Pumpkin Muffins

Fall has arrived. We turned the clocks back, the sun is low on the horizon, and all the good movies are starting to show up in theaters. Even though the weather in northern California hasn’t turned cooler, it is definitely fall.

Do you know how else I can tell it’s fall? I am craving pumpkin! I want pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin scones, pumpkin cinnamon rolls and pumpkin muffins. Most baked goods taste better with pumpkin in them. Okay that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I’ll blame fall.

I’ve made these pumpkin muffins a couple of times, and as much as I love the pumpkin in them, it’s the streusel topping that make these muffins so good. Muffin tops (you know, the ones actually on top of muffins) are my favorite part of the muffin, and the streusel on the top of these adds an extra cinnamon and sugar crunch to my favorite part of the muffin.

This recipe makes quite a few muffins, but they are great to share so bake away!

Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

Printable Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 14 ounce can pumpkin puree

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup butter, melted

Topping

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 375° and lightly grease 20 muffin cups. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl mix together pumpkin, sugar, eggs and melted butter. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Don’t over mix. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Prepare the topping. In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle the topping over the muffin batter. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pans for about 5 minutes and then cool on a wire rack or serve warm.

Makes 20 muffins

Pumpkin Bread

What do you give to your friends and coworkers for the holidays? Do you buy something or make something? Me? I usually make something to give. I’ve made dozens of cookies, spiced nuts, double-decker fudge and I even gave plum liqueur one year when I had access to a bunch of backyard plums, but this Pumpkin Bread has been a staple of my Christmas giving for at least 20 years. It’s hard for me to believe I’ve been making this bread for so long.  The pumpkin bread is just that good. This quick bread is moist, tender and very flavorful, and it disappears quickly.

The recipe originally calls for baking the pumpkin bread in two 9 x 5 loaf pans, but I like baking them in the mini pans, so I have more to give away.  You can easily double the batch for 10 mini loaves, but be careful because the batter come to nearly the top of my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl.

Pumpkin Bread 
Adapted from Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cookbook
Printable Recipe
2 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
1 14.5 can pumpkin puree
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour five 5¾x3¼ mini loaf pans.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and cloves.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the sugar, cream cheese and butter and mix at medium speed until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Mix in the pumpkin. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. Fold in the nuts. Pour into the prepared mini loaf pans. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the pans. Serve warm, or cool completely on wire racks and store in an airtight container or wrap in cellophane to give as gifts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m going to have to wish you a happy Thanksgiving quickly this year.  I’m actually hosting Thanksgiving. I think this will be only the second time I have ever hosted Thanksgiving. Lynn likes to host, and I like being a guest for this particular holiday, so it’s always worked out. We are struggling with a couple empty chairs this year, so we decided to change things up a bit. My daughter is having Thanksgiving in Montana with a lovely family. I’m sure she is going to enjoy herself, but I’m going to miss her! And, we will all miss having my dad at the table.

Lynn will be over in a couple of hours, and I’m going to put the turkey in the oven shortly. Last night, while I was doing some prep work, I wanted to bake something (part of my baking therapy I'm sure).  Lynn is bringing a couple of pies, so I didn’t want to add another dessert. Les suggested I bake something for breakfast.

I decided to bake this Pumpkin-Pecan Coffee Cake. I love the original coffee cake recipe, but I wanted experiment with adding pumpkin to it. I love this Pumpkin-Pecan Coffee Cake even more than the original. The coffee cake is sweet, moist and flavorful! I especially like the crumb crust this coffee cake has. Happy Thanksgiving!  

Pumpkin-Pecan Coffee Cake 
Adapted from Southern Living’s Our Best-Ever Cakes & Pies
Printable Recipe
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
pinch of salt
¾ cup butter, cubed
1 cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup sour cream
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 9x13-baking pan with cooking spray.

Stir together the flour, brown sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is crumbly. Remove 2 ¼ cups of the butter and flour mixture, and press it evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan.

In a small bowl, stir together the pumpkin, sour cream, egg and baking soda. Add pumpkin mixture to the remaining crumb mixture and stir until just moistened. Pour the pumpkin mixture on top of the crumb crust in the baking pan.

Stir together the granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture and pecans on top of the pumpkin mixture.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Serve.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Sauce and Cream Cheese Icing

As I mentioned in my last post, I visited my daughter in Montana for Parent’s weekend. In order to squeeze as much time together as possible, I insisted my daughter get up “early” on Sunday, so she could have breakfast with Lynn and me before we left. She didn’t protest since there was going be more shopping involved as well. We didn’t have time to research breakfast places (when we travel, we like eat at places where we can’t eat at home), and since Lynn and I had to get to the airport before noon, we decided to eat at Ihop.

Lynn and I had some delicious pumpkin pancakes, and my daughter got the French toast Cinnastacks. We shared bites of our breakfast, and my daughter let me dip my pumpkin pancakes in her Cinnastack sauce. Her French toast was delicious with topped with the cinnamon sauce, but the pumpkin pancakes were amazing dredged in the sauce! They tasted like pumpkin cinnamon buns. I knew I needed to recreate the sauce.

There are a few sauce recipes out there, and I don’t know where the recipe for this sauce originated since it was in so many places. After trying this sauce, I think it is a good match for Ihop’s sauce. Serving the cream cheese icing on the pumpkin pancakes along with the cinnamon sauce is absolutely gilding the lily, but my husband insisted it was worth the effort.

Pumpkin Pancakes
Printable Recipe
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of clove
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1½ cup milk

Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove in a large bowl or 8 cup measuring cup. In a small bowl, mix together butter, pumpkin, eggs and milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Stir together until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Heat a non-stick griddle on medium-high heat. Add the batter to the pan for desired-sized pancakes. Cook until bubbles no longer flow to the surface of the batter, then flip. Serve with Cinnamon Syrup and Cream Cheese Icing or maple syrup.

Cinnamon Syrup
¼ cup butter (salted)
¾ cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons half & half
1 tablespoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
pinch of cloves
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Heat butter, brown sugar, half & half, cinnamon, salt and cloves until bubbly and smooth. Add the flour and cook another minute or until thickened. Serve warm.

Cream Cheese Icing
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1¼ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add the lemon juice and vanilla extract, and beat for another few seconds or until the glaze is smooth and creamy.