Sarah’s Pumpkin Muffins

Happy Birthday Sarah!! Today Sarah celebrates and turns 11-years old! In honor of my cousin Sarah, I thought I’d share with you her delicious pumpkin muffins.

When we were in Houston last week, my Aunt Jolene had made a batch of Sarah’s pumpkin muffins for Harper and I. Jolene actually doubles the recipe so she can use the whole can of pumpkin rather than throwing half the can away in the trash. Quick breads and muffins freeze well, so I’d suggest doing the same and freezing the leftovers if you can’t eat them all.

Sarah is Jolene’s 11-year old granddaughter and my cousin, and is sweet as can be. She loves playing with Harper and is the kind of person who would do anything for you. She is selfless and so giving, and at age 11, that is rare.

Sarah got this recipe from summer camp at Camp Ozark. They served these pumpkin muffins there and she loved them so much, that she sought out the recipe for them. The recipe happened to be in a cookbook they sold at the camp gift shop! Now Sarah makes these muffins all the time and we love them.

While Sarah doesn’t make these pumpkin muffins with a topping, you can add one if you wish. Jolene googled a cinnamon-sugar pecan streusel topping and added it to these muffins for a little extra sweetness. They are to die for!! If you want to go the healthy route, leave off the topping, but if you want them a little more decadent, feel free to add it!

baby — Harper loves walking. She even claps at herself while walking!

Enjoy!!

Sarah’s Pumpkin Muffins

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, soda powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until blended. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture.
Pour batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Toffee Pumpkin Cheesecake and Halloween

toffee pumpkin cheesecake

This past weekend Harper, my mom, and her friend Jenni and I took a trip to Houston. Mom and Jenni visited the Houston Quilt Show and pretty much shopped till they dropped!

While Mom and Jenni had a fun girls quilting trip, Harper and I decided to hang out with my Aunt Jolene and her daughter Robin, and Robin’s girls Sarah and Madeline. Even though we were in Houston for just one full day, we had a blast and ate LOTS OF FOOD!

A lot of the recipes on this blog are actually from Aunt Jolene. She is one of the best cooks, if not THE BEST cook I know. In addition to looking forward to catching up with Jolene, I look forward to the homemade food she has prepared. This trip we had:

Breakfast: Cream of wheat, chili cheese egg casserole, bacon, toast, and fruit
Lunch: Tuna salad sandwich, chips, fruit, and Guess Again Cookies (I’ll blog soon! They have Rice Krispies cereal, coconut and oats in them. Yum!)
Dinner: Chicken spaghetti, salad, french bread, and this toffee-pumpkin cheesecake
Snacks: Sarah’s pumpkin muffins (I’ll blog soon!)

Wednesday night was the Republican debate, Jolene had a neighbor named Jim over to watch the it since his television was broken.

It’s kind of a funny sight, looking back…. all four of us (Jim, Jolene, James – an uncle who was in Houston for work, and I) curled on the couch watching the Republican debate with big slices of cheesecake perched on our laps.

toffee pumpkin cheesecake

The cheesecake was amazing! I thought I would be good and not eat the whole slice, but my stomach trumped my brain and said I should finish it. I regretted that afterwards and had trouble falling asleep I was so stuffed, but it was definitely worth it!!

With cinnamon graham cracker crumbs, toffee bits, canned pumpkin and cream cheese, you can’t go wrong with this decadently delicious fall dessert. Don’t forget to garnish the cheesecake with whipped cream, toffee bits, and caramel topping for “icing on the cake”. It was almost too good to eat. ALMOST…. 🙂

The Houston trip was short-lived and we were back in Dallas by Friday evening and ready to trick-or-treat and watch A&M football that next day.

Halloween was a treat as the Aggies pulled out a win against the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Harper went trick-or-treating for the first time.

She was a bumble bee! Buzzzzzzzz!!!!!!

bumble bee Halloween costume — Where’s the candy?

At one year old, Harper is fearless. Not once did she cry, get scared or fuss. I actually nearly jumped out of my skin when we knocked on a neighbor’s house that had motion-sensored scary music and a fake black snake. Harper – nothing phased her!

She had a blast looking at all the other kids in their costumes, and enjoyed knocking on doors and picking out candy. When given the option of which candy she wanted, Harper choose a Reese’s Pieces and a Kit-Kat. I think she liked the bright redish/orange colors from the wrappers.

Even though we all love M&Ms, Snickers, and Hershey’s, why does the packaging have to be dark brown? Such an ugly color, and if you are trying to appeal to a one-year-old, they have their sights on the brightly packaged candies. FYI – to all the candy makers. 🙂

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. Enjoy!

Toffee Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cook time: 2 hours 45 mins

Total time: 2 hours 45 mins

Serves: 16

Ingredients

2 cups cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (32 squares)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 eggs, divided
8 oz. bag toffee baking bits, divided
15 oz. can pumpkin
3/4 cup whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
caramel topping, heated

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Combine crumbs and butter in a small bowl. Press mixture in the bottom of a greased 9″ springform pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits. Spread over crust.
Combine pumpkin, whipping cream, 2/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, salt and remaining 3 eggs in a large bowl until blended. Slowly and carefully spoon over cheesecake layer.
Bake 2 hours, or until edge of cheesecake is set at least 2 inches from edge of pan but center still jiggles slightly when moved. Turn off oven; open oven door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes. Run spatula around edge of pan; remove side of pan.
Dollop servings with whipped topping. Drizzle with caramel topping; garnish with remaining toffee bits.

Pumpkin Zucchini Bran Muffins

This past Friday my mom, her best friend Jenni, Harper, and I drove to Fort Worth for the Trinity Valley Quilter’s Quild Quilt Show – Sew Many Favorites.

My mom’s “Bring Me Flowers” quilt won first place!!! She is super talented and her quilts are absolutely gorgeous. Maybe someday I’ll win a blue ribbon in a quilt show.

In the meantime, I’ll just practice-practice-practice. I am a novice and just started sewing when Harper was born. So far I’ve made collegiate pillowcases (Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Oklahoma State), a baby quilt, and a Texas A&M pillowcase dress and Dallas Cowboys pillowcase dress for Harper.

Aggie pillowcase dress — Gig ‘Em Aggies! Harper in her Texas A&M pillowcase dress.

Dallas Cowboys pillowcase dress — Go Cowboys!

After returning from the quilt show, I tried one of these bran muffins that my mom made and wow are they delicious!

They aren’t your typical boring bran muffin recipe. Instead they’re made with shredded zucchini, pumpkin puree, flaxseed, whole wheat pastry flour, and coconut oil… all healthy ingredients for an actually ‘good-for-you’ bran muffin!

Credit goes to Jessica Merchant of “Seriously Delish: 150 Recipes for People Who Totally Love Food.” I’m not much on buying cookbooks since the Internet has so many of them listed, but Merchant’s cookbook is an exception. She has tasty, innovative recipes that are “lightened up”, but actually taste good.

I’ll be making these again soon since they were soooo good! Since it’s pumpkin season, grab a jar of Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter from Williams-Sonoma to smear on these, and you’re good to go!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Zucchini Bran Muffins

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 12

Source: Seriously Delish: 150 Recipes for People Who Totally Love Food by Jessica Merchant

Ingredients

1 cup oat bran
1 cup milk
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2/3 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup freshly grated zucchini
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners and set aside.
Place the wheat bran on a baking sheet in a thin layer. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes to toast the bran, shaking the pan once or twice during baking. Remove the pan from the oven and add the bran to a bowl. Pour the milk over the top of it and let it sit for 5 minutes.
In large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, flaxseed, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt, In another bowl, stir together the zucchini, pumpkin puree, coconut oil, egg and vanilla extract. Add the wet wheat bran to the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix. Fill each muffin liner almost full. Bake the muffins until the tops are set, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool slightly.

Pumpkin Yumkins

Fall is my favorite season of the year for many reasons.

Number 1: Aggie Football (okay, this may be Matt’s number 1, but I’ve gotten a whole lot more interested in football since marrying him). Yesterday we even went to College Station for the A&M vs. Auburn game. Tough loss for us Ags, but great weather and lots of fun!

A&M football team walking into the stadium.

Number 2: Cooler weather. Texas is known for our brutally hot summers, so when we start getting some cooler nights and mornings come October, we all get really excited.

Number 3: Candy corn. Need I say more?

Number 4: Pumpkins!! I LOVE pumpkins! I love decorating my house with pumpkins, and I love eating pumpkin. Here’s just a few of my favorite recipes: pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin whoopie pies, pumpkin butter bars, pumpkin butter granola, pumpkin oatmeal …you get the idea.

Spoon batter into muffin cups almost to the top. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Since my mom knows how much I like pumpkin, she decided to make these pumpkin yumkins just for me (okay, I let Matt eat some) this weekend.

The recipe is from one of our favorite cookbooks: Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe by Rebecca Rather. Everything in this cookbook is just like the author: down-home yet grand, and familiar yet one-of-a kind. From Texas Big Hair tarts to fried pies to cookies, I’m ready to try just about all of Rather’s recipes.

Just what is pumpkin “yumkin” you ask?

In Rather’s cookbook, she describes having found this recipe in her grandmother’s things but couldn’t ever remember making them. The unusual name caught her (and our) attention so she decided to make them. It turns out, the yumkins are a cross between a muffin and a cupcake, all dressed up with orange-flavored cream cheese frosting.

When Dad brought these over to us last night at 10:30 pm, I only intended on eating a bite but that didn’t happen…. This is probably my all-time favorite pumpkin recipe ever!!

The orange-flavor cream cheese frosting is genius and pairs perfectly with the yumkins. What may surprise you is that there are no spices in this recipe: no pumpkin spice, no allspice, no cinnamon and no cloves. However, the can of pumpkin, brown sugar, dates and cream cheese frosting create the perfect fall recipe to serve during the holidays. Enjoy!

Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool 30 minutes before frosting.

pumpkin yumkins — Coat the tops of the cool yumkins with cream cheese frosting and enjoy!

Pumpkin Yumkins

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 1 dozen

Source: “The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe” by Rebecca Rather

Ingredients

YUMKINS
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped dates
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cups powdered sugar
Zest of 1 orange, preferably organic

Instructions

TO MAKE THE YUMPKINS: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the nuts on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast for 7 to 9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Cool the nuts, and then coarsely chop.
Grease 12 standard-size muffin cups with butter or cooking spray. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir in the dates and pecans. The batter will be thick.
Spoon the batter into muffin cups just to the top. Bake about 20 minutes, until the muffins are firm to the touch or a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert them onto racks to cool for 30 minutes before frosting.
TO MAKE THE FROSTING: Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and orange juice on medium speed about 20 seconds. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Stir in the orange zest.
Coat the tops of the cooled yumkins with frosting. Do no wrap until the frosting has set, about 45 minutes. Well-wrapped yumkins will keep about 3 days at room temperature.

Pumpkin Roll

I promised John, a coworker of mine, I would make him a pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving.

Well, 6 months and 21 days later I’m finally fulfilling my promise of a pumpkin roll! Better late than never!!!

To be honest, I was quite intimidated when John requested I make this cake back in November. I had heard that pumpkin rolls were hard to make, and I was nervous that the cake would crack as I was rolling it, or that it would not stay together.

DO NOT BE AFRAID… Pumpkin rolls are easier than you think, so don’t be intimidated!!! Mixing the cake batter takes only minutes, and baking the cake takes less than 15 minutes. Plus, unlike a layer cake, there is no slicing cake layers, filling, frosting or decorating. Simply lather the cake with cream cheese filling, roll it up, dust with powdered sugar and you’re done!

A big thanks goes out to to the Brown-Eyed Baker, who posted a great pumpkin roll recipe with excellent instructions and ingredients for this no-fail, traditional Thanksgiving dessert.

John – If you’re reading this, I hope you enjoyed your three slices of pumpkin roll today!! I do indeed keep my promises. 🙂

While cake is baking, sprinkle powdered sugar on a piece of parchment paper.

pumpkin roll — Flip cake out onto powdered sugar-lined parchment paper.

Roll the cake into a cylinder using the parchment paper to help you.

Let cake cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

Carefully unroll the cake. Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the surface of the cake, then re-roll the cake.

Tidy/pretty-up the end of the cake by trimming off the ends.

A neat story about John’s request for pumpkin rolls:

A lady his mom used to work with would take requests every holiday season for pumpkin rolls. The lady would charge her coworkers $12 for each roll, which seems like a pretty good deal to me. One year the lady had over 500 orders from her friends and coworkers. John’s mom would buy one every year and thus you can see how his love for pumpkin rolls developed!

Pumpkin Roll

Serves: 8

Ingredients

¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
⅔ cup canned pure pumpkin
8 ounces 1/3-less fat cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions

MAKE THE CAKE: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 15×10-inch jelly roll pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, then grease and flour the parchment. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the sugar and eggs together until combined and thick, about 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin and mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to fold and mix until no flour is remaining. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. While the cake is in the oven, place a piece of parchment paper on the counter and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar.
When the cake comes out of the oven, immediately run a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake. Turn the cake out onto the prepared piece of parchment paper. Carefully peel off the parchment paper from the top of the cake and discard. Starting with a short end, carefully roll up the cake with the parchment paper. Place the rolled cake on a wire rack seam-side down and allow to cool to room temperature.
MAKE THE FILLING: Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat until completely smooth and light. Add the vanilla extract and mix briefly to combine.
Carefully unroll the cake. Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the surface of the cake. Re-roll the cake, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, place the pumpkin roll on a serving platter and dust with powdered sugar. Leftovers should be wrapped in plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and refrigerated.

Notes

Adapted from: Brown-Eyed Baker

Pumpkin Butter Granola

I don’t know about you, but October is probably one of my favorite months of the year. October is the month in Texas where we finally start getting cooler weather, it is the month that starts the festivities of the holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, then New Years), and it is the month where I can enjoy making festive, aromatic, fall treats like pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, and today, pumpkin granola.

I found this extremely easy and tasty granola recipe from Peanut Butter Fingers (PB Fingers). If you have not heard of this blog, you must take a look….it is one of my favorite food/health blogs on the Internet. If you like granola, you might want to check out PB Finger’s other flavors such as nutella, peanut butter, cinnamon, and almond butter granola under her snack recipes section.

Like I said, this granola was super easy to make and only involves 5 ingredients, most of which you will have at home. The recipe says to bake the granola for only 15 minutes, but I would suggest upping the time to 20-30 minutes for a crunchier granola….this granola was chewy (but still delicious). I like to sprinkle pumpkin butter granola on vanilla or Greek yogurt, oatmeal, swiss oatmeal, or just eat it plain.

By the way, Pumpkin Butter is not “fatty” like it sounds. Like jam, it has 0 grams of fat and only 35 calories per serving. I LOVE Pumpkin Butter!

Pumpkin Butter Granola
Ingredients
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp pumpkin butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp canola oil

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until oats are no longer dry
3. Spread out granola on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking sprya
4. Bake for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through
5. Allow to cool until granola is crunchy

Yield: four 1/4 cup servings
Peanut Butter Fingers

Eddie’s Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Streusel Topping

Tis the season for some pumpkin bread! Halloween is just around the corner, and today I pulled out my fall wreath, pumpkins and gourds to decorate. I also bought myself some candy corn, my favorite candy of all time.

My mom made this recipe for pumpkin bread last weekend and gave me a half of a loaf to enjoy. By Wednesday, I had finished it, and was already craving more. As I said earlier, decorating put me in a festive mood, so I decided to make this pumpkin bread recipe again. Instead of making two 9 x 5-inch loaves, I baked the bread into 4 mini loaves, and had leftover batter to make 8 standard-size muffins. (This recipe makes a lot of bread, so I recommend either halving the recipe, making mini loaves or muffins to pass out to family and/or friends, or freezing the extras.

As far as taste, this is my favorite pumpkin bread recipe. I think this homemade version tastes better than Central Market’s and Williams-Sonoma’s pumpkin bread, which are both very good. Our version is extremely moist (it does not dry out), has 4 flavorful spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice, and the toasted pecans add a nice crunch. The recipe calls for a pecan streusel topping, but to save calories, we omitted it. I encourage you to try the streusel topping and let me know what you think. It sounds delicious!

I know that pumpkin is very nutritious for you, but I’m not sure I’d call this bread “healthy”. Our pumpkin bread has 3 cups of sugar and 1 cup of vegetable oil (however, the recipe makes 2 loaves, which probably serves 32). In addition, the streusel topping contains 1/2 a stick of butter.

Quick breads are so easy to make and are one of my favorite mid-morning or late-afternoon snacks. Don’t forget to spread a large dollop of pumpkin butter on your pumpkin bread. A perfect complement, and unlike the name, this “butter” has 0 grams of fat and is only 35 calories per serving! Much healthier than adding cream cheese icing to the top…I’ll save the icing for cupcakes instead!

Don’t forget to toast the pecans, they taste ten times better, are more aromatic, and are crunchier. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Eddie’s Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Steusel Topping

Ingredients
BREAD
1-1/2 cups toasted pecan pieces (reserve 1/2 cup for topping)
1 cup vegetable oil, such as canola or safflower
3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
1 cup water
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

TOPPING
1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces (above)

Directions
TO MAKE THE BREAD:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast them in the oven for 7 to 9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Reserve 1/2 cup of the toasted pecans for the topping.
2. Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans or 36 standard-size muffin cups with butter or cooking spray.
3. Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, pumpkin and water and whisk until combined. Stir in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Gently stir in 1 cup of the pecan pieces. Pour half of the batter into each loaf pan. For muffins, fill the muffin pans almost to the top with batter.

TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
4. Stir the sugar, butter, cinnamon, and the reserved 1/2 cup of pecan pieces in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the topping liberally over the loaves or the muffins before baking.

5. Bake the loaves for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Bake the muffins 30 to 35 minutes.

***Tip: Pumpkin is a nutritional powerhouse on its own, but if you want to increase the health quotient here, substitute a cup of whole wheat pastry flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour.

Yield: two 9 x 5-inch loaves or 36 standard-size muffins
The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country’s Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe” by Rebecca Rather

Great Pumpkin Bread

I have yet to make a pumpkin bread recipe on my own, but I thought I would share with you a delicious and homemade pumpkin bread recipe that a wonderful parent made for me at my school. The recipe is called “Great Pumpkin Bread”, and comes out of the Waco Junior League Cookbook. (Junior League Cookbooks always have great recipes!)

My student’s parent says that “this is delicious thinly sliced and spread with a mixture of cream cheese and orange or pineapple marmalade”. She likes it best with strawberry cream cheese. I did not have cream cheese, and since I love Stonewall Kitchen’s Maple Pumpkin Butter, that is what I put on my pumpkin bread!

Great Pumpkin Bread

Yield: 2 (9×5-inch) loaves

Ingredients

1 cups plus 2 tbsp oil
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp each of cloves, ginger, and nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup pecans, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 2 (9 x 5) inch loaf pans.
Blend together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside.
Mix dry ingredients together and add to mixture.
Add pumpkin and pecans and mix well.
Bake for approximately 1 hour.

Notes

Recipe from: Waco Jr. League Cookbook

Pumpkin Muffins

My mom and sister made these Pumpkin Muffins this past weekend and we all loved them! We normally don’t use pumpkin until the fall, but the season is just around the corner! These muffins have the perfect amount of spice to them and they taste great with pumpkin butter spread on top. Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

10 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 cups)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup golden raisins (We omitted because the men in our family don’t like dried fruit)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup molasses

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

cooking spray

2 tbsp granulated sugar (We left off because my dad would have just peeled the tops off!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in raisins; make a well in center of the mixture. Combine brown sugar, canned pumpkin, buttermilk, canola oil, molasses, vanilla extract, and eggs, stirring well with a whisk. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.

3. Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 18 servings (serving size: 1 muffin).

Calories: 202