Pumpkin Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

First pumpkin recipe of so-called fall! Pumpkin bars are great to feed a crowd. This is my usual pumpkin bar recipe, but after having browned butter frosting on these banana bars, I decided it was only just and true to put them on these pumpkin bars.

Make them and feel like it's fall. Or just feel happy that these are in your belly.

Pumpkin Bars
adapted from BHG

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 15-ounce can pumpkin

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cooking oil

In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Add the flour mixture; beat until well combined. Stir in chopped pecans, if desired.
Spread batter in an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Cut into squares. Store in refrigerator. Makes 24 bars.

Browned Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook 4 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly. Combine browned butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer until smooth. Spread frosting over cooled bars.

Caramel Apple Bars

Caramel and apples is an inspired combination. I always see recipes for caramel apple desserts, but have never found one that actually tastes like caramel apples. I thought caramel apple bars might be a good way to combine the two and still be caramel-y and apple-y. I took an oatmeal crumble-type topping and used it for the crust. Then I spread chopped Granny Smith apples over the crust and drizzled melted caramel over the apples (you could probably use caramel topping, too). I sprinkled more of the crumble topping on the top and baked it until golden.

I waited for them to cool to cut, but I recommend scoring them while they're still a little warm. This was exactly what I was looking for- yummy tart apples with caramel in a dessert form! they're easy and fast!

Caramel Apple Bars

yield: 36 bars

1 c brown sugar packed
3/4 c butter softened
1 1/2 c quick oats
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
3 medium tart apples finely chopped
3 T flour
1 pkg caramels, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Reserve 1 1/2 c of the mixture. Press the remaining in an ungreased 13"x9" pan. Toss apples and flour together in a bowl. Spread over oatmeal mixture. Place caramels in microwave safe bowl. Microwave on med-high for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until melted. Drizzle over apples. Sprinkle remaining oatmeal mixture over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. Cool partially on rack; cut while warm. Store covered in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Mmm.. pumpkin... it's so Homer Simpson, my love of pumpkin. I found yet another way to have pumpkin and cream cheese frosting- Pumpkin Whoopie Pies! Yes! Little moist pumpkin cakey cookies sandwiching cream cheese frosting.
This recipe is from Brown Eyed Baker, a site full of yumminess. Her recipe uses maple cream cheese frosting. I just used plain cream cheese frosting as I have no use for maple. These are super moist- I think I may have blended them too much after the flour was in- they were a little gummy. Definitely a must-try. Even if you just eat the cream cheese frosting like my 2 year old.

The recipe is here. 

Pumpkin Bars

Did I mention that I love pumpkin? I mean, really love it. And anything with cream cheese frosting. A few days ago, I posted my favorite pumpkin cake recipe. This recipe for pumpkin bars is similar, but more dense and since it's made in a cookie sheet-sized pan, thinner and makes significantly more servings. But same moist, pumpkin flavor- the perfect fall treat for a crowd (or, a week-long treat for a family of 5! :) )!

Pumpkin Bars
adapted from BHG

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 15-ounce can pumpkin

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup cooking oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Add the flour mixture; beat until well combined. Stir in chopped pecans, if desired.
Spread batter in an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting. Cut into squares. Store in refrigerator. Makes 24 bars.


Cream Cheese Frosting: 
one 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until fluffy.
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
Beat together all ingredients except sugar until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy.

Pumpkin Cake

Ok, so it's 80 degrees here, but I'm really in the mood for fall. And my favorite thing EVER in the fall is anything pumpkin. I made pumpkin bars for the first time a few weeks ago, but I've been craving pumpkin cake. 

This recipe is seriously the best- moist and warm, topped with creamy cream cheese frosting. A great way to welcome fall!

Pumpkin Cake
makes 9"x13" or 2x 8" rounds
2 cups all purpose flour
2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a glass 9"x13" baking dish, or 2x 8" rounds.
In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar and eggs until well blended. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Add pumpkin and mix until blended.
Pour in prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until cake tester comes out with a few crumbs. Cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

TWD- Double Apple Bundt Cake

I'm starting to get appled out. Between this week's TWD, last week's Cake Slice Baker's, and the Apple-Apple Bread pudding I made last weekend (which I should've photographed and psoted), I'm ready to move on to pumpkin.
I halved this recipe and made muffins because I still don't have a bundt pan. The recipe is super easy and comes together quickly. It is a great Fall recipe- the flavors are warm and spicy. I used Gala apples (that's pretty much the only kind we eat), and the flavor came through nicely.

Yes, I broke out the Halloween stuff last week. Thanks to my cute sister-in-law for the Halloween plate! Lynne has the recipe!

CS- Sweet Potato Cake with Almond Cream Filling & Chocolate Cream Frosting

November's Cake Slice Baker's recipe was for Sweet Potato Cake with Orange Cream Filling and Chocolate Cream Frosting. We had the option of substituting something for the sweet potato, but I was curious to try the sweet potato. I've had sweet potato pie, and thought it was really good, so I was excited to try this cake. The potato puree was gorgeous- bright orange and velvety smooth, I knew the cake would be moist. We're not fans of orange flavored desserts, so I substituted almond extract and sprinkled in toffee bits. This girl couldn't wait to get a taste.I thought reserving 1 cup of frosting for the filling wasn't enough. As you can see, it was spread a little thin in places (the cakes were also not level so it was thick in some other places!). I would recommend 1 1/2 cups for the filling; there was too much for the outside. I also cut down on the amount of cream cheese and butter used in the recipe, which was still wonderful. How can you not love anything with cream cheese frosting?!!

This was a delicious, moist cake. It got rave reviews from our dinner guests, as well as my co-workers who got the leftovers! Below is my version, or check out the blog roll for the original!

Sweet Potato Cake
adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman
Cake:
2 medium or 1 large sweet potato (12 ounces)
3 cups of cake flour (I substituted 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour + 6T corn starch)
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
5 eggs, separated
2 and 1/4 cups of sugar
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups of milk
1 cup toffee bits

Makes a 9-inch triple layer cake, serves 16-20 people

1. Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Prick the sweet potatoes in 2-3 places, place on a small baking dish and bake for 1 hour or until the potatoes are very soft. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

2. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F degrees. Butter the bottoms and the sides of the pans and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper also.

3. When the sweet potatoes are cool peel off the skin and remove any dark spots. Cut the potatoes into chunks and puree in a food processors. Puree until smooth. Measure out one cup of potato puree and set aside.

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. Set aside.

5. In the bowl of electric mixer add the egg whites and attach whip attachment. Beat on medium speed until egg whites are frothy. Raise the speed to high and gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the egg whites are moderately stiff.

6. In another large bowl with the paddle attachment, combine the sweet potato, butter, vanilla, and remaining sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg yolk is added. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk in alternately in 2-3 additions. making sure to begin and end with the dry ingredients.

7. With a large spatula, fold in one fourth of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Then fold in the remaining egg whites until no streaks remain. Making sure to not over mix or this will deflate the batter. Divide the batter among of the three pans.

8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out the cake layers onto a wire rack and cool completely at least 1 hour.

9. To assemble the cake, place one layer flat side up on to a cake stand. With a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip and filled with chocolate cream cheese icing, pipe border around the edge of the cake. Fill the center with the almond cream filling smoothing it to the edge of the border. Sprinkle with toffee bits. Place the second layer on top and repeat the process. Place the third layer on top and use all the chocolate cream cheese frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Cream Frosting:

makes 3 cups

8 oz ounces cream cheese at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
16 ounces of powdered sugar; sifted
1 and 1/2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate melted and slightly cooled

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar to cream cheese butter mixture. Making sure to scrape down the sides the sides of the bowl. Then beat until light fluffy 2-3 minutes.

2. Measure out 1 cup of frosting and set aside.

3. Add the melted chocolate to the remaining icing in the bowl and beat until well combined.

Almond Cream Filling:
1 1/2 cup of reserved cream cheese icing from above.
1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

1. Stir together all the ingredients until well mixed.

Pumpkin Chili with Homemade Cornbread

In the pumpkin frenzy that's happening while my husband's out of town, I made pumpkin chili last weekend when I thought maybe it was going to be fall (the temperature was a chilly 71 degrees)! The pumpkin added a zesty orange color and just a hint of warm pumpkin flavor in the background.
With homemade cornbread drizzled with honey, it was the perfect fall dinner (never mind that it was 85 degrees the next day)!

Pumpkin Chili

1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 16-oz can kidney beans, undrained
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 14-oz can tomato sauce
1 package chili seasoning
1 bay leaf
Water

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown ground beef; drain. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion and garlic are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil. Turn down heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes (add water if chili gets dry).

Pumpkin Pancakes

Sorry, TWD-ers but I'm not a fan of biscotti and there's no one here to eat it, so I skipped this week. But I did make pumpkin pancakes last weekend (Sunday was Pumpkin Day- stay tuned for the pumpkin chili I made). And they were a hit with the kids (of course, anything with syrup is a hit, I guess). They were light and fluffy, but still cakey. Topped with syrup, it was the perfect breakfast (could've used some whipped cream, though!).

Pumpkin Pancakes
makes about 8 pancakes
1 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1 large egg

Directions
Mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, soda and cinnamon in a large bowl. Whisk milk, pumpkin, and egg in a medium bowl. Add to dry ingredients and whisk until just blended.
Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls into skillet. Cook pancakes until bubbles form on top and bottoms are golden, about 3 minutes. Turn pancakes over. Cook until bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Serve with maple syrup.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ok, with my husband out of town and because my kids go to bed at 7, I have a lot of free time in the evenings. I did go to the library today so I could read, but really, baking is SO much more fun! I've been wanting to make some muffins for the kids for breakfast and snacks and since my husband doesn't like pumpkin, I thought this is the perfect time for pumpkin muffins (although, when I asked my 2 year old what we should make with pumpkin, she said, "pumpkin cupcakes!!!" This is close, right?). I looked through some other muffin recipes I like and did some adjusting. This is what I came up with:These are SO good. If it's possible for a pumpkin muffin to taste like pumpkin pie, I swear these do. I even burned my arm taking them out of the oven, but it was SO worth it (should I be concerned that the burn mark has kinda bubbled up? Gross!)
Pumpkin Muffins
makes 18 regular-sized muffins
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup light sour cream
1/4 c skim milk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
Cooking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine brown sugar, canned pumpkin, sour cream, milk, canola oil, and eggs, stirring well with a whisk. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 13 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pans immediately; cool on a wire rack.