kattitudes

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups pumpkin pureé (15 oz can)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh or dried cranberries

Combine flour, spice, baking powder, and salt in bowl; stir to blend the dry ingredients well. Combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil in a mixing bowl.

Stir in flour mixture, then stir in cranberries. Spoon into two greased and floured 9×5x2-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour

Butter and flour an 11×7-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 eggs until light and creamy. Beat in pumpkin puree. In another bowl, combine 1 cup of flour with baking powder, soda, salt, and spices.

Slowly beat into the first mixture until well blended. Spread in prepared baking pan.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 egg, confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and 2 tablespoons flour. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Spoon onto the pumpkin batter. Using a small narrow spatula or butter knife, swirl the cream cheese batter into the pumpkin batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I swear by all that is holy, if I do not get my rich moist dense pumpkin bread (or cupcake, I’m not particular) with sweetened cream cheese frosting, I am liable to start gluing candy to my house, then baking and eating the small children when they get too close to my general vicinity.

Have I mentioned lately how much I want some pumpkin bread? I literally do not understand why I have not baked any. I actually think that there is a small voice telling me that it is actually a self preservation issue. Do not bake the pumpkin bread and save yourself from diabetic destruction.

Lord how I want me some pumpkin bread. With a 2 inch thick layer of sweetened sugared up cream cheese. Just tart enough. I thought I wanted it loaded up with plump juicy raisins and cranberries, like little fruit bombs for my tongue to run into and explode on contact in some demented healthy version of a taste frenzy, but no. I realized it is that deep rich moist pumpkin darkness (come to the dark side) that I crave (come to the dark side) so much that I am about to start hurting people if I don’t get it.

I am thinking, in retrospect, this is one of those times that maybe, a little delayed gratification has gone too far. I am actually scaring myself.

This pumpkin bread has cream cheese filling. Because, you know, there isn’t enough richness yet. (Kill me. Just shoot me and put me out of my misery).

INGREDIENTS:

Filling:
* 1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, at room temperature
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1 large egg
* 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel

Bread:
* 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly grease two 8×4x3-inch loaf pans. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 egg, and the orange peel; beat until smooth and creamy.

Into another bowl, sift 1 2/3 cup flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside. Put pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl; beat well. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Fold in the pecans or walnuts, if using.

Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter.

Bake in preheated 325° oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes; remove to a rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin bread recipe makes 2 loaves.

FROSTING (icing):
1 8 ounce package cream cheese
2 tablespoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Mix together well all ingredients. Avoid plunging your fingers into the icing. No. Stop that! Frost (the pumpkin bread - what did you think you were supposed to frost. Your fingers? For goodness sake, stop it. Stop icing your fingers. That doesn’t count!) when cool.

With a wink and a nod going out to Pier’s wonderful hubby, hopefully this recipe will keep him entertained in the kitchen. And let it be known, I officially proclaim that husbands that like to cook are sexier than all hell (and this I know. I have one of those myself.)

Prepare cream cheese tart crust below first. Then the inside nummy part.

Cream Cheese Pastry (makes one ten inch tart crust)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, chilled
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese
3 tablespoons ice water

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour, butter and cream cheese. Process until mixture is crumbly. With food processor running, add water, one tablespoon at a time, until mixture comes together and forms a ball. Flatten dough into a dish, and wrap tightly in heavy-duty plastic wrap; chill for 30 minutes.

Ingredients for Cranberry Pecan part:

3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press cream cheese pastry into bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch deep dish tart pan with removable bottom. Cover pastry with pie weights or dried beans and bake for ten minutes. Let cool, then remove pie weights.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in melted butter. Add corn syrup, whisking to combine. Stir in pecans and cranberries. Pour egg mixture into crust. Bake for 45 to 48 minutes or until set. Let cool completely before cutting.

recipe from Paula Deen somewhere. I clipped it and wrote in that I got it from Paula. So thanks Paula and I wish you would quit making such wonderful tasting things. You’re killing me. But at least this one doesn’t have chocolate, thank goodness.

This is utterly fantastic with gingersnaps or (my favorite) tart Granny Smith apple slices.

Another knock out accompaniment is pear slices, believe it or not. It was a strange combination at first, but once you got used to the flavors together, it was amazing. And I definitely like the fruit with this dip much more than the gingersnaps (and I love gingersnaps!).

Ingredients:

1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 - 15 ounce can pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon pure orange extract
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Blend cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar until smooth in food processor. Remove cover; add pumpkin and remaining ingredients. Blend thoroughly.

Chill 30 minutes or until ready to serve.

Oh, and as an experimentation note, once I added a little bit of fresh grated ginger I had left over from a different recipe. It was *fantastic* so I do it regularly now - really gave the dip an extra zing. I probably had about a teaspoon or so, maybe a little more. I really recommend the addition.

This is such an unusual presentation and a perfectly wonderful main meal. The fun of this recipe is that you really can experiment with the vegetables, replacing those you don’t love or adding veggies that you think might really add to the fun. This is a fantastic WOW meal that really will surprise your family and your guests. Take a gamble and try baking one this weekend.

Ingredients:

1 medium-size pie pumpkin (about 6-8 pounds )
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 medium-large eggplant
Salt to taste
1 cup basmati rice
3-1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 small carrots, sliced
1 cup green beans, cut in pieces
1-2 small zucchinis, quartered and sliced
1-1/4 cups cooked kidney beans
1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon each oregano and thyme
2 Tablespoons olive oil
6 scallions, sliced
Freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut a circle out of the top of the pumpkin (leaving the stem intact). Carefully scrape out all the seeds and thready pulp. Wash out inside.

Make a marinade with 1 tablespoon each of the lemon juice and soy sauce. Rub on the inside of the pumpkin. Bake pumpkin for 30 minutes at 400 degrees and cover with aluminum foil to keep it moist.

Wash the eggplant and slice it crosswise with 1/2 inch thickness. Sprinkle the slices with salt on both sides and allow them to sit for 20 to 30 minutes as the excess water seeps out. (This will help the eggplant not to absorb so much oil when cooked.)

In a medium-size saucepan, cook the rice in 3 cups of the broth over medium heat for 30 minutes with the chopped onion and garlic. While the rice is cooking, assemble the carrots, green beans, zucchinis, cooked kidney beans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and herbs for the stuffing.

Rinse and pat eggplant dry. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté the eggplant for about 10 minutes. Turn to low and add the scallions, black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the soy sauce. Immediately cover, and steam for 1-2 minutes.

Add the cooked rice and eggplant to the stuffing mixture. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of vegetable broth and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the pumpkin and replace the lid. Bake in the preheated oven (400 degrees) for 1 hour, or until the pumpkin is soft to the touch.

There is no need to purchase canisters of breadcrumbs for any recipe, ever. They are easy to make, even at the last minute. At this very moment, there is a bag of old bread in our freezer door. My Mister knows that all the old bread goes in there. All the ends of the loaves that he just won’t eat, breakfast toast that didn’t get touched and the like, it all goes into the old bread bag in the freezer.

“What on earth are you keeping that mess for” you ask? It’s my bread crumb bag!

Come Thanksgiving time, when my baby sister stands watch over me once again, making sure that I reproduce exactly my Grandmother’s stuffing recipe without deviation, I can faithfully pull out my collected bag of old stale bread that ordinarily would be hard enough to drive nails into the kitchen wall. But for my purposes, it has reached perfection.

With my handy blender, I grind up those stale slices of bread heaven and end up with a wonderful potpourri of bread crumbs, enough to finish all the Thanksgiving recipes on my list.

If you did not plan far enough ahead to start your own stale bread bag, there is still time to make your own bread crumbs for whatever need may arise.

Start with two loaves of your favorite bread.

Either cut into slices or ask your grocery baker to cut into sandwich loaf. Spread both loaves on a cookie sheet and put into your oven for 24 hours minimum. The ambient heat of your kitchen space will dry out the slices to stale and stiff. Break up the slices into a storage container and voila, you have bread crumbs. If you know you want a particular spice (for example, sage for stuffing/dressing, you know you are going to add dried sage leaves chopped into the bread crumbs) so go ahead and add while crushing the stale bread so as to work the spice thoroughly through the mix.

Bread crumbs are one of those things that we can make ourselves, with our own leftovers. We should never be paying three dollars (or more!) a canister for the priviledge of someone else grinding up a loaf of stale bread. Do yourself a favor and get into the habit of making your own breadcrumbs. Save those end pieces of the loaves that no one ever wants to eat. Those are perfect for your Thanksgiving stuffing recipe! Trust me on this (thus sayeth the Queen of Thanksgiving Day Stuffing, or so says my little sister).

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups flour
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup pumpkin puree
* 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 cup oil
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/4 cup molasses
* 1 egg, lightly beaten

PREPARATION:
Directions for cranberry pumpkin muffins
Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a separate mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry, mixing just until the dry ingredients are moist.

Do not overmix. Generously grease a 12-muffin tin and dust with flour or line with paper muffin cups. Fill muffin cups about 2/3-full with batter. Bake pumpkin muffins in preheated 350° oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove pumpkin muffins from tins to wire rack to cool. Makes 12 cranberry pumpkin muffins.

Ingredients for pie:

* 1-2/3 cups (11 ounce package) butterscotch chips, separated
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup pumpkin puree
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* Powdered sugar (optional)

Ingredients for butterscotch sauce:

* 1/3 cup evaporated milk
* Remaining 2/3 cup of butterscotch chips (separated as above)

Microwave 1 cup butterscotch chips in a small, microwave-safe bowl on medium-high (70%) power for one minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

Combine flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in medium bowl. Stir together melted chips, pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract in large bowl with wire whisk. Stir in flour mixture. Spoon batter into greased 10-inch bundt pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional). Serve with butterscotch sauce.

To prepare butterscotch sauce: heat 1/3 cup evaporated milk in medium, heavy-duty saucepan over medium heat just to boil; remove from heat. Add remaining chips, stir until smooth. Return to heat; stirring constantly, bring mixture just to boil. Cool to room temperature. Stir before serving.

via Libby pumpkin site

Ingredients:

* 3 eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup butter (melted)
* 1 cup light corn syrup
* 1 cup pecans
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 teaspoon rum (optional)

Combine and beat thoroughly eggs, sugar, salt, butter and syrup.

Stir in pecans, vanilla and rum. Fill a prepared 9-inch pie shell.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.

This is such an easy pie. It is just amazing how simple it is to make. One thing to remember however, the middle will still be pretty wiggly when you take it out of the oven. The pie will continue to cook a little and firm up in the middle so please be careful and don’t overcook.

Oh, if you want to make this pie outrageous, start adding handfuls of things like chocolate chips or dried cranberries. No. No. Never mind. Not yet. Just practice making a basic pecan pie.