Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I ripped this recipe out of a Cooking Light magazine back in 2006 and just now finally tried it! The enormous stack of these ripped out recipes is why I often cancel cooking magazines for a couple of years so I can try to catch up.  I recently spent a lazy Sunday afternoon reading through the binder where I keep them and reordered them with those that I really hope we make soon at the front.  It is like a very personalized magazine to leaf through...

These light, delectable muffins have a cozy flavor and are quite fulfilling on a blustery day.  And because they are from Cooking Light you know that they are not too bad for you (202 calories, 5.1 g fat in one muffin).  As an added incentive to try them, they are as simple as can be to whip up.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Makes: 18
Source: Cooking Light, November 2006

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I used 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cloves)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (I used turbinado sugar with a dash of cinnamon for a bit more crunch)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk.  Stir in raisins; make a well in center of mixture. Combine brown sugar, canned pumpkin, buttermilk, canola oil, molasses, vanilla, and eggs; stir well with a whisk.  Add sugar mixture to flour mixture, stir just until moist (using a spatula).

Spoon batter into 18 muffin cups that are either coated with cooking spray or have liners.  Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from pans immediately and cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

~ Tara

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

One of the best aspects of baking is seeing the smile that a homemade treat brings to people's faces.  Their eyes light up and the ooo's come out nearly instantaneous upon seeing the baked goodness.  That for me is the ultimate reward for the time spent in the kitchen. 

A small, casual gathering was just the excuse I needed to make whoopie pies.  I have been wanting to make them for quite sometime as they are one of my favorite treats from a local bakery.  But just one is definitely enough and so for a household of two I needed a gathering to share such a decadent treat. When Dan and I get whoopie pies we tend to cut them in half to share as it is really just too much sweetness for even me to eat a full sized one.  So I was thrilled to find a mini version.

My experience with Martha Stewart recipes is not one of success.  The previous recipes of hers that I have tried never work out to my liking; they are either dry or tasteless or something.  But I gave her another chance... even though I wasn't going to have time to make something else if they didn't turn out.  But they did turn out- quite wonderfully.  The recipe was pretty easy, the flavor was right on, and they were a huge hit. 

I do really need to get a pastry bag with tips.  I decided to use the pomegrante ganache that I had left over from a previous experiment to drizzle on top to finish them off... But I cut the hole in the ziplock bag too big so it wasn't exactly what I envisioned.  Pastry bags and tips are on my holiday gift wish list so I will hold out a bit longer but more and more I am wishing I had them for a more precise and controlled frosting finish.

Anyways- these mini whoopie pies are really something wonderful and something sure to get ooo's and aaah's when you bring over a box of them for a gathering. I certainly hope to make this recipe again and I think with different fillings for various seasons.

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Source: Martha Stewart
Makes about 20

FOR THE COOKIES
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar (light brown sugar works just fine)
1 large egg
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

1. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Place butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.

3. Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper (I used a cookie dough scope/dropper for speed & consistency), spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.

4. Prepare filling: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese, butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

5. Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down.

Pomegrante Chocolate Ganache

Source: Facebook post

Ingredients:
Pomegranate 1
Water 3 fl. oz.
Light corn syrup 1 1/2 oz.
chocolate chips (60% or higher) 9 oz.
Honey 1 oz.
Unsalted butter, room temp 2 oz.


1. Take out all of the seeds of the pomegranate. Combine in food processor or blender (or mash them manually) with water and process. Strain and combine with corn syrup in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

2. Put the chocolate in a bowl and in five parts add in the pomegranate mixture, mixing well after each addition.

3. Add in the honey and butter and mix until smooth.

4. Cool to room temperature before using, or freeze until firm for use as truffles.

 ** I used this as a filling for macaroons (a huge baking fail I will tell you about in my next post) and for a finishing touch to the whoopie pies.

Enjoy!

~ Tara

Share a Slice of Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

Pumpkin is one of those things that I really only like to eat during the fall months and I tend to prefer it in a dessert.  The colder the night, the better that slice of pumpkin dessert seems to taste!  I love cakes but with only two (well, four if counting dogs) in our little household they are not too common as we would surely eat the whole thing.  So when we invited friends over for dinner it was pumpkin cake that was on my mind!

This pumpkin spice bundt cake is really a fantastic little recipe.  It comes out so moist and flavorful.  And it isn't too terribly difficult if you are learning to cook as the directions are quite easy to follow.  My only trouble was figuring out how much extra time it needed; we recently discovered that our oven runs quite a bit lower than the temperature that it is set for and everything seems to take quite a bit more time than stated in the recipe.  Not having a solid time makes me nervous that I will either take it out too soon or add on too much time and end up with a dry, over-done cake.  But I watched it like a hawk since we would be sharing this little cake and it ended up working out just right.

I definitely recommend considering this Pumpkin Spice bundt cake in your options for fall, pumpkiny desserts- it is a nice change from pumpkin pies and such.

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Icing

Source: Gourmet via Epicurious
Servings: 12

For cake

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15-ounce can; not pie filling)
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs


For icing

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons well-shaken buttermilk
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Make cake:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 10" bundt pan generously, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together flour (2 1/4 cups), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla in another bowl.

Beat butter (1 1/2 sticks) and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.

Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes (mine took 6o mins). Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and reinvert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.

Make icing:
While cake is cooling, whisk together buttermilk and confectioners sugar until smooth. Drizzle icing over warm cake, then cool cake completely. Icing will harden slightly.

Enjoy! 

~ Tara