Pumpkin Treats From Around the Web

The end of my first theme week is over and I have decided to share with you some of the other amazing pumpkin treats from about town!  All treats and pics are property of their respective blogs or Facebook pages.  I went on a hunt so you didn’t have to. 

So please click on the pics to go to their sites and enjoy yourself.  Stay as long as you like and share with your friends!

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes by Simple Girl

Pumpkin Bars by A Pinch of Joy

Pumpkin Cookies with Maple Icing by Glorious Treats

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars by Bake at 350

Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles by Createliveblog.com

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake by We are NOT Martha

Pumpkin Cake with Browned Butter Frosting by Crazy for Crust

Cheesecake Caramel Pumpkin Cups by Something Swanky

Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread with a Buttered Vanilla Glaze by The Farm Girl

Plumpkins – Treats for Dogs! by Bakingdom – these made me smile!

There are so many out there and I just couldn’t list them all. I try to have a life :)

Thanks for looking!  All pages have been stumbled.

Apple/Pumpkin Muffins with Apple Caramel Streusel

Today’s treat was to be Pumpkin Bread but I had some apples left over that needed to be used.  So I combined a couple recipes to make these little bundles of yumminess!  Well I gotta say success!

Recipe:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly bean
• 16 ounces canned unsweetened pumpkin
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 apples diced

Caramel Apples:

• 4 apples diced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. In saucepan, melt butter and add apples, sugar and cinnamon.
2. Cook until apples are soft.
3. Set aside.

Streusel:

• 2 tablespoons rolled oats
• 9 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1. Into the bowl of a food processor, add flour and cooled nuts. Blend for 10-15 seconds.  Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the sugars, oats, cinnamon, salt and pepper and combine. Slowly pour in the cooled, melted butter, using your hands or a fork to blend it into the dry mixture.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter and flour muffin pans. Stir together sugar and oil. Stir in eggs and pumpkin.
3. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl.
4. Blend dry ingredients and water into wet mixture, alternating.
5. Add chopped apples.
6. Add caramel apples to bottom of the muffin pans and add pumpkin batter to top.
7. Bake until done, toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and flip over.  If apples stick, remove with spoon.
9. Cover with Streusel.
10. Enjoy!!

This week has been a lot of fun and I hope you enjoyed the several Pumpkin recipes I’ve shared.  I certainly never knew you could use pumpkin in almost every type of dessert.  Along with the multiple desserts it has certainly been an eventful week.  You know, what with cutting a bit off my thumb and then breaking my toe, never a dull moment in our house!

Anyway, thanks for coming by and please continue to stop by and see what’s happening in our kitchen.

Tomorrow I’m going to show you what others from around the web are making with pumpkin that I’ve tagged as things to try.

Next week is my lazy week before the big Halloween holiday. I’ll have a couple of recipes from around here and the costumes I made for my kidlets, but I’ve also surfed the internet and picked out some amazing Halloween treats.  I’ll be bringing you some awesome cookies, cupcakes and cakes with a Halloween theme from some amazing bakers.  So come on back and see what the foodie world is doing to celebrate this holiday.

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Show & Tell Saturday
Sweets for a Saturday
Anything Goes Linky At Bacon Time
Muffin Monday
Joy of Desserts
Tasty Tuesday
Tea Party Tuesday
Get Your Craft On
Handmade Tuesdays

Pumpkin Panna Cotta

Day 5 of Pumpkin week and I bring you Pumpkin Panna Cotta!

This is probably one of my husbands favourite dishes, at least the plain one, oh all time.  But I thought why not add a little something…how about pumpkin?

I had never heard of panna cotta before it became a President’s Choice product.  You American’s are probably wondering what the hell is that?  Well it’s the name brand for a food company in Canada and they make all kinds of prepared foods, including desserts.  Ask any Canadian what is President’s Choice and they all will know and if they’ve moved away, it’s what they miss most from the grocery store.  At least I do!

As I made these I also thought of my bloggy friend Callye at Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.  When I interviewed her for Sugar Cookie Day she mentioned that Panna Cotta was her favourite dessert.  I may have taunted her with a tweet that I was making these LOL.

Panna Cotta is light, refreshing and oh so easy, and when in the small ramekins it’s a perfect size.  I added chocolate trees and spider webs for a little something extra.

Recipe: Pumpkin Panna Cotta

20 minutes (plus time to chill) .

1. 1 1/2 cups milk
2. 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3. 1 cup heavy cream
4. 1 cup pureed pumpkin, squash or sweet potato
5. 1/2 cup sugar
6. 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Put 1/2 cup of the milk in a 6- or 8-cup saucepan, and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let sit for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, blend together the remaining milk, cream, pumpkin, sugar and cinnamon.
2. Turn the heat under the saucepan to low, and cook the milk, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin dissolves. Pour in the cream mixture, and turn the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until steam rises. Turn off the heat, and ladle or pour the mixture into ramekins or whatever you have.
3. Chill the panna cotta until firm, and serve, with chocolate decals.

To make the decals, melt chocolate and place into small piping bag.  On wax paper pipe designs you like but make sure they are thick enough so they won’t crack.  Stick into fridge to firm up.  Remove from wax paper and place on dish.  Make sure your hands aren’t too warm or they will melt quickly.

They taste like little pumpkin pies.

Thanks for looking!

Up next on Pumpkin Week is Apple Pumpkin Muffins with Apple Caramel Struesel

Linking with:
I'm Loving It Fridays
Sweet Tooth Friday
Gallery of Favourites

Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

Day 4 of Pumpkin week and I’m bringing you a fancy restaurant favourite, Pumpkin Crème brûlée.

It’s always been kind of a snooty dessert that you could only get at the fanciest of restaurants but I wanted to show you that you can make this dessert at home.  You just need a little more patience with the amount of time required.  Lots of waiting!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 pinches nutmeg
• 1 pinch ginger
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup coarse sugar or raw sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves over medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until it comes to a boil. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse at least 15 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Whisking constantly, gradually pour in the hot cream mixture. Whisk in the pumpkin puree. Pour the mixture into 4  to 6 ovenproof ramekins and arrange in a hot water bath.
4. Bake in the center of the oven until almost set but still a bit soft in the center, 40 minutes. The custard should move a bit when you shake the pan; it will firm up more as it cools. Remove from the water bath and let cool 15 minutes.
5. Tightly cover each ramekin with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic does not touch the surface of the custard. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, and up to 24 hours.
6. When ready to serve, preheat a broiler to very hot (or fire up your kitchen torch). Uncover the chilled custards. Pour as much coarse sugar as will fit onto the top of 1 of the custards. Pour off the remaining sugar onto the next custard. Repeat until all the custards are coated. Discard any remaining sugar. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan and broil until the sugar is melted and well browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool 1 minute before serving.

So I guess I didn’t cook it long enough, so it was a bit runnier in the middle.  My smaller ramekins were perfect.  Another 10 minutes in the oven should have done it.  The taste however, fabulous!

See, you can make anything with pumpkin!

Thanks for looking!

Next up: Pumpkin Panna Cotta

Linking with:
Full Plate Thursday
It's a Keeper Thursday
Strut Your Stuff
A Glimpse Inside
Sweet Treat Thursday

Treat Day Wednesday–Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

It’s Day 3 of Pumpkin Week and even the kids special treat day gets pumpkined!

Both my girls love sugar cookies and pumpkin pie, so I thought I’d try to incorporate them together.  I made some plain but I also took two and made them like oreos!

Recipe:

• 12 tbsp softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of ginger
• pinch of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add egg and pumpkin.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
4. Add to butter mixture.
5. The batter will be sticky and won’t roll.
6. On a piece of plastic wrap, form a long roll and wrap. Roll to form into a log.
7. Chill for an hour and cut into cookies.
8. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling:

• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Blend together until smooth.

So although I loved these, the girls found them too “spicy”.  That’s their word for anything that has spices. So more for me!  I need them, not, but my shattered psyche does.  Last week I cut the tip off my thumb when I wasn’t paying attention whilst cutting apples and then yesterday I stubbed my baby toe on our wooden rocking chair.  There might have been some profanities used and then I looked at it and it was 3 times the size as the other toe and a beautiful shade of purple.  Good times :)

Ah well, more time to cook!

Thanks for looking!

Next Up: Pumpkin Crème Brulee

Linking with:
Share the Wealth Wednesday
Let's do Brunch
These Chicks Cook

Pumpkin & Chocolate Cupcakes for National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

To celebrate National Chocolate Cupcake day I decided to change today’s post and do this one instead.  No worries, I’ve combined my theme of Pumpkin with National Chocolate Cupcake day.  I mean really, one should always celebrate a day about celebrating chocolate cupcakes.

So I took the already amazing chocolate cupcake recipe from Glorious Treats and pumpkined it! I took out the oil and added pumpkin puree.  An already genius recipe made better??? Not going to lie, I think they are pretty damn good and “non-fat”. I may need to do a side by side taste test, anyone wanna join me?

Recipe: Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes (adapted from Glorious Treats)

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Prepare muffin tins, I used both small and normal size.  pre-heat oven to 350*F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add eggs, milk, pumpkin and vanilla.  Beat for one minute.
4. Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don't worry, this is right).
5. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool completely then decorate!

I also tried Chocolate Meringue Buttercream.  The last time I made meringue buttercream was when I made my cousins wedding cake back in 1995, at least I think it was 1995.  So a long time ago.  It was a hot summer day, and all things that could go wrong, did.  It eventually worked out but vowed not to try it again.

I guess it’s time to try it again.  (hangs head in shame)  Since so many amazing bakers rave about it, why not!

I used a Martha Stewart Recipe because I tend to go with reliable resources when I’m a little leery.  So from Martha Stewart Online

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 ounces melted semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved
2. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
3. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla.
4. Fold in chocolate
5. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day.  It makes about 5 cups.

It’s also the Halloween season so I decorated with the coveted black Wilton candy melts and made spiders and webs.  The tombstones are the Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies, which I love more than I should, stuck into the buttercream.  They worked quite well.

This made about 24 large cupcakes and 20 mini cupcakes and I only used about half the meringue buttercream. 

So what did I do with them all?  NO I didn’t eat them…all!  I gave a bunch to next door and then I took some to the ladies of Monday night tennis.  Well I’m happy to say although my tennis was sub-par, the cupcakes received accolades. Now I didn’t take the Halloweeny ones because they were for the girls. The ladies cupcakes had simple dollops of icing on top. Since I didn’t play well, at least they got cupcakes :)

Thanks for looking!

Next up on Pumpkin Week – Pumpkin Sugar Cookies!

Linking with:
Tasty Tuesday
Kurtz Corner
Tea Party Tuesday
Get Your Craft On
Handmade Tuesdays
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Let's Do Brunch
These Chicks Cook
Your Whims Wednesday

Savory Monday–Roasted Pumpkin & Garlic Soup w/ Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Today is the start of Pumpkin week and for today’s savory dish I’d like to introduce you to this amazing soup.  I had bought a pie pumpkin and was going to use it for pie, but didn’t get a chance to bake it in time.  So I went in search of something to make with it that was savory.  Most things out there are sweet, as these small pumpkins are sweet to begin with.  Then I saw some recipes for soup.  They were all great sounding but I wanted to use what I had in my panty and fridge.  So I thought up things that would go well with pumpkin and this is what I came up with!

Roasted Pumpkin & Garlic Soup:

• one small (2-3lbs) pie pumpkin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bulb garlic
• 5 cups chicken stock, I used low sodium.
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• pinch of cinnamon
• salt & pepper to taste
• heavy cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Peel and cut pumpkin into medium pieces and place on baking sheet.
3. Cut top of garlic bulb and place on baking sheet with pumpkin.
4. Drizzle the oil over the pumpkin and garlic, add salt and pepper.
5. Put into oven and roast for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside
6. To remove garlic cloves from bulb, using a dish towel to protect from heat, squeeze the garlic bulb and pop out the roasted cloves.
7. Once the pumpkin is cooled a bit, place in blender with garlic.
8. Add 4 cups of stock and puree until smooth.
9. Place into sauce pan on medium heat.
10. Add ginger, cinnamon and final cup of stock.
11. Salt and pepper to taste.
12. Once heated through, serve.  Garnish with a tbsp of cream and roasted pumpkin seeds (recipe to follow)
13. Enjoy!!

 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1. You’ll need all or as many as you can get from your pumpkin. You can use pie pumpkins or even those you use at Halloween.
2. Clean the seeds in water to remove the pumpkin flesh.  Manually take as much as you can, then place into bowl of water and the seeds will float to surface.  Dry.
3. Place into sauce pan over medium heat with 1 tbsp butter.  Cook until nicely browned.  Add salt to taste.
4. Remove from heat, cool and enjoy!
5. So simple and oh so tasty!

I love that I created something I never would have thought of if I hadn’t decided to use pumpkin in a savory dish.  This was the best tasting soup I’ve ever made and I’ve made a few in my days.  Also the smell of the roasted garlic wafting through the house was awesome!

I hope you try this soup, it was amazing.

Up next on Pumpkin week…Pumpkin Panna Cotta!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Mingle Monday
Melt In Your Mouth Monday
Mangia Mondays
Mouthwatering Mondays
Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday
Tuesdays At the Table
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop
These Chicks Cook

It’s Pumpkin Week–October 17-23rd, 2011

Tomorrow I’m starting pumpkin week!  Each day I’m going to try a different treat that is made with pumpkin! 

First off… the definition from Wikipedia:

A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae (which also includes gourds).[1] It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America. They typically have a thick, orange or yellow shell, creased from the stem to the bottom, containing the seeds and pulp.

Normally in our house we stick to the traditional uses; pie and jack-o-lanterns!  Did you know there was so much more!

This week I’m going to introduce you to both savory and sweet. I hope you’ll join me and enjoy the re-introduction to pumpkin.

Here’s what to expect:

Oct 17 – Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Soup with roasted pumpkin seeds

Oct 18 – Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

Oct 19 – Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

Oct 20 – Pumpkin Crème Brulee

Oct 21 – Pumpkin Panna Cotta

Oct 22 – Pumpkin/Apple Muffins with Apple Streusel

Oct 23 – Fabulous pumpkin recipes from around the web!

Also I’m having a Jack-O-Lantern contest, so check out the details and what you can win by clicking HERE!

Thanks for looking.