Leslie's recipe

Brrr. . . As I sit here typing, I am freezing my toosh off. My California body is just not used to these freezing temperatures. . . but thankful that I am not in sub-zero temperatures like my sister! Last weekend, I needed to use up some cream cheese and a friend from high school had emailed me this recipe back in October. What better reason to make Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins!
These muffins ended up being a little bit of work, but resulted in a beautiful combination of pumpkin, cream cheese, and strussel.

Yummy! Thanks Leslie for this great recipe!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

1 pkg. cream cheese

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tbs melted butter

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added more, plus nutmeg, cloves, and ginger)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin (I didn't measure, I used the whole 15 oz. can)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Put liners in your muffin tin or oil your pan.

Cream Cheese Mixture: Mix cream cheese, 1 egg, and 3 tbs sugar until nice and creamy. Set aside.

Strussel: Toss 5 tbs sugar, melted butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Set aside.

Muffins: Whisk together egg, pumpkin, vanilla, and oil. Add remaining dry ingredients and stir until moistened.

Fill liners with half full pumpkin and then place a spoonful of cream cheese mixture into pumpkin and then top with more pumpkin. Sprinkle strussel over the tops.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Happy Baking!

Pumpkin strikes again

This time of year, I just really cannot get enough pumpkin to eat. . . It's just that scrumptious! I stumbled upon this recipe last week and couldn't resist the call to bake them. I think this may just be my new favorite pumpkin recipe! This recipe was oringinally found in Gourmet Magazine, but I found it at Smitten Kitchen.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I added a bit more.)
1 1/4 plus 1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and place liners in cup.
Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, sugar, and soda until smooth. Slowly add in flour and baking powder. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Stir together 1 tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. When muffins are done, brush melted butter over the tops of the baked muffins and dip into cinnamon sugar mixture.

I like it a latte

Recently I had the opportunity to borrow this really fun set of stamps from a friend. I had so much fun playing with them that I couldn't resist making a bunch of cards to keep for a rainy day. The set is Stampin Up's "I like it a latte." The scrapbook paper came from a SU kit from 5 years ago and I don't remember the name. Inks are Cranberry and Buckaroo Blue. I used Dazzling Diamonds to accent the frosting with 2 way glue. The hearts on the coffee cups are 2 dimensional. I used some leftover rubber from my rubber stamp scraps. . . that I keep on hand for times like this.

Thanksgiving Pies

My goodness, Thanksgiving was here and gone so quickly! I got the privilege to make some pies for Jon's family get-together. I had so much fun! In fact, it was the highlight of my day, since I stayed home with our sick son. Here are the three that I made:

I had to go with pumpkin . . . right! This recipe rates second on Jon's list of favorite pumpkin pies. Number one, would be Costco . . . and who can compete with them? Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Pie:
(Food Network style)
Crust - I am lazy. . . I just use the store bought ones.

1 small can of pumpkin
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cup half and half
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. each of ginger, allspice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Whisk together ingredients and pour into crust. Bake 50 to 60 minutes at 400. Cool on rack.

Jon also mentioned that a Boston Cream Pie would sound yummy and he had several echos. So, I pulled my recipe out and got to work. I really didn't mind, because it is so very easy! This went fast from what I understand.

Boston Cream Pie
(Kraftfoods.com)

2 round yellow cake layers (9inch circles)
1 cup cold milk
1 pkg. (4 serving) instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cup whipped topping
1 square unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tbsp. butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. cold milk

Trim your cake to make it even using a bread knife. Set aside. Pour 1 cup milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with a wire wisk for 2 minutes or until well blended. Fold in whipped topping. Let stand 5 minutes to thickin. Place bottom layer on serving plate. Spread with pudding mixture and top with remaining cake layer.
Microwave chocolate and butter 1 minute. Stir until completely melted. Add sugar and milk. Stir until well blended. Spread over top of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour until ready to serve.



Apple Tart
Lastly, I wanted to try a new recipe with apples. I usually bake my apple cheesecake, but really wanted to try a tart. This one was quite tastey and looked so pretty! You can find the recipe over at Joy of baking.

In the mail. . .

Several weeks ago, the mailman brought me a package filled with all sorts of fun stuff from my sister. She lives 24 hours away (by car) and it's always fun to get something from her. This time it was filled with Ethan's belated birthday present, fabric, and this framed creation.

My sister found a stash of fabric from my great grandma, who died a year and half ago, that happened to be the same fabric from a quilt that she had made me when I was 8. Needless to say, the quilt is faded and worn (from many uses!) and I feel so lucky that she found it and made me a mini-quilt out of it. It amazed me to see the colors as they were when I got the quilt. . . so vibrant and alive compared to the comfortable, worn-out quilt I know and love.

This mini quilt is hand stitched and hand quilted. I can't wait until we move so I can hang it up in the office/craft room, where I can treasure if always. A special thanks to my sister!