Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie with Pecan Streusel Topping

Good evening, readers! I know you're thinking "Pumpkin!?!? In January!?" Well, as you may already know,  I love love love pumpkin, so I'm always ready to jump at any opportunity to bake and eat it! So this time, I contributed to a pot luck with this delicious dessert. The friend who was throwing the pot luck suggested I make the pie since she and her fiance could not get enough of it when I made it for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago.

I originally got the recipe from a fellow Virginia Beach blogger at How to Eat a Cupcake. It was adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. She used a homemade pie crust in her recipe but I cheated with 2 regular 9" frozen pie crusts, which works just as well. I made 2 pies this way, or you could use one deep dish crust and make one thick pie. But I liked the fact that I could keep one and leave the other at the pot luck.

• 1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 slightly beaten egg

• 1/4 c canned pumpkin
• 1 c evaporated milk
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/4 c packed brown sugar (I used dark brown)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/2 c chopped pecans 
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter, softened

*Note: I doubled the streusel  topping recipe because I made 2 pies.*

1) In a mixer, beat the first four ingredients on low to medium speed until smooth.

2) I chilled the mixture in the refrigerator fro 30 minutes. (I put mine in a separate bowl so I could reuse my mixer bowl).

 3) Preheat the oven to 350. Pour the mixture into the bottom of the pie shell(s)

4) Mix the next 6 ingredients until smooth in a mixer.

5) Carefully pour the pumpkin mixture over the cream cheese.

6) Cover the edges of the pie crusts with foil to prevent over-browning (aka burning) then bake for 25 minutes.

7) Remove the foil and bake the pies for another 25 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped up my pecans and mixed the final 4 ingredients to make the pecan streusel topping.

8) Sprinkle the topping onto the pie(s) and bake for another 10 -15 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center of the pies comes out clean.

And the hard part is having to wait 1 to 2 hours for the pies to cool on a wire rack. But then you get to have this!

Yummy! The perfect complement for this pie would be either fresh-whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I think I'll have a slice right now...

Yeast - free Cinnamon Rolls

This week, my Betrothed briefly graced me with his presence. He has been studying hard for exams at law school, and it was nice he took a break between exams to drive back and pay me a visit. We usually have our brunch on Sundays, but since he wasn't here this past weekend, we made up for it on Wednesday morning. At first I wanted to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls, but the pumpkin I had left over was a lot older than I thought (ew). So regular cinnamon rolls it was! But then after looking through different recipes, I saw that the preparation and bake time added up to about 3 hours... Hmmm...

Luckily, I found a quicker, yeast-free recipe here! The site I found also included a recipe with yeast, depending on how much time you have. Apparently these recipes are a combination of the best of several different other recipes, so I had some faith in this endeavor (since I've never made cinnamon rolls before!)

For the rolls:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus some extra for the counter
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 3/4 c packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1) Preheat the oven to 425. Spray a wire cooling rack and a 9" round pan with vegetable spray.
2) Make the filling, and mix all the ingredients together until it looks like wet sand.

3) In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

4) Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon until absorbed (about 30 seconds). The dough will look shaggy.

5) Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead until smooth (about 1 minute).

6) Press the dough into a 9x12- inch rectangle and brush the dough with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Then press the filling onto the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border on all sides.

7) Loosen the dough from the counter using a scraper or metal spatula and roll the dough tightly, starting on the long side. Pinch the seam together.

8) Slice the roll into 8 even pieces and place in the greased pan and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Edges will be deliciously golden brown.

Turn the rolls over onto the greased cooling rack then turn them back over to cool for 10 minutes before frosting.

Oh yes!

For the cream cheese frosting, I whipped up the same recipe I've been using as of late, but the site had a similar recipe:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp milk

The frosting went very well with the rolls! So delicious! The rolls were pretty dense, but I was a fan of it. (I want to try the yeast recipe as well, though!)

Definitely not a low-fat recipe!

And, of course, Roger loved them.

 He's a great help in the kitchen. I wish him the best of luck on his exams! :)

Double Birthday Week! Mom's Carrot Cake

This past week, both my mother and brother celebrated their birthdays. My mom turned 60 on Sunday, so I had to make her favorite--carrot cake! I was short on time, but I wanted the cake to have an authentic feel, so I decided to try Duncan Hines' deluxe carrot cake mix. It had a pouch of carrots and raisins to add to the batter!

My mom doesn't like raisins, so I diligently picked all of those pesky raisins out. (so much for saving time, right?) While the cake baked, I worked on a different cream cheese buttercream recipe I had found.

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups powdered sugar

1) With a whisk attachment, beat the butter until fluffy (about 5 minutes).

2) Add cream cheese and vanilla and mix on low for a minute or so.

3) Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and mix on low to combine after each addition. After all of the sugar is combined, whip the buttercream on high for about a minute or two.

Nice and fluffy!

I chopped up about a cup of walnuts and covered the sides of the cake then I decorated with orange flowers. Then I added the final touch- white chocolate numbers. (beats those number candles!)

My mom loved it!

And the cake was super moist with visible carrot shreds, so it definitely looked scratch-made! One qualm: the cake didn't rise as much as I wanted, so I would use two boxes for a double-layer 8 inch cake.

Martha's Pumpkin Cake

 Since my beloved and I are not Mr. and Mrs. yet, we still spend time at our respective family's homes for Thanksgiving. I wanted to make a dessert for his family as a little gift, so I tried a new pumpkin cake recipe. I turned to Martha Stewart (she has yet to fail me in the recipe department) for her Pumpkin Spice Cake recipe. It can be found here, along with a tasty Honey Frosting recipe.

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 (15-oz) can solid-pack pumpkin puree

1) Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 6" pans (could potentially be three pans) with Baker's Joy.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. In a larger bowl, mix together the wet ingredients and sugar. Combine the dry with the wet, and gently mix until smooth.

3) Spoon batter into pans and smooth out the tops. Bake until a butter knife inserted comes out with only a few moist crumbs. (I would go for 55- 60 minutes with these 6" pans. The original recipe called for a 9" square baking pan.)

4) Cool the cakes for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn them out onto a rack (right-side-up) to cool completely.

And, of course, I used my reliable little cream cheese buttercream to pair with this delicious cake. I wanted it to look like a carrot cake, so I made little pumpkins to go around the edges with some hanging vines. Just a simple little design.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Pumpkin Spice Cake

As Thanksgiving nears, the pumpkin spice recipes must continue rolling. My beloved is part of an interesting faction called the Zombie Squad (don't try to look it up). They're all close friends, and they are like family. So this past Saturday was the ZS Thanksgiving! Everyone was to bring something, and I was volunteered to bring a cake (of course!). I figured I'd make a pumpkin spice cake, and decorate it with none other than the unofficial sponsor of ZS-- Natural Light beer. I found the recipe for a very moist pumpkin cake at The Joy of Baking and it goes as follows:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs
1 cup fresh or canned pure pumpkin (about 1/2 of a 15 ounce can)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I replaced this with nutmeg because I didn't have cloves-- still turned out great!)
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1) First, I preheated the oven to 350 and sprayed 2 8" round pans with Baker's Joy (it's just as good as buttering and flouring a pan without the fuss and mess). I also moved a rack in the oven into the center position.

2) Beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy (2-3 minutes) then add the eggs, one egg at a time, giving time between each to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl (and the beater!!) if necessary. Then add the pumpkin and vanilla. Beat until mixed well.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

Add the buttermilk and the flour mixture alternately, making 3 additions. Make sure to start and end on the flour mixture. Pour the cake batter evenly into both cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a butter knife inserted into each center comes out clean.

4) Cool the cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cakes out of their pans to cool completely.

While the cakes were baking, I got started on the cream cheese icing, which is the same recipe that I had used for my pumpkin cupcakes.

I decided to torte the two layers to add some height and make it look a bit fancy when cut.

Cream cheese icing is very soft, so I refrigerated after the crumb coat, I refrigerated after the final coat, and I refrigerated when I was done with my design.
 
I scored the logo with a toothpick and got to work filling it in. I like the "puffy" look, so I went over my design a couple of times. I added borders to the bottom and top, and I was done! Everyone LOVED the cake, both inside and out.

Welcoming Autumn: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream

It's been a bit gloomy outside, so it's perfect weather for staying inside and baking! So what to bake...? I decided to celebrate the arrival of my favorite season with my favorite flavor: PUMPKIN! I love love love fall, and I love the smell of cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin filling the air. I chose a recipe from Lauren Chattman's Cake Keeper Cakes: Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Pound Cake. Instead of putting the batter into a loaf pan, I put it into two standard cupcake pans. The recipe is as follows...

1 3/4 c unbleached flour (I used bleached but Chattman stated there would be a cleaner flavor with unbleached)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch nutmeg
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 c sugar
3 large eggs
1 c canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 c milk
1 c mini semisweet chocolate chips ( I just used normal sized chips)
1 c chopped walnuts (can easily be omitted... or replaced with pecans yum!)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place cupcake papers in pans.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl

3. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, and mix for about 3 minutes. remember to scrape down the sides!
4. With mixer on medium-low, add the eggs one at a time. Stir in pumpkin puree, vanilla, and milk.

5. Turn the mixer to low, and add the dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition. I waited until there was about a half cup of dry ingredients left, then I added my chocolate chips and walnuts to that. Then I slowly added it into the batter. It's a good way for the chips and nuts to stay suspended in the cake batter while baking and not sink to the bottom!

6. Portion out the batter into 24 cupcakes and place in oven for 20 minutes. Insert a butter knife (not toothpick!) into a couple of different cupcakes to determine if the knife comes out clean (well, clear of batter, but melted chocolate is OK!).

The cupcakes can be stored in a cake keeper for up to 3 days, or wrapped up in the fridge for up to one week.

I figured a pretty delicious flavor combination would be cream cheese. So I found a cream cheese buttercream recipe from Martha Stewart.

1 8-oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb (about 4-ish cups) of confectioner's sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Cream butter and cream cheese in a mixer for 30 seconds. It calls for the paddle attachment, but I like the whisk. It makes for a much fluffier buttercream.

2. With the mixer on low, slowly add in the confectioner's sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
3. Add vanilla, then increase the mixer to medium. Blend until fluffy (about a minute).

There's enough frosting here to cover the 24 cupcakes the way I did with about a cup or so left over.

If you wanted to do a huge swirl on each, you can. I garnished with a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice, but I think a cool idea could also be toasted walnut pieces. These were super delish, and I'm so proud of meself! *grin!*