Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Muffins

I really enjoyed these filled muffins. I think next year I will adjust this recipe a little to fit my pumpkin spice taste. This one had more allspice than I usually like. I really enjoyed the filling though. After you bake the cream cheese it tastes almost like cheesecake. And I thought these muffins looked nice enough that you could bring them out to share with others.


Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filled Muffins. Original recipe here.

3 1/3 cups flour
4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

4 eggs
15 oz can pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup oil

8 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl mix together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.

Fill greased or lined muffin tin, about 1/3 cup each. The original recipe makes 24, but I like my muffins a little bigger so I made 21 muffins.

Beat cream cheese and add powdered sugar.

Fill a bag with cream cheese mixture (I used one of my cake decorating bags-- make sure to use a big tip!). Press piping tip halfway down into muffin and fill. You'll see the cream cheese at the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

If you have extra filling (which you will if you only make 21 like I did) then you can pipe it on top of these muffins. For an extra sweet and delicious treat.


Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Dip

Pumpkin Pie Dip. Delicious. There are quite a few pumpkin dip recipes floating around out there. For no particular reason, this is the recipe I chose to try. And I decided to only try one so I'll admit I really don't know how this compares to other pumpkin dips out there.

I thought this was pretty delicious. We ate it with homemade graham crackers (in pumpkin shapes of course!) and apples. It was particularly delicious with the apples. I think it would also be great with pears and ginger snaps if you want a bigger variety for dipping.

Pumpkin Pie Dip
(original recipe here)

8 oz softened cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup Cool Whip (thawed)

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Add in pumpkin, sour cream, and spices.

Fold in whipped cream.

Enjoy!

At the Pumpkin Patch

I love going to the Pumpkin Patch every year and supporting our local farmers. We actually live quite close to multiple pumpkin patches, but usually we just go to the same old one that is not too big and not too small.

This year we only walked away with a couple of small pumpkins. I had already bought 5 pumpkins by the time we made it to the patch and I really didn't want anymore big ones.

Pumpkin Malt

This Pumpkin Malt is so delicious! I wish I could tell you it's healthy. I couldn't even call it a smoothie though because it really has nothing healthy about it. It's a milkshake. But I still think you should try it because it's yummy enough to make at least once (or every day but I don't recommend that).

Pumpkin Malt

In your blender add:

1 cup milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 tbspn malt
1/3 cup pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tbspn brown sugar
2 scoops (just over 2 cups if you're measuring accurately) vanilla ice cream- switch for frozen yogurt if you wanna pretend this is a healthy shake
4-6 ice cubes

Blend

Makes 3 small shakes or 2 large shakes

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread

I have already posted some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread and some Pumpkin Caramel Bread so I figure it's time to post some plain and pure Pumpkin Bread.

This recipe makes a gigantic loaf that is moist and dense and very sweet. Perfect for a crisp fall day.

Years ago I hung out with a fabulous group of mom's. They have all since moved out of my neighborhood, but before they all left we got together for a recipe swap. This delicious recipe is from that swap. Thank you Gina for letting me share your recipe!

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1/2 cup oil (I used canola- as I was dumping it in I remembered I wanted to try coconut)
1/4 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/3 cups flour (I used 2/3 cup white wheat flour- because that's all I had- and the rest white flour)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix ingredients and place in a greased and floured pan or muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean. About 30 minutes for muffins and 45-60 minutes for a loaf, depending on size.

I only have one regular sized loaf pan and I used that for this bread. It made a giant loaf, like 2-3 inches taller than my pan. And because it was so big, I had to bake it about 70 minutes. So if you have two loaf pans, you might want to split it. However, I think it is delicious as one giant loaf.

Enjoy!

Pumpkins for your Busy Bag

If you have a preschooler at home, this is a really easy "project" to put together. When I taught preschool, my kids loved all lessons that included felt.

Buy a few squares of orange felt and a few squares of black felt and start cutting.

I am sure you could make these pumpkins cute beyond belief. I however, was going for something fast and simple. I used no templates. And it shows. But I don't think most 3 year olds will mind. I did draw a couple pumpkins on a piece of paper though until I got a shape I liked (I am far from being an artist). Then I cut it out and traced that on sheets of orange felt.

With the eyes, I simply folded my black felt in half before I cut out my shapes so the eyes would all match exactly. And everything else I just cut out freehand.

There are so many possibilities with these pumpkins. You can make face pieces in all shapes so your preschooler can practice learning and matching shapes. You can make hats, hair, stems for the tops. You can add in different colored felt if you'd like to mix it up. If you make circular eyes in 4 different colors, then a young preschooler can practice color matching.

And the more parts you make, the longer you can keep your preschooler engaged (however, I would recommend introducing different pieces/concepts at different times so you don't overwhelm).

For a single preschooler, I made 4 different pumpkins with various face combos so more than one could be made at a time.

To store these, I place all the pumpkins in a gallon size Ziplock bag. Then I have separate envelopes labeled with words and pics (handwritten and hand drawn) for the eyes, noses, mouths, hats, etc. I put the envelopes in the bag too. Easy to get out and to put away.

Frozen Pumpkin Pie Treats

Frozen Pumpkin Pie Treats

1 box Nilla Wafers
5.1 oz box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
2 cups milk
15 oz can pumpkin
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 cup Cool Whip (plus more for garnish)

Beat cream cheese until there are no lumps.

In a separate bowl, mix pudding and milk. Whisk in pumpkin and spice until smooth.

Slowly beat pumpkin mixture into cream cheese, 1 scoop at a time.

Fold in Cool Whip.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sandwich one small scoop pumpkin mixture between two Nilla Wafers.

Cut the corner off a ziplock bag, add thawed Cool Whip, and give a nice dollop to each cookie top.

Freeze at least 2 hours. After they are frozen, keep covered.

Even if you use an entire box of Nilla Wafers, chances are you'll have some filling left over.
 Scoop some in a bowl, top with leftover Cool Whip, and serve it as Pumpkin Pie Pudding.



Enjoy!