Pumpkin Cupcakes

Better late than never right? It's still November, which means it is still pumpkin season. The last pumpkin recipe of the year, pumpkin cupcakes or cake.. whatever you prefer. This cake is so moist and flavorful.. just make it today before you get the christmas flavor craving. Here's what you'll need

Oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and of course, pumpkin. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar

Beat together until combined. Add vanilla and oil

Mix it all together; add in all your dry ingredients

Stir on low speed until just combined. Now its time for the pumpkin

Stir it in until well combined, but being careful not to overmix. Scoop batter into lined cupcake pans

Bake!

Pop those babies out of the pan and let cool completely. While cooling prepare the cream cheese frosting. Here's the step by step frosting recipe that we've made many times before

http://kysweettoothsisters.blogspot.com/2011/04/red-velvet-cupcakes.html

If you want to change it up a little, you can make cinnamon cream cheese frosting. The only difference is adding a little cinnamon when you add the powdered sugar. Simple as that. Frost and decorate with those little pumpkin candy corns.. which is optional, I just wanted an excuse to buy them :)

Store these in the fridge.. enjoy you're last pumpkin fix for a while and happy late Thanksgiving! 

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 heaping cup pumpkin

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar; beat together. Add vanilla and oil, mixing until well combined. Stir in the dry ingredients on low speed until just combined. Dump in the pumpkin and stir, being careful not to overmix. Scoop into mini lined cupcake pans. Bake at 350 degress for about 10-15 minutes. Cool in pans for a couple of minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. While cooling, preare the frosting.

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, almost room temp.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft

2 tsp. vanilla

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and cinnamon, if using. Beat until well combined and there are no lumps. If using pecans, fold in. Frost cupcakes and enjoy! Keep stored in fridge.

... This recipe is split in half. If you want to make a cake, double the recipe and bake in 8 inch round cake pans for 25-30 minutes or a bundt pan for 40-50 minutes. 

Pumpkin Cookies

Happy Happy fall! I just love making fall desserts. I can't get enough pumpkin.. so pumpkin cookies it is. All the credit goes to Glenda Babcock for these amazing little suckers. Here's what you'll need

Crisco, sugar, an egg, vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon, flour, baking powder, and pecans. In a large mixing bowl, beat together crisco and sugar

Once well combined, add the egg and vanilla

Beat; add pumpkin :)

Then mix in all your dry ingredients

Fold in pecans

Scoop onto a parchement paper lined baking sheet

Press down lightly (these don't flatten while baking). Bake about 8 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet a couple of minutes. Transfer to a plate or cooling rack. While cooling, prepare the brown sugar glaze. Listen... you MUST make the glaze. It makes the cookies 1000 times better. Trust. Here's what you'll need for the brown sugar glaze

Butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream or milk. Beat together butter, vanilla, and brown sugar (The butter is actually just meant to be soft, not melted. oops. worked anyways!)

Mix until well combined. Add cream and powdered sugar

Whisk in well. Pour generously over each cookie

Here's the inside of a cookie.. I ended up experimenting and added butterscotch chips to some dough. I'm so glad I did, but that is definitely optional

These are very addicting, so beware. But enjoy :) Once again, Happy fall

Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup vegetable crisco

1 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1/2 cup butterscotch chips (optional)

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Mix in pumpkin. Stir in all the dry ingredients. Lastly, fold in pecans and butterscotch chips. Scoop onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Slightly flatten the cookies. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet a couple of minutes. Transfer to a plate, foil, or cooling rack. Now prepare the glaze.

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1 cup brown sugar

3 Tbs. butter, soft or melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

3 Tbs. milk or cream

Beat together butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add cream and powdered sugar. Whisk until well combined, adding more cream if glaze is too thick. Pour a generous amount over each cookie. Eat up! Store in airtight container up to 3 days.

Pumpkin Cake Batter Ice Cream

Of course, another pumpkin dessert. I'm sorry guys, I just can't help it. It's still kind of warm, but time for fall, so what suites this weather better than pumpkin ice cream? I started off with a basic cake batter ice cream recipe, added pumpkin, and tweaked some other ingredients too. This ice cream ended up being really light and fluffy and the cake batter flavor isn't super strong or overpowering. Everybody loved it at the soup party! AND, this goes perfect with the Caramel Apple Cake: http://kysweettoothsisters.blogspot.com/2011/09/caramel-apple-cake.html
Here's what you'll need for the ice cream

Milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, yellow cake mix, pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In a large mixing bowl, combine milk and sugar

Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Add spices, pumpkin, and heavy cream

Mix together until well combined. Then whisk in the cake mix and vanilla

Pour finished mixture into the ice cream maker

 Prepare ice cream as the ice cream maker directs

Scoop ice cream into bowls and serve

Pumpkin Cake Batter Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

2/3 cup cake mix, sifted

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

In a large mixing bowl, whisk milk and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add pumpkin, heavy cream, and spices. Mix well. Lastly, whisk in vanilla and cake mix. Transfer to ice cream maker. Make as directed on ice cream maker. Freeze until ready to serve!

Frosted Pumpkin Blondies

I am on a roll with the pumpkin stuff now. I had half of the can left from the bread so these were necessary to make so the pumpkin wouldn't go to waste. I love blondies and pumpkin, so I made these right when I saw the recipe. The outcome was positive. The pumpkin makes the texture some what bready, so they didn't have the chewy blondie texture I was expecting, but that wasn't a bad thing, just different. Then of course, I had to add frosting and I just happened to have some cream cheese icing already made up in the fridge. I highly recommend these, especially if you need some help getting in the fall spirit :) Here's what you'll need

Butter, brown sugar, vanilla, an egg, pumpkin, flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt, cinnamon chips, white chocolate chips, and pecans. In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Add brown sugar and vanilla

 Mix well. Even after the brown sugar is mixed in, it will separate from the butter, but that is normal. Once you add more ingredients they will incorporate. Add the egg

Mix well. Stir in pumpkin

 Next, add all the remaining ingredients: flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt, cinnamon chips, white chocolate chips, and pecans

Carefully fold into the batter until just combined. Scoop into a foil lined (I use the non-stick foil so I don't have to spray the foil, but regular foil will work fine as long as you grease it) 9x13 pan. Spread the batter out evenly

Once finished baking, remove from oven and let the bars cool completely

 Prepare the cream cheese frosting. I've made cream cheese frosting before so here is the link to the recipe: http://kysweettoothsisters.blogspot.com/2011/04/red-velvet-cupcakes.html. If you half the recipe, you should have the perfect amount of icing. Spread the finished frosting over the cooled pumpkin blondies. Cut and serve.. with a pumpkin spice latte :) 

Store in an air-tight container (in the fridge) up to about 3 days.

Pumpkin Blondies

(adapted from 'the girl who ate everything')

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1¼ cups brown sugar
1 large egg
1 T. vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup cinnamon chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until sugar dissolves. Beat in the egg until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree. Add the remaining ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake about 30-35 minutes, or until the blondies no longer jiggle in the middle. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool. While cooling, prepare the cream cheese frosting.

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter

2 tsp. vanilla

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until fluffy and smooth. (Usually, when I make frosting I make sure the butter and cream cheese are soft. This time when I made the frosting, I only let the cream cheese and butter sit about about 15-20 minutes. When I started making the frosting they were both still hard, but I just beat them together for a while with the mixer and believe it or not, cream cheese frosting has never turned out better for me.) Mix in the vanilla. Lastly, add the powdered sugar about a cup at a time, beating well after each addition and making sure there are no lumps. Spread over the cooled blondies. Peel foil away from blondies, cut into 24 squares and serve! Keep stored in fridge.

Happy September!

According to myself, you can make pumpkin stuff year round, but also according to me, September is the perfect start to making pumpkin and other fall foods. Once the first day of September comes around, I'm over summer, and ready for fall. In order for that to happen, you of course have to have fall foods :) What better way to kick off the pumpkin season with pumpkin bread? I tried a new recipe, tweaked it a little and had an amazing outcome! The bread was moist, light, sweet, and had the perfect amount of spice too it (I don't like many spices though). So here's what you'll need

Flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, melted butter, vanilla, eggs, water, and of course, pumpkin. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin

Beat on medium-low speed until combined. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and stir together

Alternately add dry mixture and water to pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with dry mixture

 Mix on low speed until just combined

Fold in any other ingredients you wish to add, such as, pecans, cinnamon chips, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, etc. Scoop batter evenly into greased loaf pans. (I used 18 mini loaf pans)

 Optional: sprinkle cinnamon sugar over each loaf

Bake until cooked through the middle. Remove from oven and let cool in pans about 5 minutes

Remove from pans and cool completely on foil or cooling rack. My favorite way to eat pumpkin bread is warm with butter or cream cheese. Store in an air-tight container up to a week

Pumpkin Bread

1 3/4 cup AP flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin. Beat on medium-low speed until combined. In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and stir together. Alternately add dry mixture and water to pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with dry mixture. Mix on low speed until just combined. Fold in any other ingredients you wish to add, such as, pecans, cinnamon chips, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, etc. Pour batter evenly into greased loaf pans. (I used 18 mini loaf pans). Optional: sprinkle cinnamon sugar over each loaf. Bake until cooked through the middle. Remove from oven and let cool in pans about 5 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on foil or cooling rack. My favorite way to eat pumpkin bread is warm with butter or cream cheese. Store in an air-tight container up to a week.