TWD- Pumpkin Bagels

I really love bagels. When I was in high school, we would go to lunch at Einsteins all the time. I loved bagel sandwiches. Then I went through my stage where I thought I shouldn't eat 500 calories of bread. Then I got married and while we were living in Virginia, I discovered Panera. And now I'm back to loving bagels (seriously, get the Cinnamon crunch with Hazelnut cream cheese).
This week's TWD is for bagels. Making bagels is time intensive and involves quite a few steps. First, you make the dough of yeast, sugar, shortening, salt and flour. I added about a 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and used half whole wheat flour. Once it's risen for about an hour, you refrigerate it overnight. Then you shape the dough into balls, poke a hole in it and pull it so it looks like a ring. I found it interesting how active the dough still is- in the picture below, all the bagels were shaped the same way, but the top left was shaped first and the bottom right last (I know, they're not on dishtowels. Sometimes I don't follow directions):

After they've been shaped you boil them for about 90 seconds. They come out looking like soggy, wrinkly doughnuts (again, I know there's no cornmeal under these (see above) :)).

Then you brush them with egg whites and sprinkle them with whatever. I chose sesame seeds for some and cinnamon sugar for the rest. 

These baked up beautifully and were so delicious. They had the signature chewy outside and had the perfect texture inside.

This was my lunch after they came out of the oven- ham, provolone, basil, tomatoes and olive oil. I couldn't wait to eat before taking the picture, ok? Don't judge me.

Heather has the recipe!

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.

TWD- Pumpkin Cinnamon Chocolate Loaf

Ahh, it's October. What should be starting to feel like fall. Leaves falling, crisp air...

Well, it's actually about 100 degrees here, but I personally am rebelling by acting like it's fall. I made pumpkin bars last weekend and this bread last night.

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie is for Cranberry Walnut Pumpkin loaf or some such nonsense. If you're new here you should know I don't do dried fruit or nuts very often. Especially in bread. I thought this was going to be a quick bread (non-rising), but it is a yeasted bread.

This recipe is somewhat time consuming- it requires chilling in the refrigerator overnight. Pumpkin puree and some sugar make it slightly sweet, but really only slightly.

Instead of the nuts and fruit, I rolled mine out, spread it with melted butter, and then sprinkled it with brown sugar and cinnamon. I then sprinkled some chocolate chips over the cinnamon sugar and rolled it up.

The bread is moist and chewy- I really liked the texture and my additions made it more dessert-y. I think this would be great toasted or even made into French toast the next day.
Rebecca at This Bountiful Backyard has the recipe!

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.

CS Bakers- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

We're starting a new book for Cake Slice Bakers- Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats. Crazy long title, I know. I haven't even read the whole title yet. :)

Anyway, pumpkin chocolate chip bread has been a favorite of mine since I was in junior high and my mom and used to go to Great Harvest Bread Company after school. They have the yummiest bread, and they give you huge samples every time you go there. Their pumpkin chocolate chip bread is moist and tender- perfect.

This recipe is pretty quick to put together and uses butter instead of oil, which I thought would change the texture. I liked this recipe, but it's not as good as the bread I set as the standard. It's not as dense. This seemed more like bread to me, and the Great Harvest one is more like cake. But anything with pumpkin and chocolate chips can't be all bad!

October’s Cake: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Makes one 9 by 5 inch loaf cake

October’s Cake: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
(adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
Pinch nutmeg
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method
Heat the oven to 350F. Coat the inside of a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.
With the mixer on medium low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Stir in the milk.
Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake the cake until it is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic for up to 1 week.

TWD- Caramel Pumpkin Pie

Yes! Pumpkin pie! One of my favorite holiday treats. I'm a little picky about pumpkin pie, though. I don't like it spicy and I don't like it with a lot of crust. This TWD pick is a different take on pumpkin pie- white sugar is cooked until it's dark brown and caramely, and added to the pie batter.

The caramelized sugar definitely adds depth to the pumpkin pie. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to pumpkin pie so I didn't love this. Also, cooked sugar such as this tastes more burned to me than caramely. But yay for pumpkin pie!

Check out Janell's blog for the recipe!

TWD- Pumpkin Muffins

Ok, so I did make Pumpkin Muffins last week (admittedly, before I saw what this week's TWD recipe was), but I was still excited to try this recipe, which was chosen by Kelly. The muffins are moist and tender, with chewy golden raisins.
The recipe makes a lot of batter- I filled the muffin tins about 2/3 full, with still a lot of batter left. So I kept on filling until most of the batter was gone- the cups were almost 100% full. The recipe calls for sunflower seeds as the topping, but I crumbled TJ's Cinnamon Alphabet Cookies on top. The muffins baked up beautifully- with tall (but not overflowing) tops and the cookie crumbs got toasty and golden. Good thing I was paying attention (kids were napping)- mine were done in 18 minutes instead of the 25 stated in the recipe. Maybe I should've taken them out a minute earlier, too- they were the tiniest bit dry.
The muffins aren't as sweet as mine, which was good, but I think I prefer mine (and mine are healthier, too).Yes, I know that's a V, not a U, but I couldn't find a U. And RVCA does it, so why can't I?

Check out Kelly's blog for the recipe!

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.