Friday, November 26, 2010

Chocolate/Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

This recipe was on Down Home with the Neely's and was part of their Halloween episode this year. I have been wanting to make whoopie pies since I had one on our vacation back in May. I also love chocolate and pumpkin together (which I know sounds so weird, but is so good!), so I just had to try them.

I made these for one of my Thanksgiving dinners. Since I was traveling 3 hours, I put them in the freezer the night before to help keep them cool. The chocolate cookie part isn't too sweet, which is great since the pumpkin cream cheese filling is very sweet. The two parts compliment each other very well.

I also purchased a whoopie pie pan from Crate and Barrel. It was only $12 but it didn't work out as well as I had hoped. I think if you just put some parchment paper down, it would work just as well.

Chocolate/Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Photobucket

Ingredients:

Cookies:
  • 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • Pinch salt (aka 1/16 teaspoon) 
Filling:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Pinch salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, then the buttermilk and the vanilla. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients in increments to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto parchment lined sheet trays, leaving a 2-inch space between each cookie. Put in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on rack.

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, in a small bowl, until smooth. Slowly add in the confectioners sugar. Once smooth, add the pumpkin puree, the cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Beat until smooth and well mixed.

To assemble the cookie, spread a heaping tablespoon of the filling to the flat side of a cookie and sandwich with another. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.

Pumpkin Streusel Cheesecake Bars

This recipe was on my Betty Crocker calendar as the recipe for November. All month long I have been looking at this recipe and dreaming of making it. I made this for one of my Thanksgiving dinners this year (we had 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year, one on Thurs and one on Fri). It was so very good, and the gingersnap crust made my kitchen smell a-maz-ing!
 
 
Pumpkin Streusel Cheesecake Bars
 
Ingredients:
 
Cookie Base
1
pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix
1/2
cup crushed gingersnap cookies
1/2
cup finely chopped pecans
1/2
cup cold butter or margarine
 
Filling
2
packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1
cup sugar
1
cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2
tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1
tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2
tablespoons whipping cream
2
eggs
 
Toppings
1/3
cup chocolate topping
1/3
cup caramel topping
 
Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix, crushed cookies and pecans. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or fork, until mixture is crumbly. Reserve 1 cup mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture in bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining filling ingredients; beat until well blended. Pour over warm cookie base. Sprinkle with reserved topping.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until center is set. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.

Before serving, drizzle with chocolate and caramel toppings. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
 
Makes 24 bars

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Pumpkin Spice Latte (take 2)

So after making about 100 pumpkin spice lattes in the last couple of weeks, my Mom and I have found another way to make these that is much easier than my original recipe found here. Also, the pumpkin we were using wasn't really mixing well, and left a bunch of grit at the bottom of our drinks.



Easy Pumpkin Spice Latte

1. Make a single serving espresso or other strong coffee (you will probably want 1/4 to 1/2 of your cup to be the strong coffee depending on the flavor you want).

2. Heat up about half mug of milk (skim, 2%, whole, or whatever) for about 1 - 2 mins (don't let is scortch though).

3. Mix espresso in with the milk.

4. Mix in about 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and sugar to taste.

5. Top it off with some whipped topping and a few more shakes of pumpkin pie spice.

6. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I have been all about trying pumpkin flavored things lately. I came across this recipe through a blog I follow and just had to try it. You can find the original recipe here.

My pancakes didn't turn out very pretty (it's been a long time since I made pancakes, and I turned them over to quickly and made a mess), but they were very tastey anyway. Check out the original recipe for pictures that are much prettier =)

Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:
  • 1/3 cup pancake mix
  • 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp butter/margarine
  • 1 egg white
  • dash of pumpkin pie spice
  • dash of cinnamon
  • splash of vanilla
  • Water
Directions:

Mix everything together except the water. Then add a little bit of water at a time until they become pancake consistency (I think I used about 1.5 tablespoons, but I am sure this will vary depending on your pancake mix). This made about 3 small pancakes, which was a perfect serving for me.