Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Glaze

What you need
For the cake
2 c. pumpkin
1 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
4 eggs
3/4-1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
3/4 c. chopped walnuts


For the glaze
3 Tbsp. water
2/3 c. confectioner's sugar
1/4 c. maple syrup


What you do
Preheat oven to 350.


Beat the puree, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs and oil with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in all the the dry ingredients. Pour into 2 greased round cake pans and bake until the middle no longer jiggles and a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean (about 25-30 minutes).


While the cake is cooling, add the syrup and water to a saucepan over medium-low heat and warm until just heated through. Whisk in the confectioner's sugar until combined. Remove from heat. Place one of the cakes (dome side down) on a plate and when it is relatively cool, drizzle on a little less than 1/2 of the glaze. Top with the other cake layer (dome side up) and drizzle with the remaining glaze.


**This glaze was pretty thin, I'm still working out the kinks, but it still tasted really delicious. If you want something a little thicker and conventional, you can pull a Sandra Lee and just stir together 1 8 oz tub of cool whip and 2 tbsp of syrup and ice the cake with that instead.

Pumpkin Muffins with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling

These were delicious. Oh yes they were!

What you need
For the muffins
1 3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp chili powder
dash of allspice

2 eggs

1 c pumpkin puree

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/3 c honey

2/3 c choc chips
1/3 c your choice of chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

For the filling
4 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp water
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. chili powder

What you do
Preheat oven to 350. Stir together the first 9 ingredients ingredients. Fold in the egg, puree, oil and honey until combined. Then stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

In a small bowl combine all filling ingredients. Line or grease a muffin tin. Fill muffin cups 1/3 of the way full with muffin batter. Drop a 1/2 tsp of cream cheese filling in the middle of each cup, and cover with more batter until each cup is about 2/3 of the way full. Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes. This makes about 20 muffins.

Pumpkin Soup and Pumpkin Hand Pies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze

We did dinner backwards last night. Dessert first and then the meal. And you know what, I never regret it when I do that. :-) Just for the sake of normalcy though, I'll put the dinner recipe first and the dessert one second. We had a very pumpkin night tonight.


I'm not going to lie, both of these recipes were really good and I think you should make them both. Austin said the soup was his favorite soup he's ever had. It tastes really earthy and rustic, but not extremely pumpkin-y and definitely not sweet if you're worried about that. The hand pies were incredible (I think) and I definitely had 3 last night. Aside from just 3 tbsp butter spread and a little cheese in the soup and a little sugar and butter (but not too much when you really think about it) in the hand pies, these recipes were pretty healthy! And good. So, so good!


Both of these recipes call for pumpkin puree and the pumpkin soup calls for pumpkin stock. You could buy it at a store or if you're feeling a little adventurous or want to be cheap/have fun with it, you could make your own. Don't know how? Read this! Warning: If you make either of these recipes, your house will smell freaking wonderful. Especially if you make the hand pies!


Pumpkin Soup
(makes about 4-5 servings depending on how much you eat)


What you need
3 Tbsp butter or spread
3 large garlic cloves
1/2 a medium onion or about 2 Tbsp minced onion flakes
1 Tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. corriander
4 Tbps. flour
2 1/2 c. pumpkin stock (want to make your own? Click here.
1 c. water
1 1/2 c. already cooked brown rice
1 1/2 c. cooked lentils
1/2-3/4 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. milk (I used skim and it worked great!)
whole wheat bread
parmesan cheese


What you do
In a large pot, melt the butter or butter spread over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5-10 minutes or until very fragrant and translucent. (If you're using minced onion flakes instead of a real onion, just add them in with the garlic and herbs). Add the garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, cumin and coriander and cook for about a minute (garlic cooks very fast and will burn easily, so a minute is usually good). Whisk the flour into the butter mixture to form a rue. Whisk in pumpkin stock and water until combined with the butter/flour/herb rue. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Whisk in the rice, lentils and pumpkin puree just until puree is combined. Turn heat to low and let simmer for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in milk until combined and let stand for about 3 minutes to thicken.

Ladle the soup into bowls, break up a piece of whole wheat bread into large chunks and scatter over the top of soup, sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the soup and bread in each bowl and stick under the broiler for a minute or two or in the microwave for about 30 seconds or until cheese is almost melted (french onion soup style, but better in my opinion). MMMmmm good. And pretty good for you too!


**Note: I used rice and lentils because I had them left over in the fridge, but use whatever you like or need to use up. Beans would be good, so would fresh or frozen veggies. Make it your own.**


Pumpkin Hand Pies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze
(makes about 12 hand pies)


What you need
For the pie crust
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. all-purpose flour (plus more for the counter when you roll out the dough later)
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) cold butter sliced (I cut my butter into thin slices then wrapped it back up in the packaging and threw it in the freezer the day before, but you could do this just a couple hours in advance or use it straight out of the fridge)
5 Tbsp. ice water or very cold milk
1 Tbsp. melted butter or butter spread for brushing on the pastry before putting it in the oven

For the filling

2 c. sweet potato puree

1 large egg yolk

1/4-1/3 c. packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 c. but Austin said it wasn't quite sweet enough. Really just depends how sweet you like your desserts)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

For the glaze

6 tsp. confectioner's sugar

2 or 3 tsp cinnamon (depending how much spice you like)

Dash of allspice (maybe about 1/4 tsp.)

1/2 tsp. chili powder

4 tsp. water

2 tsp. maple syrup

What you do
For the pie crust
In a large bowl stir the salt, sugar and both flours. Take the butter out of the freezer or fridge and cut it in with a pastry cutter. (Since I don't have one of those lovely gadgets, I used a fork and basically mashed and stirred the butter slices into the flour mixture just until the largest pieces of butter were about pea-sized.) Pour milk or ice water straight out of the fridge over the mixture a tablespoon at a time stirring it in with your fork or spoon until the mixture looks kind of dough-y. At this point take cut a piece of plastic wrap big enough to wrap up your dough in and set it on the counter. Using your hands, press dough into a disk JUST until it sticks together. (Do not over work or knead with your hands for long at all because if your hands warm up the butter pieces and they melt, your dough will not be flaky when baked.) Put the disk in the middle of the plastic, wrap up and stick in the fridge for about 30 minutes or longer if you need to.


For the filling
Preheat oven to 375F. Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined. Take pastry dough out of fridge after at least 30 minutes and put on a well-floured work surface. This is important because if you don't put down enough flour it will for sure stick to the counter when you roll it out which is no good and a huge pain in the butt. Using a rolling pin (not your hands!!) roll out dough until it's super thin (about 1/8 inch thick). Using a glass or round cookie/pastry cutter, cut circles out of the dough. The cup I used was about 3 inches in diameter. 3-4 inches in diameter is probably ideal.

Place 1 1/2-2 Tbsp. in the middle of one pastry circle cut-out. Top with another pastry circle and press down lightly on the edges with the tines of a fork until the two circles and joined. Repeat with all the other circles. Form the remaining dough into a ball, and repeat the rolling out, cutting out, filling and joining process again until dough is used up. Place all your little hand pies on a very well greased or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter to make them extra crispy.

Bake at 375F. I would check them after 20 minutes, but mine took about 25. They are done when the pastry is just golden and a little crispy on the edges and filling is cooked through.


For the glaze
While the hand pies are in the oven, stir together the confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, all spice and chili powder. (If you don't like a lot of spice, feel free to vary the amounts of cinnamon, allspice and chili powder but just make sure you keep the same ratio of dry ingredients to liquid). Add the water, stirring after adding each tsp. Stir in maple syrup. After taking hand pies out of the oven, let them sit for a couple minutes then drizzle (or spoon like I did) the glaze over the top. Allow to set for another few minutes and enjoy! Maybe even serve with a little vanilla ice cream!

A little blurry (sorry...my camera is not so good...I really have no excuse) but so cute and so yummy!

Cinnamon Chocolate Molten Cakes with Pumpkin Topping

Chocolate is my favorite.

Seriously. If dark chocolate grew on trees, oooooh baby I would have about a million in my yard! (I’m not even exaggerating!) Well, maybe just a little. Since I am majorly obsessed with chocolate and minorly obsessed with pumpkin, I was thinking I would try something with pumpkin and chocolate. Doesn't that sound heavenly? It tastes even better than it sounds. Take my word for it, or don’t, just make these at home and see for yourselves.

I got the idea for the chocolate molten cakes from this recipe, but changed it around some too. For the record, I’ve made those peppermint chocolate molten cakes (I just leave them in the oven longer than the recipe calls for) and they are goooooood. Of course, I’m a sucker for absolutely ANYTHING mint-chocolate. More on that in the coming months. For now, PUMPKIN MONTH continues.

What you need

For the cakes

½ c. unsalted butter

5 oz. dark or semi-sweet chocolate

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

¼ c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. whole wheat flour

2 Tbsp. pumpkin juice (I saved it from when I made my own pumpkin puree)


For the topping

2 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

dash of allspice

dash of nutmeg

3 Tbsp. pumpkin juice

2 Tbsp. pumpkin puree

What you do

For the cakes
Preheat oven to 450.

Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl in the microwave. (You could totally do it in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water as a double broiler, but since I broke a bowl that way I am scared and therefore, use the microwave.)

In another bowl whisk eggs, yolks, and sugar until combined and thick. When chocolate and butter are melted together, take a tablespoonful of the chocolate mixture and whisk it into the egg mixture to bring the eggs up in temperature so they don’t scramble when you add all of the hot chocolate mixture. Add the rest of the chocolate to the eggs. Stir in the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Whisk the flour in quickly just until combined.

Butter 4 4-oz ramekins then sprinkle each with a little cinnamon and pour the chocolate mixture into the ramekins, dividing it evenly between all 4 of them. Put the ramekins onto a cookie sheet and bake at 450F for about 7.5 minutes. Remove from oven, pour ½ tablespoon of pumpkin juice onto the top of each of them. Return to the oven for about 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for a couple of minutes. Go around the edges of ramekin with a knife before inverting it onto a plate. Tap the bottom of ramekin to loosen the cake and pull up on ramekin slowly so the cake remains on plate. Top with the pumpkin topping and garnish with some sifted powdered sugar if you’re feeling artsy.

**Note: these cakes are molten which means the center will be gooey. If you are someone who likes your cake more well-done (such as my husband), leave it in the oven for an extra 2 or 3 minutes the second time. Just make sure you watch them. These are sensitive since they are in such little ramekins.

For the topping

Stir the first four ingredients to combine. Then stir in pumpkin juice. When it is thoroughly mixed, add the pumpkin puree. Super easy!

**Note: this topping is pretty cinnamon-y. I like that sort of thing, but if you don’t feel free to tone down the spice factor.

Finally Fall!!

I'm a summer girl through and through. I love the sun, the warm weather, my nike shorts, my chacos, green trees, ice cream, the pool, the beach, the lake (any body of water, really), fresh vegetables, and sitting outside. It all just makes me so happy. I always get a little sad when I see it going away--when I need a jacket to step outside, when the leaves turn colors and then fall all over our porch, when I have to swap out my nike shorts for jeans (oh the horror)!

This year, though, I'm really excited about fall. Why you ask? One word: PUMPKIN! Oh, how I have missed you, pumpkin. MMMMMmmmm. Seriously, anything pumpkin instantly becomes my favorite! So because of my weird almost-obsession with pumpkin and because I went to the grocery store the other day (and because there were beautiful, whole, orange pumpkins on sale), I hereby declare that October is pumpkin month!

First things first, I decided to make pumpkin puree (partly because I was feeling adventurous and partly because I couldn't find any canned at the stores). I figured out how to by reading this awesome blog post. I was going to post a step by step with my pictures, but let's be honest, her pictures are just better than mine.

So here is a boring (non-picture) version of how to make it: Buy 4 pie pumpkins (also sometimes called sugar pumpkins). Cut off the stems. Cut each pumpkin in half from top to bottom. Scoop out the stringy part and seeds and put them in a bowl. DO NOT scoop out the flesh part on the inside of the skin. Put the halves on a rimmed baking sheet or in a baking pan with enough water to come up the sides just a little bit. Bake at 350F for about an hour. Let them cool then scoop out the flesh and puree it in a food processor until smooth. drain it in a sieve lined with a paper towel. Make sure to drain it over a bowl so you can catch and save the liquid to use later. After an hour or so, you can use the puree. Easy, peasy!

With that pumpkin puree, I made a pumpkin spread to go with my whole wheat oatmeal molasses bread.

Pumpkin Spread

2 c. pumpkin puree
2 oz. cream cheese (at room temp)
1/4 c. ricotta cheese (at room temp)
6 T. confectioner's sugar.
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. allspice
1/4 t. ginger

Combine all ingredients except for confectioner's sugar in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer until combined. Beat in confectioner's sugar by the tablespoonful until mixture is somewhat fluffy. Chill in the fridge until ready to use. (It is pretty good at room temp too.) I kind of did the proportions of cream cheese and ricotta cheese based on stuff I had in my fridge I needed to use up. Next time I would probably have done a little more cream cheese to make it more spread-y if ya know what I mean. But you should totally make this and play around with it. Just have fun with it and get cookin!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Molasses Bread (aka the best bread ever!)

2 c. boiling water
1 c. oats
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 c. melted butter
2 1/2 Tbsp. honey (plus extra for the top)
4 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting the work surface)
1 1/4 tsp. dry instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
cinnamon

In a really big bowl, pour boiling water over oats. Pour in molasses, butter, and honey. Stir and let cool until lukewarm. Meanwhile, in another bowl, stir 2 cups of whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and brown sugar. When oat mixture is cooled to lukewarm, stir in the flour mixture until combined. Stir in the all-purpose flour, one cup at a time. Ditch the spoon and knead in the whole wheat flour with your hands one cup at at time just until combined. Then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and continue kneading only for about 5 minutes until dough sticks together well.

Grease a bowl with some cooking spray and put the dough ball in the bowl and roll it around to coat it all over. Cover with a clean dry towel and let it rise in a non-drafty place like the corner of your kitchen or a still oven until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

Punch down and spilt into two sections. Knead each section for just a minute or two and then shape into a rectangle. Place the two loaves on a greased cookie sheet, cover and let rise another 40 minutes.

Put some honey a couple of teaspoons and some water on a plate. Microwave for about 25 seconds. Dip top of each bread loaf in honey and then sprinkle with cinnamon and anything else you want (you could use oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, etc). Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes or until golden brown. (Sometimes it's done after 45 minutes, so just watch it while it's in there.)

Eat, and ENJOY!!