Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with a Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Today should be “Football Friday,” but last week was our teams bi-week and half of our football feeding crowd was out of town, so our Saturday was very casual. Instead I am celebrating Friday with some delicious pumpkin whoopie pies! Whoopie pies (or moon pies for some of you) have become my absolute favorite dessert…far better than a cupcake or a slice of cake. My husband ranked this whoopie pie as the best one yet. The cookie is a soft pumpkin cake complimented with a maple cream cheese frosting and filled with all the spices and flavors I love about this season. For those planning out their Thanksgiving menu and are looking for something different, I would definitely recommend adding these to your menu!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with a Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

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For the Whoopie Pies:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups chilled pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Filling:

3 cups powdered sugar

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To Make the Whoopie Pies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, the dark brown sugar, and the oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

Use a small cookie scoop or a large spoon to drop a rounded, heaping tablespoon o the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, making sure that the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean. The cookies should be firm when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.

To Make the Filling:

Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth with no visible lumps, about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth.

To Assemble the Whoopie Pies:

Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe or spoon the filling (about a tablespoon) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Place the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

Source: Brown Eyed Baker, Originally adapted from Baked – New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

One Year Ago Today: Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Minis

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Over the weekend my in-law’s were out of town and I promised my bro-in-law, the lover of all things pumpkin, I would make and bring him so pumpkin pancakes in their absence. I will admit that I wasn’t crazy about making them. I thought they would be good, but nothing I would request a second time and never as good as my buttermilk pancakes. Sometimes I love to be surprised! While I think it’s hard to compare a buttermilk pancakes with something so different, the pumpkin pancakes were quite good. You could really taste the pumpkin and the spices in each bite. I will definitely be making these again, however next time I plan to double the recipe. I got about 8 pancakes from the batter, which for some families would be fine, but with ours…we each require around 3 or 4 pancakes a piece! I also added chocolate chips to my bro-in-law’s pancakes, which he loved.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

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1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash of ground ginger

Dash of ground cloves

1 cup milk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices and stir with a fork to combine. Mix together the milk, pumpkin puree, egg, and oil or butter in a liquid measuring cup. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just until combine.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Have an oven safe plate or serving dish ready. Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add a 1/3 cup scoop of batter to the pan. Let cool until bubbles begin to form on the top surface. Carefully flip with a spatula and cook the second side until golden brown, a couple minutes more. Transfer the cooked pancake to the oven safe dish, and place in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the batter until it has been cooked, regreasing the pan as needed. Serve with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, and/or whipped cream.

Source: Annie’s Eats, originally from Joy the Baker

One Year Ago Today: Almond Coffee Cakes

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

This is another recipe that requires you to look past the picture! These cookies aren’t exactly easy on the eyes, but one should never judge by looks alone! Last year I made pumpkin pie bars and discovered just how well pumpkin and butterscotch go together, so I was happy to find a cookie version that combined the two flavors together again. They win the prize for ugly, but the cookies themselves are very soft, almost cake-like, with lots of butterscotch and pumpkin flavor in each bite. My husband really enjoyed them and I must say I had several myself! I sent the cookies off with my brother-in-law and his friends for a movie night…all studious college kids….and the plate came back empty with compliments to the baker, so I would say the recipe is a must for Fall baking!

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

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2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and light in color, about 1 minute. Blend in the oil, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Gently fold in the butterscotch chips with a spatula.

Drop tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them a few inches apart. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through baking, until the tops feel set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 14 to 16 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets 5 to 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Source: Annie’s Eats, originally from Joy the Baker

Pumpkin Roll

I have been on a pumpkin roll lately (no pun intended)! This recipe has been saved away for a while and I thought it was finally time to try it. Even though I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, I still make mistakes frequently. I know the importance of reading a recipe all the way through before starting to make it and I will be the first to admit my mistake when made.  I misread this recipe and purchased two 8 oz package of cream cheese instead of two 3 oz packages of cream cheese…yikes! When I was rolling up the cake, I was a little disappointed it wouldn’t roll as tight as I wanted it to and when I sampled the cake, my first thought was…that’s a lot of cream cheese. All that to say, next time I will know exactly how much cream cheese to use, but even with all the cream cheese, the cake turned out to be really good. It reminded me a lot of a carrot cake, only with pumpkin!

Pumpkin Roll

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Vegetable cooking spray

3 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2/3 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

2 teaspoon lemon juice, divided

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided plus more for dusting

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coat bottom and sides of 15 x 10 inch jelly-roll pan with cooking spray, and line with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray; set aside.

Beat eggs at medium speed with an electric mixer 5 minutes or until thick and lemon-colored; gradually add granulated sugar, beating until combined. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Gradually add to egg mixture, beating well. Combine pumpkin, pecans, and 1 teaspoon lemon juice; gradually add to mixture, beating well. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Sift 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a 15 x 10 inch rectangle on a clean,dry dish towel. Run a knife around edges of pan to loosen cake and turn cake out onto prepared towel. Peel wax paper off cake. Starting at narrow end, roll up cake and towel together; place,seam side down on a wire rack to cool completely.

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add remaining 1 cup powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Stir in vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture on cake, leaving 1-inch border around edges. Re-roll cake without towel, and place, seam side down, on a serving platter. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. Garnish, if desired.

Source: MyRecipes.com

Football Fridays: Spiced Pumpkin Dip

 

My family loves ginger snaps and pumpkin, so the thought of both of them together sold me on this dip. Our football Saturday was a little rough last weekend. I tend to head right for the food when games start going down hill..so this dip became my comfort food this past weekend. I don’t know if the dip complimented the ginger snaps or if the ginger snaps complimented the dip, but together they matched up well. The dip had all the flavors associated with pumpkin, with the added benefit of cream cheese and powdered sugar! The recipe yielded enough dip that we ran out of ginger snaps first…so next time I will make sure to buy two bags of gingersnaps, just in case!

Spiced Pumpkin Dip

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1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

In a large mixing bowl, combine canned pumpkin, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well. Serve with ginger snaps.

Source: Annie’s Eats, originally from The Fresh Market

One Year Ago Today: Sloppy Joes

Pumpkin Pie Bars

I have been in a pumpkin mood lately, which is good since I have so many new pumpkin recipes marked to try. This recipe comes from Joy the Baker and it is fabulous. A few weeks ago I posted a cute Pumpkin chocolate chip Bundt cake, I mentioned that the combination of pumpkin and chocolate chips were not my favorite, but I'm happy to report that the chocolate chips paired well with the pumpkin bars! Another combination that I never would have thought to put together is butterscotch with pumpkin, which is actually really good together. Overall, I was really happy with the combinations and flavors and happy to have a quick pumpkin dessert without the fuss of an actual pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

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1 and 1/3 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 and 1/2 sticks cold butter, unsalted

1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

15 oz can pumpkin

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons bourbon (optional)

a handful of butterscotch and/or chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with foil, leaving enough foil to wrap over the edges; grease or spray foil.

Mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and brown sugar in a medium bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 forks until mixture resembles course crumbs. Stir in oats and nuts. Reserve 1 cup of oat mixture, set to the side.
Press remaining oat mixture onto bottom or prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. In the meantime, beat cream cheese, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and bourbon, if using, with mixer until well blended. Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved oat mixture and a handful of butterscotch and or chocolate chips, if using.

Bake 25 minutes. Cool on wire rack until cooled completely.

Source: www.joythebaker.com, originally from Kraft

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

I must confess I love this pumpkin Bundt pan!! I was snooping around my mother-in-law’s bakeware and found this beauty and just knew I needed to make something with it. I’m pretty sure it hadn’t been used in quite sometime, but I was happy to put it to work! As for the cake, I figured I needed to make something pumpkin and looked through all the recipes I had marked to try and found this one from the Food Librarian. I enjoyed the pumpkin cake part, not positive I loved the combination of pumpkin and chocolate chips. This might have been because I only had regular chocolate chips on hand instead of minis, but next time I think I will cut back on the amount of chocolate chips. I have adjusted the measurements for the chocolate chips below. For those that are curious about the Bundt pan, it can be found here.

Pumpkin – Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

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1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour either loaf or Bundt pan. Sift together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar, then beat in eggs one at a time. Add pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Beat dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture alternately with milk. Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tested inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes.  Turn cake out onto rack to cool completely.


Source adapted from: The Food Librarian, originally from Epicurious

Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Minis

Tis the season of pumpkin! I saw this recipe over at Picky Palate and it looked too good not to pass up. I was also intrigued by the seasonal pumpkin kisses everyone seems to be buzzing about. I had never heard of them before so it sparked my curiosity and figured I had better try them. The mini cheesecakes were super good. The chocolate crust was a great compliment to the pumpkin flavored cheesecake. The pumpkin flavor in the cheesecake was nice and subtle, not too overpowering and I’m always up for caramel, so all was good! As for the pumpkin kisses…not so much. If you are a big pumpkin fan, you would probably enjoy them, but they aren’t a necessary topping for this dessert.

Black Bottomed Mini Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

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8 whole Oreos, finely ground in food processor

1 1/2 tablespoon melted butter

8 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

Caramel topping

Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses, optional


Note: The recipe suggests to use a mini cheesecake pan. This pan is basically a deeper mini muffin pan. I chose to use a brownie pan which worked out fine. I didn’t get as many cheesecakes, but the serving size was perfect! If you don’t have either pan, you could use a regular mini muffin pan, just be sure to adjust the cooking time.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ground Oreos and melted butter into a bowl until well combined.

Spoon into a greased pan. Press into the bottom of each cup so the crust is flat. Partially bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven.

In a stand or electric mixer beat the cream cheese, ,sugar, and pumpkin until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg until combined. Pour evenly into molds, filling about 3/4 full. Spoon about a teaspoon of caramel into the tops of each filled cup and swirl with a toothpick gently. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes or until cheesecake is cooked through. Let cool completely.

Remove cheesecake from pan and top each with a spoonful of remaining caramel and (if desired) a Pumpkin Spice Hershey kiss. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Source adapted from: Picky-Palate.com

Pumpkin Muffins

So a week ago Saturday I completed the first course for my MBA program. We ended our five week course with a 30 minute presentation from each member of the class. I absolutely hate speaking in front of people and will do everything  possible to get out of it. I knew baking muffins wouldn’t get me out of speaking, but I figured if I stuffed everyone full of muffins while I was presenting, there wouldn’t be as much pressure! I’m happy to report that I made it through the presentation, got an A, and the muffins were a hit. I have been waiting for Fall to arrive in order to try out this recipe. The muffins are full of pumpkin flavor and I loved the streusel topping.  This definitely put me in a Fall kind of mood!

Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping

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For the Streusel Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in a bowl of an electric mixer, using a paddle attachment. Mix until pea-size bits of streusel form. Set aside.


To make the Pumpkin Muffins:
Grease the tops of two 12 mold muffin pans and line them with paper liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 extra- large eggs (I just used 3 large eggs)

1 (15 oz) can of plain pumpkin puree

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, mix to combine the sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin puree.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Once combined, stir in the walnuts.

Scoop the batter into the prepared molds, filling each to the top of the paper liner. Sprinkle approximately 2 tablespoons of streusel over the top of each muffin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tested inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the muffins from their pans.

Source adapted from: Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse by Liv and Kaye Hansen