Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake

 

I know that what I am about to reveal is going to stir controversy, but I am who I am, and I make no apologies when I say that the worst part of Thanksgiving dinner, for me, is dessert. I am not a particular fan of pies, but I find pumpkin and pecan (the former in particular) to be totally uninspired. As a consequence, I am always looking for something different, yet seasonably appropriate to serve for dessert.  I found this recipe on the Eagle Brand website, was intrigued, and decided to give it a try. It’s quite good! In fact, I think this would be equally good at a brunch as it would at dinner. If you’re looking for something different yet appropriate, the answer just may be right here.

Pumpkin Pecan Bundt Cake

1 c. vegetable oil

3 large eggs

½ c. sugar

1 14-oz. can of Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 t. vanilla extract

1 15-oz. can pumpkin purée

2½ c. all-purpose flour

2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. cloves

1 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

½ t. salt

½ c. buttermilk

 Glaze:

1 stick butter

1 c. sugar

¼ c. rum

½ c. chopped pecans

 Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a decorative 12-cup Bundt pan with Baker’s Joy.

In the work bowl of a stand mixer beat oil, eggs, and sugar together until well blended. Add milk, extract, and pumpkin purée, and beat until combined.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add it to the liquid mixture, in increments, with mixer running. When the wet and dry ingredients are combined, slowly add buttermilk, beating until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes until cake tests done. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and continue cooling for another 10 minutes. Transfer cake to serving plate.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and sugar together. When better has fully melted, stir in rum, and cook for five minutes. Remove from heat, add pecans, and spoon over top of cake.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Pumpkin Crumb Muffins

Who doesn't love a delicious pumpkin muffin at the onset of fall? And, who doesn't love a delicious pumpkin muffin with crumb topping? You could pretty much top anything with crumb topping and I would be fully on board. Not only is this muffin, from Chris Scheuer at The Café Sucre Farine delicious, but it's easy to make as well. I'm not a baker, as I’ve said many times, one of the reasons is because, honestly, I hate dragging out that big stand mixer. This recipe saved me from that, requiring only a couple of bowls, a whisk, and a spoon, and I liked that.

I whipped these up in the morning while the coffee was brewing, and enjoyed the fragrance while they baked. Spread with pumpkin spice butter, they were absolute heaven. If you are the pumpkin spice nut that I am, you are really going to enjoy these. Consider also topping them with a slathering of Pumpkin Cream Cheese. Fall is the time when we embrace pumpkin, and you're going to want to start right here.

Pumpkin Crumb Muffins

From The Café Sucre Farine

For the muffin batter:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pumpkin purée

¼ cup milk

⅓ cup melted butter

2 large eggs beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the crumb topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup brown sugar packed

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

⅛ teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons butter melted

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with baking spray or line with paper cupcake liners.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a medium size bowl. Set aside.

Combine the pumpkin puree, milk, melted butter, eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl and mix well.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the pumpkin mixture and stir, just until flour disappears. Scoop mixture into prepared pan.

For the crumb topping, combine flour, sugars, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Stir to combine. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until large crumbs form.

Divide crumb mixture between muffins pressing lightly on top of each as you go.

Place in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 350˚F. Bake for 20 minutes, then cover lightly with foil and bake another 5-7 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Shower with powdered sugar when completely cool, if desired.

PRINT RECIPE

This post contains affiliate links.

This post is linked to:

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Make it Pretty Monday

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

I hate to admit to being one of those people who goes absolutely pumpkin crazy when the calendar turns from August to September. Generally, I try to keep this to myself, but it's not easy to do, because I am SO excited about all of the pumpkin things I've been making!

 

Today, it warmed up a bit, and I was in the mood for something cool and refreshing, as well as being pumpkin at the same time. That's not an easy task. So, finding myself with a partial can of pumpkin left in the fridge (Note to self: buy more pumpkin!), I decided to use it in a pumpkin latte at breakfast, and a pumpkin smoothie this afternoon. There is no need to go out to your local fast food place for a pumpkin shake or smoothie when you can make it so easily at home. Stock up on the pumpkin folks, you're going to want to make a lot of these. 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

1/2 cup plain yogurt*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1 cup ice**
Whipped cream and cinnamon stick, for garnish

Place all ingredients into blender, except for whipped cream and cinnamon stick. Blend until smooth. Garnish with a spritz of whipped cream, and cinnamon stick. (To thicken, add more ice; to thin, add more milk.)

*To make a Pumpkin Pie Milkshake, replace the yogurt with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. To make a Pumpkin Pie Malt, replace the yogurt with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and 2 tablespoons of vanilla malt powder

**I use flavored ice. I tend to make ice out of every liquid in my house. In this case I used pineapple juice ice for added interest in nutrition. Feel free to use plain old ice from your freezer.

PRINT RECIPE

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday

Grace at Home

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Create, Bake, Grow and Gather
Share Your Style

Simple Saturday Blog Hop

A Bouquet of Talent

Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party

This post contains affiliate links.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese

As I mentioned yesterday in my blog post on the pumpkin loaf, I hadn't intended to do a pumpkin post quite this early. But, as the pumpkin loaf is greatly enhanced by a healthy dollop of Pumpkin Cream Cheese, I figured why not go all in and do another. You really do need to have make this recipe, so consider this "pushing the season" posting as a bit of a public service.

You are going to love this! You are going to love it so much that you're going to be spreading it on anything you can get your hands on. You might even think that it's dessert. You may, for example, want to spoon it into a parfait glass, dividing layers with mounds of whipped cream, and consume it all at once. I can't say that I blame you. It's that good.

Easy to put together, tasty any time of the year, and it keeps for a week in the fridge…but I doubt it'll last that long.

 Pumpkin Cream Cheese

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Place all ingredients into a medium mixing bowl, and beat until smooth, creamy, and deliciously spreadable, about 2-3 minutes. Store in the fridge.

PRINT RECIPE

You’re going to want to spread your cream cheese with these:

 This post is linked to:

What’s for Dinner Sunday

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Art of Homemaking Monday

Celebrate Your Story

Inspire Me Tuesday

Reader Tip Tuesday

The Scoop

Dream, Create, Inspire

Inspire Me Tuesday

 Homestead Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Full Plate Thursday

Home and Garden Thursday
Grace at Home

Coffee and Conversation

Friday at the Fire Station
Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Create, Bake, Grow and Gather
Share Your Style

Simple Saturday Blog Hop

Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party

This post contains affiliate links.

Whipped Pumpkin Butter

If you're like me you have gone pumpkin crazy this season, trying one pumpkin recipe after another. If you're also like me, you have probably ended up with small amounts of pumpkin left over in the can. Not every recipe I have requires an entire can of puréed pumpkin. Not wanting anything to go to waste, I decided to use what was left in a can of pumpkin, and whip it into some unsalted butter, to use as a spread. This was so good! I tried it on everything from biscuits to bagels to pieces of toast, and it was absolutely wonderful. A light spreading of this on top of my "Frost on the Pumpkin Bread" (Recipe coming soon!) is absolute pumpkin spice perfection. Give this a try, there is absolutely nothing easier, and it will dazzle your guests on Thanksgiving Day.

Whipped Pumpkin Butter

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

In the work bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter for 1-2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

Add pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin puree, and beat until incorporated, 1 minute.

Add brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt, mixing an additional minute.

Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday
Home Sweet Home
Weekend Linky Party
Grace at Home
Simple & Sweet Friday
Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Creative Ways Party
Share Your Style
Simple Saturday Blog Hop

"Frost on the Pumpkin" Tablescape

This is my “Frost on the Pumpkin” table setting. I'd like to say that we've had frost on our pumpkins, but it has been unseasonably warm through the early part of November, so I had to create my own “frosty pumpkin” illusion by way of this table setting.

This is a fun table, made up almost entirely of pieces purchased at Pier 1.

As you have probably guessed from previous blog posts, I am a huge fan of Pier 1 Imports. It's dangerous every time I walk into the store because I never come out without at least one (usually more) items in a bag. (Remind me to tell you about the “Chair Caper” some time.)

The dinner plates shown here are from Pier 1's spice route collection. I love these plates! They come in a wide variety of warm tones, all colors of exotic spices, and each blends beautifully with the other. The knobby border makes these perfect for layering because it adds interest without adding pattern.

The salad plates with the pumpkin and vine image are also from Pier 1. I have been using them since early September. I love the season of harvest, and these plates are nicely transitional.

The lidded pumpkin soup bowls are another Pier 1 score. Now is the time to shop for these items because they are all on sale.  Yay!

If you click the box in the upper right hand column of this blog, you'll go right to the site. Be sure to use the coupon code for extra savings. I order online and save shipping costs by having things pulled directly from our local store, bagged and ready for my arrival, making shopping during this busy time of the year a breeze.

The centerpiece of this table employs, once again, the use of my favorite dough bowl from Pottery Barn, along with a variety of other items gathered from various collections around the house. Many of the items here are simply extras left over from the various  bags vase fillers that I've acquired over the years; to fill-in a couple of bare spots, I used cornhusks from Melissa's produce. I keep these on hand just for this purpose, I am not kidding. If nothing more, this goes to show just how creative you can be when assembling a centerpiece.

Look around the house, see what you have, grab from here and there, and you'll be able to pull together a centerpiece that just might surprise you.

I wanted a candle so grabbed a piece of Pfaltzgraff from many years past, sunk it down in the middle, and surrounded it with various items that I’d gathered together. I quite like the way this turned out.

Tablecloth – Antique Farmhouse

Cloth Placemats – Three French Hens

Round Placemats – Pier One

Green Leaf Chargers – Gift from Marigene Purcell

Plates and Lidded Pumpkins – Pier One

Flatware – eBay

Dough Bowl – Pottery Barn

This post contains affiliate links.

This post is linked to:

Happiness is Homemade Sunday

 Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

  Amaze Me Monday

 Inspiration Monday

Art of Homemaking Monday
Make it Pretty Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday

Tablescape Thursday
  Thoughts of Home on Thursday
Home Sweet Home
Weekend Linky Party
Grace at Home
Simple & Sweet Friday
Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Creative Ways Party
Share Your Style
Simple Saturday Blog Hop

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

I hate baking, I really do. Because no matter what I try to bake, no matter how simple, it always ends up being a massive cleanup for me. All I need do is lift the lid off of the flour canister, and suddenly I'm wearing it. Plus, it's on the floor, it's on the countertops, it's everywhere. This involves getting out major cleaning products, not to mention the vacuum, and in some cases the hardwood floor cleaner. If I try to wipe up the floor with a damp cloth, invariably that cloth will be too damp, yielding a floury goo that needs serious seeing to.

So, you have to know, that if I'm going to bake, it's going to be for someone special, or because the end result is something special. Such was the case today, when I decided to make Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Swirl Brownies for my number one son who agreed to brave the fierce and help me clean out my pantry.

It had been years since I last made these, but I had written on the recipe that we really enjoyed them. I'm not going to lie to you, these things are trouble. I was trying to relax today, and not upset myself during the baking process, ending up completely having to eliminate the nuts because I failed to locate and chop them, and had trouble swirling the two mixtures, because in my forced state of relaxation, I failed to read ahead in the recipe where it said "working quickly." Sigh.

Next time I'll use the nuts and, maybe, just maybe, I'll sprinkle some mini chocolate chips on top. I do love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate. These brownies, cake-like right out of the oven, are even better when refrigerated overnight and served at room temperature the following day. Something magical happens when these are allowed to rest for a while. Also, don't be afraid of the cayenne. These are in no way hot or spicy, the pepper just adds a wonderful depth.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts or other nuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil; spray bottom and sides with Pam.

Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl in a microwave oven at 20-second intervals, stirring between each (1 minute).

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

Divide batter between 2 medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make 1 more chocolate layer and 1 more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don't set.

With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the 2 batters to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

This post is linked to: Dishing it and Digging it, Amaze Me Monday, Cooking & Crafting with J&J, What’s for Dinner Sunday, BLUE Monday, Art of Homemaking Monday, Make it Pretty Monday, Inspire Me Tuesday, TUESDAYS AT OUR HOME

Community Coffee's Pumpkin Praline Cold Brew

Even though it is going into the upper eighties today, it is mid-October, and I still want my pumpkin fix. But instead of starting out my day with a hot cup of one of Community Coffee's seasonal flavors, Pumpkin Praline and Southern Bread Pudding, I decided to opt for cold brew. Everyone should be so lucky as to start off this beautiful fall morning with such a delicious eye-opening treat.
 
I chose Pumpkin Praline, with delicious hints of pumpkin spice and toasted pecans; this satisfying medium roast is a seasonal favorite. Plus, it’s made from only the top 10% of the world's coffee beans. Because pumpkin pairs particularly well with chocolate (if you need proof, go here) I added a healthy squirt of chocolate syrup, stirring it in well before adding the ice and floating a splash of cream on the top.

To refresh your memory on how to make cold brew, you can get the tutorial here. Also, keep in mind what an excellent flavor enhancer coffee can be when making your favorite dish, so stir in some flavored coffee instead of water when cooking or baking. I'll bet a swirl of Pumpkin Praline coffee would perk up the flavor of pumpkin soup. Meanwhile, be sure to visit your grocer and pick up a couple of bags of seasonal deliciousness in coffee form from Community Coffee.

Disclaimer: Many thanks to the lovely people at Community Coffee who sent me these two bags of delicious seasonal coffee to review.