Pumpkin Pasta

We love east weeknight meals in our house, and my son loves his Mac and cheese, or anything with cheese and pasta in it. This is the perfect elevated ‘Mac and cheese’ type dinner, and what’s even better there some pumpkin in it!

What you will need:

1 pound fusilli pasta

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp sage

2 tsp rosemary 10 tbsp (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 tsp ground ginger

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

15 oz pumpkin puree {recipe here} or 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree

2 tsp dark brown sugar

¾ cup finely grated Parmesan

Salt & black pepper

Directions:

In a large pot, bring 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil. Add a generous amount of salt. Add the pasta to the pot and stir so it doesn’t stick to the bottom as it cooks. Cook the pasta according to package instructions, 8 to 10 minutes. Reserve some of the pasta cooking water. Drain the pasta in a colander and hold it there until the sauce is finished.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large, high-sided skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter until it starts to turn light brown. Add the ginger and garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. add in the sage and rosemary. Add the pumpkin, sugar and some of the reserved pasta water. Stir in about ½ cup of Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and warm gently, tossing to coat the pasta with the sauce.

Top with the remaining Parmesan. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I love anything pumpkin when it comes to Fall, and love my chocolate desserts so I thought why not combine the 2! This was my first try at making whoopie pies {I never have even tried one before making these} and I must say that they turned out pretty well!

These little whoopie pies would be great for a holiday party, or any potluck! They are much easier to transport than cupcakes, since the buttercream is sandwiched between the 2 sides of cake.

The cake is sturdy enough using only one egg to stand on its own as a whoopie pie base, but wasn’t crumbly or overly springy.

What you will need:
Cake:
2 cups Flour
½ cup Cocoa Powder
1 ¼ tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup Buttermilk (or 1 scant cup of milk + 1 Tbs. white vinegar)
1 tsp. Vanilla
½ cup Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg

Filling:
4 oz. cream cheese
¼ cup Butter
¼ cup Pumpkin Puree 
½ cup Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
½ tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
Pinch of Salt

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and mix until just combined.

At low speed, alternate adding buttermilk and the flour and cocoa, starting and ending with the buttermilk. Add the baking soda, salt, and vanilla and mix until combined.

Scoop small batter mounds on to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper with at least an inch of space in between pies as they will expand. If you use a heaping teaspoon of batter, you will get mini whoopie pies and will make about 24 pies. If you use a heaping tablespoon of batter, you will get normal sized whoopie pies and will make about 16 pies. I made 24 small for my batch. {I dumped my cake batter into a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off, which made it easier to get perfectly round and even-sized pies}

Bake the pies for about 10-12 minutes. Once the cakes come out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Filling: Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. Add the pumpkin puree and beat to combine. Add the confectioners' sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt and beat to combine.


Assemble the pies by finding two halves that match in size. Pipe frosting starting in the middle of one cake half and working your way in a spiral to the outside edges. Sandwich another cake on top. Refrigerate to chill before serving.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

Happy Hump day blogland! I am already counting down the days until the weekend again. My work has a costume contest for Halloween, and Jet (our fur baby) and I are dressing up together. Can anyone guess what we will be? 

We are also having a potluck lunch on Friday at work, so this past weekend I was testing out some new recipes, as well as spending a few hours with our friends and our fur babies getting lost in a corn maze! It was a successful Fall weekend!

I am always looking for new ways to use my pumpkins, and I never get sick of anything pumpkin! The other week I baked challah bread for the first time, and that was the first time I had also ever used yeast. And it was so much easier than I had thought it would be! That is where this recipe comes in. It is very similar to the dough used to make challah bread. I think they were a success, because the hubby devoured most of them the first night I made them. Luckily I was able to take a few photos of them before they vanished into thin air.

These pumpkin cinnamon buns are great to make ahead of time too. You could assemble them at night, let them rise in the fridge and finish in the morning for a weekend breakfast.

What you will need:
Dough:
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup whole milk, warmed (but not over 116 degrees)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (from 1 .25-ounce or 7 gram envelope yeast)
3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out
1/4 cup (packed)light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2/3 cup homemade pumpkin puree, or canned
1 large egg
Oil for coating rising bowl
Filling:
3/4 cup (packed) light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. table salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Glaze (optional):
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. milk
2 cups powdered sugar
Few drops vanilla extract

First, you want to make your dough. Melt your butter in the microwave or on the stove in a saucepan.

Combine the warmed milk, 1-2 tsp. sugar, and yeast in a small bowl and set aside. After five to seven minutes, it should be a bit foamy. 

To the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour, sugars, salt and spices. Add 1/4 cup of your melted butter and stir to combine. Add yeast/milk mixture, pumpkin and egg and mix combined. Switch mixer to a dough hook and run it for 5 minutes on low.

Scrape mixture into a large oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel. Set aside for 1 hour, it should just about double.

While the dough is rising, line the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray the sides of the pan and the paper with nonstick spray.

Once the dough has doubled in size, transfer the dough onto a very well floured surface and flour the top of it well. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 16×12" rectangle. Brush the remaining melted butter over the dough. Stir together the filling ingredients (sugars, cinnamon, and salt) and sprinkle mixture evenly over dough. Starting on a longer side, roll the dough into a tight spiral.

With a sharp serrated knife, using zero pressure (only the weight of the blade) gently saw your log with a back and forth motion into approximately 1" sections. The dough will make approximately 16-18 buns.

Divide buns between two prepared pans. Cover each pan with plastic wrap and let them rise for another hour.

If you are prepping your buns ahead of time, you can put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, leave them out for an hour to warm up and finish rising.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes. The cinnamon buns will puff up and get golden brown and leave the whole house smelling absolutely amazing!

To make the glaze, beat your cream cheese until it is light and fluffy, add powdered sugar, and vanilla. Pour in the milk little by little until you get the consistency of a thick icing.

Once the buns have cooled, you can add the glaze to the tops of them. The buns are good enough on their own that the glaze is totally optional!

Enjoy!

 

Soft Baked Pumpkin Cookies

My first post when I started my blog almost a year ago was my Roasted Pumpkin Puree. That was the first year we had gone pumpkin picking and the first time I ever tackled a whole pumpkin! Well, my love for pumpkin has grown since then! 

This year I wanted to try a new recipe from the pumpkins we've picked. These soft baked pumpkin cookies melt in your mouth with their great pumpkin flavor and warm spices topped with a sweet vanilla glaze.

What you will need:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda 
1 tsp. baking powder 
1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 
1/2 tsp. salt  
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Glaze (recipe follows) 

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  

Beat sugar and butter together in you mixer until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually add in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt while the mixture is on low speed. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

For glaze: 
Combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies and allow glaze to set up before putting them away.

Enjoy!

 

Pumpkin Biscotti

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and this weekend I did a bit more pumpkin baking.  I baked pumpkin bread to bring to the Thanksgiving meal, chocolate scones for snacks for the week {I will share my recipe adaptation to my pumpkin scones hopefully later this week} and my new obsession, pumpkin biscotti.

It’s still fall here, but it is undeniable that winter is approaching.  As I was baking, grey clouds crept across the sky, and the chilly wind was howling outside my window scaring the leaves right off the trees.  This is the kind of weather where you just want to stay in, snuggled under a warm blanket with hot cocoa and some freshly baked biscotti. What else?

My biscotti are packed with flavor and hints of warm spices, and great for dipping!  

While in the oven, they made the house feel so warming and rustic.

My recipe is very adaptable, swap out the pumpkin puree for chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, or any other flavor you are craving.

Baking Tip: When swapping out the pumpkin puree, use less flour as it will be drying without the moist pumpkin puree.  When making my chocolate chip biscotti, I used 2 cups of flour instead of 2 ½ cups.

What you will need:

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup of pumpkin purée

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl add flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin purée, and vanilla extract.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture.  Give it a quick stir to incorporate all of the ingredients, the dough will be a little crumbly.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Form the dough into a long log, roughly 16 inches long by 6 inches wide.  The log should be relatively flat, only about ½ inch high, otherwise you will have really big sliced of biscotti. 

Baked for 20-25 minutes at 350°F, until the center is firm to the touch.

You can also make two smaller logs for mini bite-size biscotti, just cut the baking time down to 15-20 minutes.

Let biscotti cool for 15 minutes.  Use a serrated knife cut the log into 1 inch wide pieces. 

Turn the oven to 300°F and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool completely.

Biscotti may be still be a little moist and chewy, so if you prefer it crisp let it sit uncovered overnight in a dry space.

Enjoy!

Dreamy Pumpkin Bread

Have I said lately how much I love pumpkin? In case you missed it…I LOVE PUMPKIN! I don’t think I will ever get sick of it.

With that said, I want to share my pumpkin bread recipe. It started out as my banana bread recipe when I first made it a few years ago. This weekend a light bulb went off in my head as I was trying to think of new ways to incorporate pumpkin in my life….I can substitute mashed bananas for my pumpkin puree! I absolutely love Starbucks pumpkin bread, but at $2.25 a slice and some 300+ calories later I always regret it. My version has less than half the calories per slice and I can eat it more often {more pumpkin=more happy.} 

What you will need:

1 ½ cups flour
1 ¼ tsps. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1 cup pumpkin puree
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup canola oil
Nonstick spray
8x4x2” Loaf pan

 
In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg whites, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. 

Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until well incorporated.

Liberally spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray {you do not want your bread to stick to the pan, so really spray it!} Spread batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes to set up. It was so hard not to take it out and have a taste of it at this point!

Remove from the pan and let cool thoroughly. Wrap in plastic wrap for storing.

Enjoy!

Bakery Hack ~ Pumpkin Scones

I know what you’re thinking, scones sound so fancy and foreign they must include tons of ingredients and a thousand steps to the finish line…That’s what I thought as well when I first heard them…Well I was completely WRONG! They are actually quite simple and require only a few ingredients that you probably already have.

I also wanted to prove to my husband that they are dirt cheap to make, so I calculated the cost of my ingredients used per batch, it came to roughly $3 for a batch of 8 scones…that’s only 38 cents per scone! WHOA!! Bakeries charge like $4 a pop, they ain’t going to fool me twice!

Printable Recipe

What you will need:

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

2 to 2 ½ cups flour, plus more for dusting

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

½ cup roasted pumpkin puree {recipe here}, or canned pumpkin puree

1 large egg

½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients; sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

If using roasted pumpkin {recipe here}, add 2 ¼ cups of the flour; if using canned pumpkin puree, add 2 cups of the flour.

Cut in the butter into the dry ingredients using a bowl scraper until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients; the pumpkin, egg, and milk.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Fold until just combined. (If using roasted pumpkin you may need to add up to ¼ cup more flour to prevent sticking.)

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Form into a flat disc, about 8 inches wide. Cut the disc like a pie into 8 pieces and place on a parchment-lined sheet.

Bake until golden brown, roughly 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet.

Enjoy!