pumpkin

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
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
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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KNR, p. 248 “Pumpkin Pancakes (GF)”

 

I would eat pancakes for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner on the weekends if the doc gave me the go-ahead. After our tasty experiment with the first gluten free pancake, it seemed a delicious option to make pumpkin pancakes. ‘Tis the season, after all!

 

There was lots of taste testing and I think the final, fluffy version is pretty good served with butter and syrup and sausages. They are a filling, substantial pancake and have become a family favorite.

 

P.S. Nobody ever keeled over after eating in the Kerrian Kitchen. Promise.

 

KN, p. 248 "Pumpkin Pancakes (GF)"
Author: 
Recipe type: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12 pancakes
 
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup white rice flour
  • 1.5 cups brown rice flour
  • 1/2 cup fine ground Bob’s Red Mill almond flour
  • 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 cups cold water
  • 1/2 cup pureed organic pumpkin
  • 3 Tablespoons canola oil or almond oil
  • 1 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1 extra-large egg (can be just the egg white), lightly beaten with fork
  • 1 teaspoon softened margarine for coating frying pan – (butter will burn)
Instructions
  1. Whisk all dry ingredients together.
  2. Slowly add water while whisking to keep the mixture from clumping.
  3. Add pumpkin, oil, almond extract, and lightly beaten egg, and whisk until just combined.
  4. Heat frying pan to medium, add margarine and spread to cover bottom of pan. As soon as margarine starts to bubble, begin to make pancakes with 4” circles of batter in the pan.
  5. Flip when pancake edges begin to dry and surface bubbles. Done when lightly browned on both sides, about a minute or two each side, depending on the heat of your stovetop.
  6. Remove to plate and serve immediately.
Notes
Recipe Tips

Want fluffier pancakes with this GF recipe? Do not overmix the batter.
Can be reheated in toaster.
Can be frozen, but separate each with foil before putting in freezer containers.
If left in pile on covered plate in refrigerator, can be kept for four days.

 

Extra tip: these ingredients deliver consistently excellent results.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

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