Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Okay, I have officially decided that eggs have it in for me. First, there was that one time I left them ENTIRELY out of that delicious cake (thank goodness it turned out okay), and THEN I was short one for my chocolate chip cookie pie (which was a huge issue in and of itself), well NOW I go to make muffins, last Friday, for our church's Christmas breakfast, and guess who didn't have any eggs, period? What is with me!?!? I can't even blame it on pregnant brain, because you know that's not going on. Can we just call it Sandi Brain?

Hi. My name is Sandi, and I suffer from Sandi Brain. Probably over use of Sandi Brain is the problem.

Anyways, these muffins are good, but they gave me all kinds of trouble from the minute I laid eyes on the section of my fridge where eggs are supposed to be, and it was empty. The thing that most attracted me to these, was the crumble topping. Just keep reading. You'll see what my "crumble" topping looked like.
I would make these again, but I would probably leave out the crumble. And also, I would probably freeze the cream cheese filling for a good 6 hours or so. You'll see. Just keep reading!!!!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

*Makes 24 muffins 

For the muffins:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree 

For the filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar 

For the streusel topping:
½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
4 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon 

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or greased 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 another large bowl combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 

To make the streusel topping, combine all the 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 1/3 of the way with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice on top of the batter in each muffin well and gently press (don't press all the way to the bottom but just slightly into the batter). 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 the muffins for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the top of the muffin (about 1/3 of the way down) comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Okay, here's my beef with the cream cheese filling: I was expecting it to be like something of a log, easy to slice. I left it in the freezer for 2 hours. As you can see from the chunks of filling, they didn't exactly slice beautifully. So, again, if you make this, plan on freezing the filling for a good 3 hours or more? I don't know, I guess just play it by ear???

The crumb topping. You will note the lack of it looking like crumb topping. And some of it even broke off and didn't look very pretty. I think there was maybe too much butter? I'm not sure. I mixed and mixed and MIXED that stuff until it was all incorporated, but it still just kind of blobbed there. 

This is what it will look like done. Don't get me wrong, despite the need to run to the store for eggs (my fault, not the recipe's) and the issues with the filling and topping, I would definitely recommend this! Does that sound weird to do? They ended up being delicious. But next time, I'm sticking with my gut and making gingerbread muffins.

Recipe source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Sheet Cake

I can't even begin to give an excuse for putting off posting about this for about a week. Sometimes, y'all, I procrastinate. There. I said it. Sometimes, it's the bane of my existence. Luckily for you people, this post was deeeefinitely worth waiting for, and you didn't even know it! This recipe was a case of having left over canned pumpkin. I had enough to do a half recipe, but not the whole, so FYI, if you want to half it, it works great in a 9x9 pan.
Also, if you like pumpkin but not pumpkin pie, I would seriously consider using this as a substitute on Thanksgiving.
I will preface this recipe by saying that I left out a vital ingredient... By some trick of fate, it still turned out to be delicious, despite the majorness of this ingredient. I'm anxious to make it again WITH the forgotten ingredient, to see if I like it better with or without. Do you want to know what I left out? Well first maybe you should read the recipe:

Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream (start w 1/4 cup and add a little more cream if needed)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a jelly roll pan with non stick cooking spray.

2. Place cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, pudding, sour cream and pumpkin into a stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.

3. Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and melt, about 30-40 seconds. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to bowl, mixing until combined. Drizzle mixture evenly over cake then take a knife and run it through to swirl.

4. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through and remove. Place powdered sugar and cream into a large bowl and mix until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over warm cake then let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate if not serving same day.  Enjoy with milk!
Makes 16 to 20 squares

Alright, so here's what I left out: the eggs. Do you want to know what's so hilarious about me leaving out the eggs? I made this on a Sunday and as I was taking inventory of my ingredients (I didn't want to start and then not have everything because I couldn't run to the store. It was the Sabbath people!) I distinctly remember thinking "Oh good, if I do half then I'll still have 2 eggs left for breakfast tomorrow." Twice I thought this. I guess I was just so overcome by how awesome this was going to be that I totally left them out. You know what? It was delicious. SO, if you don't have eggs, or if you're in the middle of baking this and you forgot them, never fear. It still works. 6 out of 6 Roughtons agree.

I am, however, definitely making this again. WITH eggs. (How funny will it be if I end up liking it better without?)

Post-swirl, pre-bake.

At about this point I was thinking "This is really thick cake batter..." I suppose that happens when you leave out the eggs...

This is what it should look like out of the oven! 

At this moment, I would like to invite all of you who make this, to take the time to lick the white drizzle bowl clean. How come I never thought of mixing powdered sugar and heavy cream?!!?!? AMAZING!!!

Recipe Source: Picky Palate

Pumpkin Roll

How about we find out what I did with the rest of that can of pumpkin? Shall we? By the way, I have literally been baking up a storm (there is a cloud of confectioner's sugar rotating above my apartment, with frosting rain coming down) all weekend I have a bunch to share with you! A BUNCH I say! But one thing at a time?

So, I have had this recipe in one of my make shift recipe notebooks for awhile. Last Sunday, Mike declared that it was the kind of afternoon where I bake something and I declared the perfection of that because I needed to use the rest of the pumpkin from the snickerdoodles. And this is what he picked. A pumpkin roll. I've always wanted to make one. I've made a couple of cake rolls before, but this one.... well it tasted good. We'll get to my problem later on.


Pumpkin Roll

1 cup cake flour, sifted (do NOT use regular flour!)
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (I had the PERFECT amount to do a batch of the snickerdoodles and this!)
3 cups creamed cheese frosting
Confectioner's sugar and spiced nuts for garnish (optional-do you really think I put nuts on this? of course not)

For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 350. Grease 18 by 13 inch rimmed baking sheet and line with greased parchment paper. Whisk flour, spice, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl, set aside. With electric mixer on medium high speed, beat eggs and sugar until pale yellow and thick, 6 to 10 minutes (seriously, beat it that long. Don't think that just mixing until combine is enough. It's going to change color and thickness as you continue to mix it, I promise) Add pumpkin and mix on low until incorporated. Fold in flour mixture until combined. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until cake is firm and springs back when touched, about 15 minutes. Before cooling, run knife around edge of cake to loosen and turn out onto clean sheet of parchment paper that has been dusted with confectioner's sugar. Gently peel off parchment attached to cake and discard. Roll cake and fresh parchment into log and cool completely, about 1 hour.

To assemble: Gently unroll cake and spread with frosting, leaving 1 inch border at edges (you could probably go within a half of an inch...) Re-roll cake snugly, leaving parchment behind. Wrap cake firmly in plastic wrap and chill completely, at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. Remove plastic, dust with confectioners' sugar and garnish with spiced nuts.

Here's the cream cheese frosting recipe I used (but you can use your own, just have about 3 cups worth):

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting - makes 1 1/2 cups, enough to frost 12 cupcakes

4 TB unsalted butter, softened but not super soft and warm
1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 ounces cream cheese, softened, cut into 4 pieces (soften at room temp about 15 minutes, do not soften in the microwave or the texture of the frosting will be too runny)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

With electric mixer on medium high speed, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese one piece at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until no lumps remain.

Here's the cake after baking. Kind of spongy looking.

And yes, it should definitely look like it has paper rolled into it when you roll paper into it...

Finished product!!! Pretty right? Wait...

See? As I said before, I've done cake rolls but I honestly don't know what I did wrong this time around. I rolled it into parchment paper after I took it out of the oven, I let it cool completely before unrolling it, and then when I did unroll it, it snapped in 2 places! I was so mad. It still tasted yummy though.

But seriously, if anyone has experience with this, or can give me any ideas of what I can do differently so this doesn't happen again, PLEASE impart your wisdom! I'm at a loss here... But still! Yummy! I mean hello, it's pumpkin and cream cheese. Can you really go wrong?

Recipe Source: Cook's Country

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Yes, you read that title correctly. Pumpkin snickerdoodles. Oh pumpkin. I have a feeling you will be seeing more recipes, featuring this splendid ingredient, in the very near future. (I can guarantee my next one will also be pumpkin because I needed to use up the rest of the can! I'm so smart!) I loved the look of these cookies the moment I set eyes on them. And then I made them. And then I ate them. And then my love was complete. These really aren't fantastically sweet or anything, despite how much sugar they're rolled in. The pumpkin really adds a nice toned down sweet flavor. This is a definite holiday type cookie. When I poured all of the dry ingredients in the bowl and then started mixing them, I could smell all of the spices coming together and it was just heavenly. I love it!! Also, I actually like them better the next day than when they were hot out of the oven. It's up to you :)

 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Yield: about 3-4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the pumpkin puree. Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend. Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball. Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly. Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container.

*Let me say this about the recipe: you can probably use about half of the ingredients for coating. It makes a lot. Also, these food bloggers with their fancy shmancy blogs (you will note the lack of both fancy and shmancy on mine) only want to make cookies that are the size of their faces. 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of dough for one cookie?? Those things will be baking forever. I did about 1 TB size dough balls, which is what I normally do. It's up to you. Just know that the ones she suggests will take longer than 10-12 minutes to bake. She must have an awesome oven.

And now, a pictorial review:

 

Do you want to hear the story about how my mom has 15 cans of pumpkin in her pantry? So, last year someone told me there would be a shortage of pumpkin and I freaked out because I had found a million pumpkin recipes I wanted to try (we ended up trying maybe 2?) Naturally, I went to the grocery store and took every can of pumpkin they had. Every time I go back and visit, my mom tells me to take my pumpkin. There's a lot...

Look at that. Beautiful. It's like a 70's living room waiting to happen.

This is the dough after chilling. It should hold together pretty well. And be tastey....

TA DA! Looks a lot like regular snickerdoodles right? Except they're not. Because my father in law can eat these and he can't eat other ones because of the cream of tartar. (he's 'llergic)

Recipe source: Annie's Eats

Pumpkin Bread

Friends, I am so sorry for the LATE update! It's not like my life is ridiculously busy. I just keep remembering to update my blog at inopportune moments and then it slips out of my head at a better time.

So here it is, my most favorite pumpkin bread recipe of all time. It is my favorite for two reasons: one-it's so dang good. And two-there are no nuts in it! I like to eat walnuts, pecans, nuts, seeds of all kinds, but I just have issues with it in some foods. I'm not a fan of chocolate chip cookies or brownies with nuts. I think it's more of a texture thing than a taste thing. It's the same with onions. If I can see an onion cooked into something, I pick it out. My mom thinks I'm a weirdo.

Anyways! Here's some delicious pictures and the recipe :) I have my friend Jeremy's mom to thank for this recipe. She used to own a bakery/sandwich shop in Arlington, Tx and when they closed it she made a recipe book of all their favorites.

Heartland Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 cups flour

3 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup oil

1 TB vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

2 cups pumpkin

2/3 cup water

Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. (Can it get easier than THAT????) Mix well. Bake 350 in greased pans for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. *Makes 2 large or 4 small loaves. **Makes 24 muffins-375 for 30 minutes.

That's it! Short, sweet, to the point! And worth the "effort."

I did two loaf pans. It all pretty much got eaten :) Since Mike is at BCT, my brother's co-workers have filled in as my official eaters. They enjoyed this recipe.

Be-you-ti-ful.

Oh man, these are so good with butter or cream cheese frosting on them. Butter a slice while it's hot. It is heaven!