pumpkin

KNR, p. 204 “Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins”

Sheila tried out a new muffin recipe. And the muffins have PUMPKIN in them. Big smiles here.  She said that these were for breakfast, but since I was hanging around for taste-testing duty, I had the first one for an afternoon snack. She made some with chocolate chips and without, and both types were great. Chocolate and pumpkin, though? Perfect together!

In case you were wondering? No bodies anywhere in the kitchen or dining room. I always check. 😉

Print
 

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Sheila Kerrian
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Standing mixer
  • Jumbo Muffin Pan

Ingredients
  

Topping

  • 3 Tablespoons   brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons pecans, chopped and ground
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffins

  • 1/3 cup sunflower seed oil (or other nut oil)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs      
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
  • 2 cups all-purpose unbleached King Arthur flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 1/4 cups organic canned pumpkin puree
  • 3/4 cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Mix topping ingredients together and set aside.
  • Pre-heat oven to 375. Use standing mixer on slowest speed. Do not overbeat at any step.
  • Cream oil and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until just mixed.
  • Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, a little at a time and mix until evenly moistened.
  • Add pumpkin puree and mix until just blended. Add chocolate chips and stir with large spoon until evenly distributed throughout the batter.  
  • Divide mix evenly among 6 extra large greased, floured muffin tins (or use jumbo baking cup papers). Divide topping equally and sprinkle on top of the muffins, about 2 teaspoons each.
  • Bake 20-25 minutes in center of oven - until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, muffins are springy to the touch, and lightly golden brown.

Let rest on cooling rack for five minutes, then enjoy!  🙂

 

 

 

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KNR, p. 282 “Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake Bars”

By now, you know that we love pumpkin in soup, smoothies, cookies, or other desserts. The flavor works well with several different spices and even complements chocolate.

This year, Sheila has been experimenting with ways to make a foolproof pumpkin bar. She tried a few recipes developed by some pretty famous people and found them to be too sweet or too complicated. She finally threw up her hands and created her own.

As always, I was the taste-tester. I might have gained a pound or two while I chomped away on the samples.

 

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake Bars

Sheila Kerrian
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 5 Tablespoons cold butter
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped fine
  • 8 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 2 extra large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Combine flour and brown sugar.
  • Cut in butter until crumbly.
  • Stir in finely chopped pecans, then set aside 1 cup for topping.
  • Lightly butter sides and bottom of 8-inch square baking pan.
  • Press remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan.
  • Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool.
  • While the crust is baking, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
  • Beat in the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and pour the mixture evenly over the crust.
  • Sprinkle with set-aside crumb mixture.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and puffs up in the center.
  • Cool on wire rack and cut into 9 bars.

Notes

May all your holiday snacks be delightfully delicious!

 

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KNR, p. 228 “Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies”

The ‘Season for Everything Pumpkin’ should include a great pumpkin cookie.  🙂

At the Kerrian household, the time between Halloween and New Year’s Day is when we add pumpkin to lots of dishes. Some turn out to be scrumptious, some we never talk about again, but we had never found the right combo for a pumpkin cookie. Until now. By simply adding pumpkin to one of our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes, and tweaking it a bit, this has become a tasty regular snack treat for Autumn.

We (me, any neighbors we could snag, and the mail gal) taste-tested this one until we were satisfied. We might have taken longer than we needed to. Taste-testing is a challenge we take seriously, no matter how many cookies must be eaten.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

great cookie
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup spreadable butter or margarine (Land O Lakes butter with canola oil works well for this)
  • 1.5 cups firmly packed Domino’s light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cane sugar
  • 2 jumbo eggs
  • 1.5 cups pureed or canned pumpkin
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 cups all purpose, unbleached King Arthur flour
  • 1 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips

Instructions
 

  • Pre-heat oven to 375
  • In large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy.
  • Add eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, sea salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg, stirring until thoroughly blended.
  • Add flour 1 cup at a time and beat until well-mixed.
  • Mix chocolate chips evenly throughout the dough.
  • Drop 1/4 cup dough for each cookie onto aluminum cookie sheets, about six per sheet.
  • Bake for 15-16 minutes until light golden brown.

Notes

Yield: 20-24 three inch cookies
Eat warm, five minutes out of the oven, or let cool completely and serve with ice cream. Sheila had a bowl of ice cream with a cookie and I made an ice cream sandwich with two cookies. Both of us had pecan praline ice cream with the cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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