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.

Playing catch-up

Where have the days gone? It seems like forever since I have posted something worthwhile and so I am going to start catching up today even though I should be napping. Apparently, when you are up most of the night with your sick toddler, the old rule applies. . . "sleep when they sleep." I confess, I should be doing that, but there isn't much time between packing (for our move), Christmas (there are gifts to be made), and the mess (sick kid + 4 day weekend = messy house and lots of laundry). But now, he will be waking soon, and so here, I sit, sleepy and relaxed, staring at my computer.

2 weeks ago (yes, it has been that long!), I found this recipe for the most amazing pumpkin-chip cookies I have ever tasted! I am not a huge fan of making pumpkin cookies, because they just don't store right and are more like cake than cookies. These cookies ended up being amazingly delicious. I only made cookies with half the batter and saved some for later, because they don't last long in their moist, delicious state.

Excuse my picture, I took it on my phone with not the best light. But these really are quite good!

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin butter
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp orange zest ( didn't have one, so I used a lemon)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin butter. Mix well. Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing well to combine after each addition. Stir in zest and chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees.

pumpkin cheesecake

I love cheesecake and I love pumpkin, but the combination of the two is really quite heavenly. So, when picking a dessert for our small group potluck this weekend, I really couldn't resist. . . plus I only needed to buy a block of cream cheese (that means it was cheap. . . a big seller when it comes to picking recipes!).

Now, although I love cheesecake, I tend to make recipes that only have minimal blocks of cream cheese because it just gets too expensive. This recipe, however, only called for two. I added the chocolate drizzle over the top for a nice look. You can find this recipe HERE.

Happy Baking!

Life suddenly seems to have gotten incredibly busy. I don't like it! Here is a quick post of some things that I have liked and then I am off to tackle more projects (all the while fighting the urge to take a nap.)

Pumpkin Pound Cake -
I made this on Sunday for dinner (we were supposed to have company, but they cancelled after I had already started making it. . . So, now we have this delicious dessert to eat all by ourselves (no complaints here!). It was really easy and is super moist. It has great pumpkin flavor and looks really nice in a bunt pan. I topped it off with a dollup of homemade whipped cream and some sprinkles of nutmeg. Delicious! You can find the recipe here.
Fall Card
I needed to come up with a quick card for the ladies at my MOPS table, so after deciding that I was going to use this scarecrow stamp, I put this together really quick. It was super easy, no hassle card. (Stamps are Happy Fall Y'll by Stampin' Up and paper I found at JoAnns.)

Pumpkin Strussel Muffins

I found this recipe on a new baking blog I stumbled across last week. These muffins were good, although not as good as the recipe I normally use. It is a mild and moist pumpkin flavor compared to a strong, spicey one. It was good, though. This recipe was found here.

Now I am off to start some upcoming projects that shall remain a secret for now. Enjoy your day. . . the weather is brilliant, the day is quiet, and Fall is here!

Pumpkin is the best!

I say that with sheer joy! It is possibly one of my favorite things. . . and I am so thankful that there are probably millions of recipes using pumpkin and I plan on making as many as possible!
This recipe is one that I have always admired. However, I have been kind of a baking wimp when it comes to actually making it because it just looked too hard! But contrary to my long-lasting belief that this was super hard, it was probably one of the easiest things I have ever made. I even took enough pictures to make a tutorial, if anyone is interested. . . it was that easy! I was even able to leave it cooling in the towel while out running an errand! So simple and so easy and so very delicious!

Pumpkin Roll

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and 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. 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.
Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Re roll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.