Recipe #9: You Can Never Have Enough Pumpkin

I bought a spice cake mix to use for this recipe, but I had no luck finding those pumpkin spice hershey kisses. So, I instead found a quick and easy recipe for pumpkin spice cupcakes, iced with store bought cream cheese frosting; I made these for a coworker’s birthday, and they were super tasty. I definitely recommend them for an easy fall pumpkin dessert.

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes
(Cooks Recipes)

1 (18.25-ounce) package spice cake mix
1 (15-ounce) can LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
3 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 (16-ounce) container prepared cream cheese or vanilla frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Paper-line or grease 24 muffin cups.
2. Blend cake mix, pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil and water in large mixer bowl until moistened. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 18 to 23 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Spread cupcakes with frosting. Decorate with assorted sprinkles, if desired.

Makes 24 servings.

Recipe #7 and #8: It’s Pumpkin Season!

I love pumpkin. Love, love, love, LOVE pumpkin. It’s one of my favorites things about fall, and this year, I decided to experiment with as many pumpkin recipes as possible. I’ve only done three so far, but here are two that I made in the last two weeks.

The first is a pumpkin brownie – at the request of my boyfriend, I decided to find a good recipe for these, and found one for pumpkin cheesecake brownies. I made these with gluten free flour so my friend Lisa could enjoy them (and she did), but I personally didn’t think they tasted so great. So, I decided to find another recipe, and came across the one below. I thought they tasted much better, and everyone else who tried them seemed to enjoy them as well.

Pumpkin Brownie Bars
(from Cooks.com)

22 1/2 oz. pkg. Pillsbury family size deluxe fudge brownie mix
1/2 c. very hot water
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs

FILLING:

2/3 c. evaporated milk
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. cloves
16 oz. can pumpkin
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 13 x 9 inch pan. In large bowl, combine brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs. Beat 50 strokes with spoon. In medium bowl, combine all filling ingredients; mix well. Fold 1 cup filling mixture into brownie base. Pour into prepared pan. Carefully pour remaining filling over batter in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes or until center is firm to the touch. Cool completely. Cut into bars; store, covered, in refrigerator. Makes 36 bars.

This next recipe is by far, one of my all-time favorites, especially among fall recipes. What’s better than pumpkin bread? Pumpkin bread with chocolate chips. And this bread totally proves that – it’s so fabulously delicious. The key is to not underbake or overbake the bread (as with any bread); I did pretty well, but when I went to cut the middle, I realized it was a little underdone. So, just be careful about that. But I highly recommend you make this bread sometime – it’s definitely worth it!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake
(from Epicurious)

1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (i used regular size)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9×5x2 1/2-inch metal loaf pan. Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar, then beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Beat dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture alternately with milk. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.Bake loaf cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool completely. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Wrap in plastic; store at room temperature.)

For my next pumpkin recipe, I am on a quest to make these, but for the life of me, I can’t manage to find Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses anywhere! I’ve heard they are at Target, but I couldn’t find them – has anyone seen these anywhere?

Recipe #6: Clean Out the Cupboard Cake

About a week and a half ago, I became aware of the abundance of baking products in our house – this is largely because I buy extra ingredients that I am unaware we already have in the cupboards. We also have, from time to time, the random ingredient that was used for something else, but probably won’t be used again for sometime (ie: marshmallows).

So, I used a recipe I found in a Betty Crocker recipe keeper cookbook that my friend bought me for Christmas last year. I added a few of my own additions, in my quest to use up as many ingredients as possible, and it turned out pretty well. I definitely enjoyed the ability to be creative with this, but there are also some modifications I would make next time.

For example – instead of using chocolate fudge cake mix , I used devil’s food cake mix, since that’s what we had in the house. This made the cake a bit less moist, and even though the recipe is considered “bars” it was definitely more like a cake to me. Although it could have been eaten without a fork, it may have been a bit messy. Next time, I would probably try it with chocolate fudge instead.

I used almonds for my chopped nuts, and I didn’t use chocolate frosting. I did however use tons of marshmallows, which I then proceeded to top with leftover Nutella, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips. With these additions, I think the chocolate icing might have been a bit much.

Here is the original recipe. To truly make it your own, scour your cupboards for all that extra stuff you’ve been looking to use for a long time, and get creative! I definitely enjoyed the combination of the Nutella and the peanut butter.

Rocky Road Bars
(Betty Crocker)

1    box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® chocolate fudge (i used devil’s food mix)
1/2    cup butter or margarine, melted
1/3    cup water
1/4    cup packed brown sugar
2    eggs
1    cup chopped nuts (i used almonds)
3    cups miniature marshmallows (i used a bit more than 3 cups)
1/3    cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting (i omitted)

*I added: Nutella and peanut butter and chocolate chips to top the marshmallows.
1.    Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease or lightly spray 13×9-inch pan.
2.    In large bowl, stir together half of the dry cake mix, the melted butter, water, brown sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in remaining cake mix and the nuts. Spread in pan. Bake 20 minutes (25 minutes for dark or nonstick pan); sprinkle with marshmallows.
3.    Bake 10 to 15 minutes longer (14 to 18 minutes for dark or nonstick pan) or until marshmallows are puffed and golden. In microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 15 seconds. Drizzle over bars. Cool completely, about 1 hour. For easier cutting, use plastic knife dipped in hot water. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered.

Before adding the rest of the toppings: