Sunday, October 17, 2010

Favorite Fall Pumpkin Recipes

Fall is my favorite season.  I love the cooler weather and all of the beautiful colors here in Pennsylvania. I had a great time taking the boys to Merrymead Farm to the Fall Harvest Days and I got some cute pictures.  The adorable little pumpkin hats are hand made and were purchased from an etsy seller (since everyone asks!)



I also love pumpkin spice lattes, cider doughnuts, ginger snaps, and all of the other yummy fall eats.  I had a ton of pumpkin to use up, so I tested several new recipes this month.  The pumpkin chocolate chip muffins did not make the cut, but the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin spice cake were pretty delicious!  The pumpkin spice cake is especially good topped with some pumpkin icecream.  Enjoy!


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 Tbs. vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 365 degrees F. 

2.  Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve baking soda with milk and stir into wet ingredients.  Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix well.

3.  Add vanilla and chocolate chips.

4.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet* and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. *I flattened the cookies first a little bit before baking.  These are a cake-like cookie (not crispy) and they do not flatten much at all during cooking.





Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. powdered ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
1 Tbs. vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, mix well.  Combine dry ingredients.  Stir into creamed mixture just until moistened.  Stir into creamed mixture just until moistened.  Stir in pumpkin and vanilla extract.

3.  Pour into a greased bundt or tube pan and bake for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, or until it tests done.

I just made a really simple confectioners sugar glaze for my cake.  There are other glaze recipes that use butter, which are very good, but I just made this simple glaze.

Powdered Sugar Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar (preferably sifted)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbs. milk


1.  Mix together all the ingredients with a fork or whisk.
2.  Pour over cake.

Note:  I usually don't sift the powdered sugar for the glaze unless it is for something special.  My glaze does sometimes have some little lumps, but it still tastes the same. =)