple juice [I've read somewhere else that water is fine too]
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- Juice of half a lemon

1. Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil.
2. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently. Adjust spices to taste. Stir in lemon juice, or more to taste.
3. Once cool, pumpkin butter can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
4. To preserve: Spoon hot pumpkin mixture into hot jars, filling to within 1/4 inch from top. Remove air bubbles; wipe jar rims. Cover at once with metal lids, and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.