Pumpkin Spice Latte

December 6, 2011 18 Comments

I’m busy. Next Monday and Thursday are my final exams and I’m swamped with final assignments and studying. Dinners have been a cinch though. Since my boy knows I’m swamped with school, he’s been taking over the kitchen for dinner and whipping up some really awesome eats! Tonight we’re having this quick pasta. Awesome.

Since I’m so busy I really like the times when I can just mellow out and take a breather. I made this latte this morning so that I had something to look forward to last night, and also so that my day started out happy. It’s cheaper than a coffee shop, it’s better than a coffee shop, and it plain and simply makes me happy. Have a great week everyone! xoxo

Pumpkin Spice Latte
From The Pastry Affair who adapted it from The Kitchn
Enough for two large mugs

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups strongly brewed coffee, hot
Whipped cream (optional, I didn’t use any)

Directions:
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, warm milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, pumpkin, and brown sugar until steaming (do not boil!). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour milk mixture into a large blender and blend milk until frothy. Note: Be very careful when blending hot liquids as they expand and blend really quick.

Pour milk mixture evenly between 2 large mugs. Pour 1 cup hot coffee in each mug and top with whipped cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Serve hot!

Filed Under: Drinks Tagged With: ,

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

March 26, 2011 21 Comments

Today’s been an interesting day. I woke up and had a mad craving for muffins, so I rummaged around my cupboards to see what ingredients I had, checked my favorite baking blogs for recipes that included these ingredients, and got to work. After choosing Two Peas and Their Pod’s Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins, I realized that I didn’t have any muffin tin liners (which I prefer using as opposed to spraying the muffin tin). Then once I got to work on the muffin batter, my favorite, trusty spatula snapped in half!! So, I used the half-spatula, and giggled through the whole recipe. Sometimes my mornings don’t go as smoothly as I imagine them. Jeepers…

Despite my broken spatula, these muffins turned out great! Thank goodness. Actually, these muffins are now my new favorite!! They beat my Strawberry Banana muffins, which have been a favorite of mine for years. Change is weird.

These muffins are made with the perfect blend of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, are swirled with a cinnamon sugar center, and are topped off with a gorgeous streusel topping. Tasty.

To begin, preheat the oven and line two muffin tins with cooking spray and set aside. Then, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set that aside too.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract.

Whisk until smooth and combined.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture.

Mix until ingredients are combined.

For the streusel topping: mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix in the butter with your hands until the mixture is crumbly. Make brown sugar cinnamon filling too (no picture since it’s so easy, peasy).

Fill muffin cups half way full with the pumpkin batter.

Sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon filling over each half filled muffin cup.

Fill the muffins cups with the remaining batter. Top each muffin with streusel topping. I ate some of this streusel before baking it and went to heaven for a few minutes. This stuff is delish.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Remove muffins from tins and enjoy.

Hello beautiful!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
This recipe makes 24 beautiful muffins
Taken from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients
Muffin batter:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusel Topping:
1 1/4 cup oats
1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth and combined.
4. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined.
5. For the brown sugar cinnamon filling: in a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside.
6. For the streusel topping: in a small bowl mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix in the butter with your hands until the mixture is crumbly.
7. Fill muffin cups half way full with the pumpkin batter. Sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon filling over each half filled muffin cup. Fill the muffins cups with the remaining batter. Top each muffin with streusel topping.
8. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and cool on a wire rack. Remove muffins from tins and enjoy.

Filed Under: Favorites, Muffins Tagged With: ,

Pumpkin Cranberry Granola Bars

February 21, 2011 9 Comments

Because I have excess pumpkin from my Pumpkin Molasses Cookies, I decided to look over a few of my favorite blogs for some ideas. I came across so many good looking pumpkin recipes (with half of them on Sugar Crafter’s blog) but found this granola bar recipe on The Comfort of Cooking’s blog and thought I could turn this into a healthy snack.

The pumpkin, applesauce and honey flavours burst together in your mouth. When mixed with the rolled oats and cranberries this granola bar becomes the perfect healthy snack!

Let’s get baking. First, preheat your oven and spray your 8 x 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. I shouldn’t have used my red bowls to take pictures with….sorry for the ugliness! haha

Pour over oats and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. The pumpkin keeps the bars moist, so make sure they are golden and set. Under baked bars are yucky. Yeah, I said it – yucky. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars.

Pumpkin Cranberry Granola bars
Adapted loosely from The Comfort of Cooking’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
Makes 10-12 granola bars
3 weight watchers points for for 1 of 12 bars

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth.
4. Pour over oats and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Stir in cranberries.
5. Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. The pumpkin keeps the bars moist, so make sure they are golden and set -you don’t want them to be under-baked!
6. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars.

Filed Under: Bars/Brownies, Snacks Tagged With: , , ,

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies

February 7, 2011 21 Comments

I feel like I don’t make enough pumpkin recipes. If I do, they are generally made quickly and at night so I can never blog about them! This is why I have chosen to make cookies. After seeing all of the amazing pumpkin baked goods at Christmas time, I knew I had to try to make at least one of them!

These cookies are amazing, and I owe a big thanks to petite kitchenesse for lending this recipe on her blog. The blend of spices is perfectly matched inside of this chewy, moist cookie. Just look inside of that thing…

The only problem?? I only used 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree and now I have almost a whole can left! If you have any suggestions on what I could make with the leftover pumpkin, let me know! I’m looking forward to suggestions!!

Let’s bake. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves and salt in a large bowl.

Beat butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add pumpkin puree, molasses, and egg and mix until well combined.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and beat until a well-blended batter forms. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Fill a bowl with your rolling sugar. Roll tablespoon-sized balls of batter in sugar until well coated and place on sheet. The cookies will spread, so give them a couple inches of room.

Bake 10–12 minutes, or until cookies look cracked. Let them sit on the sheet for a few minutes after removing them from the oven, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies
Recipe take from petite kitchenesse
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
2 ⅓ cups AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar, plus more for rolling (if you have it, I recommend turbinado sugar for rolling)
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup molasses
1 egg

Directions:
1. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves and salt in a large bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar together in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add pumpkin puree, molasses, and egg and mix until well combined.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and beat until a well-blended batter forms.
4. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or two, if you’d like to prep a second sheet while the first one bakes).
6. Fill a bowl with your rolling sugar. Roll tablespoon-sized balls of batter in sugar until well coated and place on sheet. The cookies will spread, so give them a couple inches of room.
7. Bake 10–12 minutes, or until cookies look cracked. Let them sit on the sheet for a few minutes after removing them from the oven, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Filed Under: Cookies Tagged With: , , ,
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